Re: Minutes from EPUB.Next

Sorry I was unable to attend the meeting – too many other standards going on right now.   I did, however, have a chance to review the minutes – thanks to Tzviya for providing them.

Ignoring the incorrect information about PDF, its use as a document format and its ability to be made accessible (in compliance with national and international standards, including WCAG) – I did want to comment on the larger question about “Replacing PDF”

Andrew and Tzviya said it very well at the end of the meeting – people who are moving away from PDF for publications are moving to the web (aka HTML).  We’ve talked to many customers in many segments around the world on this particular topic.  What we learned is that they are choosing to do so for a variety of reasons including (but not limited to):
- They know what the web is (and the corollary, they don’t know what EPUB is)
- Everyone has a web browser (and the corollary, they don’t have EPUB Readers)
- They already have tools that produce HTML (and the corollary, they don’t have EPUB tooling or don’t know how to use it)
- They can easily update the material and ensure that recipients are always looking at the right thing.

So as mentioned by a number of folks – this group needs to figure out whether the goal is to provide a better reading/consumption experience “on the web” (aka in browser) *OR* to compete with PDF as a packaged format for “off the web” content distribution and consumption.   As others said – trying to do both isn’t working well for EPUB…

Leonard

From: Siegman, Tzviya <tsiegman@wiley.com>
Date: Thursday, October 28, 2021 at 12:03 PM
To: PBG Steering Committee (Public) <public-publishing-sc@w3.org>, W3C Publishing Business Group <public-publishingbg@w3.org>, public-publishingcg@w3.org <public-publishingcg@w3.org>, public-epub3@w3.org <public-epub3@w3.org>
Subject: Minutes from EPUB.Next
Hi All,

Thank you for attending our community meeting on 27 October.

Here are minutes https://www.w3.org/2021/10/27-epub.html<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2021%2F10%2F27-epub.html&data=04%7C01%7Clrosenth%40adobe.com%7C240fc1e0d03d4e5577b008d99a2c6af1%7Cfa7b1b5a7b34438794aed2c178decee1%7C0%7C0%7C637710337831636934%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=2A3GXAw1pvhmVUeBQ0FJu3GIPKX8BXKReeVI4BjBJpU%3D&reserved=0>.

We plan another community-wide meeting in about 6 months.

Thank you,
Tzviya

Tzviya Siegman
Information Standards Principal
Wiley
201-748-6884
tsiegman@wiley.com<mailto:tsiegman@wiley.com>