DTBook
The DTBook establishes specifications for digital talking books (DTBs) for blind, visually impaired, physically handicapped, learning-disabled, or otherwise print-disabled readers.
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[edit] Overview
The purpose of DTBook is to ensure interoperability across service organizations and vendors providing content and playback systems to the target population.
The standard provides specifications primarily for DTB files and their interrelationships. It also includes specifications for DTB playback devices in two areas: player performance related to file requirements and player behavior in areas defined in user requirements.
It was 1995 when the Digital Audio-based Information SYstem (DAISY) Consortium was founded with the goal of developing the standards for the next generation of information technology for persons who are blind or print disabled. This was the forerunner of the current effort and standard.
The DAISY 2.0 specification, which became a recommendation in 1998 and was last revised as DAISY 2.02 in 2001, built on the internet standards of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). It uses HTML, XHTML, and SMIL as the fundamental framework on which to create the standards.
[edit] ePUB connection
An ePUB document can follow the DTBook standard so long as it meets the DTBook Content Document Requirements:
- It must be a well-formed XML document (as defined by XML 1.1); and
- It must be encoded in UTF-8 or UTF-16; and
- It must be a valid XML document, according to the DTBook DTD (http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/dtbook-2005-2.dtd); and
- It must have a MIME media type of application/x-dtbook+xml.
Note that ePUB has adopted the DTB NCX format for its Table of contents (TOC.NCX) file.
[edit] For more information
[edit] Related pages
MathML is an XML compliant description defined for use with mathematical equations. This same format can be interpreted verbally to provide this data for the visually impaired.
DAISY Pipeline - publishing tool
[edit] Other sites
MS Word Open XML to Daisy XML translator - supports Word 2003 and later. Word 2002 will work if you download the free conversion/reader upgrade package from Microsoft.
