Inclusivity is behind the latest move by Italy’s biggest trade publisher, Mondadori, to adopt the epub3 standard for all new ebook releases from this month.
In a press release Mondadori explains,
The new format facilitates the publication of digital text with a higher level of accessibility thanks to more precise metadata, content marking and image description, giving the visually impaired a much wider range of books that can be used with adaptive technologies, such as special keyboards and voice-overs.
Entirely retro-compatible with all reading devices and apps, the ePub3 format will also make it possible to more easily produce books with complex graphics and augmented features, such as multi-media, interactivity and animations.
Mondadori – Mondadori, Rizzoli, Einaudi, Piemme, Sperling & Kupfer and Mondadori Electa – claims to own 25.7% of the Italian trade market, fielding a catalogue of 20,000 titles, the majority of which have, since 2010, been produced as ebooks.
