EPUB Accessibility 1.0
Overview
1.1 Purpose and Scope
This section is informative
This specification, EPUB Accessibility, addresses two key needs in the EPUB® ecosystem:
evaluation and certification of accessible EPUB Publications;
discovery of the accessible qualities of EPUB Publications.
Although it has always been possible to create
EPUB Publications
with a high degree of accessibility, this
specification sets formal requirements to meet to certify content as accessible. These requirements
provide
Authors
a clear set of guidelines to
evaluate their content against, and allow certification of quality.
The inclusion of accessibility metadata, on the other hand, facilitates informed decisions about the
usability of an EPUB Publication. Consumers can review the qualities of the content and decide whether an
EPUB Publication is appropriate for their needs, regardless of whether it meets the bar of being
certified broadly accessible.
This specification defines three categories of compliance for EPUB Publications:
Discoverable — an EPUB Publication that meets the discovery metadata
requirements of this specification but does not meet the accessibility requirements.
Conformance is defined in
Discoverable EPUB Publications
Accessible — an EPUB Publication that meets all discovery,
WCAG
2.0
and EPUB accessibility requirements. Conformance is defined in
Accessible
EPUB Publications
Optimized — an EPUB Publication that meets the discovery requirements for
Optimizations
. Conformance is defined in
Optimized EPUB Publications
This specification does not target a single version of EPUB. It is designed to be applicable to EPUB
Publications that conform to any version or profile, including future versions of the standard.
Ideally, these guidelines will be instructive in evaluating any digital publication built on Open Web
technologies, although ensuring such application is outside the scope of this specification.
note
For additional background on the decisions that went into this specification, refer to the informative
Accessibility FAQ
1.2 Success Techniques
This specification takes an abstract approach to the accessibility requirements for
EPUB Publications
, similar to how
WCAG 2.0
separates its accessibility guidelines from the techniques to
achieve them. This approach allows the guidelines to remain stable even as the format evolves.
To facilitate this approach, the companion
EPUB Accessibility
Techniques
document outlines conformance techniques. The techniques explain how to meet the
requirements of this specification for different versions of EPUB.
1.3 Application to Older Specifications
This section is informative
This specification is designed to be applicable to any
EPUB Publication
, even if the content conforms to an older specification
that does not make reference to this one (i.e., specifications prior to
EPUB 3.1
).
Authors
of such EPUB Publications are
encouraged to create content in conformance with the accessibility requirements of this specification,
even though it is not normatively required.
1.4 Terminology
Assistive Technology
This specification adopts the meaning of an
assistive technology
from
WCAG
2.0
Note that an assistive technology is not always a separate application from a Reading System.
Reading Systems often integrate features of standalone assistive technologies, such as
text-to-speech playback.
Author
The person(s) or organization responsible for the creation of an
EPUB Publication
. The Author
is not necessarily the creator of the content.
Discoverable EPUB Publication
An
EPUB
Publication
that includes a description of its accessible qualities in its
Package Document
metadata, as defined in
Discovery
Inclusion of this metadata allows users to make informed decisions about the usability of the
EPUB Publication, even in cases where the content does not meet the accessibility
requirements of this specification.
Distribution System
A system that provides users access to obtain EPUB Publications, such as an online bookstore
or public library.
EPUB Authoring Tool
This specification adapts the meaning of
authoring
tool
from
ATAG
2.0
. An EPUB Authoring Tool differs only in that it is has to be able to
create or modify an EPUB Publication.
EPUB Content Document
A document that conforms to one of the EPUB Content Document definitions.
EPUB Publication
A collection of one or more
Renditions
that represents a single intellectual or artistic work.
Optimized EPUB Publication
An
EPUB
Publication
whose content is enhanced to be accessible by users with a specific need
(e.g., dyslexia) or preferred reading modality (e.g., audio, tactile), so does not meet the
broader accessibility requirements of
WCAG
2.0
. See
Optimized Publications
Package Document
The Package Document describes one
Rendition
of an
EPUB Publication
. It carries meta information, provides a
manifest of resources and defines the default reading order.
