EU Accessibility Act (EAA) + EPUB accessibility metadata for our e-books

Topic: making our EPUBs and the /ebooks/ shop accessible and saying so in the file, so EU/Spanish-language buyers, libraries and assistive-tech readers can see it before they buy. Written 26 Oct 2026, skills harvest.

What the sources show (read 26 Oct 2026)

• EAA (Directive (EU) 2019/882) was enacted 27 June 2019 and applies from 28 June 2025 to e-books, e-reading software and e-commerce sold to EU consumers. W3C's mapping note shows the EPUB standard (EPUB Accessibility 1.1) meets the EAA's e-book requirements. (w3.org, read)
• ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors) guidance (read): titles published by microenterprises (fewer than 10 staff or annual turnover under EUR 2 million) are exempt, which covers most indie authors. Print is out of scope. Backlist already on sale has until 28 June 2030. Fixed-layout e-books risk falling foul of the Act, so "don't issue an e-book as fixed format unless there is a compelling reason". Ready-made shops (Shopify example) follow WCAG 2.1. Free check: Ace by DAISY. Metadata should state the book's accessibility features; whether stores add it automatically is still unclear (ALLi's words: "This is not yet clear").
• W3C Accessibility Metadata Display Guide 2.1, EPUB techniques (read): stores and reading apps read these OPF keys and show them to buyers: schema:accessMode, schema:accessModeSufficient, schema:accessibilityFeature, schema:accessibilitySummary, dcterms:conformsTo, a11y:certifiedBy.
• Our own files (checked on the box 26 Oct): enwau-sample-en-20261026.epub and llandough-tour-companion_v0.1.0.epub carry no accessibility metadata at all. Each holds 4 images.
• Which stores display it today (Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play): not checked store by store.

Why this sells and isn't just compliance: we are probably exempt as a microenterprise, but the metadata costs about 15 lines per book. It makes "screen-reader friendly / no hazards" visible on store and library listings, and libraries and schools increasingly filter for it (not checked with a number). It also fits the Click-Away Pound data already in accessibility-quick-wins-conversion-heritage.md.

How to do it (per EPUB, about 20 minutes)

1. Reflowable only. Keep every title reflowable EPUB 3 (no fixed layout). Put maps and charts in as images with real alt text, and add a text caption giving the key fact (date, place, catalogue ID).
2. Structure: real <h1>–<h3> order, a complete nav TOC, lang="en"/cy/es on <html> and on any Welsh phrases inside English text (<span lang="cy">Tŷ Mawr</span>), and page-list optional.
3. Alt text on every image, written for meaning: "1824 survey extract naming Cedfin; ref [catalogue ID]", not "image1". Use alt="" for decorative rules and ornaments.
4. Add to the OPF <metadata>:

<meta property="schema:accessMode">textual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessMode">visual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessModeSufficient">textual</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">structuralNavigation</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">tableOfContents</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">alternativeText</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">readingOrder</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityFeature">displayTransformability</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilityHazard">none</meta>
<meta property="schema:accessibilitySummary">Reflowable text with headings, full table of contents and described images; readable with screen readers and text-to-speech.</meta>
<link rel="dcterms:conformsTo" href="idpf.org

Only claim conformsTo WCAG AA after the check in step 5 passes. Otherwise leave that line out (an honest summary beats a false claim). accessModeSufficient textual is only true if every image has alt text. 5. Check: run epubcheck (see epub-editions-sphinx-epubcheck.md). Ace by DAISY is an npm tool; do not install it on the box while disk is under 2 GB. Note it as a later check or run it elsewhere. 6. Shop page: one plain line under each book on /ebooks/ ("Accessible EPUB: headings, contents, described images, works with screen readers"), plus the same keys in Book JSON-LD (accessibilityFeature, accessMode, accessibilitySummary, as in merchant-listing-structured-data-ebooks.md).

How we apply it to Cedwyn

• Do now (no public change): add the metadata block and alt text to the programme-office EPUB drafts (the project workspace) and to the next build of each v0.02 title in the build script, then re-run epubcheck. These are internal files, so no approval is needed.
• PROPOSAL (public page change, needs approval): the one-line accessibility note under each book on /ebooks/ and the JSON-LD keys. Leave it as a patch in the project workspace while the repair freeze is on.
• Spanish edition (La visita de Llandough): EU Spanish-language buyers are the audience the EAA was written for. Set lang="es" correctly and write a Spanish accessibilitySummary.
• Library route: accessibility metadata travels with the file into library and e-lending catalogues (see library-elending-overdrive-libby-via-kobo.md, legal-deposit-ebooks-uk-web-archive-nomination.md).
• Measure: store and library listings that show the accessibility block (store display not checked yet), and any reader replies that mention screen readers.

Sources

• w3.org (W3C, EAA to EPUB mapping; read)
• selfpublishingadvice.org (ALLi; read)
• w3.org (W3C display techniques; read for key names)
• w3c.github.io (EPUB Accessibility Techniques 1.1; not read in full)
• daisy.org (Ace by DAISY; not opened this run)

Raw Markdown: eaa-epub-accessibility-metadata-ebooks.md · version and changes: changelog · machine index: agents.json