P5music
commented
1 year ago Hello Okan-Ozcelik
Many years ago I created an ePub reader that does what you seem to be wanting.
It can annotate the ePub with text decorations (as underlining and others) or short text notes or even documents of any format. The reader put special SVG drawings as icons on the exact character or on a position on an image. The notes are saved separately from the ePub. They can also be hyper-links. The folder containing all those notes can in theory stay in the cloud. The app is based on Google Android SAF, than it should work on the device as on the cloud, but this framework was not fulfilled by Google itself as to some functions. I mean the intent-based version of the Google API or SDK. There are also official APIs but they are difficult to use by a developer. The SAF is simpler and could be easily adopted as a new sort of filesystem in my app with minor changes. Nobody talks of this issue, but it just does not work to create a folder on the cloud and access as a filesystem. This was the promise, but Google led the developers to adopt SAF, then SAF locked the apps in the device instead of opening to the cloud. Official issues on the issue-tracker were dismissed. I asked also on the Next-cloud forum but nobody answers. I do not think this is my fault because also other providers do not implement that feature. I hope I am wrong but this is my experience. My app is able to sync the notes on different devices.
If you are curious the app is at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.studycomfort.app&hl=en
It also has other advances features like diacritic text search and an advanced navigation system.
But please take a look at this post
https://github.com/w3c/publishingcg/issues/24
where a particular problem is addressed.
The annotation positioning is sort of "proprietary" in my app so it is not standard. I tried to migrate to the epubcfi standard but one library I found to handle did not work for me, if I remember correctly it was only half implemented because I need to retrieve the position. However the epubcfi method seems to be not reliable because ebooks can change, even for minor HTML changes that break the method currently implemented in my app but also for the epubcfi positionings I think.
What do you think? Regards
Okan-Ozcelik
TzviyaSiegman
wareid
AudreyLBE
dalerrogers
iherman
mattgarrish
sueneu
Classic books have been reprinted and reprinted for centuries. The paper books on the shelves wear out and disappear. But the content of that book remains permanent because it is printed over and over again. What matters is the content. Users change their computers every 3-5 years. But they keep the personal content they have created. They carry their documents and music to their new computers. They are permanent. It is continuous. E-Book Readers get old like paper books on the shelf. But their content needs to be preserved. Readers may want or even have to change their devices every now and then. And of course, they will want to move the content their e-books to the new device. They use Adobe Digital Editions to send the books to the new device.
W3C is developing EPUB, the universal book format. EPUB becomes the e-book standard. So it can be read on any e-book reader that supports that standard. Now that it has become a standard, it brings to mind MP3s, which can be listened to on almost every computer, music player. But perhaps something is missing.
What makes a book valuable are the parts that the reader likes. They highlight their favorite texts. Maybe they take notes on the page. With effort, they create their personal content. Of course, they will hope for the permanence of this content. New books are archived in the library after they have been read. But most of the books in the library will never be reread from beginning to end. Instead, only notes taken and texts highlighted are reviewed. Personal libraries last for decades. But devices, unfortunately, only last a few years. EBooks are superior because they don't wear out, because their data never disappears. But does the e-library really never disappear when it needs to be moved to a new e-reader!
When a note is made on a book, the note is not actually saved in the book. It is saved in a note file linked to the book. Later, when the book is opened, the relevant parts of the note file are parsed and displayed on the book again. But different devices have different ways of saving notes. There is no harmony. E-books can be moved to the new device, but notes cannot be transferred to the new device. On the new device, the book is as if the cover has never been opened. All the notes taken are gone!
For text highlighting to be more than a momentary technological entertainment, it must be permanent. It would be a waste of time to underline an important text while reading it if it cannot be permanent.
This is why notes can also be saved in a universal format. It can be a note file with the same name in the same folder as the book. W3C could set standards for saving notes. Perhaps this could be the EPUBNotes file type.
The device settings can now offer the following options: Notes can be saved according to the device's own note standard, or they can be saved according to the EPUB note standard. If the reader chooses to save according to the EPUB standard, the notes will be saved according to the rules set by W3C.
Imagine a future reader replacing his e-book reader: He sends the old EPUB books he bought to the device. But the device recognizes these books as new. There are no more notes. But when the reader copies the note files of the books from the old device to the new device will he get his notes back. Any device that supports the universal EPUB format will also support these note files. EBook reader devices are ephemeral. The e-library and the personal content that the reader creates in the book must be sustained.
In fact, a perfect solution would be for W3C to develop a standard for the e-reader to save book notes on top of the Epub file. Notes taken on PDF files are saved in the PDF file. This ensures the permanence of the notes. This is how the notes for Epub books should be! Perhaps WC3 could collaborate with Adobe on this.
Publishers will be pleased to see the design of the e-book improved. But why should they care about the quality of the reader generated content? Why should they ask W3C to improve that too? The reader gets more out of the book with the content they create. It is the reader's favorite parts that make the book valuable. They underline their favorite texts. They remember more parts of the book. So he can talk about the book at length to his friends. He can often bring up different parts of it. The reader will, of course, be advertising the book! The more the reader remembers about the book, the longer he/she will keep it on the agenda. Some of their friends will want to own the book. Then they will advertise it to their friends. The process starts to work. Now we can hope that the sales of that book will increase. It will make the publisher of the book happy.
In fact, this also makes it easier for e-reader manufacturers. They don't have to design new software algorithms for taking notes on the book. The standard rules are already in place. Manufacturers just need to write the appropriate program.