Reading System
A system that processes
EPUB Publications
for presentation to a user.
Rendition
A logical document entity that represents one rendering of an
EPUB Publication
note
Some terms have more precise meanings for a given version of EPUB. Refer to the appropriate
specification for more information.
1.5 Typographic Conventions
The following typographic conventions are used in this specification:
markup
All markup (elements, attributes, properties), code (JavaScript, pseudo-code),
machine-readable values (string, characters, media types) and file names are in red monospace
font.
markup link
Links to markup and code definitions are in underlined red monospace font.
URIs are in navy blue monospace font.
hyperlink
Hyperlinks are underlined and blue.
[reference]
Normative and informative references are enclosed in square brackets.
Term
Terms defined in the
Terminology
are in capital case.
Term Link
Links to term definitions have a dotted blue underline.
Normative element, attribute and property definitions are in blue boxes.
Informative markup examples are in light gray boxes.
note
Informative notes are in green boxes with a "Note" header.
caution
Informative cautionary notes are in red boxes with a "Caution" header.
1.6 Conformance Statements
The keywords
MUST
MUST NOT
REQUIRED
SHALL
SHALL
NOT
SHOULD
SHOULD NOT
RECOMMENDED
MAY
, and
OPTIONAL
in this document are to be interpreted as described in
RFC2119
All sections and appendixes of this specification are normative except where identified by the informative
status label "This section is informative". The application of informative status to sections and
appendixes applies to all child content and subsections they contain.
All examples in this specification are informative.
Conformance
2.1 Discoverable EPUB Publications
Discoverable EPUB
Publication
must
meet the following criteria:
It
must
include
discovery metadata as defined in
Discovery
2.2 Accessible EPUB Publications
An
EPUB Publication
must
meet the following criteria to be accessible per this specification:
It
must
meet the
requirements for
Discoverable EPUB Publications
It
must
meet the
requirements for
WCAG
2.0
conformance defined in
WCAG Conformance Requirements
It
must
meet the
requirements for EPUB Publications defined in
EPUB Requirements
It
must
include
accessibility conformance metadata as defined in
Conformance Reporting
2.3 Optimized EPUB Publications
An
Optimized EPUB
Publication
must
meet the following criteria:
It
must
meet the
requirements for
Discoverable EPUB Publications
It
must
identify the standard or
guidelines it conforms to as defined in
Optimized Publications
2.4 Distribution
Regardless of the type or level of accessibility an EPUB Publication achieves, it
must
be distributed accessibly, as defined in
Distribution
Discovery
3.1 Introduction
This section is informative
Unlike Web pages,
EPUB
Publications
are designed to be distributed through many channels for personal consumption — a
model that has made EPUB a successful format for ebooks and other types of digital publications. A
consequence of this model, however, is that specific details about the accessibility of a publication
need to travel with it.
An online bookstore aggregating content from publishers and authors, for example, does not know the
production quality that went into each submission, so can only convey to consumers what is present in
each publication's metadata.
Ensuring that the accessible qualities of an EPUB Publication can be discovered by any interested party is
therefore a primary concern. Users need to be able to gauge the usability of an EPUB Publication when
they purchase, borrow or otherwise obtain it, a determination that requires knowing the any affordances
made to meet the accessibility requirements.
Similarly, content that does not meet the requirements of this specification, while not broadly
accessible, might still meet the needs of individual users. Only through the inclusion of rich metadata
can a user decide if the content is suitable for them.
3.2 Package Metadata
Every conformant
EPUB
Publication
must
include the following
schema.org
accessibility metadata:
accessMode
— a human sensory
perceptual system or cognitive faculty necessary to process or perceive the content (e.g.,
textual, visual, auditory, tactile).
accessibilityFeature
features and adaptations that contribute to the overall accessibility of the content (e.g.,
alternative text, extended descriptions, captions).
accessibilityHazard
— any
potential hazards that the content presents (e.g., flashing, motion simulation, sound).
accessibilitySummary
— a
human-readable summary of the overall accessibility, which includes a description of any
known deficiencies (e.g., lack of extended descriptions, specific hazards).
