epubjs

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Render ePub documents in the browser, across many devices

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?><!DOCTYPE html><html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>Accessibility and Usability</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/epub.css" /> <meta name="dat-origPath" value="/html/body" /><link rel="prev" href="./ch01_1.html" /><link rel="next" href="./ch01s02_1.html" /></head><body> <h2 class="title" id="_accessibility_and_usability" data-origPath="/html/body/section/h2">Accessibility and Usability</h2> The other subject that needs treatment is what is meant by accessibility and usability in the context of this guide. These two terms are often used in overlapping fashion, and can mean different things to different people, but I’ll be using the following definitions: Accessibility of content is the intrinsic capabilities of the EPUB 3 publication: the quality of the data and meaning that can be extracted from it; the built-in navigational capabilities; the additional functionality, like text and audio synchronization (media overlays) and improved synthetic speech. The publisher of an EPUB has control over the accessibility of their publication, whether directly through the tools they use to generate the source or in post-production workflows. Usability is the ability of a reader to access the content on any given reading system. A publisher may make an EPUB 3 publication rich with accessibility features, but if a reader does not have the right device or software program to access those features it is not the publication itself that is to blame. But even making these distinctions, there’s no simple answer to what a fully accessible EPUB is, or to what a completely usable reading system is. It means something different depending on your needs. A person with a print disability, for example, “cannot effectively read print because of a visual, physical, perceptual, developmental, cognitive, or learning disability” (<a class="ulink" href="http://www.daisy.org/glossary/12#term325" target="_top">DAISY Glossary</a>). The best method to address any one of these areas is not necessarily the best method to address any of the others. Audio is necessary for readers who are blind, for example, but a reader who is dyslexic might benefit from audio, or from font changes or visual cues, or from a combination of these. There’s no universal answer. And with EPUB 3 opening the door to new rich multimedia experiences, so too do you need to think beyond traditional print disabilities and recognize that ebooks have the potential to exclude a greater segment of the population if not done with care: <ul class="itemizedlist" data-origPath="/html/body/section/ul[1]"> <li class="listitem"> the inability to hear embedded audio and video is a concern for persons who are deaf or hard or hearing;</li> <li class="listitem"> interactivity and animations that rely on color recognition have the potential to exclude persons who are color blind or have difficulty distinguishing blended contrasts;</li> <li class="listitem"> the new trend to voice activated devices has the potential to make reading for persons with speech impairments difficult.</li> </ul> The point isn’t to suggest that the problem is too big to try and tackle, in fact the opposite. If you haven’t caught on, I’m making the case why ignoring accessibility means ignoring a large segment of readers who would love to be buying and consuming your ebooks. It is estimated that 10 percent of the population has a print disability; that’s a large market you could be catering to to increase your sales. </body> </html>