Provides an overview of the current state of HTML5, EPUB3, and how you can get there from DITA content.

1. DITA, HTML5, and EPUB3
Delivering DITA-based content to
devices

2. Agenda
• Why do we care?
• The state of the technology: EPUB, HTML5,
DITA
• Adaptive presentation
• Production options
• Some demos

3. About the Author
• Founding member of the DITA TC
• Founding member of the XML Working
Group
• Creator and primary contributor to the
DITA for Publishers open-source project,
which provides DITA-to-EPUB and DITA-
to-HTML5 transforms
• Been doing SGML- and XML-stuff for a
very long time
• For last 10 years have worked primarily
with Publishers
• ekimber@contrext.com,
http://contrext.com

4. SOME DEMOS
Contrext, LLC 4Content Agility, June 2013

5. WHY DO WE CARE?
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6. Devices are the Future
• Everyone has a tablet or a smart phone
• Ebook sales have or soon will exceed paper book sales volume and
revenue:
―The Association of American Publishers reported that in the first
quarter of 2012, adult eBook sales were up to $282.3 million while
adult hardcover sales came to only $229.6 million. In last year's
first quarter, hardcover sales accounted for $223 million in sales
while eBooks logged $220.4 million.‖ —zdnet.com, 18 June 2012
• Interactivity and media can improve task support
• All the cool kids are doing it
Contrext, LLC 6Content Agility, June 2013

7. HTML5 Makes Things Easier
• Modern navigation and interaction features
• Modern appearance
• Improved typography
• Adapts better to different browsers and
devices
• Reduced reliance on proprietary plugins and
viewers
• More manageable media delivery
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8. EPUB3 Looks to the Future
• Intended to support HTML5 features in
reading systems and devices
• Gives Publishers a fixed-layout option and
embedded fonts
• Enables standards-based synchronization of
text and speech
• Enables and encourages accessibility features
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9. Digital is More than Just Web Sites
• For TechDoc, online delivery has always been a
primary requirement and goal
– Online help
– HTML for manuals
• For Publishers, digital delivery usually an
afterthought
– Digital produced from print (PDF or InDesign)
– Digital expensive and time-consuming to produce
– High chance of error
Contrext, LLC 9Content Agility, June 2013

10. Publishers Need Digital First
• No longer viable to treat digital as an after-
the-fact
• Digital production needs to be addressed early
in editorial and production cycles
• Requires XML-as-early-as-possible workflows
• Requires changes to editorial and production
practice and tools
Contrext, LLC 10Content Agility, June 2013

11. TechDoc Needs Device Delivery
• Manuals readable on devices
• Task support information optimized for device
delivery (HTML help, etc.)
• Interactive training and assessment
• Adaptive delivery for hearing and visually
impaired (ADA requirements in the U.S.)
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12. Assumption: Automate Production
• Making a basic assumption…
• …that production of digital deliverables should
be automated from the content source
wherever possible
• Lights-out generation of EPUB, Web sites,
embedded applications
• Implies use of XML as content source
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13. EPUB, HTML5, AND DITA
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14. EPUB
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15. EPUB
• Current version is EPUB3 (approved Nov 2011)
• Previous version was EPUB2
• All readers support EPUB2 more or less
completely (Amazon Kindle via conversion)
• EPUB3 support is spotty at best
– iBooks
– Readium
– Google Play Books
– AZARDI
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16. EPUB3 Design Goals
• Reflect latest Web technologies
– HTML5
– CSS3
– SVG
– MathML
• Get HTML5 goodness for optimized
presentation on devices
• Enable fixed-layout publications
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17. EPUB3 Details
• Uses HTML5
– HTML5-style navigation
– <video> and <audio> for media
– Reading systems may support JavaScript for
interaction
– SMIL for media and text syncronization (overlays)
• CSS3 profile enables more sophisticated styling
• Support for embedded fonts now required
• SVG is now a core content type: can reference
from the spine (fixed-layout publications)
Contrext, LLC 17Content Agility, June 2013

