[Epub Fixed Layout Editor Tutorial
Saija Grzegorek
A reflowable EPUB document allows the EPUB reader to optimize the content depending on the display device, making it ideal for e-Ink devices. This format allows readers to customize text font and size.
Fixed Layout format supports audio, video, and Edge content. It's suitable for graphics, text, audio, and video documents, making it perfect for children's books, cookbooks, textbooks, and comics. You can also export interactive documents that include controls such as navigation buttons, page transitions, animations, and hyperlinks to the fixed layout format.
InDesign creates a single .epub file containing the XHTML-based content. To view the file, you need an EPUB reader. You can also use the Adobe Digital Editions reader, which you can download free from the Adobe website.
EPUB Fixed Layout format offers precise design control, ideal for image-rich content, while EPUB Reflowable format provides adaptable text for various devices, prioritizing readability and flexibility.
EPUB 3.0 Supports audio, video, JavaScript, and vertical Japanese text. This isn't supported on devices that don't support the EPUB 3.0 standard. EPUB 3.0 is an approved standard (by IDPF, 2011). This is available in both Fixed Layout and Reflowable Layout formats.
Select this option if you do not want to include classes in the HTML. It removes the class and id attributes present in the tag during HTML Export. Any redundant div tags present in the HTML are also removed.
InDesign provides support for the EPUB 2 section in the OPF file. InDesign automatically detects the cover and the print Table Of Contents option. To determine the text type, InDesign uses the epub:type values specified in the Object Export Options dialog.
When you export a book to EPUB, the export process generates a CSS for each document in the book. Each document CSS defines the styles that are unique to the document. The process also creates a master CSS that includes the common styles used across the documents in the book.
This is equivalent to Preserve Appearance From Layout in the Reflowable Export/Conversion section. The whole object is rasterized, thus preserving its appearance. If the object is a text frame, the text will no longer be live.
No CSS width or height is generated for the tag mapped from the object. The size of the object is determined by the internal content, if any, according to the CSS rules, the aspect ratio is not maintained.
The CSS width is determined by taking the width of the object and expressing it as a percentage relative to the width of the text frame containing the text flow. The aspect ratio of the object is maintained.
EPUB fixed layout publications, or publications where the print layout is preserved in the digital edition, have been around since before EPUB 3.0.1. These publications span a number of genres and types, from comic books, cook books, children's books, and more.
An accessible fixed layout EPUB file is one that meets the accessibility requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.x level AA [[wcag2]] and EPUB Accessibility 1.1 [[epub-a11y-11]], including color contrast, reading order, font layout, structural navigation, accessibility metadata, and text alternatives. Not all WCAG success criteria are applicable to EPUB documents, a more detailed list can be found in section 1.4.
The main motivation behind creating fixed layout publications is the need to preserve the print layout of the book, either because of the layout's importance to the text (i.e. complex diagrams) or it's artistic purpose (i.e. illustrated text). These publications can often be partially or completely inaccessible to people with disabilities, especially disabilities affecting vision or visual processing. However, the visual nature of fixed layout publications can also offer advantages for disabled readers. Graphic and visual design is about much more than making things look pretty, and well-designed publications can create reading experiences that aid in increasing understanding, information retention, conveying complex ideas, and more.
This note serves to help EPUB creators, publishers, and reading systems address some of the common accessibility issues found in fixed layout content including navigation, reading order, and text alternatives. This document is a companion to EPUB Accessibility 1.1 [[epub-a11y-11]], specifically for fixed layout publications. The recommendations made in EPUB Accessibility 1.1 [[epub-a11y-11]], EPUB 3.3 [[epub-33]], and EPUB Reading Systems 3.3 [[epub-rs-33]] are applied and extended here.
In addition to the recommendations in this document, the Publishing Maintenance Working Group's Fixed Layout Accessibility Task Force is producing an accompanying techniques document to cover the technical side of fixed layout accessibility.
This document provides guidance and best practices for meeting the requirements of EPUB Accessibility 1.1 [[epub-a11y-11]] for fixed layout publications, in particular with respect to meeting WCAG 2 success criteria [[wcag2]]. It is not a new standard for document accessibility.
This document does not cover WCAG success criteria that do not typically apply to fixed layout content or that cannot be accommodated by fixed layouts. For example, the needs of people with low vision or learning disabilities that rely on the transformation of text (i.e., dyslexia) are still difficult to accommodate in fixed layout content.
Success criteria categorized as Level AAA are also out of scope, as these are typically considered aspirational for conformance purposes. EPUB creators may still want or need to meet the criteria not covered by this document, and are encouraged to do so when possible.
This document also outlines reading system considerations specific to accessibility for fixed layouts, and methods reading systems can apply to make content more accessible. It is not a general guide to making reading systems, their user interfaces, or user experiences accessible.
The Publishing Maintenance Working Group recognizes that making fully accessible fixed layouts presents unique challenges, and may not be possible in many cases. That should not be used as an excuse not to make fixed layout publications as accessible as possible.
We want to recognize these challenges for EPUB creators, and in this document will outline some recommendations for producing more accessible fixed layout content. We encourage EPUB creators to explore the full range of options for accessibility that digital publications present, even when creating fixed layout publications.
WCAG [[wcag2]] is structured around four main principles: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. These principles are the foundation of web accessibility and a helpful way to group and understand the guidelines and success criteria required to make content accessible. Not all WCAG success criteria apply to fixed layout content, and fixed layout cannot meet all success criteria that apply.
Content must be presented and built in a way that allows it to be perceivable to different senses. This principle requires fixed layout content be built in a way that supports multiple reading methods - visual, audible, and tactile. This principle and its related success criteria are achieved by providing text alternatives for images, using proper markup to structure content, and ensuring visual content is well contrasted and designed.
Content and navigation must be operable, built in a way that makes it usable for all users. This principle, when applied to fixed layout content, is achieved through consistent navigation and content structure.
Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by a variety of user agents, reading systems, and assistive technologies. For fixed layout content, achieving this principle requires the EPUB file to be well-formed and all content must use proper markup.
EPUB 3.3 [[epub-33]] supports multiple methods for content development, particularly for fixed layout content. The two primary methods are to use XHTML and SVG for building EPUB content documents. A third method used in many EPUB fixed layout books is to reference image files in the spine of the EPUB file. We will discuss the accessibility considerations for all three methods in this document.
In addition to the core technologies mentioned in the EPUB 3.3 recommendation, EPUB accessibility may also require the use of the Accessible Rich Internet Applications [[wai-aria-1.2]] and Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA [[dpub-aria-1.1]] recommendations.
Whereas many reflowable publications have an obvious reading order, or logical progression through their content, fixed layout publications are often more complex in their design and layout and may consist of multiple readable objects on the same page.
There may be cases when text appears on the page but is unnecessary, duplicated or otherwise confusing for it to be added to the reading order, e.g. page numbers, running headers and footers, or text used for visual effects.
Fixed layout documents can be presented as synthetic spreads where two pages are arranged side-by-side. As each page of the fixed layout document is a separate XHTML document, it is expected that the reading order of the EPUB flows from one page to the next. Even if the content is presented in a synthetic spread, the reading order should not require that the reader move between pages to read the content in order.
If the text must be read in this way, the only solution to maintain the correct reading order is to convert the double page spread in to a single landscape page that contains the entire content of the spread and for the EPUB to be rendered as single pages.
Images are often an integral part of fixed layout publications. Fixed layout publications sometimes consist entirely of images, in the case of comics, or images may be used as backgrounds to a story, as in children's books. Fixed layout content where images serve as both the content and the layout pose a particular challenge for EPUB creators interested in accessibility.
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