Inclusion of the following
schema.org
accessibility metadata is
recommended
accessModeSufficient
— a
set of one or more access modes sufficient to consume the content without significant loss of
information. An EPUB Publication might have more than one set of sufficient access modes for
its consumption depending on the types of content it includes (i.e., unlike
accessMode
, this property takes into account any
affordances for content that is not broadly accessible, such as the inclusion of transcripts
for audio content).
Inclusion of the following
schema.org
accessibility metadata is
optional
accessibilityAPI
— indicates
the resource is compatible with the specified accessibility API. This property is typically
only used to indicate that the use of scripting in an EPUB Publication follows
WAI-ARIA 1.1
authoring practices, as compatibility with operating system
accessibility APIs is a concern for Reading Systems.
accessibilityControl
identifies input methods that can be used to access the content (e.g., keyboard, mouse).
note
See
Discovery Metadata Techniques
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
for more information on
these properties and how to include them in different versions of EPUB.
See also
DIST-002: Include accessibility metadata in distribution records
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
for more information on
including accessibility metadata in other formats.
note
The above recommendations cover all
schema.org
accessibility properties at the time of
publication. If new properties are added in the future, Authors are encouraged to include them, as
applicable, until such time as this specification can be updated.
Inclusion of accessibility metadata from other vocabularies is
optional
3.3 Linked Metadata Records
Accessibility metadata can also be included in
linked records
Packages
, but the inclusion of such metadata solely in a linked record does not
satisfy the discovery requirements of this specification.
note
The precedence given to linked records varies depending on the version of EPUB (linked records have
higher precedence than the package metadata in
EPUB 3.1
, but lower precedence in earlier versions). As a
result, Authors need to take care to ensure that accessibility metadata in the
Package Document
and any linked records do
not contain contradictory statements, as it can affect the information a Reading System presents to
the user.
Accessible Publications
4.1 Introduction
This section is informative
EPUB is built on the Open Web Platform, with HTML, CSS, JavaScript and SVG the core technologies used for
content authoring. The use of these technologies means that
EPUB Publications
can be authored with a
high degree of accessibility simply through the proper application of established Web accessibility
techniques.
The primary source for the production of accessible Web content is the W3C Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
WCAG 2.0
This specification leverages the extensive work done in
WCAG 2.0
to
establish benchmarks for accessible content, and the same four high-level content principles —
Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust — are central to creating accessible EPUB
Publications.
This section defines how to apply the conformance criteria defined in
WCAG
2.0
and also addresses qualities unique to EPUB Publications.
EPUB Publications authored to comply with the requirements in this section will have a high degree of
accessibility for users with a wide variety of reading needs and preferences.
4.2 Relationship to WCAG
This section is informative
WCAG 2.0
and
WCAG 2.0 Techniques
provide
extensive coverage of issues and solutions for Web content accessibility — from tables to embedded
multimedia to rich semantics. They represent the foundation that this specification builds upon.
This specification does not repeat the requirements or techniques introduced in those documents, as it
risks breaking compatibility between the two standards (e.g., putting guidance out of sync, or in
conflict). At the same time, although the requirements are not individually called out, it does not
diminish their importance in creating accessible
EPUB Publications
This specification instead adds an
additional set of requirements for EPUB Publications
. These
requirements are no more or less important than those covered in WCAG; they are simply necessary to
follow for EPUB Publications. (The relationship to WCAG is explained for each requirement in its
respective section.)
The same is true of the techniques in the
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
document. It provides coverage of techniques that are unique to EPUB Publications, or that need
clarification in the context of an EPUB Publication. It does not mean that the rest of the WCAG
techniques are not applicable.
