It’s only a reference app for developers and not nearly as far along as Amazon’s Cloud Reader, but I’ve got Readium‘s Chrome-browser extension running fine under the Ubuntu variant of GNU/Linux.
Click on the images for more detailed views. Download of app is here (more info here). Also see LibraryCity’s earlier post on Readium.
You can run files from your computer or Chrome-capable tablet or call them up via Web addresses, and you can increase the font font size and even choose between single and double columns. I’m not sure if the Amazon cloudreader has the column feature.
Missing from Readium, as best I can determine, is a way to create a dark background surrounding the book–a nice capability within Amazon’s cloud reader. I hope it’ll be along in time. Same for more formatting and navigation features. Interface could be more slick but isn’t at all bad for a protype.
On an HP desktop with a 3GHz-plus CPU and 4GHz of RAM, at least, Readium runs pretty briskly, but then most everything I use does under Ubuntu.
If you’re at Tools of Change, you might want to check out a full demonstration set for 5 p.m. today.
For now, here’s a handy tip: Just type readium into your Chrome browser after installation and the addition of books–and you’ll see your Readium library with covers ready to click on. At least that’s how it works on my system.
Speaking of goals related to Readium, I’ve been thinking about ePub and the requirements of academia, a priority of the Digital Public Library of America. I’ve love to see an ePub files in the future be able to combine a reflowable text version with a PDF-style image version and allow instant switching back and forth—to the same place in the book. Maybe these capabilities exist already. But if not, they need to. As long as academics don’t forget the need for simplicity and accessibility for those requiring them, the DPLA could be a healthy influence on the IDPF.
Related: Readium push from e-book trade group takes on Amazon—and Apple’s bastardized ePub.
And speaking of Tools of Change: Librarians and fellow travelers might want to drop by the Library Alternative Panel at 1:40 p.m. in on Tuesday in the Astor Ballroom, with Peter Brantley of the Internet Archive as moderator and panelists from the New York Public Library and Publishers Weekly among other places..Similar Posts:
- Readium push from e-book trade group takes on Amazon—and Apple’s bastardized ePub
- Stanza e-book software now dead for iPad owners: Lesson for libraries and DPLA
- Digital Public Space initiative in the UK
- From the trenches: Just 1,800 e-books in Wis. state collection for publibs—and an eBabel challenge
- How a good open-source blogging editor could win the DPLA friends—and help it be more ‘generative’
[Via LibraryCity]
I appreciated TeleRead’s pickup of the Readium post, but the LibraryCity version was dated yesterday. The demo at “5 p.m. today” happened Monday. So there’s no point showing up. Still, the above post gives a download link.
Thanks,
David