Interactive e-books on Aakash Tablet

M.Tech. Dissertation

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Master of Technology

in

Computer Science and Engineering

Submitted by

Prashant Kumar Singh

Roll No. 123050078

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Deepak B. Phatak

Department of Computer Science and EngineeringIndian Institute of Technology Bombay

Powai, Mumbai, India 400076

June, 2014

Figure 1:ii

Figure 2:iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my sincere gratitude and whole hearted thanks to my Guide Prof.

Deepak B. Phatak for his guidance and constant encouragement. I am greatly in-

debted to him for guiding me whenever I faced difficulty regarding the topic.

I would like to thank Mr. Nagesh Karmali for his valuable suggestions during meetings

and discussions.

Prashant Kumar Singh

M.Tech. Second Year

Computer Science and Engineering

Department, IIT Bombay

iv

Abstract

We are living in an age of science and technology which has made a huge impact in every

aspect of our life. The field of education does not remain untouched. Use of Information

and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing an important role in changing the way

of teaching and learning.

This report describes various methods by which we can add interactive features to e-

books. These features may provide a better learning environment to the reader. At the

end we will discuss about an e-Pub authoring tool (ePubCreate) that helps in creating

interactive ePub e-books.

Contents

1 Introduction 4

1.1 Learning by e-books: Possible shortcomings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

1.2 Interactive e-books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2 Literature Survey 6

2.1 What is learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1.1 Learning Hypothesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2.1.2 Cone of Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.1.3 Forgetting Curve[1, 2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2 Effect of Interactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.2.1 Experiment of Evans and Gibbons[3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.3 Animation in Learning[4] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2.4 Spoken Tutorial[5] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

3 Interactivity and ePub 13

3.1 ePub[6] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.1.1 Features of ePub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.1.2 Evolution of ePub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.1.3 Comparison of ePub and PDF[7, 8] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.1.4 Tools for creating e-books[9] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.2 Interactivity in e-Pub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.2.1 e-book with Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.3 Structure of ePub[6] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

4 Tools and Technologies 19

4.1 Tools and Technologies Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.2 Specifications and Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

4.3 Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4.4 Qt and PyQt[10][11] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4.5 Qt 4 Designer[12] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

4.5.1 Installing Qt 4 Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

1

5 ePubCreate : ePub Authoring Tool 22

5.1 Menubar Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5.2 Steps of creation of e-book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

6 Future Work 27

7 Conclusion 28

Appendix:

A ePubCreate 29

A.1 Installation on Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

A.2 Source Code Files and Directories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

A.3 General Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

2

List of Figures

1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii

2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

2.1 Cone of experience[13] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.2 Forgetting Curve[2] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.3 Demonstration for Non Interactive Group[3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

2.4 Demonstration for Interactive Group[3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

2.5 Time spent on learning and time spent on test[3] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1 A book having embedded animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3.2 Directory Structure of ePub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

4.1 Version of Python . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

4.2 Installing Qt Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5.1 GUI of ePubCreate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

5.2 Menubar Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

5.3 Input and Output Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

5.4 ‘Input Author Name’ dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5.5 ‘Input Chapter Name’ dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5.6 ‘Deployment Successful’ Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

5.7 ‘Book Generated’ Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

A.1 Installing Qt on Ubuntu using terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

A.2 Running tool using terminal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

3

Chapter 1

Introduction

We are living in an era of science and technology. Technology has made a huge impact in

every aspect of our daily life. Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

is playing an important role in changing the way of teaching and learning. Traditional

classrooms are becoming smart classrooms, books have become digital and the concept

of e-learning is growing among youths.

Use of portable hand-held devices like tablets, smartphones and PDAs (Personal dig-

ital assistant) have enabled us to read e-books anywhere and at any time. We don’t need

to carry heavy books with us. All we need is a small tablet device and an e-book.

Effects of technology in the field of education.

1. Development of smart classrooms

2. Online courses (Coursera and NPTEL)

3. Course Management Systems (Moodle)

1.1 Learning by e-books: Possible shortcomings

Learning by e-books is a growing trend now-a-days, but it has certain limitations. We

can summarize these limitations through following points.

