Help and resources for a better Thorium reading experience

• 1: Start reading
• 2: Read a book
• 2.1: Moving around in a book
• 2.2: Where am I?
• 2.3: Zooming on images
• 2.4: Search in a book
• 2.5: Mark a page or a passage
• 2.6: Reading settings
• 2.7: Read mathematics
• 2.8: Text to Speech (TTS)
• 3: Organize
• 3.1: The library
• 3.2: Access to catalogs
• 3.3: Add tags
• 3.4: Search
• 4: Accessibility
• 4.1: Accessibility information
• 4.2: Native accessibility functions
• 4.3: Reading with a screen reader
• 4.4: Tests and approach
• 5: Ressources
• 5.1: Functions
• 5.2: Keyboard shortcuts
• 5.3: Supported publication formats
• 5.4: Glossary
• 5.5: Frequently asked questions
• 6: About this website
• 7: About this website
• 7.1: Credits
• 7.2: Your help is precious
• 7.3: Stuck?
• 7.4: Contribute!
• 7.5: Licence

1 - Start reading

Thorium is a digital book reader, it is also a library where you can store your books and access to online catalogs. Thorium does not require any account or online access to be launched and used.

Select the book you want to read, use the contextual menu (right click), select open with and then select Thorium.

Thorium can also be launched from the application menu or from any shortcut created. This will open the library and will allow you to choose a book or to add one but also to access to catalogs and organize your collection. To read a book just click on it or validate with Enter when selected.

2 - Read a book

Thorium provides visual reading and audio playback. In order to ensure that you can find your way around the the publication, Thorium also offers many navigation options as well as the possibility to add bookmarks or to search within the publication.

Moving around in a book

Learn how to move with agility thru a book. Fast forward and backward to next or previous chapter, page or content. Navigate thru table of content, landmarks and reference pages.

Where am I?

Know where you are in a book.

Zooming on images

Since 2.3, Thorium has an image zoom feature (epub only). To zoom on an image you can select the image (a magenta focus outline will appear around it) and activate zoom by clicking with the mouse or tapping it with the finger. Access to image zoom via keyboard is currently not possible. If the image is also a link or if the book your read is in a fixed layout format, you will need to hit the Shift key in order to enter the image zoom feature.

Search in a book

You can use Ctrl + F keys to access the search field. Enter your search term. By clicking on the Search button, you get Back and Next buttons to navigate between occurences. The number of matches found is a link that will open a List of results in the right panel. Each match displayed is a link you can Activate to go to the place of the book where the expression you are looking for was found.

Mark a page or a passage

Add a bookmark The bookmark button allows you to add a custom bookmark. A bookmark can be a fixed point or a text selection. Only one fixed point bookmark is possible per page (book pages or calculated pages in case there is not page reference in the book). But you can place as many texte selection bookmark as you want. When you add a Bookmark a notification appears to inform you that the Bookmark was Added or Deleted.

Reading settings

In the reading interface use the Preferences button (): the options are revealed. Reading settings can be saved or reset by using buttons Save and Reset located in the menu Settings, submenu Configuration of the Reading window. Major settings are available for EPUB Reflowable, Fixed Layout EPUBs and PDF formats just don’t allow personalisation of appearance. Most Fixed Layout EPUBs will allow to open Image view for zooming on a page.

Read mathematics

Since 2.3 Thorium Reader supports mathematical formulas in MathML natively thanks to Chromium. MathJax module is incorporated and may be of use for interoperability and accessibility needs. If you make use of the MathJax module you might be interested by MathJax documentation. Previous versions rely on the MathJax module. This last one requires memory resources so it is not automatically activated when you open Thorium. To activate it when reading a book, go to the menu Reading settings, at the bottom of the Display tab you will find a checkbox MathJax.

Text to Speech (TTS)

Text-to-speech functionalities are available only with EPUB and Daisy formats. Text-to-speech is launched using the speaker button in the middle of the toolbar, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 2. Play and pause can be controlled with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 2. The playback position can be moved with Ctrl + 1 and Ctrl + 3 for previous and next respectively. A speed control is available when read aloud is selected, with a range from x0.

2.1 - Moving around in a book

The navigation options can be very different from one book to another. Thorium allows the following. The navigation options can be very different from one book to another. Thorium allows:

• Move forward and backward in the reading
• use table of contents, reference points and pagination (which must be included by the book’s producing organization)
• go to previous and next navigation points
• move backward and forward in the history of navigation actions

history navigation: jump back & forward to reading points (new in Thorium 2.2. EPUB only)

While reading, user has the power to navigate from one point to another using Navigation panel or following a link into the publication. This activates jump back (Ctrl + backspace) and jump forward (Ctrl + Shift + backspace) buttons on the bottom left of the reading window. Use this buttons to find a precedent place and return to the last place.

History Navigation takes into account user interactions, including clicks on bottom timeline, TOC, bookmarks, landmarks, where am I headings, go to page. It does not takes into account search previous and next and list links.

