These days, movies, videos, and audio books are more popular than just plain text book-reading. There should be a scripting language that authors can use to create more interactive and entertaining ebooks.
Web developers have HTML, Javascript, and a host of other tools at their disposal to create dynamic web pages. Authors of ebooks should have equally powerful tools for creating dynamic ebooks.
The most fundamental changes will have to be made on ebook readers like Amazon’s Kindle devices. The ebook readers will have to operate more like web browsers for interpreting ebook files.
Authors should be able to create ebook files with text and embedded images and video. Furthermore, there should be a scripting language that authors can use to create crude animations depicting what’s happening in the story. Imagine reading a scene in a novel where the main character is surrounded by bandits. The reader can tap a dynamic part of the screen and it will show an animation of the main character being surrounded by bandits, and perhaps play some dramatic music.
Maybe authors can also create little puzzles or quizzes for readers to make the book more interactive.
Dynamic ebooks would be particularly useful for creating comic books and interactive children’s books.
Even if no company steps up to create a special hardware ebook reader capable of these things, they could also be implemented in regular web browsers. A children’s book author can release interactive books on a web page.
The same is true with comic books. Special animated comic books can be shown on the web browser as web comics.
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