1. There are more chances of distraction while reading e-books, as children may get

attracted towards playing games and watching videos (stored in the tablet). There

must be some provision that engages them to the content of e-book.

2. According to ‘Cone of Experience’(Figure 2.1), verbal symbols provide most ab-

stract experience[14], while the involvement of both verbal and visual symbols like

television, provides a better experience. If there is any method that makes it possi-

ble for students to listen and watch the course content, then it will be far better to

grasp the concept.

4

3. It is very difficult for the teacher to explain concepts without any illustrative demon-

stration. If it is possible to get demonstrations along with reading material, it will

lead to a better understanding of the course-content.

1.2 Interactive e-books

Interactive e-books are traditional e-books with some additional features. These features

may be multimedia objects (like audio, video and animation) embedded within the book.

Interaction means exchange of instructions (or commands). Traditional e-books are

also interactive but with very limited functionalities, for example we can scroll the pages

or can go to any particular page. All these actions require human intervention. The main

aim of making interactive e-books is to harness the facilities of various hand-held devices

(like Smartphones and Tablets) which are available in abundance and thus providing a

better learning environment to the reader.

5

Chapter 2

Literature Survey

This chapter explains the process of learning. We will discuss the effects of interactivity

on learning and will study Mayer’s rule for representing animations, to create maximum

positive impact on the students.

2.1 What is learning

Learning is a process of acquiring knowledge and involves use of sensory organs. We

learn something when we understand the underlying concept and we understand the

concepts by seeing, listening, smelling, feeling or tasting[15]. The more sensory organs

are involved, the better is our experience. Reading involves visual sensory organ (i.e. eye)

while listening involves use of auditory sensory organ (i.e. ear). Demonstration involves

use of auditory as well as visual sensory organ so we can say Demonstration is a better

way of learning in comparison to reading or listening.

2.1.1 Learning Hypothesis

There are two possible hypothesis of learning[3]. Active learning hypothesis believes, the

way of teaching is a factor in learning, while passive hypothesis denies its role.

1. Passive Learning Hypothesis[3]

According to passive learning hypothesis, learning will remain same till the content

to be taught is same. This hypothesis denies any role of interactivity in learning.

2. Active Learning Hypothesis[3]

According to it, learning should increase if the learner is engaged with the informa-

tion content.

6

2.1.2 Cone of Experience

Edgar Dale, an American educationist, studied audio visual media and their concreteness

in terms of experience. He displayed results in the form of a pyramid, having several

layers[14]. The lower layer represents most concrete experience, while upper layer repre-

sents most abstract experience.

Figure 2.1: Cone of experience[13]

We can observe from the Figure 2.1 that, direct purposeful experience is most concrete,

while verbal symbol provides most abstract concept[14].

7

2.1.3 Forgetting Curve[1, 2]

Figure 2.2: Forgetting Curve[2]

Hermann Ebbinghaus, a German psycholo-

gist, performed several experiments to study

memory. He plotted a graph, popularly

known as ‘Forgetting curve’ to explain how

fast the process of forgetting takes place in

human beings. It shows an exponential loss

in information (Black curve). Figure 2.2 dis-

plays the forgetting curve. It shows relation-

ship between memory and time. It shows

that forgetting begins as soon as we learn.

Grey lines represent that if we revise the same

thing each day, it becomes permanent in our

memory[2].

2.2 Effect of Interactivity

2.2.1 Experiment of Evans and Gibbons[3]

• The aim of this experiment was to analyze the effect of interactivity on students.

2.2.1.1 Experimental Setup

• Environment

– No of students 33 (22 male and 11 female)

– Undergraduate students at a university in London

– Topic Taught: Working of a Bicycle Pump

– None of them had background in physics

• Procedure

– Students were randomly divided in two sub groups

1. Interactive Group (I Group, 16 students)

2. Non Interactive Group (NI Group, 17 students)

– Both groups were taught 12 stages of ‘Working of a bicycle pump’

– Lesson was followed by two tests

1. Memory Test/Retention Test (2 question, Total 14 marks)

2. Transfer Test (3 question, Total 6 marks)

– One hour duration for completing Lesson and quiz in a computer laboratory

8

2.2.1.2 Test

• Memory Test (14 marks)

Aim of Memory Test was to evaluate memory by recalling facts. There were 2

questions asked in this test. Question-1 carried 12 marks while Question-2 carried

2 marks.