Move forward and backward

To navigate forward and backward in the content of the book you can use the arrows on your keyboard or click on the navigation arrows located at the bottom right of the reading interface ().

It is possible to move between chapters using Ctrl + Previous page (Page Up) (previous chapter) and Ctrl + Next page (Page Down) (next chapter) or Ctrl + Shift + ALT (except on MacOS) + ← (previous chapter) and Ctrl + Shift + ALT (except on MacOS) + → (next chapter).

The table of contents

The table of contents represents the architecture of the book as defined by the book’s producing organization.

The first level titles are indicated without margin, those with subtitles (or second level title) are presented with a lightgray background. The sub-headings are shifted from the margin to the left and a vertical line makes it easy to know to which level of title they belong.

Landmarks

Good-quality digital books have markers that allow you to identify and quickly reach the main parts of a book.

The reference pages

Digital books can have a reference pagination allowing correspondence to the pagination of the printed book.

There is a navigation option to go to the page. When you access it, this option shows the current page.

There is also a keyboard shortcut for this function. Press the Ctrl + Shift + P, then enter the page number in the edit box by typing it or changing the value using the Go to page box.

2.2 - Where am I?

The keyboard shortcuts Shift + Ctrl + k allows to get a quick mention of the reading position in the document. This information will be displayed in the notification area at the bottom left of the interface and will be read by a screen reader.

The keyboard shortcut Shift + Ctrl + n will open the table of content Navigation menu centered and focused to the detected heading closest to the reading location.

When you look at the Navigation menu, Thorium shows the current chapter in the table of contents and the current page in the Go to page menu.

Access more informations

Use the Information function (Ctrl + Shift + I) to open a panel that displays the title structure and page number.

In addition to the book information, this sign shows at the subheading Progression:

• the chapter number out of the total number of chapters;
• the title of the current chapter;
• the percentage read of the current chapter;
• the current page;
• the title structure (h1 is a level 1 title, h2 is a level 2 title, etc.)

Press the Escape key to close the Information panel and return to the text.

2.3 - Zooming on images

Since 2.3, Thorium has an image zoom feature (epub only).

To zoom on an image you can select the image (a magenta focus outline will appear around it) and activate zoom by clicking with the mouse or tapping it with the finger. Access to image zoom via keyboard is currently not possible.

If the image is also a link or if the book your read is in a fixed layout format, you will need to hit the Shift key in order to enter the image zoom feature.

To zoom in or out, tab to the + or - buttons and hit enter, use mouse wheel, scroll up and down or pinch and stretch trackpad or onscreen touch gestures.

Once the image is zoomed you can move vertically and horizontally with ←, →, ↑ and ↓, by moving mouse while maintaining clic, with usual trackpad gestures or with finger moves on tactile screens.

To close the image zoom view and to return to the reading view, press ESC key, or the X button.

Some restrictions due to ebook design may apply, for example when images are inserted as style (CSS), it is not possible to open the image view for zooming.

2.4 - Search in a book

You can use Ctrl + F keys to access the search field. Enter your search term. By clicking on the Search button, you get Back and Next buttons to navigate between occurences. The number of matches found is a link that will open a List of results in the right panel. Each match displayed is a link you can Activate to go to the place of the book where the expression you are looking for was found.

2.5 - Mark a page or a passage

Add a bookmark

The bookmark button allows you to add a custom bookmark. A bookmark can be a fixed point or a text selection. Only one fixed point bookmark is possible per page (book pages or calculated pages in case there is not page reference in the book). But you can place as many texte selection bookmark as you want.

When you add a Bookmark a notification appears to inform you that the Bookmark was Added or Deleted. The number just after indicates the total number of Bookmarks in the Book after this action.

Reviewing and navigating the Bookmarks

Press the Navigation button (Ctrl + N), then the Bookmarks button. You can change the name of each bookmark, delete bookmarks and move between bookmarks by pressing Enter.

Access the list of bookmarks in the navigation area. Select the bookmark you wish to access and press the Enter key. If you have renamed the bookmark, it will be easy to go to several places in the book.

Advice

If you select a portion of text and then activate the Bookmark button, the bookmark created will have the selected line as its title.

If you have bookmarked a line without selecting a portion of text, try copying the line you are on in the clipboard. Then go to the navigation options with Ctrl + N, then scroll down to the Bookmark section, where they are listed. Press the b key to move to the edit button to rename the bookmark. Paste the line from the clipboard and press Enter. This renames the bookmark with the line of text that you have copied. When you have several bookmarks, this renaming of the bookmarks allows you to use them easily.

2.6 - Reading settings

In the reading interface use the Preferences button (): the options are revealed.

Major settings are available for EPUB Reflowable, Fixed Layout EPUBs and PDF formats just don’t allow personalisation of appearance. Most Fixed Layout EPUBs will allow to open Image view for zooming on a page. PDFs can be enlarged using the Zoom sub-menu in the Preferences panel.

