E-books are extremely popular, with three in ten Americans using e-books and many more using both printed and e-books for their reading. There is no doubt that e-books are available on many devices and apps, and they come in a variety of formats - but how accessible are they?
Let’s examine the three most popular and common file types for their accessibility and see what a user can do to ensure their file is as accessible as possible.
ePub
The current gold standard, or the most popular file format for e-books, is ePubs. Standardized and compatible with most e-reading devices, such as the Kindle, Kobo, and Nook. It supports more e-readers than any other file format and is widely available.
They also mentioned specifically it in the World Wide Web Consortium (W3) accessibility guidelines. These guidelines outline what is required to ensure an ePub file is accessible, and also offers techniques to meet these guidelines.There are tools to use when creating ePubs that help ensure accessibility from the start.
When creating an ePub, a user can use one of these ePub builder tools to check their work against W3 guidelines. Many of these tools, like the software offered through Kindle Direct Publishing, will check the accessibility of the ePub created within it. Once created like this, the resulting ePub is compatible with the accessibility features of e-readers.
As a whole, ePubs offer good accessibility because of their wide availability and their compatibility with most e-readers. It is possible to modify the font size and style of an ePub to meet accessibility needs if the file format is created accessibly from the beginning. Some files can also be paired with software that will read it out, similar to screen reading software. Though many accessibility features depend on the e-reader being used, ePubs have a solid foundation to build from and are very accessible file formats.
Mobi
Mobi files are the “proprietary ebook format of Amazon”, although Amazon has been encouraging self-published authors to upload ePubs instead of mobi files for some time. Mobi is only supported by Kindle e-readers or the Kindle app on Mac, Windows, Apple, or Android, so it’s not as widely available as ePubs and is a little older.
Because it’s not as widely available, there are fewer options for ensuring the accessibility of mobi files, especially as Amazon has stopped supporting the format for new e-books. Previously, users could utilize the Kindle Direct Publishing software to create the files, which would check for accessibility. However, self-published authors and people creating new e-book files need to worry less about mobi files since there is no place to send them.
However, old files still exist and work on Kindles, and those that do are generally quite accessible since they were created specifically for the device. Unlike ePubs, which are widely compatible with most e-readers and may look different on different e-readers, mobi files look the same on every device because they’re made for the Kindle alone. So long as the file was created accessible, you can do things like have certain books read aloud.
Portable document formats (PDFs) are a file format that exists beyond e-books. It also exists in paperwork, manuals, and a variety of other technical uses across industries. However, it is still a popular file format for e-books.
PDFs and accessibility do not necessarily go hand in hand. There are a number of accessibility barriers to PDFs, and making them accessible is difficult. It’s usually better to use another file format if possible, but if a user must use a PDF, start with an accessible document. PDF builders don’t have the same accessibility checkers as e-book builders, so ensuring a document already is as accessible as possible to begin with is a must.
The issue with PDFs is that they are not “reflowable” — meaning the text does not adjust to the e-reader's screen. This is not accessible since a reader will have to struggle to get the text the right size, making the reading experience difficult. Additionally, the accessibility features on e-readers may not work as effectively or at all with PDFs like they do with other file formats.
Despite being widely used and available, PDFs are not the most accessible option for e-books. It takes a lot of work to make them accessible, and the hard work sometimes doesn’t succeed. If possible, stick with other file formats.
Conclusion
The three most common e-book file formats — ePub, mobi, and PDFs — all have their pros and cons, but accessibility is the main question. ePubs are widely available and easy to make accessible from the start, while Mobis are less widely available but designed. PDFs are hard to make accessible, even though they are popular. Whatever e-book file format an author chooses, the important thing to remember is how to ensure accessibility — and which format can help them achieve this.
Comments