ePUB Export

1 Initial Problem

The usage of e-books is getting more and more widely spread. Therefore, it would also be a political consideration and a competitive advantage to support the usage of e-books by ILIAS.

ePUB is a free and open standard for e-books supported by the most e-book readers, such as Tolino, widely spread on the German e-book market.

Offering the possibility to export and download an ILIAS Learning Module as an ePUB e-book makes it possible for students/learners to independently read and learn with the learning module offline using their e-book reader.

2 Conceptual Summary

Here are two mock-ups:

• Export a learning module to ePUB:

  

• Download an exported learning module as ePUB:

  

Here, as an example, a screenshot taken with a Tolino Shine using the first chapter of the German User Documentation for ILIAS 4.4, half-manually converted to ePUB:

3 User Interface Modifications

3.1 List of Affected Views

• Export tab of the ILIAS Learning Module: Add a new export type

3.2 User Interface Details

No user interface elements need to be modified, added or removed.

3.3 New User Interface Concepts

No new user interface elements needed.

3.4 Accessibility Implications

No new potential accessibility issues.

4 Technical Information

{ The maintainer has to provide necessary technical information, e.g. dependencies on other ILIAS components, necessary modifications in general services/architecture, potential security or performance issues. }

5 Privacy

No personal data will need to be stored or processed to implement this feature.

6 Security

No special security relevant changes included.

7 Contact

• Author of the Request: Hilbert, Mirco [mirco.hilbert]
• Maintainer: {Please add your name before applying for an initial workshop or a Jour Fixe meeting.}
• Implementation of the feature is done by: {The maintainer must add the name of the implementing developer.}

8 Funding

If you are interest in funding this feature, please add your name and institution to this list.

• …

9 Discussion

CB 18.06.2015: Since eLAIX can export to ePub is really important to have this as core functionality in ILIAS, too?

Mirco Hilbert 01 Oct 2015: Since in our case the majority of learning modules are created and edited directly in ILIAS using the ILIAS page editor, yes!
If there is a way to export an ILIAS learning module, import it into eLAIX and then export it again to ePUB without any major loss of information and layout, it would even be to complex for the normal user. Furthermore, the functionality to export ILIAS page editor content to ePUB would make it possible to easily apply this to other object types where this makes sense, e.g. wikis and glossaries.

Killing, Alexander [alex], 2 Oct 2015: Since the latest versions of ePub included HTML5 in the standard, it should be possible to export to it without losing too much features. However details like presentation of math formula could be a problem, even if it would be possible to include full mathjax in the package. But in general I would support the idea to try out an export to ePub.

Glaubitz, Marko [mglaubitz], 16.02.2016: I like the idea a lot and would like to propose two ideas.

1. It might even be worthwhile to implement this for wikis as well, since wikis are often used by as instruments of securing (group) knowledge in group-based learning scenarios. If proper quality-assurance processes are applied, there are some university libraries (like ours) who even consider including such "student learning content" in their catalogues. Up to know, the only format to do this is the HTML-package export, which does not work well on mobile devices.
2. What about supporting the import of ePUB files as learning modules? Are there any conceptional or technical issues that make this impossible?

Zenzen, Enrico [ezenzen], 05 SEP 2022: This request no longer fulfills the requirements of the Feature Wiki. In consultation with the maintainer I change the status of the feature request to "Redundant / outdated". If the request is still relevant, please update template and mockups.

Hilbert, Mirco [mirco.hilbert], 09.03.2023: Feature request updated according to the current template.

10 Implementation

{ The maintainer has to give a description of the final implementation and add screenshots if possible. }

Test Cases

Test cases completed at {date} by {user}

• {Test case number linked to Testrail} : {test case title}

Privacy

Information in privacy.md of component: updated on {date} by {user} | no change required

Approval

Approved at {date} by {user}.