The TeaBook Open Reader is our long-term vision of how e-books will be read on PCs and tablets. Rather than creating a native application for every device and operating system version, we aim to develop a single reading application that can be used on a recent browser without any installation requirements.
Because our vision is to share rather than lock in our readers, we are sharing what we have developed. We hope you will take part in improving it and passing it on to others who can appropriate it.
Éric, on behalf of everyone at TEA the e-book alternative
TOC
The application ---------------The main objective of the application is to display e-books and offer readers a pleasant reading environment. Because not everyone is online all the time, users can download books and read them offline without any prior installation.
Books are accessed from the library screen. The library is the main window where users will see their books displayed on a bookshelf with the title and front cover image. A small icon will take them to the book’s back-cover blurb and information on the publishing house, collection and author. In the same interface, readers can download the book for offline reading.
The reader itself is accessed by touching the front cover of a book. The book opens in full-screen and turns to the last page read. On the "reader" interface, only the text itself is visible, along with two icons on the right and left for turning pages. A menu (top) and a progress bar (bottom) appear upon touching the tactile screen or clicking the mouse. From the menu, users can access the contents, and in future, bookmarks and annotations. They can also use the menu to configure the appearance of the reader and font size. The progress bar displays the pagination and makes it easy to move from page to page or chapter to chapter. A circle on the progress bar displays chapter breaks, making it easy for readers to find their way around.
Our aim is to display the books as they were published. The visual appearance of titles, fonts and formatting are therefore those of the publishers. We have only integrated the modifications necessary for web-based reading and user comfort (e.g. font size manager).
We are initially concentrating on the reading experience itself. Other social functionalities are on the cards for future developments.
Development status ------------------A demo application is available at http://demo-open-reader.tea-ebook.com/ presenting a handful of books that are in the public domain. Its purpose is to give you an idea of the version we are actively developing; it is not a final version. There are a number of anomalies left, and certain functionalities are missing. Please let us know of any anomalies you notice. Better still, if you contact us to participate in improving the reader, we will help you access the source code so that you can make changes yourself. Similarly, the app is currently only compatible with Chrome and the iPad. One of our top priorities is to support all recent browsers, and our architecture was chosen with this in mind. Mozilla’s strategy with [Firefox's MarketPlace][firefox marketplace], for instance, is clearly in line with our vision. Supporting Mozilla Firefox is therefore a priority. One of the problems we are facing at the moment is performance issues in adding content via data: URIs. We would be delighted if you would like to work on inter-browser compatibility.
For the content, we have chosen to focus essentially on e-books in the standard EPUB format. Version 2 is almost ready to go. Certain key version 3 functionalities, such as fixed layout, are already supported, but a lot of work still needs to be done on the finer details, and on embedded Javascript.
Distribution ------------This application is a long-term project which we will continue to develop indefinitely. We encourage you to join in and make your ideas for improvements and priorities heard so that we can together design an application open to everyone.
If you would like to contribute, please contact us for information on anything not yet documented or to find out how a particular aspect functions.
The application itself is shared using the GPL 3.0 license with a specific exception for technical protection measures when required by publishers. This licence gives you extensive rights, but you must comply with certain requirements, for instance if you wish to distribute the application to third parties. Please consult the licence content if you are not familiar with it.
We have shared a strategic application with the public. We hope that you will do your part by contributing your changes and improvements. Working in this manner will be of benefit to us all.
Please note that the application's name and certain parts of its original design are not covered by the licence. This is so that you can personalise the application with your own design.
Technical details -----------------The software code is divided into two parts – the reader is written essentially with CoffeeScript, while the server was built with Ruby, so as to be able to analyse and prepare books for viewing on the reader.
Ruby-dependent code is indicated in the source code. The CoffeeScript section just requires a browser once compiled in JavaScript.
