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EPUB3/DAISY Workflow

Creating accessible e-books and digital talking books.

Workflow Overview

graph TD
    A[Source Material] --> B[Content Preparation]
    B --> C[Structure & Semantics]
    C --> D[Accessibility Enhancement]
    D --> E[Validation]
    E --> F[Output]
    F --> G[DAISY Pipeline]
    G --> H[Final Validation]
    H --> I[Distribution]

Detailed Steps

1. Source Acquisition

  • Purpose: Gather source materials
  • Tasks:
  • Collect all content (text, images, audio)
  • Verify copyright permissions
  • Check for existing accessible versions
  • Supported Source Types:
  • Word documents
  • PDFs
  • HTML
  • Existing EPUBs
  • Scanned documents (OCR required)

2. Content Preparation

  • Purpose: Clean and structure content
  • Tasks:
  • Convert to HTML or XHTML
  • Clean up formatting
  • Extract images
  • Organize into logical structure
  • Tools: Pandoc, Sigil, Oxygen XML Editor

3. Structure & Semantics

  • Purpose: Add proper semantic structure
  • Tasks:
  • Define document structure (headings, paragraphs, lists)
  • Add ARIA roles and properties
  • Create navigation document (NCX)
  • Define table of contents
  • Key Elements:
  • <h1>-<h6> for headings
  • <p> for paragraphs
  • <ul>, <ol>, <dl> for lists
  • <table> for tables
  • <img> with alt attributes

4. Accessibility Enhancement

  • Purpose: Make content accessible
  • Tasks:
  • Add alt text for images
  • Create extended descriptions for complex images
  • Add captions/transcripts for audio/video
  • Ensure color contrast
  • Add ARIA attributes
  • Define reading order
  • WCAG Requirements:
  • Images: Alt text for all non-decorative images
  • Audio/Video: Captions and transcripts
  • Color: Minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio
  • Navigation: Logical tab order
  • Language: Define document language

5. Styling

  • Purpose: Apply visual styling
  • Tasks:
  • Create CSS stylesheet
  • Define typography
  • Set up page layouts
  • Configure responsive design
  • Best Practices:
  • Use relative units (em, rem, %)
  • Avoid fixed positioning
  • Ensure text remains readable when enlarged
  • Provide print styles

6. Metadata

  • Purpose: Add descriptive metadata
  • Tasks:
  • Add Dublin Core metadata
  • Define accessibility metadata
  • Add ONIX metadata (for commercial)
  • Required Metadata:
  • Title
  • Language
  • Creator/Author
  • Publisher
  • Date
  • Identifier (ISBN, DOI, etc.)
  • Accessibility features

7. Validation

  • Purpose: Check for errors
  • Tasks:
  • Run EPUBCheck
  • Validate with DAISY Ace
  • Manual review
  • Tools:
  • EPUBCheck
  • DAISY Ace

8. DAISY Pipeline Processing

  • Purpose: Convert to DAISY format
  • Tasks:
  • Run through DAISY Pipeline 2
  • Select appropriate transformation
  • Configure output options
  • Common Transformations:
  • EPUB3 to DAISY 3
  • EPUB3 to DAISY 2.02
  • HTML to DAISY
  • DTBook to DAISY

9. Final Validation

  • Purpose: Ensure DAISY compliance
  • Tasks:
  • Validate with DAISY Ace
  • Test with screen readers
  • Verify navigation
  • DAISY Requirements:
  • Proper structure
  • Navigation works
  • Audio sync (if applicable)
  • Text-only version available

10. Distribution

  • Purpose: Deliver to users
  • Tasks:
  • Package files
  • Create distribution manifest
  • Upload to delivery system
  • Distribution Formats:
  • ZIP archive
  • Direct download
  • CD/DVD
  • Online repository

Tools & Software

Core Tools

Tool Purpose Platform License
DAISY Pipeline 2 Conversion engine Cross-platform Apache 2.0
EPUBCheck EPUB validation Cross-platform BSD
DAISY Ace Accessibility checker Web-based Open Source
Sigil EPUB editor Windows, macOS, Linux GPL
Calibre E-book management Cross-platform GPL
Pandoc Document conversion Cross-platform GPL

Validation Tools

Tool Checks For Output
EPUBCheck EPUB compliance Pass/Fail report
DAISY Ace Accessibility Detailed report
NVDA Screen reader compatibility Audio feedback
JAWS Screen reader compatibility Audio feedback
VoiceOver Screen reader compatibility Audio feedback

Accessibility Features

Required Features

Feature Description Implementation
Alt Text Text descriptions for images <img alt="...">
Extended Descriptions Long descriptions for complex images <figcaption> or separate file
Captions Text for audio/video <track> element
Transcripts Full text of audio/video Separate text file
Reading Order Logical content sequence CSS order property
Language Content language lang attribute
Semantic Structure Proper use of HTML elements <header>, <nav>, <main>, etc.
Navigation Easy content navigation TOC, landmarks, page list
Text Alternatives For non-text content Alt text, captions, transcripts
Adaptable Content can be presented differently CSS flexibility
Distinguishable Easy to see and hear Color contrast, clear audio

Advanced Features

Feature Description Implementation
Audio Synchronization Text highlighted as audio plays SMIL or WebVTT
Sign Language Video of sign language interpretation <video> with sign language track
Tactile Graphics Descriptions for tactile images Separate DTB volume
Braille Braille version of text Separate BRF file
Large Print Larger text version CSS media queries
Customizable User can adjust display CSS custom properties

File Structure

my-epub/
 META-INF/
    container.xml
 OEBPS/
    content.opf
    toc.ncx
    toc.xhtml
    chapter1.xhtml
    chapter2.xhtml
    images/
       image1.png
       image2.jpg
    styles/
       style.css
    audio/
        narration.mp3
 mimetype