Theme

The color of the background and foreground can be changed using one of the three available themes - Neutral, Sepia and Night.

Text

The font size can be increased or decreased using the slider. The font can also be changed. The available options are as follows Default, Old style, Modern, Sans, Humanist, Readable (Dyslexia), Dualspace and Monospace.

By selecting the ... you can enter the name of the font you want to use. To do this, the font must be present on your operating system and you must know its exact name as it is set for the operating system.

Example 1: Setting Verdana as the reading font

1. In the reading interface go to the Preference menu and then Text.
2. In the drop-down list select ....
3. Write the word Verdana in the empty field that appears next to the drop-down list.
4. Confirm with Enter.

Example 2: Setting up Luciole as the reading font

1. Download and install the Luciole font
2. In the reading interface go to the Preference menu and then Text.
3. In the drop-down list select ....
4. Write the word Luciole in the empty field that appears next to the drop-down list.
5. Confirm with Enter.

Display

You can choose between a page layout with scrolling or pagination, automatic or justified alignment and automatic or on 1 or 2 columns. Here also, MathJax can be activated, for the display of mathematical expressions.

Spacing

Margins, word spacing, letter spacing, paragraph spacing and line spacing can be adjusted.

Readaloud

Provides options for an uncluttered clean view and the ability to skip secondary content (skippability) which may include footnotes or sidebars according to the semantics indicated during the production of the digital book. Split TTS will split the content by sentence for more precise highlighting.

2.7 - Read mathematics

Since 2.3 Thorium Reader supports mathematical formulas in MathML natively thanks to Chromium. MathJax module is incorporated and may be of use for interoperability and accessibility needs.

If you make use of the MathJax module you might be interested by MathJax documentation.

Previous versions rely on the MathJax module. This last one requires memory resources so it is not automatically activated when you open Thorium. To activate it when reading a book, go to the menu Reading settings, at the bottom of the Display tab you will find a checkbox MathJax.

Once MathJax is activated, you can use the contextual menu (right click) on a mathematical formula inserted in MathML format and use the many options proposed such as reading aloud (speech), viewing the semantic marking or copy the formula with its semantic attributes to use it in a compatible editor.

2.8 - Text to Speech (TTS)

Text-to-speech is launched using the speaker button in the middle of the toolbar, or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 2.

• Play and pause can be controlled with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + 2.

• The playback position can be moved with Ctrl + 1 and Ctrl + 3 for previous and next respectively.

• A speed control is available when read aloud is selected, with a range from x0.5 to x2.

• The current sentence is highlighted in light yellow, and each word spoken is underlined in orange.

Options for TTS

Three options are available in the Settings / Readaloud menu:

• Simplified view auto scrolls text with focus by paragraphe.
• Skippability does not display auxiliary contents authored as footnotes, endnotes, pagebreaks and asides.
• Split text focuses phrase by phrase

3 - Organize

The library

Add a book or books you can drag and drop a folder into the library window from your operating system’s file browser, and it will be scanned recursively (i.e., the subfolders will also be scanned for publications). Alternatively you can select multiple files from your filesystem using your operating system’s file browser (the files can be located inside different folders of the tree / hierarchy), then drag and drop the selected publications into Thorium’s library window.

Access to catalogs

Many public libraries and bookstores are adopting OPDS as a standard format to display their catalog on the Web. Thorium can provide access to OPDS 1 and 2 catalogs. It also supports several identification formats associated with OPDS and can therefore provide users with access to their personal library, i.e. the digital books that the user has acquired or borrowed, allowing them to be downloaded and read immediately. When you are in the Thorium library, select the Catalogs tab then the button + Add an OPDS feed.

Add tags

You can enrich the information of the books in your library by adding Tags to them. `Tags’ allow you to quickly search and sort books in list view. Putting it into practice. Open the book form, position yourself in the field Add a tag, write the name of the tag you want to add then press the Add button. The tag is added in a blue box, you can remove it by clicking on the cross.

Search

Press the Ctrl + F key combination, enter the text you want to search, press the Results button, then press the Enter on the link to the desired result. Activating the Search box will automatically display the All books view where it is possible to search in each column. For example among the authors only. The search is performed thru the books informations including user added tags. The content of the book is not included in the search.

3.1 - The library

Add a book or books

you can drag and drop a folder into the library window from your operating system’s file browser, and it will be scanned recursively (i.e., the subfolders will also be scanned for publications).

Alternatively you can select multiple files from your filesystem using your operating system’s file browser (the files can be located inside different folders of the tree / hierarchy), then drag and drop the selected publications into Thorium’s library window.

You can also click on the + button in the user interface to open Thorium’s file chooser, and from there you can select multiple files from folders, or choose all files in a folder using the operating system’s shortcut Ctrl + A or mouse selection.