18. EPUB3 and EPUB2
• EPUB3 books may contain EPUB2-specific
components
– .ncx for navigation
– <guide/>
• Allows EPUB3 to be read by EPUB2 readers
• For example, all O’Reilly EPUBS are EPUB3
with EPUB2 fallbacks.
Contrext, LLC 18Content Agility, June 2013

19. EPUB Practicalities
• May need to have different EPUBs for different
channels
• Embedded fonts may require obfuscation
• Embedded fonts benefit from subsetting
• Many small bugs in different EPUB readers
that have to be understood and worked
around
• Need different video formats for iBooks,
Android-based readers
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20. HTML5
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21. HTML5 the Standard
• W3C recommendation-track activity
• Design is settling down after some initial
chaos
• On target for recommendation in 2014
• W3C pushing controversial parts out to
separate specifications to keep things moving
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22. HTML5 Technology
• Markup vocabulary appears to be reasonably
stable
• Lots of available JavaScript libraries
• Well supported in latest browsers
– SVG support seems to be pretty good
– MathML not 100% in any browser
– MathJax JavaScript library can be used in any
JavaScriptable browser
• Not likely to have a single standard video format
any time soon
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23. What is HTML5?
• Vocabulary + Document Model + API + CSS +
JavaScript
• Vocabulary adds some key semantic structures to
HTML
– <nav>
– <section>
– <article>
– <figure>
• CSS and scripting provide layout and interaction
• Document model and scripting API attempt to
standardize browser behavior
Contrext, LLC 23Content Agility, June 2013

24. HTML5 Requires JavaScript
• Most of what we think of as “HTML5” is
scripting applied to markup in the browser
• Can leverage existing libraries but not in all
cases
• May require significant custom JavaScript
development depending on requirements
• For multi-device, multi-browser delivery have
to think carefully about fallback and graceful
degredation
Contrext, LLC 24Content Agility, June 2013

25. HTML Can Drive Apps
• HTML5 can be used as underpinning of
standalone apps
• EPUB3 with scripting is effectively an app
• HTML5 may not be suitable or practical for all
types of apps
• But apps can be engineered to consume
HTML5 markup or something similar
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26. DITA AND ADAPTIVE
DELIVERY
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27. DITA is All About Digital
• DITA was designed originally and optimized for digital
delivery
• Well suited to HTML5 and EPUB delivery models
• Has what’s needed for TechDoc content
• Needed to have Publishing requirements added
• DITA for Publishers project provides Publishing-specific
requirements
• Also adding some Publishing-driven features in DITA 1.3:
– Inline SVG and MathML
– Cross-deliverable linking
– Small but important content model extensions
Contrext, LLC 27Content Agility, June 2013

28. DITA-to-HTML5 and EPUB Options
• Several HTML5 generation options:
– DITA for Publishers HTML5 transform
– SuiteSolutions SuiteHelp
– oXygenXML WebHelp transform
– Other commercial solutions
• DITA for Publishers provides EPUB transform
– Currently EPUB2
– EPUB3 under development (builds on HTML5
transform)
Contrext, LLC 28Content Agility, June 2013

29. DITA to EPUB Fixed Layout
• Nothing out-of-the-box as of June 2013
• Several possible options:
– XSL-FO to XHTML+CSS with absolute
positioning
– DITA to InDesign to fixed-layout EPUB
– PDF-to-XHTML+CSS with absolute
positioning
• Implementation will be driven by client
requirements
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30. SOME DEMOS
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31. EPUB3
• AZARDI samples
– Emphasize layout and interaction capabilities
of AZARDI reader
– will mostly work in any JavaScript-capable
reader (iBooks, Google Play, Readium)
• IDPF samples:
http://code.google.com/p/epub-samples/
– Test case and feature demonstrations
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32. HTML5
• DITA for Practitioners
– D4P HTML5 transform
– oXygenXML WebHelp transform
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33. Questions?
• Resources
– Me: ekimber@contrext.com, http://contrext.com
– DITA
• DITA For Publishers:
http://dita4publishers.sourceforge.net
• SuiteSolutions: http://suitesol.com
• oXygenXML: http://oxygenxml.com
– EPUB:
• http://idpf.org
– HTML5:
• http://w3c.org/html5
• HTML samples site
Contrext, LLC 33Content Agility, June 2013