Perspectives for electronic books in the World Wide Web age

While the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) is steadily expanding, electronic books (eBooks) remain a niche market. In this article, it is first postulated that (1) specialized contents and device independence can make Web based eBooks compete with paper prints, and that (2) adaptive features that can be implemented by client-side computing are relevant for eBooks, while more complex forms of adaptation requiring server-side computations are not. Then, enhancements of the WWW standards (specifically of XML, XHTML, of the style-sheet languages CSS and XSL, and of the linking language XLink) are proposed for a better support of client-side adaptation and device independent content modeling are proposed. Finally, advanced browsing functionalities desirable for eBooks as well as their implementation in the WWW context are described.