EPUB 3 Best Practices

Chapter 3. Content Documents

The most recognizable part of an EPUB to readers is the content itself, so it’s not surprising that many of the integral components that make up an EPUB are often overlooked and the conclusion drawn that the format is simply what gets rendered. EPUB is not just a website in a box, though, as you’ve seen in the last couple chapters. Content is one piece of a much larger puzzle.

The journey through EPUB content is actually going to be spread out across a number of chapters. This one aims to provide a general overview of content documents, covering the major features and additions in EPUB 3, as well as the CSS profile.

The following chapters will then build on this foundation by looking in more detail at how to embed fonts, use the new audio and video multimedia elements, create media overlays for synchronizing audio with text, add scripted interactivity, include global language support, and finally wrap up content by covering accessibility concerns, which is where many of the best practices for marking up your content will be laid out. In other words, by the time you’ve worked your way through the heart of this book, you should be well versed in the features and functionality at your disposal.

Terminology Refresher

Before plunging too far into content, a good grounding in the language of EPUB resources will be helpful to the coming discussions. EPUB has a rich lexicon when it comes to content, and each term has a specific meaning. When reading over the specification, ...