FAQ

Readium.org Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ)

Below are FAQs divided into categories (Readium Foundation, Readium Web, Readium Chrome Extension, Readium SDK, and Readium LCP).

FAQs about the Readium Foundation (Readium.org)

What is the relationship between Readium Foundation and IDPF

Readium began as a project of IDPF, and IDPF helped instigate the Readium Foundation. But Readium Foundation is a completely independent non-profit corporation, governed by its members. Readium Foundation is focusing specifically on open source implementation, complementary to IDPF's mission as a trade and standards organization. IDPF is a member of Readium Foundation and is currently providing some administrative support for the Foundation as part of its contributions (and IDPF Executive Director Bill McCoy is acting the interim President of the Readium Foundation).

Will Readium.org support vendor extensions to EPUB?

Readium.org's initial focus is on acceleration full adoption of complete and consistent implementations of the EPUB 3 standard. Support for extensions that are not officially part of EPUB will therefore be discouraged in Readium.org projects. However, as a commercial-focused open source community, extensions that are widely supported may be adopted. For example, Readium Web already supports the Apple extension for specifying fixed-layout EPUB metadata (META-INF/com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml, etc.). 

FAQs about the Readium Web Project

What is the status of cross-browser support in Readium Web?

An experimental configuration of Readium Web for online reading can be seen at http://github.readium.org/ . Further work on the cloud-based configuration is underway, and Readium Foundation member Benetech, who has released a new version of their Bookshare Web Reader based on Readium, plans to contribute their improvements back to the open source repository. Soon it should be possible to coveniently deploy Readium Web to any website in order to provide a browser-based view of one or more EPUB files.

FAQs about the Readium Chrome Extension

Is the Readium Chrome Extension Beta a consumer-grade EPUB reading system?

No, at this time the Google Chrome extension is expected to be used primarily by authors, publishers, and developers creating and testing EPUB 3 content and tools. However the web app has over 40,000 users (as of March, 2013) and has been translated into 7 languages with the help of contributors, so this configuration seems to have utility for some end users.

Will Readium Chrome Extension open DRM-protected eBooks?

At this time there are no plans for Readium Chrome Extension to support DRM-protected eBooks.

Will Readium Chrome Extension support other publication formats besides EPUB?

Not any time soon.

Will the Readium Chrome Extension be accessible?

Yes! Initial accessibility support is implemented in version 0.9 and further support is anticipated soon based on pending contributions from members.

Will the Readium Chrome Extension be localized to languages besides English?

Yes, 7 languages are available. Contributions of translation assistance will be very welcome, as an internationalization infrastructure is in place.

 

 

 

 
 

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