Note that the “open with” context menu in the operating system’s file explorer will open the reader window(s) for all selected publications, unlike the above methods which only import the files in Thorium’s library.

My Books

The imported books are presented in the My Books menu. It offers a quick access view organized into two sections: Recently added and Resume reading. The All Books
button will display all the books imported into Thorium.

The default view is the grid view (), it shows the book covers, title and author. Clicking on any of these items will open the book in a new window. A menu for each book allows you to access the Book File, Delete or Export the book.

It is possible to choose display as a list view (), in this view the cover is no longer displayed but the year of publication and the publisher are shown.

All Books

The All books view is organized as a table, it displays all the information for each book. If information is missing it means that it has not been provided by the creator of the book. The majority of the information can be activated and triggers a quick search on the keyword. For example, click on the word English in the language column to see only books in English displayed.

The column headers allow you to sort the books in ascending or descending order. The magnifying glass icon () in the header of the first column activates a search field by column allowing for example to search for an expression only among the titles of the works.

3.2 - Access to catalogs

Many public libraries and bookstores are adopting OPDS as a standard format to display their catalog on the Web. Thorium can provide access to OPDS 1 and 2 catalogs. It also supports several identification formats associated with OPDS and can therefore provide users with access to their personal library, i.e. the digital books that the user has acquired or borrowed, allowing them to be downloaded and read immediately.

Example of OPDS feeds with LCP protected contents

Feeds with protected contents should allow you to login directly from Thorium catalog page, the button or access to login might be different depending on the feed provider.

Archive.org OPDS feed allows to browse and borrow books under LCP license. An Archive org account is needed, authentication page will open once you select a book. You can add it to Thorium with the following address: Open Archive.org OPDS feed

You can use feedbooks OPDS to browse Feedbook catalog. Once you have selected a book you’ll be redirected to the webpage where you can buy the book.

Feedbooks OPDS allows you to loggin from Thorium Catalog feed with the Shelf button on the upper right corner. Anybook bought with your Feedbooks account will be available for download directly from the Thorium OPDS feed catalog interface.

For testing purposes EDRLab provides a feed with three free publications under LCP protection. You can add it to Thorium with the following address: Add EDRLab OPDS public feed

OPDS Feed responsibility

OPDS feeds and the access they provide to content are under responsibility of the feed publisher. So are the information given by the feed.

3.3 - Add tags

You can enrich the information of the books in your library by adding Tags to them. `Tags’ allow you to quickly search and sort books in list view.

3.4 - Search

Press the Ctrl + F key combination, enter the text you want to search, press the Results button, then press the Enter on the link to the desired result.

The search is performed thru the books informations including user added tags. The content of the book is not included in the search. To perform a search inside book content you have to open the book and activate the Search in a book function.

4 - Accessibility

Thorium Reader is for everyone, including people who are blind or have other types of visual, cognitive or motor disabilities. The application is compatible with accessible technologies like screen readers, including JAWS, NVDA, Narrator and VoiceOver. It includes a read-aloud feature with visual highlighting. Thorium Reader can be used with the mouse or the keyboard, and keyboard shortcuts are configurable. The display can be customized to meet the needs of users, including colors, text size, spacing, font and layout.

Accessibility information

Currently Thorium displays in the Book information panel under the heading Description the content of the accessibility summary metadata (accessibilitySummary). Attention ! Work is underway to develop a guide for displaying accessibility information. We are following this work and will implement the recommendations soon. Attention ! Accessibility information must be filled in by the editors. Thorium displays this information as it was defined. In case of doubt or complaint, please contact the distributor or the publisher of the file.

Native accessibility functions

Attention ! The native accessibility features offered by Thorium are strongly affected by the quality of the read files. Visual adjustments The application allows you to change the color themes and change the display font, text size. it is possible to use all the fonts installed on the computer. It is possible to increase the size of an image with Shift+clic on the image. Repeat several times to enlarge the image to the desired size.

Reading with a screen reader

When launching Thorium, if a screen reader is detected, the relative functions are activated. Note that screen readers use a separate buffer to access the HTML content which results in the visual scroll / page offset to be out of sync. In other words, Thorium is generally not aware of the user’s current reading location inside the screen reader buffer, unless the screen reader user triggers standard web API events (such as mouse click anywhere in the text, or keyboard tab into focusable HTML elements).

Tests and approach

EDRLab has a close relationship with the DAISY Consortium. Thanks to the people with visual impairments who participate in our design and testing, Thorium Reader aims to be one of the most accessible reading applications on the market. Thorium Reader is tested on epubtest.org. Version 1.8 received the following scores: Basic functions 86.67% (Thorium does not allow yet annotating a document) Non-visual reading 100% Mathematics 100% Extended descriptions 100%. The list of tests is as follows:

4.1 - Accessibility information

Currently Thorium displays in the Book information panel under the heading Description the content of the accessibility summary metadata (accessibilitySummary).

