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Is ISBN/ISSN + Epubcfi good enough to link to Epub paragraph from outside world?

To link to mybook.epub,

http://idpf.org/epub/linking/cfi/epub-cfi.html#gloss-cfi-pub suggests:

book.epub#epubcfi(/6/4[chap01ref]!/4[body01]/10[para05]/3:10)

thinking of using isbn/issn for books instead, eg.

isbn-12#epubcfi(/6/4[chap01ref]!/4[body01]/10[para05]/3:10)

Is there a better, standard way of linking ? cannot see one in epub specs.

Solution

  • As far as I know, there isn't a standard way of linking.

    Moreover, your ISBN idea has several issues :

    1. different editions of the same book (different author, digital vs paper version, pocket vs fullsize, reeditions, grouping of several books of a same trilogy into a single book, etc...) will have different ISBN.
    2. some amazon kindle-published books won't even have ISBN, only ASIN.
    3. books before 2007 will have a 10-digit ISBN, from 2007 and newer 13-digit ISBN, so reedition of old books might have isbn in the new format.
    4. non-officially published books (self-published, ie available on the net, self-printed, etc...) won't have ISBN either. magazines will have ISSN. paper research will have DOI, which is complex.