This content originally appeared on W3C - Blog and was authored by Susan Neuhaus
The Publishing Maintenance Working Group (PMWG) is pleased to announce the final update of the W3C Recommendation for EPUB® 3.3.
The publishing community has thoroughly tested these Recommendations. When presented for publication, support was unanimous among responding W3C Members. It is encouraging that several reviewers indicated that they produce or plan to produce products that use this specification.
Corrections made to EPUB Recommendations
This update introduces no new features. The changes clarify the language and bring it in line with related specifications. The PMWG reports:
- We fixed the epub:type attribute not allowed on links in SVG;
- We clarified the requirements for SVG embedded by inclusion and by reference; and
- We fixed our white space definition for the fixed layout viewport meta tag. This disallowed form feed, avoiding potential rendering issues.
What’s next for EPUB3?
The PMWG’s work continues with the next major revision to the EPUB 3 family of Recommendations. This upcoming version will add new normative features to the specifications. For more information, please refer to the Publishing Maintenance Working Group Charter.
The WG will take on these tasks:
- Ensuring a good experience when reading in dark mode
- Adding support for HTML in the EPUB package, and
- Standardizing practices for content like footnotes & endnotes.
New Task Forces: Digital Comics, and EPUB Annotations
The Digital Comics Task Force will explore how EPUB can better support comics creators and readers. This would include webtoons, manga, graphic novels, and similar content. Digital comics are often read as a continuous scroll on mobile devices. They are not usually separated into pages like a typical ebook. The TF will develop scrolling specifications for both ebook producers and ebook reading systems. Another important feature of manga and webtoons is serialization. Digital comics need new metadata so that people can find the next installment of their favorite manga.
Currently, people can annotate EPUBs within a reading system. But the annotation remains with the platform, not the publication. There are use cases for annotations stored within an EPUB package. Researchers could access their notes from multiple devices, and potentially export the annotations. Teachers would be able to share their perspective with students. Annotations are valuable in legal documents, too. Ebook reading platforms could benefit from making it easier for people to switch accounts. An EPUB Annotations Task Force will look into adding this long-requested feature to EPUB.
Accessibility in EPUB
The Accessibility Task Force and the Fixed Layout (FXL) Accessibility Task Force will continue their work. The FXL Accessibility Task Force is developing a techniques document. It will include specific models and examples. Since the current FXL EPUBS cannot be fully accessible, the TF will incubate ways around this with new technology. Additionally, they are tasked with bridging EPUB metadata to library and other publication data systems. This will ensure that people can find an ebook that suits their reading needs.
The Accessibility Task Force topics include moving from WCAG 2.0 to 2.1 or 2.2 as the floor specification. They will also look at metadata. New metadata is needed to identify publisher contacts for accessibility issues. The TF intends to develop a way to deterministically identify content by type. With that in place, people will know if they can access an ebook’s content.
Contact the group's co-chairs if you have an interest in one of these TFs and would like to contribute to the new EPUB specifications.
EPUB 3.4 working drafts
The Working Group has published the first working drafts of the EPUB 3.4 specification below. At this moment, the initial Working Drafts are essentially identical to the 3.3 versions, but the Working Group plans to evolve these documents to a standard in about two years.
Congratulations to Matt Garrish, main editor; co-chairs Wendy Reid, Shinya Takami; co-editor and W3C staff contact Ivan Herman; and the entire Publishing Maintenance Working Group for this update.
This content originally appeared on W3C - Blog and was authored by Susan Neuhaus
Susan Neuhaus | Sciencx (2025-04-23T15:03:00+00:00) EPUB3.3 Recommendations published, work begins on new features. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/04/23/epub3-3-recommendations-published-work-begins-on-new-features/
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