• Transfer Test (6 marks)

Aim of Transfer Test was to check thinking power (deep learning) of students. There

were 3 questions, each carrying 2 marks, asked in this test.

2.2.1.3 Screen for Non Interactive Group[3]

For non-interactive group the screen contained a diagram of pump with a description of

each stage in down phase and up phase. There were six stages in up phase and six stages

in down phase.

Figure 2.3: Demonstration for Non Interactive Group[3]

9

2.2.1.4 Screen for Interactive Group[3]

Figure 2.4 shows the screen used for interactive group. The first screen had a pump dia-

gram and a next button, which when pressed repeatedly, shows various stages of working

of pump.

Interactivity was provided in three ways:

• Pace control (Learning at your own pace)

• Inclusion of two interactive self assessment questions

• Interactive simulation to inflate a balloon with the help of pump

Figure 2.4: Demonstration for Interactive Group[3]

2.2.1.5 Test Result

1. Marks (Transfer Test)

Transfer Test Mean

I Group 2.5 (out of 6)

NI Group 1.8 (out of 6)

2. Time taken (Test Time)

Mean Test time

I Group 785.5 seconds

NI Group 1160.8 seconds

10

2.2.1.6 Observations and Conclusions

• In transfer test, Interactive group gained good marks as compared to Non-interactive

group.

• Interactivity helps in increasing depth of understanding.

• Interactive group took less time for attempting quiz.

• Figure 2.5 shows the interactive group took more time for lesson, but took less time

for Test, as compared to non interactive group.

Figure 2.5: Time spent on learning and time spent on test[3]

2.3 Animation in Learning[4]

Animation may work as a great tool in the field of education. Richard E. Mayer, a famous

educationist, proposed seven principles for representation of animations so that maximum

learning can take place[4]. These principles are as follows:

• Multimedia Principle

Animation presented with narration is more effective way of teaching, rather than

narration alone. If a teacher is narrating some abstract concept, it takes a lot of

imaginative power to understand the idea. Animation makes it possible to visualize

the situation, and hence, students can grasp the concept very well.

• Spatial Contiguity Principle

Animation should be close to relevant text. This helps in establishing a connection

between animation and text, so that students can grasp the concept better.

11

• Temporal Contiguity Principle

According to this principle, animation and narration should be presented simulta-

neously. If we are presenting animation followed by narration or vice versa, student

will find it difficult to understand the concept.

• Coherence Principle

According to this principle, sound, video and words that are irrelevant to topic,

should be excluded, as learner may focus on these and may miss the actual content

that needs attention.

• Modality Principle

According to this principle, animation presented with narration is a more effective

way of teaching, rather than using animation with text, as the former involves the

use of both auditory and visual sensory organs, while the latter needs just visual.

• Redundancy Principle

According to this principle, animation should be presented with narration, rather

than presenting animation, narration and text simultaneously.

• Personalization Principle

The narration in class should be in conversational style (e.g, using I and We) rather

than formal style. With conversational style, student feel engaged with the course

content.

2.4 Spoken Tutorial[5]

Spoken tutorials are video lectures with audio narration of the slides (related to some

particular topic). The audio can be changed to any language. These tutorials are like

capturing a slide-show, used by teacher in class, in video mode. Following are the main

points:

• Small size

• People with poor English will be able to learn

• Narration in Indian accent makes it easy to understand

12

Chapter 3

Interactivity and ePub

With the growth of technology, the number of people reading e-books has also increased.

Today, most of the e-books provide the facility of text and images, but there is no feature

of rich media content like audio, video, and interactive demonstrations. Technology has

progressed a lot in the past few years, but the education system is still based on ‘chalk

and talk’ method. With the passing of time, there is a need of interactive e-books, to

make the learning more interesting and enjoyable. This was the main concept behind the

evolution of interactive e-books. Interactive e-books are traditional e-books with some

additional features. These features may be embedded multimedia objects like audio, video

and animations.