As a result, although this section can be read without deep knowledge of WCAG conformance, to implement
the accessibility requirements of this specification will require an understanding of
WCAG 2.0
note
Because this specification adds requirements that are not a part of WCAG, an EPUB Publication can
conform to
WCAG
2.0
without conforming to this specification. An EPUB Publication that does not meet
the requirements for EPUB
Publications
is not accessible to this specification, however.
The IDPF plans to work with W3C and the Web Accessibility Initiative to harmonize the requirements for
EPUB Publications with WCAG.
4.3 WCAG Conformance
4.3.1 WCAG Conformance Requirements
EPUB Publications
must
meet
WCAG
2.0
Level A
to be conformant with this specification, but it is
recommended
that they meet
Level AA
Although this specification only requires Level A conformance, local and national laws can influence
the level of conformance an EPUB Publication has to meet to be considered accessible. Level AA
conformance is often cited as the benchmark for accessibility in legal frameworks and policies, for
example. Additionally, any procurer or distributor of EPUB Publications can demand higher conformance
requirements than the baseline defined here.
Authors
consequently need to ensure they
understand the requirements their content has to meet to be considered accessible in any jurisdiction
or distribution context, including seeking any necessary legal advice. Minimum conformance with this
specification does not supersede such requirements, and does not offer protection from any legal
liability that might arise.
4.3.2 Evaluating WCAG Conformance
4.3.2.1 Page and Publication
The
WCAG 2.0
Principles
focus on the
evaluation of individual
Web pages
, but an
EPUB Publication
more closely resembles what
WCAG 2.0
refers to as a
set of Web pages
"[a] collection of Web pages that share a common purpose".
Consequently, when evaluating the accessibility of an EPUB Publication, individual pages — or
Content
Documents
, as they are known in EPUB nomenclature — cannot be reviewed in isolation.
Rather, their overall accessibility as parts of a larger work also has to be evaluated.
For example, it is not sufficient for individual Content Documents to have a logical reading order
if the publication presents them in the wrong order. Likewise, including a title for every
Content Document is complementary to providing a title for the publication: the overall
accessibility is affected if either is missing.
The
WCAG 2.0
guidelines for content to be
perceivable
operable
understandable
and
robust
therefore
must
be
evaluated against the full EPUB Publication, not only to each Content Document within it.
More information about applying these guidelines to EPUB Publications is available in the
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
4.3.2.2 Applying the Conformance Criteria
When evaluating an
EPUB Publication
, the
WCAG
2.0
Conformance Criteria
are applied as follows:
When determining compliance with
a Conformance Level, the EPUB Publication as a whole
must
meet the conformance requirements of the level claimed.
Authors
must not
use EPUB's fallback mechanisms to provide a
conforming alternate version
WCAG 2.0
, as there is no reliable way for users to
access such fallbacks. If fallbacks are used, both the primary content and its
fallback(s)
must
meet the requirements for the
conformance level claimed. EPUB-specific fallback mechanisms include manifest
fallbacks, bindings and content switching via the
epub:switch
element.
When determining compliance with
the "Full Pages" requirement (i.e., that parts of a page cannot be excluded when
making a conformance claim), the entirety of each content document
must
achieve the conformance level
and
every content document in the publication
must
meet the stated conformance level.
4.4 EPUB Requirements
4.4.1 Page Navigation
4.4.1.1 Objective
Provide navigation to static page break locations.
4.4.1.2 Understanding this Objective
This section is informative
Statically paginated content is still ubiquitous, as print continues to be the most consumed
medium for books both among the general reading public and in educational settings. Print is not
the only source of static pagination, either: static page boundaries are also present in
fixed-layout digital publications.
As a result, a non-visual reader in an environment where statically-paginated content is used is
disadvantaged relative to his or her peers by not being able to easily locate the same locations
in the publication (e.g., if a teacher instructs students to all turn to a specific page).
The inclusion of page boundary locations helps bridge this disparity by ensuring that those using
reflowable media are not disadvantaged by their choice.
