Say What? Reflowable EPUBs with media overlays
I want to tell you about something that seemed like magic the first time I saw it actually work.
We all know that it’s possible to have fixed-layout ebooks with read-aloud so that the word being read out loud highlights at the word or sentence level. About a year ago, a colleague asked me if we could do this with reflowable ebooks as well. Say what? Reflowable EPUBs with human narrated audio that highlights on a word-by-word basis as the audio plays? Sure, why not!
My friend and partner-in-ebook-crime Keith Snyder of Typeflow books, with whom I have collaborated with in the past to innovate new accessibility features in children's ebooks, was up to the challenge. He created a bespoke tool to chunk up the audio which supports create the SMIL files that are required to make read-aloud work. Without getting too into the weeds, the task of chunking the audio has always been a thorny one. When I created FXL ebooks with read-aloud a decade ago, I would use Audacity to mark up the words by hand. It was an onerous process that was only feasible for 32-page books with a controllable number of words.
With stubborn tenacity, Keith tackled the issue of marking up the timings of 65,000 words in a way that would be scalable. And, boy oh boy, did he nail it. He created a tool called the EPUBulator which automates the process brilliantly. I’ve watched a long book get chunked up and was absolutely blown away by his approach. Keith makes it look a stress-free process although I know a lot of blood, sweat and tears went into building this very cool tool.
“Never do anything clever in ebook code. Be clever in the concept and execution, solid and simple in the code.”
The main thing to know about the EPUBulator is that it is scalable — extremely scalable. It streamlines the process of producing both fixed-layout and reflowable read- aloud ebooks for all manner of publishers, is cost-effective to use, and produces really impressive ebooks.
Keith and I partnered with the Centre for Equitable Library Access to create three reflowable EPUBs with human-narrated audio that highlights at the word level. We worked with three young adult titles, the idea being that this would be a useful format for students learning to read, particularly emerging readers with learning disabilities like dyslexia. CELA is currently testing how this format can best be delivered through their catalogue for people with print disabilities.
Do you want a demo of what that looks and sounds like? Of course you do!
Snippet of video from Thorium of a chapter being read aloud by a human narrator while the words highlight in bright yellow.
Pretty cool, huh? This apparent magic uses existing standards. As Keith notably says, "Never do anything clever in ebook code. Be clever in the concept and execution, solid and simple in the code." This is not exactly a new format — it is HTML and CSS using synchronized multimedia integration language (SMIL) to create a new-ish kind of book format.
Do you want to hear more? Or maybe get a quote on how we can create this format for your project? Please be in touch.