While reading e-books, only visual sensory organ is involved, and thus, students do

not feel deeply engaged with the course content. Interactive e-books have an upper hand

in this case.

Features provided by interactive e-books are as follows:

1. Support for audio content

2. Support for video content

3. Support for animation

4. Support for reflowability of content

5. Better educational environment

6. Interesting to read

13

3.1 ePub[6]

ePub is an open standard e-book format. It was developed by International Digital

Publishing Forum (IDPF). File extension for ePub is .epub.

3.1.1 Features of ePub

1. Reflowability of Content

ePub provides the feature of reflowability i.e. an ePub document can adjust its

content as per size of display of any device. For example, it will display the same

content differently on mobile phone and a tablet.

2. Free and Open

• ePub is free

• It is an open standard e-book format

3. Support for interactive features

ePub provides support for

• Audio Files

• Video and Animation Files

4. Support for MathML

ePub provides support for MathML which is helpful in writing mathematical equa-

tions. It is a part of HTML5. MathML makes it possible to display mathematical

equations in the form of text in the book, and thus, we do not need to use images

for representation.

5. Styling based on CSS

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is used for managing the design of HTML page.

3.1.2 Evolution of ePub

ePub is the official standard of IDPF since 2007. In 2011, there came another improved

version of ePub.

3.1.2.1 Versions of ePub

The current version of ePub is 3, known as ePub3. The previous version 2.0.1 had certain

limitations and was not interactive as ePub3.

1. Version 2.0

The main feature of this version was reflowability of content.

14

2. Version 3

It is the current version of ePub. It came to existence in 2011. It has certain

additional features as compared to the previous version. The features are listed

below[16].

• Support for audio and video

• Support for MathML

• Support for CSS3

• Support for HTML5

3.1.3 Comparison of ePub and PDF[7, 8]

PDF ePub

Developed by Adobe Reader IDPF

Rights Open standard Open standard

Text Reflowability Not automatic automatic

Popularity More popular still in development phase

3.1.4 Tools for creating e-books[9]

1. iBooks Author[17][18]

• e-book authoring tool

• Organization : Apple

• Year : 2012

• License : Proprietary

• Anyone having a Mac can create e-books with help of iBooks Author

2. Pubbsoft[19]

• online website (http://pubbsoft.com/) for creating animated books for i-pad

and i-Phone

• Interface based on drag and drop

• No programming required, designed for non technical users

3. Sigil[20]

• Open-source

• Supports ePub-2 specifications

• Supports WYSIWYG as well as code-based editing of the e-book

15

3.2 Interactivity in e-Pub

ePub allows use of HTML5, CSS and JavaScript. All these can be used for creating

interactive ePub e-books.

3.2.1 e-book with Animation

Figure 3.1 shows a snapshot of a created book, which has an embedded animation (Source

of Animation displayed in image 3.1 is ‘Wikipedia page of Bubble Sort’)

Figure 3.1: A book having embedded animation

3.3 Structure of ePub[6]

Epub is a zip archive that contains various files. It mainly contains a ‘mimetype’ file and

two directories ‘OEPBS’ and ‘META-INF’. Figure 3.2 shows the structure of this archive.

1. mimetype[21]

mimetype, also known as Internet media type, is used for identifying a file format

over Internet. epub format has ‘application/epub+zip’ as mimetype. This file must

be the first file in the zip archive in uncompressed form.

16

2. META-INF Directory

This directory contains only single xml file named as container.xml. container.xml

gives the path of a file, content.opf, which contains the address and mimetype of all

the files contained in OEPBS folder.

Figure 3.2: Directory Structure of ePub

17

3. OEPBS Directory

This directory contains all the data files like audio, video, images, html, and CSS

in respective directories. It also contains two other files namely content.opf and

toc.ncx.

• content.opf

It contains the details like author name, title and date in metadata section.

It also gives the address of all the files contained in OEPBS directory, inside

manifest section. It contains a spine section that tells the order in which the

files have to appear in the book.

• toc.ncx

It is an xml file that gives details like book title and author. It contains table

of content.

18

Chapter 4

Tools and Technologies

4.1 Tools and Technologies Used

ePubCreate is developed using python programming language and Qt (pronounced as

‘cute’) Framework. Python is a high level Programming language while Qt is a framework

for developing applications.

