To ensure that epub ebooks can be read on a wide range of devices, we produce ebooks without digital rights management (DRM). DRM adds security to epub ebooks—while this technology might reduce illegal copying and distribution, it can restrict users to particular reader devices. This reduces the accessibility and usability of documents.

We would rather give clients ebooks in a format that anyone can read—non-DRM epub is the easiest to produce and the most accessible format. This gives clients the flexibility of producing other ebook formats (e.g. Kindle mobi) from a base epub document. Supported image formats are PNG, GIF and JPEG (SVG coming soon).

During editing, we view each page of an epub ebook through a browser. When we're satisfied that styles are correct and the content displays as it should, we create a final epub ebook.

Every epub ebook is validated to ensure that all the content—text and graphics—is present in the epub files and that essential metadata elements are expressed correctly. We use epubcheck, an open-source tool that verifies the completeness and consistency of the content.

When an epub file passes all the checks, the last test is to view the document on an e-reader. All these steps are necessary, and a rigorous testing process ensures the client receives a high-quality document optimised for usability.

Through our initial testing of epub ebooks on both e-ink e-reader and Android tablet devices, we realise the limitations of technologies in displaying text and graphics properly—the same ebook can change appearance when used on different devices. As a long-term objective, we'll aim to format content to work across a range of devices and with various browsers and Android e-reader apps.

Our epub books include relevant mandatory, recommended and conditional AGLS and Dublin Core metadata elements. Clients may also choose to provide us with other document details so we can include optional elements. Metadata covers various information about documents that helps with data storage and retrieval, marketing purposes, and assists the discoverability of material online and through databases.