logo of Thorium Reader

The reading application
for all readers

  • For a long time, there was no modern EPUB 3 compliant reading application usable on Windows, OSX and Linux, properly accessible for print disabled people, with a good support for the LCP DRM and capable of browsing OPDS catalogs.
  • EDRLab decided to build such an application and release it for free, in order to provide users a great way to enjoy on a large screen EPUB publications, comics / manga / bandes dessinées, audiobooks, LCP protected PDF documents.
  • Print disabled people now benefit from an EPUB 3 reading app which supports screen readers like Jaws and NVDA on Windows, Voice Over on Mac.
Thorium Reader Presentation

Technology

Thorium Reader is based on the set of open-source chrome-less modules, a toolkit named Readium Desktop. Thorium Reader and Readium Desktop both rely on Electron.js, node.js and typescript, which are efficient cross-platform technologies. Thorium is also using React components based on HTML 5/CSS 3.

Media Coverage

User Reviews

"I love Thorium and have introduced it to my students for reading any digital content. It is doubly good when something that makes reading more accessible for visually impaired people is also something that makes things more flexible for all. It makes it so much easier to get buy-in for using it."

Suzanne Norman, Simon Fraser University, Canada

"I am very happy to have found this app. Its simple, easy to use, and most importantly, its very friendly for people who are blind and visually impaired."

Noberto, USA

"I can’t get enough of this ebook reader its clean and simple makes things easier for me to read! thank you I totally recommend this!"

Gigi, USA

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

  • Daniel Weck, lead Developer
  • Pierre Leroux, developer
  • Arthur Le Meur, developer

The UX and UI of Thorium 3 was designed by Mylène Boyrie. Several other developers have helped making Thorium what it is today:

  • Simon Le Roux, 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:

  • The financial implication of our founding members: Editis, Hachette Livre, Magrigall, Media-Participations, Cercle de la Libraire, Syndicat national de l'Edition. They understand that financing open-standrards and open-source is the best way to energize an open and innovative market for the publishing industry.
  • Financial grants from the following French public organizations:
    • CNL (Centre National du Livre)
    • Ministère de la Culture
  • Additional grants from EDRLab members intersted by the addition of specific features:
    • Fênix Editorial, Brazil
    • Canadian Electronic Library, Canada
    • MLOL / Horizons Limited, Italy
    • Lyrasis, USA