For digital books, comics, audiobooks and PDF documents, including
those protected by the
LCP DRM
(DRM meaning Digital Rights Management)
on Linux, macOS, and Windows 10.
Thorium is available in many languages; each update
offers new ones thanks to the community.
Thorium Reader is also being made accessible for
visually impaired and dyslexic people.
A libre and gratis app, with no advertising or leakage of private
data, and features for heavy readers, library users and students.
Made by EDRLab
Accessibility
For everyone means any visual impairment, and even blind people.
Compatible with JAWS, NVDA, Narrator, and VoiceOver screen readers.
A read-aloud feature with visual highlighting also helps.
Colors, text size, spacing, font and layout can be adjusted.
When used with mouse or keyboard, keyboard shortcuts can be set up.
You can learn more about the
accessibility features of Thorium-Reader.
Specific info on key assistive technologies
such as screen readers is provided as necessary.
Publishing organizations around the world are
encouraged to adopt LCP as a means of protecting digital
books from over-sharing, while providing users with a
frictionless experience and keeping content
properly accessible. Please
contact EDRLab if your organization
is interested in adopting LCP.
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.
Step by step for Windows.
Install Thorium. The link will open a download dialog box, save the .exe file and launch it from you file manager. follow the install process.
Download a digital book. The link will open a download dialog bo or automatically download the .epub book. You can choose to open it with Thorium or save it in your file manager and choose Open with Thorium from the contextual menu.
Start reading.
Select the book you want to read, use the contextual menu
(right click), select open with and then select Thorium.
Information.
You can set the default application for certain file types
through the Windows settings.
Select a file, open the context menu, select Open with,
in the pop-up window select Thorium, check the box
Always open with.
This operation must be repeated for each file format you wish to read with 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
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.
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).
Attention!
There are two different shortcuts to go to the next or previous chapter.
Depending on your configuration and whether or not you use a screen reader,
it is possible that only one of these two combinations works.
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.
With NVDA
You can use the title level navigation functions
(NVDA + H)
to explore and move through the table of contents.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-TDM-light.png" alt=“Screenshot, table of contents: Titles Level 1 Cover, Title, Copyright, Dedicae, Exergue, Introduction, The Mark of Four; Title Level 2 Deduction elevated to a science.”//>
Landmarks
Good-quality digital books have markers that allow you to
identify and quickly reach the main parts of a book.
Information
Each EPUB publication should include a guide to all major
landmarks. The titles of the landmarks are at the discretion of the publisher
choice, but the nature of each landmark must be identified according to a
semantic vocabulary. The main ones are:
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-reperes.png" alt=“Screenshot, Go to page. Current page: 3. A drop-down menu indicates 3, an editable field indicates Enter page number, a button indicates Go to.”//>
Attention !
PDF bookmarks used to compensate for the lack of a table of contents
in this format are not interpreted by Thorium.
Unlike Landmarks, Bookmarks are made for users who want to place a mark into 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.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-gotopage.png" alt=“Screenshot, Go to page. Current page: 3. A drop-down menu indicates 3, an editable field indicates Enter page number, a button indicates Go to.”//>
Attention !
Adapted books sometimes use the reference pagination to offer a regular
book breakdown to readers without reproducing the pagination of the
original pagination. In this case the reference pagination cannot be used
to refer to the printed book.
2.2 - Where am I?
Know where you are in a book.
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.
Screen reader’s page location is approximative
Because of inherent limitation in current screen reader technology, Thorium has to estimates the reading location. Consequently the page number anounced by Thorium is not reflecting the place where the screen reader’s is actually reading, the error might be of some sentences.
However NVDA will announce the page break as a separator if it has a title attribute (exemple: <span epub:type="pagebreak" role="doc-pagebreak" id="page_2" class="page" title="2"/> will cause NVDA to anounce “Two, separator”).
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.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-whereami-tdmfocus.png" alt=“Screenshot, reading a book with title VII Barrel Incident. The navigation pane is open, the table of contents shows the title Barrel Incident in a square which indicates that this is the chapter being read.”//>
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.