4.2 - Native accessibility functions

Visual adjustments

• The application allows you to change the color themes and change the display font, text size.

• it is possible to use all the fonts installed on the computer.

• It is possible to increase the size of an image with Shift+clic on the image. Repeat several times to enlarge the image to the desired size.

• The display can be selected as paginated or scrolling.

• Text can be justified or left-aligned, and the number of columns controlled.

• Spacing can be flexibly adjusted, with control over margin, word, letter and line.

Text-to-Speech (TTS)

See dedicated section about Text to Speech (TTS).

4.3 - Reading with a screen reader

When launching Thorium, if a screen reader is detected, the relative functions are activated.

Note that screen readers use a separate buffer to access the HTML content which results in the visual scroll / page offset to be out of sync. In other words, Thorium is generally not aware of the user’s current reading location inside the screen reader buffer, unless the screen reader user triggers standard web API events (such as mouse click anywhere in the text, or keyboard tab into focusable HTML elements).

Keystrokes common to NVDA and JAWS

(contribution from Prashant Verma, DAISY Consortium)

For reading text, navigating in tables, navigating in the browser window,
the insertion key can be replaced by the modifier key of the screen reader (e.g. the Caps Lock key).

Quick keys for navigation

The screen reader must be in navigation or virtual cursor mode.

Use the above keys with the Shift key to move to the previous item.

Text

Tables

4.4 - Tests and approach

EDRLab has a close relationship with the DAISY Consortium. Thanks to the people with visual impairments who participate in our design and testing, Thorium Reader aims to be one of the most accessible reading applications on the market.

Thorium Reader is tested on epubtest.org.

Version 1.8 received the following scores:

• Basic functions 86.67% (Thorium does not allow yet annotating a document)
• Non-visual reading 100%
• Mathematics 100%
• Extended descriptions 100%.

The list of tests is as follows:

• Non-visual reading
• Launch “read from here”.
• Stop and resume reading
• All text must be read in the correct order.
• Read the alternative text of the image
• Change the reading speed
• TTS allows pauses for titles, paragraphs, list items, etc.
• Navigate between cells, rows and columns in a table
• Navigate between internal hyperlinks
• Move to the next block element
• Navigate by characters
• Navigate by words
• Navigate by rows
• Navigate through content by headings
• Select and copy text
• Mathematics
• Browsing in MathML online with assistive and other technologies
• Browsing in math block images followed by summary/detail with MathML
• Browsing online math images followed by commented MathML
• Extended descriptions
• Summary
• Detection and use of HTML elements Details and Summary
• Technique for linking to a single extended description placed in a separate HTML file via text hyperlinks.

5 - Ressources

Functions

library functions Icon Function Description Notes Shortcuts Add book Next book Previous book Close (the book information panel) Open book menu (gives access to the Book File, allows to Delete and Export a book) Search Book list view Book grid view Indicates that the action is finished, for example when importing a book Save a copy of the book file. Opens a system window to select the folder where to save the file.

Keyboard shortcuts

Information The Shift key is represented by an empty arrow pointing up on some keyboards: ⇧. The Ctrl key is replaced by Cmd key on Mac keyboards. Ctrl + F10: Main content(`FocusMain`) in reader and library windows, moves the keyboard focus to the "main" area landmark (in the reader view, this is immediately before the frame that displays publication content) Ctrl + t: Toolbar (`FocusToolbar`) in reader and library windows, moves the keyboard focus to the top horizontal toolbar, immediately before the "

Supported publication formats

EPUB (Electronic PUBlication) is an open file format for electronic publications. EPUB is a native semantic format allowing to use numerous standardised languages such as HTML, ARIA, MATHML, SVG and others. The actual version 3 is known to provide the best up to date reading experience. Obsolete EPUB2 files are also readable in Thorium. DAISY Usually produced and distributed by specialized libraries or NGOs, the DAISY format offers a significantly enhanced reading experience for ebooks that are not available in EPUB3.

Glossary

Book information panel (Book Details) Gives information about the digital book. This information is extracted from the file's metadata, its quality and quantity depends on the the attention paid during the production of the file by the publisher. Adapted books These are digital books produced by associations and made available to people with disabilities for reading. Worldwild, this system is governed by The Marrakech Treaty . OPDS Open Publication Distribution System

Frequently asked questions

I can't select the adequate voice for read aloud function (TTS) Thorium uses the voices from the computer's operating system, in combination with the language information provided by the book. If you are using windows you can follow Microsoft’s guide Download the language pack for voice. If you are using Mac OSX the guide Change the voice that the Mac uses to pronounce text. Once the required voice is installed, Thorium will choose the voice corresponding to the language of the book.

