Digital Publishing

ePub 3. Around the World in 28 Languages

Reader devices for ePub have had a strong English orientation. This has been addressed with ePub 3, but of course it needs to be easier. This test book has 28 languages from around the world including alphabet, script, logograph and all the other "too hard" languages.

It is available from the AZARDI resource site for those who are interested in language in general or perhaps a specific language.

For those interested in the page sequence, it follows the sun. Starting at the International Dateline in New Zealand with Maori, and moving with the sun more or less with lines of longitude. An alphabetic listing may have been more useful, but then that would have been alphabetic in English and missed the point.

EPUB3 UNLEASHED Available

We uploaded an informational demonstration book to the AZARDI download location today. EPUB3 UNLEASHED is a highly interactive ePub3. The book is pure HTML5, CSS3, SVG, MathML and Javascript.

AZARDI is designed for the controlled channel delivery of  interactive content. It is optimized for specialist vertical channel content rather than being "just another reader".  This demonstration starts to demonstrate what is possible.

You can download EPUB3 UNLEASHED and AZARDI 7 here.

One of the motivations for producing this was to show that the core technologies can deliver a lot more than anything that is in the market at present, and it can do it easily and cost effectively. The IGP:FoundationXHTML that is packaged into an ePub3 here can also be delivered as a Web Site and WebApp (with the exception that Android doesn't handle SVG!)

AZARDI 7 Released

AZARDI 7 was released today (21 Nov 2011). This version has a number of bug-fixes and feature updates.

the ePub3 support has been improved and most significantly the AZARDI Interactive Engine has been updated and included.

For more information and to download AZARDI 7 go to azardi.infogridpacific.com.

AZARDI is strictly a desktop digital content reader. It works on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, Macs and Linux (Debian). As such it goes a lot further in digital content capabilities than mobile devices.

AZARDI has been designed for education, training and instructional content which requires large scale interactivity. The AZARDI Interactive Engine introduces advanced Question and Answer tools, Story line and Events modules to reduce production costs and time to market.

AZARDI 7 is licensed at no cost in its simple ePub3 form, and is available for customization for publishers and institutions.

AZARDI 2011

As a short diversion from the magnificence of XHTML for publisher content series, we are just a very short time away from releasing AZARDI 2011, our new version of the digital content reader first launched in 2009.

AZARDI 2011 is ePub, and HTML5 ready. It is sort of ePub3+ ready with a few conditional rules (we are leaving out the stupid bits). AZARDI 1 was very ePub strict, AZARDI 2011 displays just about anything XHTML(5) because that is the requirement for any reader in 2011.  It bifircates ePub and HTML5 and is effectively two readers working from one framework.

AZARDI 2011 is ready for a changing digital content future. It does ePubs, and allows App-like publisher products using IGP:FoundationXHTML, without the overheads of custom app creation. It is really important to state right here AZARDI does display books/e-books, but it is not just about books. The target is controlled distribution of high-value digital content.

FX4. F4-Headings

 The IGP:FoundationXHTML series continues. I am skipping F3-Inline content here and moving straight to F4 Headings. The reason for this is that Inline or phrasing content is big, scary, detailed and consists of many, many parts that move in many directions for any coherent XML strategy. Inline content encourages oxymorons like massively small. 

Phrasing/inline content is for the XML hard-core. It encapsulates XML to support links, generated content, generated links, processed content, semantic terms, index insertion points, metadata and of course styles like drop-caps, italics and bold text to name just a few.

So without any more waffle...headings!

FX3. F2-Bodytext

This post continues the FX series and deals primarily with paragraphs that are in the primary IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) galley-rw flow. It also provides a list of standard descriptive paragraphs that can be found in the primary content flow, or may be found in inserted block structures.

At the risk of being shot down by huge intellectual linguistic experts, I have to say paragraphs are pretty much the most important identifiable unit of taggable content that brings sense to text (except I really do like lists too). Everything else hangs off or is inserted between the paragraphs. We really like paragraphs as XML content containers and work them very, very hard in FX.

FX2-F1 The Galley

Central to any XML strategy is the root element. Because IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) is very concerned about format generation, reuse, remixing and future value it does not use a document genre as the root element, instead it uses a content flow container.

FX uses <div class="galley-rw"> as the primary content container. Galley best defines the content as a single continuous flow that is only interrupted or enhanced by the nature of the presentation format properties when they are generated or applied. (eg. Pagination in a PDF, chapters or topics in an online format, link jumps, etc., editing tool assistants in a production environment.)

FX2. F0 Document Sections

This post continues the discussion on using XHTML for a high-value publisher digital content strategy and how we use IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) to create valuable, sustainable, digital content strategies for publishers. The previous post outlined the FX content classification scheme used to control the XML grammar and tagging patterns for various content types.

Sections are classified as F0 (zero) in FX. Sections are probably the most important XML structure in the digital content universe where freedom from the bookbinders glue is easy and instant. Across all publisher content of all types, including the internet, sections are the highest visibility, valuable semantic unit of content.

Understanding FX1 - Content Organization Overview

 

Critical to any XML strategy is control of the tagging vocabularies and how and where they are used. IGP:FoundationXHTML (FX) is strictly classified more or less in consonance with the primary XHTML content type deconstruction; but is refined to address publishing specific structures as well as boring ol' web structures.

FX has no root document type tag such as book, article, play, etc. The document type or genre is handled by metadata for any particular assembly of content. The reason for this is content reuse doesn't need the overhead of if/how/when; a book section can be mixed with a learning module or with how-to topic.

With document type relegated to metadata, the most important structural components become sections in all their interesting glory. For primary content reuse, the section is the most dominant semantic unit of content. This post outlines the primary FX classification structures and we will go into each one in more detail in follow-up posts.

Introduction to IGP:FoundationXHTML

This blog assumes you are interested in using XHTML and CSS as your core digital content long-term XML strategy. If not, stop reading. It is long and detailed.

Before getting into the details of an XHTML strategy for valuable publisher content in later blogs, here I review the relative strengths and weaknesses of XHTML as the primary XML storage method for your content's future. We need to be able to play against the stengths, negate the weaknesses, and develop a sustainable controlled XML that delivers immediate and future value.