### Requirements #### Debian squeezeInstructions on a Debian Squeeze, using bearstech and mongo repositories :
sudo su -c "echo \"deb http://deb.bearstech.com/squeeze redis/\" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/redis.list"
sudo su -c "echo \"deb http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/debian-sysvinit dist 10gen\" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/10gen.list"
sudo su -c "echo \"deb http://deb.bearstech.com/squeeze ruby-1.9.3/\" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ruby1.9.3.list"
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 7F0CEB10
sudo apt-get -yqq update
sudo apt-get -yqq --force-yes install make vim zlib1g-dev unzip git-core g++ libxslt-dev libxml2-dev optipng jpegoptim imagemagick graphicsmagick libcurl4-gnutls-dev screen redis-server mongodb-10gen ruby1.9.3 nginx
sudo apt-get -yqq remove ruby1.8# MongoDB 10gen
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 7F0CEB10
sudo su -c "echo \"deb http://downloads-distro.mongodb.org/repo/ubuntu-upstart dist 10gen\" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/10gen.list"
sudo apt-get -yqq update
sudo apt-get -yqq install make vim zlib1g-dev unzip git-core g++ libxslt-dev libxml2-dev optipng jpegoptim imagemagick graphicsmagick libcurl4-gnutls-dev screen nginx mongodb-10gen redis-server ruby1.9.3
# be sure ruby (and gem) 1.9 is the default.
# remove ruby1.8 or use update-alternativesInstall bundler
gem install bundleInstall/update dependencies with bundle :
bundle installCopy the mongodb configuration file and edit it if needed
cp config/mongoid/development.yml config/mongoid.ymlAlternatively you can execute the rails task :
bundle exec rails g mongoid:configIf you use last versions (9d3f825 and after), this step is performed automatically by an initializer and a rake task so go your way.
Generate a secret with bundle exec rake secret and copy it in config/initializers/secret_token.rb
# generate a secret
SECRET=`bundle exec rake secret`
# put it in config/initializers/secret_token.rb
cp config/initializers/secret_token.rb.dist config/initializers/secret_token.rb
sed -i "s/Tea::Application.config.secret_token.*/Tea::Application.config.secret_token = \'$SECRET\'/" config/initializers/secret_token.rbbundle exec rake db:seedThis is used to convert epub to html.
bundle exec rake resque:pool:startbundle exec thin startor use the rails task:
bundle exec rails sThe accounts are configured in an other server. The authentication is also in this server. This server is not open source. You can find informations about the API here.
To be able to test the reader, a fake API exists. When executing it, authentication is always ok.
bundle exec shotgun tea_api.ru -p 4567or, without code reloading
bundle exec thin -R tea_api.ru start -p 4567The API is now configurable. To have more details about it, read the corresponding wiki page.
### Installation with vagrantThis is the easier way to run TeaBook Open Reader. Instructions can be found in the commit e9e528e870
You need to have VirtualBox and vagrant installed.
1 - get the sources
git clone git@github.com:TEA-ebook/teabook-open-reader.git2 - got to script/vagrant
cd script/vagrant3 - copy the Vagrantfile and edit it (ip, memory of cpu configuration, nfs share)
If you want a debian squeeze:
cp Vagrantfile_squeeze.dist Vagrantfile
vi Vagrantfileand if you want an ubuntu 12.04:
cp Vagrantfile_precise.dist Vagrantfile
vi Vagrantfile4 - run the vagrant. It will download the base box and execute the installation script
vagrant up5 - follow instructions
vagrant ssh
./teabook/script/vagrant/install.sh
./teabook/script/vagrant/start.sh6 - if you want, install an example book (optional)
./teabook/script/vagrant/addExample.sh7 - open your browser on http://<vm ip>:3000
Guard (Ruby+Javascript)
bundle exec guard
Ruby only
bundle exec rspec
Javascript only (in browser)
RAILS_ENV=test bundle exec rake jasmine
Javascript only (headless)
bundle exec jasmine-headless-webkit