• Technology

– Python Version 2.7.4

– PyQt4

• Tools

– Qt Designer Version 4.8.4

4.2 Specifications and Features

• Platform : Ubuntu

• Format generated : ePub

• Input : Text (in form of HTML)

• Support : ePub2 and ePub3

• WYSIWYG creation of e-book

• 2-click ePub creation

• Provision of default HTML text, so that even naive users can use

• Allows embedding of Audio, Video and Animation files

19

4.3 Python

Python is a high level programing language. Python programs can be written in object-

oriented as well as functional style. It is an interpreted language. Features of python[22]

are summarized as below

• High level language

• Object Oriented as well as Functional Paradigm

• Extensive Libraries

• More readability as indentation is must

We can check the version of python using the following command on python interpreter

Figure 4.1: Version of Python

4.4 Qt and PyQt[10][11]

Qt is a popular application development framework. Qt uses c++ but we can use it with

other programming languages with the help of language bindings[10]

PyQt is the python binding for Qt Library. With the help of PyQt, we can develop

GUI applications. ePubCreate uses PyQt framework version 4 (PyQt4). PyQt4 contains

various modules and classes. Some of the important modules are[23]

• QtCore

– Contains details about non-gui functionalities

– e.g. Time, strings, directories, threads etc.

• QtGui

– Details about graphical components

– e.g. button, windows, tool bar, dialog box etc.

20

• QtNetwork

– Contains details about classes used for networking

• QtSql

– Details about classes used for working with data bases

• QtXml

– This module provides classes for working with XML Files

• QtOpenGL

– Contains details about OpenGL Library

4.5 Qt 4 Designer[12]

Qt Designer is a tool that can be used for creating the GUI. We have used Qt 4 Designer

for creating the GUI. Following are some of the salient features of Qt 4 Designer.

• It can be used for creating dialog box, Main-Window etc.

• It creates .ui files.

4.5.1 Installing Qt 4 Designer

• By Ubuntu Software Center

– Search ‘Qt 4 Designer’ in Software Center.

– A list will appear, choose ‘Qt 4 Designer (Interface Designer)’

– Click ‘Install’.

• By Terminal

– We can also install by running following command on Terminal

Figure 4.2: Installing Qt Designer

21

Chapter 5

ePubCreate : ePub Authoring Tool

ePubCreate can be used for creating ePub ebooks. It allows WYSIWYG creation of e-

book. It takes the input in form of HTML and since, HTML5 is required for ePub3 books,

it comes with some default HTML5 text. This tool is divided into two panels. The left

panel is used for taking input from user while the right panel displays the output.

Figure 5.1: GUI of ePubCreate

22

5.1 Menubar Options

The following image displays the Menu-bar options of the tool. It contains two main

options namely

• Deploy

• Generate ePub

These two options are required for creating ePub e-book. The only requirement is that

the the ‘Deploy’ Button must be pressed before pressing ‘Generate ePub’ button.

Figure 5.2: Menubar Options

23

5.2 Steps of creation of e-book

The user has to perform following steps (in sequence), to create book.

• STEP-1 : Input Text

– Input the text in the form of HTML on left panel. The tool comes with some

default HTML text. The following image shows the input panel, where the

user can provide input and the output panel, where the output is displayed.

The tool-bar contains buttons for inserting code of image and video. The user

can also view the output on Firefox using ‘Open With Firefox’ button.

Figure 5.3: Input and Output Panel

• STEP-2 : Press ‘Deploy’ Button

– After entering all the text through the input panel, we have to press the ‘De-

ploy’ Button from the Tool-bar, which will put all the files required for ePub,

in their respective directories.

– Before pressing the ‘Deploy’ Button, we must have to ensure that all the images,

videos and audios that are required by the e-book are placed in the required

directory. If it is not the case, deployment will not be successful.

24

• STEP-3 : Enter Author Name

– After pressing ‘Deploy’ button, a dialog box will open where the user will have

to enter the name of the author.

