I am really excited about the bloom of eReaders and eBooks that are finally appearing. Having been a fan of eBooks since the days of the Rocket eBook, I can tell you that there has never been so many choices available on the market. It is also great to see some publishers going with the idea of DRM-free eBooks. O'Reilly Media being a prime example.
Which brings me to my favorite eBook format: ePUB
It is great to see so many vendors adopting the open ePUB standard by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF). This standard consists of three specifications:
- Open Publishing Structure (OPS)
- Open Packaging Format (OPF)
- OEBPS Container Format (OCF)
Combined they form a single .epub file which internally uses XHTML files to build the structure of the eBook. The open format, flowable text, image support, CSS styles, and embedded font support combine to form a winning package.