Providing page navigation also helps in reflowable publications that do not have a statically
paginated equivalent. The default pagination of these publications by Reading Systems is not
static, since it changes depending on the viewport size and user's font settings. As a result,
coordinating locations among users of the same
EPUB Publication
can be
complicated without static references.
4.4.1.3 Meeting this Objective
Authors
should
include page navigation in an EPUB Publication whenever any
of the following cases is true:
the
EPUB Publication
is
identified as the dynamically-paginated equivalent of a statically-paginated
publication (e.g., included in a print/digital bundle).
the EPUB Publication is offered as
an alternative to a statically-paginated publication in an environment where the use
of both versions can be reasonably predicted (e.g., education).
the EPUB Publication and a
statically-paginated publication are generated from a workflow that allows the
retention of page break locations across formats.
Authors
may
include page navigation in reflowable EPUB Publications
without statically paginated equivalents.
A conformant EPUB Publication
must
meet the following criteria when
it includes page navigation:
It
must
provide a means of locating the page break locations.
It
may
include page break markers.
It
must
identify the source of the page breaks.
In addition, if page numbers are read aloud in a synchronized
text-audio playback of the content (e.g., EPUB 3 Media Overlays), Authors
must
identify the page numbers in the markup that controls the playback.
See
Page Markers
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
for more information
on the inclusion of page navigation in EPUB Publications.
4.4.1.4 Relationship to WCAG
This section is informative
The inclusion of page navigation represents one method of achieving the
WCAG 2.0
Multiple Ways success criterion
, as it provides another meaningful way for
users to access the content (e.g., in addition to the table of contents, linear reading order and
any other navigation aids).
Given the importance of page navigation in mixed print/digital environments, the requirement to
include this feature has higher precedence than it would be given solely as one of many ways to
meet the Multiple Ways success criterion.
4.4.2
Media Overlays Playback
This section is informative
4.4.2.1 Objective
Structure Media Overlays to provide more accessible playback experiences.
4.4.2.2 Understanding this Objective
Media Overlays provide an accessible playback experience for anyone who benefits from having text
and audio synchronized. They are also useful to users who only require audio playback, or only
benefit from reading with text highlighting. Media Overlays also enable a seamless playback
experience from beginning to end of an EPUB Publication for all these users.
The most basic
Media Overlay Documents
Media Overlays
provide only minimal instructions to Reading
Systems, however. They indicate the text to highlight and the audio clip that corresponds to the
text. The result is that users only have basic start and stop options available.
Authors need to add structure and semantics to Media Overlay Documents to allow Reading Systems to
present more usable experiences. With richer markup, a Reading System could provide the ability
to skip past secondary content that interferes with the primary narrative, escape users from
deeply nested structures like tables, and allow them to navigate through the sections of the
publication without having to go to the table of contents.
4.4.2.3 Meeting this Objective
Media Overlay Documents do not have to meet any additional requirements beyond those defined in
Media Overlays
to be conformant with this specification.
To improve the usability of Media Overlays, however, Authors are encouraged to ensure their EPUB
Publications meet the following criteria:
Identify all
skippable structures
Media Overlays
in the Media Overlay Documents.
Identify all
escapable structures
Media Overlays
in the Media Overlay Documents.
Include a Media Overlay Document for the
EPUB Navigation Document
Media Overlays
note
A future version of this specification might introduce stricter conformance requirements for
Media Overlay Documents.
4.4.2.4 Relationship to WCAG
Adding structure and semantics to Media Overlay Documents broadly falls under the objective of the
WCAG
2.0
Info and Relationships success criterion
. Without structured and
semantically meaningful playback sequences, the effect is to deprive users rich navigation of the
content.