Press the NVDA + F7 keys, and then the
tab key until you get the header view.
This shows you where you are in the title structure.
Press the NVDA + Enter keys to save the current position.
Then Ctrl + Shift + I to place the
cursor in the Progress section of the dialog box containing information about the
information dialog box. The number of the current HTML document in relation to the
the total number of documents, the percentage, the current page and the corresponding
section are displayed, with the option of displaying links to
scroll backwards and forwards. After closing the dialog, for example by
for example by pressing Escape key, it is possible to return to the point
through the screen reader link (marked with a double underline) in the main
underline) in the main content frame (which can be navigated to with the
with the Tab key or with the letter M in navigation mode).
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.
Remember that performing a search and navigating thru the results
will make you loose the reading point you where at.
Just place a Bookmark to make sure you find your way back.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-search-navpanel.png" alt=“Screenshot, the search bar is present above the text, the corresponding text highlighted in green and the Search panel indicates a match”//>
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.
Select the text you want to mark.
Press the bookmark button
()
or the key combination Ctrl + B.
If no text is selected so the full page will be marked.
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.
Using bookmarks with NVDA
Windows screen readers use a virtual buffer
for reading. To place a bookmark where you are currently reading
press the key combination NVDA + Enter,
and NVDA will say “activate “. This
synchronizes the virtual buffer with the current real location so Thorium
can deduce the object
on which the cursor is located. Then use
Ctrl + B to place a bookmark.
A sound notification will inform you of the number of bookmarks
in the current publication.
2.6 - 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. 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
In the reading interface go to the Preference menu and then Text.
In the drop-down list select ....
Write the word Verdana in the empty field that appears next to the drop-down list.
In the reading interface go to the Preference menu and then Text.
In the drop-down list select ....
Write the word Luciole in the empty field that appears next to the drop-down list.
Confirm with Enter.
<img class=“icons” src="/images/local-fr/thorium-luciole.png" alt=“Screenshot showing the Text settings Pannel with Luciole set up as reading font”//>
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.
Thorium uses the voices from the computer’s operating system, in combination with the language information provided by the book. If you experience problems please check the related FAQ entry I can’t select the adequate voice for read aloud function (TTS).
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.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-mathjax.png" alt=“Screenshot of a complex mathematical formula correctly displayed with the MathJax option checked.”//>
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.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-mathjax-menu.png" alt=“Screenshot of the MathJax context menu showing the Accessibility sub-menu with the Activate option checked.”//>
Read mathematics with NVDA
You can read mathematical expressions tagged with MathML using
different NVDA approaches. Although NVDA is already equipped with this feature by applying Math Player, some functions still needed to be improved, especially in Math Player some language support is not provided. You may want to use an addon like MathCAT or Access8Math.
In case of instabilities, we recommend to disable MathJax accessibility features thru context menu.
Using Access8Math:
To install the add-on, navigate to Access8Math webpage and click on “Stable” link to download the add-on.
When reading a EPUB with Math content, Down Arrow to the line containing the equation and place your focus on the equation.
Press Enter to activate “Access8Math.
This will open a small window containing interaction window” which contains “interactive” and “copy” buttons.
Interaction: This will allow Interaction within the math content. In order to navigate and browse, you can use the Down Arrow to partially explore the subparts in the expression and move or zoom the content between the subparts by using Right and Left Arrows.
Copy: Use the Copy mode to Copy MathML object source code.
Navigation mode commands:
Down Arrow: Zoom in on a smaller subpart of the math content.
Up Arrow: Zoom out to a larger sub-part of the math content.
Left Arrow: Move to the previous math content.
Right Arrow: Move to the next math content.
Home: Move back to the top of the Entire math content.
Ctrl + c: Copy object MathML source code
Numpad 1 to 9: Reading the math content into serialized text using NVDA Review Text.
Escape: Exit the navigation mode.