5.1 - Functions

library functions

Icon	Function	Description	Notes	Shortcuts
	Add book
	Next book
	Previous book
	Close (the book information panel)
	Open book menu (gives access to the Book File, allows to Delete and Export a book)
	Search
	Book list view
	Book grid view
	Indicates that the action is finished, for example when importing a book
	Save a copy of the book file.	Opens a system window to select the folder where to save the file. The bookmarks are not present in this exported file.
	Bookmarks
	Icon Indicates that the book is being added to Thorium. This indication is not currently given to screen reader users.

Reading functions

Icon	Function	Description	Notes	Shortcuts
	Return to library (closes the book being read)
	Open book information panel			Ctrl + i
	Go to the library
	Search in the publication			Ctrl + f
	Reading settings			Ctrl + s
	Next content
	Previous content
	Adds or removes a bookmark			Ctrl + b
	Opens or closes the navigation panel	Gives access to the table of contents, bookmarks, bookmarks and reference pagination		Ctrl + n
	Full screen			Ctrl + F11

Reading settings

User settings & preferences panel for the display of the publication content. Ctrl + s

Icon	Function	Description	Notes	Shortcuts
	Text: Change the font size
	View / Layout : Scroll (text scrolls up and down)
	Display / Layout : Paginated
	Automatic Alignment
	1 column
	2 columns

Navigation

Icon	Function	Description	Notes	Shortcuts
	Edit (the name of a Bookmark
no icon (text mention)	Table of contents			Shift + Ctrl + n
no icon (text mention)	Reference pages menu			Shift + Ctrl + p

Audio playback (Pré recorded orTTS synthetic voice)

Icon	Function	Description	Notes	Shortcuts
	Activate audio functions
	Pauses audio playback			Ctrl + 2
	Starts audio playback			Ctrl + 2
	Goes to the next audio portion (depending on the book production)			Ctrl + 3
	Goes to the previous audio portion (depending on the book production)			Ctrl + 1
	Stops audio playback			Ctrl + 4

5.2 - Keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl + F10: Main content(`FocusMain`)

in reader and library windows, moves the keyboard focus to the "main" area landmark (in the reader view, this is immediately before the frame that displays publication content)

Ctrl + t: Toolbar (`FocusToolbar`)

in reader and library windows, moves the keyboard focus to the top horizontal toolbar, immediately before the "skip" link (which itself moves focus to the "main" area landmark)

Ctrl + n: Navigation (`FocusReaderNavigation`)

in reader window, moves the keyboard focus to the navigation panel (table of contents, bookmarks, etc.)

Shift + Ctrl + n: Table Of Content (`FocusReaderNavigationTOC`)

in reader window, moves the keyboard focus to the navigation panel, but more specifically into the table of contents, and if possible at the detected heading / closest to the reading location.

Shift + Ctrl + p: Go to page (`FocusReaderGotoPage`)

in reader window, moves the keyboard focus to the "goto page" section in the navigation panel

Ctrl + s: Reader settings (`FocusReaderSettings`)

in reader window, moves the keyboard focus to the settings panel (user preferences for displaying publication content)

Ctrl + b: Bookmarks (`ToggleBookmark`)

in reader window, toggle bookmark (a notification is produced so that screen readers announce the change)

Ctrl + F11: Fullscreen (`ToggleReaderFullscreen`)

in reader window, toggle fullscreen

Ctrl + i: Book information panel (`OpenReaderInfo`)

in reader window, publication info popup modal dialog (may be used in future Thorium version for similar feature in library window)

Shift + Ctrl + i: where am I (`OpenReaderInfoWhereAmI`)

in reader window, publication info popup modal dialog with direct keyboard focus on section that displays the headings hierarchy trail and other contextual information for the current reading location, such as nearest preceding page break, as well as document index in the reading order (this is the "where am I" feature).

Shift + Ctrl + k: where am I (quick notification supported by Screen readers) (`SpeakReaderInfoWhereAmI`)

in reader window, this is the "where am I" feature, just as above, but only spoken via screen reader TTS thanks to an ARIA live region with assertive speech which interrupts the current narration.

Ctrl + w: Close the book (`CloseReader`)

in reader window, closes the window and returns to the library view.

Ctrl + f: Search a book (`FocusSearch`)

in library window, moves the keyboard focus to the search text input of local bookshelf or OPDS feed

Ctrl + f: search into a book (`FocusSearch`)

in reader window, moves the keyboard focus to the publication-wide search text input

Shift (optional) + F3: previous or next search result (`SearchPrevious` / `SearchNext`)

in reader window, when the publication-wide search text input is open, finds the previous / next match

Shift (optional) + Ctrl + G: previous or next search result (`SearchPreviousAlt` / `SearchNextAlt`)

same as above (alternative keyboard shortcut)

Ctrl + ← or →: Next OPDS page (`NavigatePreviousOPDSPage` / `NavigateNextOPDSPage`)

in library window for OPDS feeds, activates the previous or next pagination links

Ctrl + comma or period: Next OPDS page (`NavigatePreviousOPDSPageAlt / NavigateNextOPDSPageAlt`)

same as above (alternative keyboard shortcut)

Ctrl + Shift + ALT (except on MacOS) + ← or →: Previous or next chapter (`NavigatePreviousChapter` / `NavigateNextChapter`)

in reader window, move to previous or next "chapter" (spine item in the reading order of the publication). Note that the keyboard focus is automatically moved to the "main" area landmark, which is immediately before the frame that displays publication content (just like when following / activating a link in the table of contents).