4.5 Conformance Reporting
To indicate that an
EPUB
Publication
conforms to the
accessibility requirements
of this specification, it
must
include a
conformsTo
property
DCTERMS
and an
a11y:certifiedBy
property
Accessibility Vocab
The value of the
conformsTo
property
must
be
one of the following IRIs:
The EPUB Publication meets all
accessibility requirements
and achieves
WCAG
2.0
Level A
conformance
The EPUB Publication meets all
accessibility requirements
and achieves
WCAG
2.0
Level AA
conformance
The EPUB Publication meets all
accessibility requirements
and achieves
WCAG
2.0
Level
AAA conformance
The
a11y:certifiedBy
property specifies the name of the party that certified
the content. The certifier of the content could be the same party that created the EPUB Publication, but
can also be a third party accessibility certifier.
The following example shows an EPUB 3 Publication that has been self-certified by the publisher (the
values of the
dc:publisher
and
a11y:certifiedBy
property are the same).
Acme Publishing Inc.
The following example shows an EPUB 3 Publication that has been certified by a third party (the values
of the
dc:publisher
and
a11y:certifiedBy
property differ).
Foo's Accessibility Testing
The following example shows an EPUB 3 Publication that has been self-certified by the author.
Jane Doe
The following example shows a self-certified EPUB 2 Publication.
note
If an EPUB Publication is certified by an organization, users will typically want to know the name of
that organization. Including the name of the individual(s) who carried out the assessment, instead of
the name of the certifying organization, is generally discouraged, as it can diminish the trust the
user has in the claim.
If the party that certifies the content has been issued a credential or badge that establishes their
authority to certify content accessible, that information can be supplied in an
a11y:certifierCredential
property
Accessibility Vocab
The following example shows a credential.
A+ Accessibility Rating
If the party that certifies the content has provided a detailed report of its assessment, a link to the
assessment can be provided in an
a11y:certifierReport
property
Accessibility Vocab
The following example shows a link to a remotely-hosted accessibility report.
href="http://www.example.com/a11y/report/9780000000001"/>
The following example shows a link to a locally-hosted accessibility report.
note
As each metadata format is unique in what it can express, this specification does not mandate how
conformance metadata is expressed outside of the Package Document.
note
This specification does not define a conformance level for EPUB Publications that only meet the
discovery metadata requirements
, as
the usability of such content by any given user can only be determined from the accessibility
metadata.
Reporting
requirements for Optimized Publications
are defined in the next section.
Optimized Publications
Although
WCAG 2.0
provides a general set of guidelines for making content broadly
accessible, conformant content is not always optimal for specific user groups. Conversely, content optimized
for a specific need or reading modality is often not conformant to
WCAG
2.0
because it is not designed for a broad audience.
For example, an
EPUB
Publication
with synchronized text and audio might contain a full audio recording of the content but
limit the text content to only the major headings. In this case, the EPUB Publication is consumable by users
who needs to hear the content (i.e., they can listen to the full publication and can navigate between
headings), but it is not usable by anyone who cannot hear the audio.
In other words, when an EPUB Publication is optimized for specific reading modalities, the failure to achieve
a WCAG conformance level does not make it any less accessible to the intended audience.
To account for this discrepancy, this specification places importance on the inclusion of discovery metadata.
An
Optimized EPUB
Publication
is discoverable to its intended audience through the inclusion of rich metadata, even if
it is not identified as broadly accessible per this specification.
In addition to the metadata requirements defined in
Discovery
, an optimized EPUB Publication
must
identify the
standard or guidelines the content adheres to in a
DCTERMS
conformsTo
property. The value of this property
must
be an IRI
RFC3987
that references the standard or guidelines it follows.
The following example shows a conformance statement for an EPUB 3 Publication that conforms to the
DAISY Audio
guidelines.
If the IRI is not sufficient for a user to understand conformance (e.g., the guidelines are not publicly
available), more information about how the content has been optimized
should
be
provided in the
summary
The following example shows an accessibility summary for an EPUB Publication optimized for braille
rendering.
This publication is optimized for braille readers. It will not be
usable by persons who cannot read braille. The publication is designed
for braille reading devices capable of displaying 6 character cells and
40 character line lengths. The text is not contracted, and follows
Unified English Braille formatting conventions. All characters are
encoded using the Unicode braille character set.