Ctrl + Alt + m: Switch the provider between Access8Math and Math Player.
Attention !
These features can only be activated if the book has been designed by
inserting mathematical formulas in the MathML format. For reasons of
ease of production the mathematical formulas are often included as images and it is then the alternative text that must allow the
understanding of the formula via a precise description.
Books that include mathematics in MathML form should
indicate this in their accessibility information.
If this is not indicated, then they are certainly described images.
2.8 - 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 x0.5 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
Thorium uses the voices from the computer’s operating system, in combination with the language information provided by the book. If you experience problems please check the related FAQ entry I can’t select the adequate voice for read aloud function (TTS).
Thorium 2.3 TTS reads page numbers by default which might result in a too verbose earing experience. The skipability option in readaloud parameter does not affect TTS reading as expected. This is fixed in 2.4 alpha continuous test build and will be shipped in 2.4 release.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Attention
Thorium copies files in a publications subfolder of the EDRLab.ThoriumReader folder. The location of this folder may vary depending on the operating system and may be placed in a hidden folder, you will need to activate display hidden files option to find it.
Keep in mind that this folder is sensitive because linked to Thorium bookshelf database. For backups or moving from one computer to another, use the Export button from the book menu. We hope soon to propose an option to export all titles.
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.
When you are in the Thorium library, select the
Catalogs tab then the button + Add an OPDS feed.
Indicate a Name to designate this catalog and paste an address corresponding to
to a catalog distributed in OPDS format. Validate with the button Add.
Since Thorium 2.2, OPDS feeds can be edited so you can change the name or retrieve feed URL.
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.
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.
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-tags.png" alt=“Screenshot, the search bar is present above the text, the corresponding text is highlighted in green and the Search panel shows 1 match”//>
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.
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.
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.
Attention !
The accessibility features are strongly dependant and affected by
the quality of the electronic publication files.
Currently Thorium displays in the Book information panel under the heading Description the content of the accessibility summary metadata (accessibilitySummary).
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-bookinfo-a11ysummary.png" alt=“Screenshot, the book The Mark of Four indicates: This publication complies with the SNE Charter - natively accessible textual EPUBs ».”//>
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.
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.
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).
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).
<img src="/images/local-fr/thorium-bookinfo-a11ysummary.png" alt=“Screenshot, the book The Mark of Four indicates: This publication complies with the SNE Charter - natively accessible textual EPUBs ».”//>
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.
4.2 - Native accessibility functions
Attention !
The native accessibility features offered by Thorium are strongly
affected by the quality of the read files.
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).
Attention !
Accessibility features addressed to assistive technologies
are strongly affected by the quality of the book files.
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.
Command
description
Next title
H
Next table
T
Next chart
G
Next list
L
Next form field
F
List of elements
Insert + F7 (works regardless of cursor mode)
Use the above keys with the Shift key to move to the previous item.
Text
Command
description
Previous character
←
Next character
→
Previous word
CTRL + ←
Say Next word
CTRL + →
Previous line
↑
Next line
↓
Previous sentence
ALT + ↑ (Jaws only)
Next sentence
ALT + ↓ (Jaws only)
Read all
INSERT + ↓
Announce Font
INSERT + F
Tables
Command
description
Cell to the right
ALT + CTRL + →
Cell to the left
ALT + CTRL + ←
Cell below
ALT + CTRL + ↓
Cell above
ALT + CTRL + ↑
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.
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.
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 "
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.
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
5.1 - 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
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 "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
.
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 2 was developed by:
Daniel Weck, lead developer. Pierre Leroux, developer. Several other developers have helped making Thorium what it is today:
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.
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)
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.
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 BSD License.
This static site is generated by Hugo and the Hugo Book theme.
6.1 - 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 2 was developed by:
Daniel Weck, lead developer.
Pierre Leroux, 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
6.2 - 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.
6.3 - 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)
6.4 - Contribute!
Thorium and its documentation are developed thanks to the user community.
We need help to translate this documentation.
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:
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.