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Reading Systems Supporting Accessible EPUB 3 Bring New
Opportunities to Print Impaired Customers
The DAISY Consortium is partnering with BISG and IDPF to test reading systems for
EPUB 3 compliance and accessibility. Developers receive concrete suggestions on how
their products and services can be improved. The Consortium is also a member of the
Readium Foundation which promotes and develops technologies accelerating the
adoption of EPUB 3 and the Open Web Platform by the global digital publishing industry.
To make testing and evaluating reading systems easier, the DAISY Consortium
and Tech For All developed the Accessibility Screening Guidelines and Checklist.
The fundamental test book provides the essential accessibility tests and
instructions to the person conducting the test. Advanced test books will be
provided in the near future.
Well-structured text in a logical reading order is a baseline requirement for
accessible EPUB 3 publications. To achieve a high fundamental accessibility
score, users should be able to adjust font size and color. Also, text should be
readable with a screen reader or self-voicing text-to-speech application, a
refreshable Braille display or assistive technologies designed for persons with
dyslexia and other learning disabilities.
Based on current EPUB 3 compliance reports and accessibility evaluations, the
following reading applications have achieved higher scores than others:
VitalSource Bookshelf Desktop for Mac - portable, interactive e-book
platform, available in 25 languages.
Voice Dream Reader for iOS, available in more than 20 languages.
Features Dyslexia friendly font, text and audio synchronization,
customizable font size and color.
Lektz for Android renders e-books in EPUB 2 and EPUB 3 formats on
Android smartphones and tablets.
Adobe Digital Editions with the NVDA screen reader, Version 4.0.3
supports EPUB 2, EPUB 2.0.1, and EPUB 3.0 as well as Media Overlays
3.0.
Readium for Chrome with Windows 7, Chrome browser extension
configuration of ReadiumJS.
Kobo reader for iOS with VoiceOver.
iBooks, a reading application for Apple devices.
The DAISY Consortium will promote reading systems that get to 100%.
Developers are encouraged to improve their applications and devices.
The DAISY Consortium embraces the principles of worldwide collaboration and
transparency that define open standards development. We also contribute
expertise in standards working groups that are engaged in Inclusive Publishing
and develop guidelines and checklists so that best practices are clear and
widely available.
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If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with
George Kerscher, please call 1-406/549-4687 or e-mail George at
kerscher@montana.com