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Can a Wolfram Computable Document Format (CDF) file be embedded in an EPUB 3 container? If not, is it possible to convert the CDF to HTML5 and then embed it?

Jason Down
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user387
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1 Answers1

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In principle a CDF could be embedded in an EPUB3 file, but it would not bring you much. You would need a reader that knows how to extract it and play it and those are currently not available.

For viewing (playing?) a CDF you need to download and install software. This a problem for acceptance, a problem that Wolfram would have avoided if they could, e.g. by writing the viewer in JavaScript. Not reaching acceptable performance of a JavaScript based implementation of a CDF viewer is probably the most likely reason why this is not done, assuming there are no other technical difficulties.

In this table you see how CDF compares to HTML5 and JavaScript, so it seems only a subset of the CDF functionality could be achieved by conversion to HTML5.

Anthon
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  • In your opinion, can I embed into an EPUB3:

    • a short demonstrating video that show a CDF file "in action";

    • a Javascript based implementation of a CDF file that will not include any element of the CDF file (I have to substitute all of them with free images available online).

    I have to use the "Wolfram FreeCDF terms of use"?

    Thank you in advance!

     – user387 Mar 28 '14 at 13:07