DAISY
DAISY, the Digital Accessible Information System, is the international standard for accessible digital talking books. The files for DAISY talking books are arranged so that audio readers can navigate within a book as print readers do. In 2002, the CNIB library transitioned its cassette tape audio book collection to DAISY CD books.
DAISY talking books can be accessed in many ways. In CD format, they use fewer discs than equivalent commercial audio books do, but they require standalone DAISY players. In 2014 the CNIB Library introduced a “Direct to Player" service, which allowed users to have DAISY audio books delivered directly to their playback devices, without having to download them to a computer first. Readers can listen on computers using DAISY playback software or they can use their mobile phones as players. Other options for reading books in the DAISY format include refreshable braille display, screen-reading software, printed out as a braille book on paper, or as a large print book, or as large print text on a computer screen. DAISY offers one file standard, and many potential versions for readers, depending on their situation.
EPub
EPub is an electronic format for books. With the version known as EPub 3, authors and publishers can prepare a single source document that is formatted to support accessibility features. Readers using e-text published this way have control over font size, type face, contrast, spacing between words, line spacing and colour. The source document that produced that e-text can also produce braille or audio output. Global publishing and disability organisations have endorsed EPub 3 as the best way to publish to meet a wide diversity of accessibility needs.
Some of the other features publications need in order to be universally accessible include compatibility with screen readers and text-to-speech, text that flows to fit all screen sizes, rich navigability for browsing by section, page, and more, and “alt-text” descriptions for graphic content such as photos or illustrations.