The following example shows an accessibility summary for an EPUB Publication optimized for audio
rendering.
This publication is an audio book. It will not be usable by persons who
cannot hear the audio. The publication is recorded by a professional
narrator. There is navigation to the beginning of each chapter. The text
of the publication is not included. Images are not included, but the
photo captions are narrated at the end of the chapter where they occur.
note
This specification does not define or recommend standards or guidelines for the production of optimized
content. An
informative registry of optimization standards
is maintained separately from this specification,
but no endorsement of them is implied.
Distribution
The creation of an accessible
EPUB Publication
does not in itself guarantee that the content will be obtainable or consumable by
users. Depending on the
Distribution System
used, other factors will influence the overall accessibility of the EPUB
Publication.
This specification distinguishes factors that an
Author
has influence over from those that they do not. For example, an accessible interface for
locating and obtaining content is an essential part of the distribution process, as is the ability to search
and review accessibility metadata. Such interfaces are typically out of the control of content Authors,
however, as distribution of EPUB Publications is often done through third parties. But even when Authors
control their Distribution Channel, the accessibility of these applications is outside the scope of this
specification, as such considerations are not appplicable to the EPUB Publications themselves.
At the same time, there are decisions Authors have to make when their content is ingested into Distribution
Systems, such as what digital rights to apply. Although these decisions are not part of the preparation of
the content, their potential impact on users requires special attention.
To minimize the effects of distribution on accessibility, Authors therefore
must
adhere to the following distribution practices:
if digital rights management protection is applied to an EPUB Publication, the
Author
must not
impose restrictions that impair access by
Assistive
Technologies
if a distributor requires that a distribution record (e.g., ONIX) accompany
an EPUB Publication, the Author
must
include any accessibility
metadata in the record that the format allows.
note
For more information about the accessibility of Distribution Systems, refer to
Distribution System
Conformance
Appendix A. Authoring and Consumption
A.1 Introduction
Although this specification focuses on content requirements for accessible
EPUB Publications
, there are two
additional considerations in making EPUB Publications available to everyone: the ability for anyone to be
able to create an EPUB Publication and the ability for anyone to consume the content.
Although these needs are not the primary focus of this specification, this appendix provides conformance
requirements for the creation of accessible
Authoring Tools
Distribution Systems
and
Reading Systems
. Developers
who meet or exceed these requirements will make their applications usable by a wide variety of users.
note
This appendix could be superseded by specifications dedicated to these concerns in the future.
A.2 Authoring Tool Conformance
A conformant
EPUB Authoring
Tool
must
meet the following criteria:
It
must
meet the requirements for
ATAG
2.0
Level A conformance
, with the following clarifications for Part B:
It
must
include support for the EPUB-specific requirements defined in
EPUB
Requirements
where
ATAG 2.0
references the generation of
accessible web content (as applicable to the content it can generate).
It
must
support
WCAG 2.0
accessibility requirements as they relate to
EPUB Publications
, including support for adding discovery metadata as
defined in
Package Metadata
. See
Page and Publication
for more
information.
It
should
meet
the requirements for
ATAG
2.0
Level AA conformance
, with the same clarifications defined in the preceding
criterion.
A.3 Distribution System Conformance
A conformant
Distribution System
must
meet the following criteria:
Its user interface
must
conform to
WCAG
2.0
Level
AA
It
must
provide
the ability to narrow search results by the available accessibility metadata.
A.4 Reading System Conformance
A conformant
Reading System
must
meet the following criteria:
It
must
pass
all the
A11Y Test Suite
Fundamental Accessible Reading System
Tests
It
should
meet the
requirements for
UAAG
2.0
Level AA conformance
Acknowledgements and Contributors
This section is informative
EPUB has been developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum in a cooperative effort, bringing
together publishers, vendors, software developers, and experts in the relevant standards.
