W3C

Publishing Maintenance Working Group Telco

25 June 2026

Attendees

Present
Avneesh Singh, Dale Rogers, Brady Duga, Gautier Chomel, Grigorily Manucharian, Gregorio Pellegrino, Hadrien Gardeur, Murata Makoto, Masakazu Kitahara, Shinya Takami, Susan Neuhaus, Toshiaki Koike, Wendy Reid
Regrets
Gautier Chomel
Chair
Susan Neuhaus, Wendy Reid
Scribe
Brady Duga, Wendy Reid

Meeting minutes

<Ivan Herman> pesent+

EPUB 3.4 CR

Wendy Reid: Should we go to CR with 3.4. But what does that mean?

Ivan Herman: Without the details, the group declares we are done with the technical work and we consider the technical work done
… this is just a declaration of that
… but we can't make further technical changes unless they are clear errors
… we need to be at CR for some amount of time before we can go to rec
… the main goal would then be testing
… we already have about 100 or 150 tests in the form of books
… so a RS should run all those books to verify they pass

<Wendy Reid> https://w3c.github.io/epub-tests/

Ivan Herman: We have to show that at least every test has 2 passes

<Wendy Reid> https://w3c.github.io/epub-tests/results

Ivan Herman: And they should be independent
… So we need at least 2, but 4 or 5 would be great
… Once all tests have passed and no technical errors have been found, then we can go to rec
… There are more details on the specifics, but Matt and I can handle those
… we will need all horizontal reviews done
… They are all done except security, in other conversations we have discussed and feel we can continue without it
… we can just call time on it, since there aren't many changes
… We have discussed with ISO, they will informally review the document to see if there are any hurdles for publishing at ISO

Hadrien Gardeur: Some questions on open issues
… There was an issue on multigranularity that applies to structural semantics - is that doc covered?

Ivan Herman: No

Hadrien Gardeur: We also have informative text that could impact the core spec
… I also did not open an issue on light novels
… But I am doubtful that mixed layout has 2 implementations in the wild
… I haven't double checked the tests for 3.4, but I don't think it is there
… If we were to add testing for it, I doubt we would pass

Ivan Herman: One releveant item - if a feature doesn't pass tests, then that feature should be removed
… In our case we are special, so we use one of our specialized labels but leave it in

Dale Rogers: Is there a time limit on CR? Since we are depending on other people
… Is the testing done by third parties or is it this group?

Ivan Herman: For the first, there is no limit. Some groups stay in CR for yearsa
… As for the testing, good question
… Previously, we said anyone can do it
… But it looks better if the company self tests
… Because the tests can be used by the reading systems to identify their own problems

Brady Duga: on the mixed format publications, we've sort of known its been an issue, certainly not new now
… there's reading systems that pass each, but nothing requiring a combination, ideally we should, but if we do it, and fail, we'll need to rewrite a lot of the spec, but it's not one feature
… we'd need to introduce the concepts of a just fixed or just flowing document, it may be worthwhile, but we should be prepared for work
… but if we want to do it, we need to undertake it as a project
… decide on it now

Wendy Reid: I am interceding as chair
… this is in the charter for 3.5, and I agree this is a big project
… I think we need to be more research, etc. I don't think it is worth hinging CR on it as we need to spend more time on it
… and it isn't in the charter for 3.4, but it is for 3.5

Susan Neuhaus: Are there consequences for the security review?

Wendy Reid: We did security for 3.3, very thorough. We expect minimal things if anything

Brady Duga: I did look through the security reviews repo, there are multiple open reviews with no activity, lots of groups in the same position, this is a W3C problem
… we're not to blame for this

Hadrien Gardeur: On mixed layout, the work we have done makes it easier. It is a single feature
… there are not that many references to it, so I am not convinced that it will be that hard to remove
… I disagree with pushing this off. Is it responsible of us to keep pushing this off?

Ivan Herman: I don't have all the facts, so I would like to see what it means to remove it. I would like to see a PR of what needs to be done to remove it

Wendy Reid: To clarify, from out of the blue, I mean that this was never discussed as something we want to handle in 3.4
… EPUB 3.4 came out of problems found in 3.3, we are seeing that again - 3.5 is intended to address the things that came out of 3.4
… I think this deserves the time and consideration, and shouldn't be hurried in now
… And we can make it part of new features, like full bleed images
… we aren't pushing it out that far
… since we are discussing recharter now

Hadrien Gardeur: I am not saying we should work on a solution now, but we should warn people about it and test it properly

Wendy Reid: We will have tests for this feature

Hadrien Gardeur: So if we fail, then we need to remove it

Shinya Takami: I agree with moving it to 3.5. The situation hasn't changed, and we should take the time to address it

Brady Duga: So we will have tests for mixed documents, if we don't get 2 implementations, will we deprecate the issue?

