Scribble Path Smoothing

Some devices don’t report precise touch point readings. This results in noisy(i.e., not smooth) scribble paths. We need to clean up the scribble data. Firstly, we use the Douglas-Peucker path simplification algorithm to reduce the number of points in a scribble. Douglas-Peucker is able to remove about 80% of points while retaining shape of scribble.…

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ActiveTextbook on The Path of Becoming Fully Accessible

Currently, around 15-20% of the world’s population lives with some form of disability. This is the case while most websites and software products are not accessible, making it difficult or even impossible for many people to use. Web is an essential part of daily life for a lot of people and it is crucial to…

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Readium 0.28 Has Been Released

We are pleased to announce the release of Readium 0.28. This new version of the EPUB reading system can be used in different browsers and embedded into browser apps. One of the main components of this release is the implementation of a plugin, which provides integration with the Hypothes.is framework of annotations and bookmarks. The…

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ActiveTextbook with Docker Containers

I’d like to discuss a topic that’s not directly relevant to end users but is very important to businesses hosting and maintaining ActiveTextbook. Specifically, I’ll be talking about hosting and updating ActiveTextbook server software with Docker containers. Docker is a containerization technology that has taken off in the last few years. The original ground work…

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Readium 1.5: towards a fully compliant Readium 2

Readium 1 is now ancient in Internet terms, and there are a number of good reasons for a rewrite. However while that is happening it’s helpful to reuse some of the functionality from Readium 1 with Readium 2. Although Evident Point was the initial contributor to Readium, there were many organizations and individuals that contributed…

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Single sign-on: ActiveTextbook with an LMS using OAuth2

Introduction You’re probably familiar with OAuth2 already. OAuth2 is the technology behind the “Login with Facebook” or “Login with Google” buttons (and many others). OAuth2 is the best way to create a single sign on for two disparate web applications. With single sign-on (SSO) users do not have to remember multiple passwords when logging into…

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New look for Active Textbook!

Active Textbook is about to have a new user interface which looks sleek and modern. Its elegant simplicity will make it easier for users to enhance their digital documents with interactive content. You can look forward to seeing our brand-new appearance in the near future.

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Active Textbook at UBC

Active Textbook was introduced to students taking a course on educational technology at UBC (Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy). After a short presentation, students were encouraged to create their own digital curriculum materials with Active Textbook. During a follow up survey more than 60 percent of all participants indicated that they are “Very likely” to…

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ATB Servers – A Learning Session

Last Wednesday, our team gathered up to hold one of our weekly learning sessions. During these sessions, we discuss components that make Active Textbook and answer the questions developers and designers might have about the product development. This week, we talked about Active Textbook servers and how they all come together, including a detailed talk…

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