Epub accessibility testing tips and resources
Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2018 5:36 pm
Good afternoon everyone. I hope all of you are having a great week!
I would just like to share a few EPUB accessibility tips and resources that I have found to be very helpful in my work thus far. I apologize if this information is not new to many of you, but I hope that the resources I have found will be of assistance at some point during your work.
Some books contain media overlays with audio content that can be synchronized with the text. I ascertainhow closely my position within the audio matches with my text location by listening to the audio for 30 seconds, pausing it, then comparing my playback position with my location in the text. If my positions within the text and audio were identical after pausing, I noted this in a text file. I ran about another 10 tests at various points within the book. I then jump to a few different sections within the text, keeping track of how closely audio playback matches my new text locations. If my text and audio positions continued to closely match, I could determine that they were synchronized for a given reader. Daniella has given me an excellent method of quantifying how closely the audio feed matches my current text position. Using a timer or stopwatch can allow you to numerically quantify how closely text and audio are synchronized.
While delving into how EPUB documents are coded and structured, I've come across some great resources online. Laura Grady has written an excellent article:
Ebook Accessibility: Here’s What You Might Be Missing
EPUB Secrets is a goldmine of articles relating to the EPUB file format, EPUB readers and accessibility. The site is updated with new content quite frequently.
The DAISY Consortium's Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base is a place I always turn to if I have any technical questions during the testing process. The knowledge base is a comprehensive guide, providing best practices for creating accessible EPUB books and digital publications.
If you wish to dig into the nuts and bolts of how an EPUB document is put together and coded, I recommend reading
Epub: the Language of ebooks
I hope some of you will find these resources to be helpful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I wish all of you a great day!
I would just like to share a few EPUB accessibility tips and resources that I have found to be very helpful in my work thus far. I apologize if this information is not new to many of you, but I hope that the resources I have found will be of assistance at some point during your work.
Some books contain media overlays with audio content that can be synchronized with the text. I ascertainhow closely my position within the audio matches with my text location by listening to the audio for 30 seconds, pausing it, then comparing my playback position with my location in the text. If my positions within the text and audio were identical after pausing, I noted this in a text file. I ran about another 10 tests at various points within the book. I then jump to a few different sections within the text, keeping track of how closely audio playback matches my new text locations. If my text and audio positions continued to closely match, I could determine that they were synchronized for a given reader. Daniella has given me an excellent method of quantifying how closely the audio feed matches my current text position. Using a timer or stopwatch can allow you to numerically quantify how closely text and audio are synchronized.
While delving into how EPUB documents are coded and structured, I've come across some great resources online. Laura Grady has written an excellent article:
Ebook Accessibility: Here’s What You Might Be Missing
EPUB Secrets is a goldmine of articles relating to the EPUB file format, EPUB readers and accessibility. The site is updated with new content quite frequently.
The DAISY Consortium's Accessible Publishing Knowledge Base is a place I always turn to if I have any technical questions during the testing process. The knowledge base is a comprehensive guide, providing best practices for creating accessible EPUB books and digital publications.
If you wish to dig into the nuts and bolts of how an EPUB document is put together and coded, I recommend reading
Epub: the Language of ebooks
I hope some of you will find these resources to be helpful. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. I wish all of you a great day!