Ivan Herman: We have to check something, but the current suite is an extension of 3.3
… So we are adding tests on top of 3.3
… We need to check to see if this was tested at 3.3
… so I don't really have all the info

Gregorio Pellegrino: For the tests, how do you test if it passes or not?
… if you open a mixed doc the cotent displays

Wendy Reid: we have 2 up to date tests, and we have older tests

Ivan Herman: we have some test results from the previous run
… We have JSON file with the test results
… What do we do with the results this time?
… do we have everyone re-run all the tests, or just the new ones?

Brady Duga: I disagree with Gregorio, there are specific rendering guidelines for FXL, something displaying doesn't necessarily pass the test

<Susan Neuhaus> +1 brady

Avneesh Singh: We have one implementation
… We had a similar issue, we didn't remove it but we just made it non-normative

Dale Rogers: It sounds like the process is more than just passing epubcheck
… there is a rubric, so who makes that?

https://w3c.github.io/epub-tests/results

Ivan Herman: If you look at tests, the first page explains what you should see
… so the rubric is in the book itself for each test
… Avneesh Singh, you are both right and wrong
… epubcheck is separate, and it is not part of this testing
… there is work to do to make epubcheck work with 3.4 , but that is ongoing
… The charter does require a new epubcheck with 3.4, but it separate from the traditional CR testing

Wendy Reid: We had a process for backwards compatibility, we can mark a feature as at risk
… This isn't just a single feature, we don't really call it out. We could add a note at the spine override
… But I would like to worry about this later
… we may actually have the 2 passes
… We actually have 4 passes on similar tests
… If we decide we have to solve it we may need an immediate re-charter

Hadrien Gardeur: I can point where it is referenced - 6.2 and 6.3.1
… The are short, then there are some examples
… so it is pretty narrow
… when it comes to specialized reading systems, it requires very precise conditions to work, they are not the general case we expect
… so it is fine to wait until the test fails, we just need to make sure the test is accurate
… so the documents have to have real HTML in them
… so we just need to be extra careful about what we mean with specialized reading systems

Wendy Reid: That is a completely valid implementation of that feature. We don't tell people what to put in their content
… so while it is narrow, it is valid

Hadrien Gardeur: What I described is a partial implementation
… but moving to CR is fine, assuming we have tests

Ivan Herman: I would ask that someone add that test who is knowledgable on the topic
… we shouldn't wait for this to go to CR, we can deprecate later if we need to

Shinya Takami: If some features are only in Japanese reading systems, and we deprecate those features, we would have to object
… So if 2 or more implementations exist it is valid

Ivan Herman: The source of the implementation (e.g. country) is irrelevant for CR
… so if there are 2 Japanese implementations, that is fine. It is considered passed

Wendy Reid: For that reason I don't even want to add an at risk to this
… so we may not have enough implementations to be comfortable, but we would still pass CR so shouldn't use at-risk

Ivan Herman: The goal of CR is to show a feature can be implemented. That is why we have the low bar of 2. It just shows it is possible to do, not that everyone does it

Hadrien Gardeur: To clarify, if we have 2 implementations then it isn't an issue. I just want to make sure the scope of the tests is correct
… We need to test the spec, and not design the tests for the reading systems

Wendy Reid: I will take an action item to review the tests in that section
… we will have a more robust set of tests

PROPOSED: Progress EPUB 3.4, EPUB Reading Systems 3.4, and EPUB Accessibility 1.2 to Candidate Recommendation.

<Shinya Takami> +1

<Brady Duga> +1

<Ivan Herman> +1

<Toshiaki Koike> +1

<Grigorily Manucharian> +1

<Avneesh Singh> +1

<Susan Neuhaus> +1

<Wendy Reid> +1

<Masakazu Kitahara> +1

<Gautier Chomel_> +1

<Dale Rogers> +1

<Murata Makoto> +1

<Hadrien Gardeur> +1

RESOLUTION: Progress EPUB 3.4, EPUB Reading Systems 3.4, and EPUB Accessibility 1.2 to Candidate Recommendation.

<Gregorio Pellegrino> +1

Ivan Herman: Procedurally, this becomes valid in 1 week, so people not on the call can object if they want
… and we may not get the actual CR until end of July

Murata Makoto: Can SC34 distribute the text before our meeting in August [SC34 meeting]?

Ivan Herman; The text is public

Murata Makoto: So it will be available at the beginning of August?

https://w3.org/TR/epub-34

Ivan Herman: Yes, but the format will change so that isn't final

Murata Makoto: But I shouldn't say it is CR now, I should wait a week

Wendy Reid: Yes

Summary of resolutions

  1. Progress EPUB 3.4, EPUB Reading Systems 3.4, and EPUB Accessibility 1.2 to Candidate Recommendation.
Minutes manually created (not a transcript), formatted by scribe.perl version 244 (Thu Feb 27 01:23:09 2025 UTC).