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> It feels like a bit of doomed a project simply bc browsers don't open EPubs. Not that long time ago, browsers could not open PDFs as well. Now all browsers c

> It feels like a bit of doomed a project simply bc browsers don't open EPubs. Not that long time ago, browsers could not open PDFs as well. Now all browsers come with PDF reader written in ASM/JS. I see nothing that prevents browsers doing the same for EPUBs. There exist browser extensions that do exactly this already. Its a matter of EPUB format gaining popularity.

geokon 3y ago
I think Google is actively against offline data. It's not aligned with their business interests My mental analogy is, you can also have offline apps on Android. You can specify this in app manifest. But internet access isn't exposed to the user as a permissions. Like the author says, Google already injects online fonts into the EPubs they generate. Meanwhile PDF is a battle they've already lost
- BlueTemplar 3y ago
  Indeed, and I would add that there's no reason for browser to be able to open PDFs : this sounds as yet another attempt for Google to wrestle with Microsoft over the control of the OS (by having everything happen in the browser instead). And also probably why we still have to rely on 3rd party hacky browser extensions to be able to save web pages as a single file.
- Shorel 3y ago
  > Like the author says, Google already injects online fonts into the EPubs they generate. I didn't notice that before, but now I will actively avoid Google generated EPUB files.
rchaud 3y ago
Epubs usually are not accessed/downloaded in a browser. PDFs definitely are, as they are freely shared online, whereas epubs are usually DRM'ed and not freely shared.
int_19h 3y ago
This already happened once with the original Edge browser (the one with its own engine). In fact, it was even the default app to open .epub files in Win8. Unfortunately, that feature got killed when Edge became a Blink-based browser. But Edge Canary got a new implementation of that feature a few months ago, so it should land in stable eventually.

geokon 3y ago

I think Google is actively against offline data. It's not aligned with their business interests My mental analogy is, you can also have offline apps on Android. You can specify this in app manifest. But internet access isn't exposed to the user as a permissions. Like the author says, Google already injects online fonts into the EPubs they generate. Meanwhile PDF is a battle they've already lost

BlueTemplar 3y ago
Indeed, and I would add that there's no reason for browser to be able to open PDFs : this sounds as yet another attempt for Google to wrestle with Microsoft over the control of the OS (by having everything happen in the browser instead). And also probably why we still have to rely on 3rd party hacky browser extensions to be able to save web pages as a single file.
Shorel 3y ago
> Like the author says, Google already injects online fonts into the EPubs they generate. I didn't notice that before, but now I will actively avoid Google generated EPUB files.

rchaud 3y ago

Epubs usually are not accessed/downloaded in a browser. PDFs definitely are, as they are freely shared online, whereas epubs are usually DRM'ed and not freely shared.

int_19h 3y ago

This already happened once with the original Edge browser (the one with its own engine). In fact, it was even the default app to open .epub files in Win8. Unfortunately, that feature got killed when Edge became a Blink-based browser. But Edge Canary got a new implementation of that feature a few months ago, so it should land in stable eventually.