Figure 5.4: ‘Input Author Name’ dialog box

• STEP-4 : Enter Chapter Name

– After entering author name, a dialog box will automatically appear, where the

user will have to input the name of the chapter. The final ePub book will be

having the same name as that of chapter’s name.

Figure 5.5: ‘Input Chapter Name’ dialog box

– If their is no error in placement of files, a dialog box showing message ‘Deploy-

ment Successful’ will appear.

Figure 5.6: ‘Deployment Successful’ Message

– If the above dialog box doesn’t appears (within few seconds), check if all the

images, audio and video files are placed in proper directory.

25

• STEP-5 : Press ‘Generate ePub’ Button

– If deployment is successful, press ‘Generate ePub’ button, after that a dia-

log box will appear with the message ‘Book Generated’. If the name of the

chapter was ‘My Chapter’ then the name of the generated ePub book will be

‘My Chapter.epub’.

Figure 5.7: ‘Book Generated’ Message

26

Chapter 6

Future Work

Software creation is an evolutionary process. We can add newer and newer function-

alities to a software whenever we feel a need. The following are some of the possible

enhancements that can be done in ePubCreate

• Adding Hindi Transliteration Button

– Hindi Transliteration will help in porting Hindi e-books on Aakash Tablet.

• Suggestion of HTML Tags

– Currently, there is no provision for suggestion of HTML tags, as we type code

on input panel. This feature can be added, so that it can provide help to ePub

developers.

• Matching of closing and ending tags

– Currently there is no feature that matches starting and ending of tags. This

feature can be added.

• Feature for adding mathematical notations using MathML

– Currently there is no feature which can help developers in writing math equa-

tions. A feature can be added that allows embedding of some common equa-

tions of mathematics using MathML.

• Porting Application on Windows OS

– Currently, the tool is working fine on Ubuntu, but it will be helpful for devel-

opers if it works good on Windows as well.

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Chapter 7

Conclusion

Today, most of the e-books provide the facility of only text and images. They lack

interactive feature like audio, video, and animation. Interactive e-books are needed to

make the process of learning more enjoyable and interesting.

ePub brings interactivity to e-books and provides certain interesting features that can

be helpful in understanding complex concepts. Its automatic reflowability feature allows

text to be displayed on devices of all screen sizes. ePub is still in development phase, and

thus, many more features may be added in future.

ePubCreate tool helps in creating ePub e-books. It can be helpful in porting NCERT

books on Aakash Tablet. Currently this tool has limited set of features, some additional

features may be added to make it more user-friendly.

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Appendix A

ePubCreate

A.1 Installation on Ubuntu

ePubCreate uses PyQt modules, so PyQt must be installed.

• Step-1 : Install PyQt4 (If Not already installed on system)

– Ubuntu software Center :

∗ Search ‘PyQt4’ in Software Center

∗ A list will appear, choose ‘Development tools for PyQt4 (pyqt4-dev-tools)’

∗ Click ‘Install’.

– By Terminal : We can install PyQt by running following command on terminal

Figure A.1: Installing Qt on Ubuntu using terminal

• Step-2 : Run makefile for running the tool. Figure A.2, shows how to run the tool.

Figure A.2: Running tool using terminal

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A.2 Source Code Files and Directories

Following are the list of files that are required for running the program. Final Source

Code can be found on ‘Fundamental Research Group1’ website of IIT-Bombay.

1. mainprogram.py2

2. utility.py3

3. defaultweb

4. Icon Directory4

5. defaultcontainer5

6. defaultcontent6

7. defaulttoc7

A.3 General Instructions

• The Audio, Video and Images must be present at the path (given by user)

• The ‘Deploy’ Button must be pressed before ‘Generate ePub’ button.

• If ‘Deployment Successful’ message does not appear after some time, it means there

is some problem in placement of data (that is required for the book). We have to

recheck whether all files are placed at their proper place.

1current URL : http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/frg/wiki/index.php/Fundamental Research Group2created with help of Qt Designer (for GUI), book[12] and [23]3generates content.opf file, as per Wikipedia article[6]4contains icons used for tool-bar, downloaded from Internet5created with help of Wikipedia article[6]6created with help of Wikipedia article[6]7created with help of Wikipedia article[6]

30

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