The EPUB Accessibility specification and techniques were prepared by the International Digital Publishing
Forum’s EPUB Maintenance Working Group, operating under a charter approved by the membership in July 2015,
under the leadership of:
Gylling
Markus
(International Digital Publishing Forum)
Chair (until August 2016)
Siegman
Tzviya
(John Wiley & Sons)
Chair
Conboy
Garth
(Google Inc.)
Vice-chair; Chair (beginning August 2016)
Duga
Brady
(Google Inc.)
Vice-chair
Work on these documents was undertaken by an accessibility subgroup led by:
LaPierre
Charles
( Benetech )
Singh
Avneesh
( DAISY Consortium )
Active members of the working group included:
IDPF Members
Albert
Paolo
(PubCoder)
Baker
Mike
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Balakrishnan
Ramu
(MPS Limited)
Cho
Yong-Sang
(KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service))
Comerford
Rachel
(Macmillan)
Cramer
Dave
(Hachette Book Group)
Creasy
Keith
(American Printing House for the Blind, Inc.)
Deltour
Romain
(DAISY Consortium)
Geffroy
Jean-Marie
(Mantano)
Gusso
Lina
(Pearson)
Gylling
Markus
(International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF))
Hanson
Lauren
(Kaplan Publishing)
Harris
Eric
(VitalSource/Ingram Content Group)
Heinser
Bernhard
(Access for All)
Johnson
Rick
(VitalSource/Ingram Content Group)
Kasdorf
Bill
(Apex CoVantage)
Keating
Patrick
(Bluefire Productions)
Kennedy
Naomi
(Penguin Random House)
Kerscher
George
(DAISY Consortium)
LaPierre
Charles
(Benetech)
Leo
Arthic
(Amnet Systems)
Mietkiewicz
Elie
(Gutenberg Technology)
Murata
Makoto
(JEPA EPUB Study Group)
Mussinelli
Christina
(Associazione Italiana Editori)
Prabhu
John
(HOV Services)
Siegman
Tzviya
(John Wiley & Sons)
Singh
Avneesh
(DAISY Consortium)
Soiffer
Neil
(Design Science)
Thurston
Jonathan
(Pearson)
Webster
Amaya
(Benetech)
Weck
Daniel
(DAISY Consortium)
Invited Experts/Observers
Andrews
David
Bonelli
Giuseppe
Garrish
Matt
Kudou
Tomoyuki
Leva
Paolo
Marquès Solé
Daniel
McGlone
Jonathan
Morris
Julie
Munchenburger
Manfred
Rasmussen
Lloyd
Reddy
Ramesh
Rothberg
Madeleine
Sheehan
John
White
Jason
For more detailed acknowledgements and information about contributors to each version of EPUB, refer to
Acknowledgements and Contributors
EPUB3
Overview
References
Normative References
A11Y Test Suite
EPUB
Accessibility Tests
ATAG 2.0
Authoring Tools
Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) 2.0
Jan Richards, et al.
Accessibility Vocab
EPUB
Accessibility Vocabulary
DCTERMS
DCMI
Metadata Terms
EPUB 3.1
EPUB 3.1
Media Overlays
EPUB
Media Overlays 3.1
Packages
EPUB Packages
RFC2119
Key words for use in
RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels
(RFC 2119)
March 1997.
RFC3987
Internationalized
Resource Identifiers (IRIs)
(RFC 3987)
M Duerst, et al.
January 2005.
UAAG 2.0
User
Agent Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
Ian Jacobs, et al.
17 December 2002.
WAI-ARIA 1.1
Accessible Rich
Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.1
Joanmarie Diggs, et al.
WCAG 2.0
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
Ben Caldwell, et al.
WCAG 2.0 Techniques
Techniques for WCAG
2.0.
Michael Cooper, et al.
schema.org
schema.org
Informative References
Accessibility FAQ
EPUB
Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions
DAISY Audio
Navigable audio-only EPUB 3 Guidelines
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
EPUB Accessibility Techniques
EPUB3 Overview
EPUB 3.1 Overview
US