Ctrl + page down or page up: Previous or next chapter (`NavigatePreviousChapterAlt` / `NavigateNextChapterAlt`)

same as above (alternative keyboard shortcut)

← or →: Previous or next page (`NavigatePreviousPage` / `NavigateNextPage`)

in reader window, move to previous or next "page" (or scroll unit, if pagination is disabled)

Ctrl + comma or period: Previous or next page (`NavigatePreviousPageAlt` / `NavigateNextPageAlt`)

same as above (alternative keyboard shortcut)

Ctrl + Home or End: Beginning or End of the publication (`NavigateToBegin` / `NavigateToEnd`)

in reader window, goes to the beginning or the end of the publication

Ctrl + backspace with shift modifier for the inverse operation: Previous History & Next History(`NavigatePreviousHistory` / `NavigateNextHistory`):

in reader window, go back or forward in the navigation history: Beginning or End of the publication

Ctrl + 1: Previous audio (`AudioPrevious`)

in reader window, calls the "previous" command for audio (TTS or EPUB3 Media Overlays readaloud, or "rewind" for audiobooks)

Ctrl + 2: Play or pause audio (`AudioPlayPause`)

in reader window, calls the "play" or "pause" toggle commands for audio (TTS or EPUB3 Media Overlays readaloud)

Ctrl + 3: Next audio (`AudioNext`)

in reader window, calls the "next" command for audio (TTS or EPUB3 Media Overlays readaloud, or "forward" for audiobooks)

Ctrl + 4: Stop audio (`AudioStop`)

in reader window, calls the "stop" command for audio (TTS or EPUB3 Media Overlays readaloud, or "pause" for audiobooks)

5.3 - Supported publication formats

EPUB

(Electronic PUBlication) is an open file format for electronic publications. EPUB is a native semantic format allowing to use numerous standardised languages such as HTML, ARIA, MATHML, SVG and others. The actual version 3 is known to provide the best up to date reading experience. Obsolete EPUB2 files are also readable in Thorium.

DAISY

Usually produced and distributed by specialized libraries or NGOs, the DAISY format offers a significantly enhanced reading experience for ebooks that are not available in EPUB3. Thorium supports reading DAISY 3 and 2.02, both in their text only, audio only, and syncronised text and audio.

PDF

despite a well-known lack of flexibility (no reflow option) and accessibility, many ebooks are still available in PDF only, especially in public libraries.

Audiobooks

a standardized format for audiobooks has been designed by the W3C Publishing Working Group in 2020, and EDRLab was part of this WG. Thorium is supporting the packaged (LPF) audiobook format, which will soon be widely used by booksellers, or so we hope.

Visual narratives

EDRLab has designed a standard format for comics, manga, webtoons and other styles of digital works based on sequances of images. Divina is the name of this format. This is still an experimental format, and we hope that publishers will size it in 2021+.

5.4 - Glossary

Book information panel (Book Details)

Gives information about the digital book. This information is extracted from the file's metadata, its quality and quantity depends on the the attention paid during the production of the file by the publisher.

Adapted books

These are digital books produced by associations and made available to people with disabilities for reading. Worldwild, this system is governed by The Marrakech Treaty .

OPDS

Open Publication Distribution System

5.5 - Frequently asked questions

I can't select the adequate voice for read aloud function (TTS)

Thorium uses the voices from the computer's operating system, in combination with the language information provided by the book.

• If you are using windows you can follow Microsoft’s guide Download the language pack for voice.
• If you are using Mac OSX the guide Change the voice that the Mac uses to pronounce text.

Once the required voice is installed, Thorium will choose the voice corresponding to the language of the book.

It may happen that the book has the wrong language. In this case, Thorium allows you to change the voice to one that is present in the system via the Voice menu

6 - About this website

7 - About this website

Credits

This documentation site is designed and maintained by EDRLab as part of the development of the Thorium-Reader application. The main contributors of this documentation are : Gautier Chomel Georges Kerscher Noelia Ruiz Martínez Prashant Verma This site is made with the static site generator Hugo and the Hugo Book Theme. Who has developed this app Thorium Reader is currently developed by: Daniel Weck, lead developer. Pierre Leroux, node.js developer. Several other developers have helped making Thorium what it is today:

Your help is precious

You too can help Thorium Reader become the best reading application reading application by becoming a member of EDRLab. Or by making a donation to the EDRLab via the Github sponsorship "piggy-bank", which accepts small monthly donations. Thorium is built by its community. If you want to participate, please contact us ! You can also: Report an error or suggest a change by opening an Issue in our [support tracking tool](https://github.

