My discussion thread with a developer of the Sigil ePub editor is below. I requested that he consider developing an eReader that would implement all of the multimedia features that html5 and css3 already include, because none of the current eReaders do and Sigil, an editor, does. I was amazed by what I have to view as his closed mindedness toward a new idea. If the thread had remained open, I would have mentioned Norma Desmond saying “We had the eyes of the world. But they had to have their ears too.” She was right wasn’t she. Movies don’t need soundtracks.
________________06-19-2025—jgarvey1
I’m having difficulty getting ePub files with video, audio and JavaScript out of my computer to anywhere else. Kindle Direct Publishing doesn’t accept reflowable-text eBooks that include video. Kitaboo seemed like a possibility, but they accept submissions only from companies publishing educational books. Just about every eReader I’ve tried mangles the formatting because the developers of the eReaders didn’t see a need for all of the features already included in html5 and css3 to be implemented in their eReader. ‘Who needs video when they’re reading a novel?’ The one useful eReader I’ve found is Adobe Digital Editions. It properly displays almost every design detail I’ve included in my ePubs. But a user can’t download my books from the Kindle Store and open them in ADE if I can’t get my books into the Kindle Store.
Sigil’s Preview window displays my ePubs correctly, with the exception of paginating. Since the implementation of almost all of the features of ePub3 already exists in Sigil’s Preview, it seems like a simple matter to adapt that code into a stand-alone eReader that can be bundled along with the ePub file. It would be nice if a person could double-click on the eBook’s thumbnail and the eBook simply opens, without the person even knowing the eBook is in an eReader. So I’m requesting that Sigil’s developers create a simple stand-alone eReader that works as well as Sigil’s Preview. EReaders don’t really need to have catalogs and libraries because users can buy books everywhere and they know where the books they own are on their computer. A stripped-down eReader that goes along with an eBook would be great for writers who add media to their books but not enough media to justify a fixed-layout format.
ADE has the RMSDK that allows customization of the ADE, but you can’t just go to a page and download it. Apparently one has an email interview with an expert who determines if the writer is worthy. In 2025 it should be simple to open an eBook and experience the book’s media as it was intended. Like a WYSIWYG view without editing capabilities.
I’m hoping Sigil’s developers will consider this feature request.
06-19-2025—KevinH
Sorry, but Sigil is not in the e-reader game. Sigil does support 3 e-reader plugins that are meant for users to see how their epub might look and act in an e-reader. Links to them are available in our Plugin Index.
The best epub3 e-reader for Desktops is without a doubt Thorium. They support Windows, Mac, and Linux. And like Sigil is completely free.
Most portable platforms have decent epub3 e-reader apps available too: Books.app, the Bluefire Reader app, and the Kobo app come to mind for iOS platforms. I am sure some good epub3 e-readers exist for Android as well.
And Calibre has a free e-reader built in.
Have you tested your epub on Thorium, or any of the iOS apps mentioned? My guess is they all will work with audio, video, and javascript.
So adding yet another e-reader effort really makes no sense.
06-20-2025—DNSB
Sigil is an ePub editor not specifically intended to create Kindle Desktop Publishing content with it's sometimes arcane and contradictory requirements.
If you want, you can check the Kindle Desktop Publishing Creating Kindle Editions with Audio/Video Content to see what the requirements and limitations are for embedding audio/video content for a KDP ebook.
Please note that from KDP's latest, KDP itself does not accept A/V content. If you jump through the hoops, A/V content is only supported when using a Fire tablet or Apple iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch device. A/V content is not supported on Kindle eInk devices, Kindle for PC, Kindle for Mac and Kindle for Android.
As for your JavaScript requirement? Amazon's mobi, KF8/azw3 and KFX format ebooks do not support JavaScript.
Regards,
David
06-21-2025—jgarvey1
Why do people think they’re giving me new information?
06-21-2025—KevinH
You asked for a Sigil developer to respond to your query about an e-reader, so I (a Sigil developer) did and said "not interested" and gave you information as to why.
Not sure what you are up in arms about?
06-21-2025—DNSB
If you are referring to my post, Amazon is out which eliminates your ebook from the majority of the ebook market. Some publishers such as Apple, Kobo, Draft2Digital, etc. will accept your books but again, few of their customers will be running devices/applications that will display your content.
Perhaps you should look at publishing your content as a self-contained application for iOS/Android/whatever which seems to be the only way to allow people to reliably interact with A/V ebook content.
07-02-2025—User_Z
I fully support it.
Whether there are many or few readers, that's definitely not of interest to anyone. The user will make the choice themselves if there really are many of them.
The program should be simple, convenient and, if possible, support as many modern standards and implementations as possible. So far, only AZARDI meets this. It really reads everything and displays it correctly. Everything else is sucks (отстой) (and Thorium Reader too).
07-02-2025—KevinH
Again not happening, at least by Sigil.