Stuck?

If you do not find the answer to your problem on this site, you can tell us your problem via our support tracking tool or contact form. Here is the information we need: Operating system and it version Thorium version (it is indicated at the bottom of the library under the title About Thorium)

Contribute!

Thorium and its documentation are developed thanks to the user community. We need help to translate this documentation. To do so, you can contact us. If you are comfortable enough with GitHub and the Markdown format you can propose a new translation via a Pull Request. To do this: clone the repository and create a branch with the name of the language you want to add, make a copy of the content.

Licence

Licensing Copyright 2019 European Digital Reading Lab. All rights reserved. Licensed to the Readium Foundation under one or more contributor license agreements. The Thorium-reader application is open-source, released under a BSD 3 license. It is based on the open-source Readium Desktop toolkit. The content of this web site is free and may be reused under the terms of the the BSD License. This static site is generated by Hugo and the Hugo Book theme.

7.1 - Credits

This documentation site is designed and maintained by EDRLab as part of the development of the Thorium-Reader application.

The main contributors of this documentation are :

• Gautier Chomel
• Georges Kerscher
• Noelia Ruiz Martínez
• Prashant Verma

This site is made with the static site generator Hugo and the Hugo Book Theme.

Who has developed this app

Thorium Reader is currently developed by:

• Daniel Weck, lead developer.
• Pierre Leroux, node.js developer.

Several other developers have helped making Thorium what it is today:

• Simon Le Roux, UI designer.
• Cyrille Lebeaupin, CEO of noop.fr, senior developer.
• Jiminy Panoz, creator of Readium CSS.
• Léo Stéfani, node.js, React developer.
• Manuel Lagrand, intern, node.js developer.

The project is supervised by Laurent Le Meur, EDRLab CTO.

Who is financing this app

EDRLab is a non-profit organization. Our budget essentially originates from our members. EDRLab started in France, but is now counting 60 members from Europe, North America, South America and Asia.

This project would have not seen the light without:

1- The financial implication of our founding members: Editis, Hachette Livre, Magrigall, Media-Participations, Cercle de la Librarie, Syndicat national de l'Edition. They understand that financing open-standards and open-source is the best way to energize an open and innovative market for the publishing industry.

2- Financial grants from the following French public organizations:

• CNL (Centre National du livre)
• Ministère de la Culture

3- Additional grants from EDRLab members interested by the addition of specific features:

• Fênix Editorial, Brazil
• Canadian Electronic library, Canada
• MLOL / Horizons Unlimited, Italy
• Lyrasis, USA

7.2 - Your help is precious

You too can help Thorium Reader become the best reading application reading application by becoming a member of EDRLab. Or by making a donation to the EDRLab via the Github sponsorship "piggy-bank", which accepts small monthly donations.

Thorium is built by its community. If you want to participate, please contact us !

You can also:

• Report an error or suggest a change by opening an Issue in our [support tracking tool](https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader-doc/issues/new).
• Participate in the translation of resources.

7.3 - Stuck?

If you do not find the answer to your problem on this site, you can tell us your problem via our support tracking tool or contact form.

Here is the information we need:

• Operating system and it version
• Thorium version (it is indicated at the bottom of the library under the title About Thorium)

7.4 - Contribute!

Thorium and its documentation are developed thanks to the user community. We need help to translate this documentation.

To do so, you can contact us.

If you are comfortable enough with GitHub and the Markdown format you can propose a new translation via a Pull Request.

To do this: clone the repository and create a branch with the name of the language you want to add, make a copy of the content.en folder and rename it with two letters corresponding to the language you want to add (for example content.es will contain the Spanish translation). The names of the files must not be changed as they insure correspondence between languages.

The i18n folder contains the translations for the fixed elements of the header and footer. Several languages are already present, if your language is not present, copy paste the .yaml file and rename it with the first two letters of the letters of the language you want to add.

Finally to activate the menu of the language you add, edit the file config.toml and add the language with the following code:

[languages.en]
  languageName = 'English'
  contentDir = 'content.en'
  weight = 1

You must replace .en' with the first two letters of the language you are adding and fill in the name of the language as the languageNamevalue. Theweight` indicates the order of appearance in the language menu.

Example for Spanish :

[languages.es]
  languageName = 'Español'
  contentDir = 'content.es'
  weight = 3

Localized images such as screenshots should be added to the folder statics/images/local-(two letter language).

7.5 - Licence

Licensing

Copyright 2019 European Digital Reading Lab. All rights reserved. Licensed to the Readium Foundation under one or more contributor license agreements.

The Thorium-reader application is open-source, released under a BSD 3 license. It is based on the open-source Readium Desktop toolkit.

The content of this web site is free and may be reused under the terms of the the BSD License.

This static site is generated by Hugo and the Hugo Book theme. [Source code is public](https://github.com/edrlab/thorium-reader-doc).