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What Kitaboo Formatting Actually Covers

Kitaboo is a K-12 distribution platform owned by Hurix Digital, used by school districts and educational publishers to deliver interactive textbooks to students on tablets, Chromebooks, and managed devices. The file requirements are not the same as a trade ebook EPUB3. Kitaboo expects EPUB3 built against the EDUPUB profile, which adds educational publishing extensions on top of the base specification. That means structured navigation tied to learning objectives, MathML for every equation rather than rendered images, and embedded interactive widgets that the Kitaboo reader app can score and report back to a teacher dashboard.

Our Kitaboo formatting work prepares manuscripts and existing print textbooks for institutional licensing, where each title is keyed per student per device rather than sold through retail storefronts. We rebuild the manuscript into clean EDUPUB-compliant XHTML, encode the media assets to the codecs Kitaboo Author accepts, embed the accessibility metadata that district procurement teams audit before purchase, and package the title so it passes ingestion into the publisher’s Kitaboo shelf without rejection on upload.

EDUPUB Structure and Interactive Widgets

Trade ebooks rarely use interactive content. Educational titles for Kitaboo usually do. We build audio narration with synchronized text highlighting through SMIL, embed video at the codec and bitrate the reader app supports, and convert end-of-chapter exercises into the widget types Kitaboo renders natively, such as multiple choice, drag-and-drop matching, fill-in-the-blank, and short-answer prompts that report scores to the gradebook. Equations are encoded in MathML rather than flattened to PNG, so screen readers can voice them and the rendering scales with reader font size.

K-12 Standards and Accessibility Metadata

District contracts require accessibility documentation. We embed metadata for Section 508 conformance and WCAG 2.1 Level AA, including alt text on every figure, language attributes on text runs, and proper heading hierarchy that assistive technology can navigate. Curriculum metadata is added at the same pass: Common Core alignment codes where the publisher provides them, Lexile measures for reading level, and GLE codes for grade-level equivalence. These fields drive search and filtering inside district learning management systems and are usually mandatory for the title to appear in adoption catalogs.

Why Publishers Choose Kitaboo Formatting

• EDUPUB profile compliance. Files validate cleanly against the educational extensions Kitaboo Author expects on ingestion.
• Interactive widget conversion. Static print exercises become scored activities that report results to the teacher dashboard.
• MathML equations. Every formula is encoded as structured math, not bitmap, so it scales and reads aloud.
• Accessibility documentation. Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA metadata embedded at the file level, ready for district review.
• Curriculum metadata. Common Core alignment, Lexile, and GLE codes populated so titles surface in district catalogs.

Our broader editorial workflow for retail titles is described on the KDP editing services page, but Kitaboo projects follow a different track because the audience, distribution model, and file specification all diverge from trade ebook publishing.

Frequently Asked Questions About Kitaboo Formatting

Is Kitaboo formatting the same as standard EPUB3?
No. Kitaboo expects EPUB3 with the EDUPUB profile, which adds educational metadata, MathML, and interactive widget support that trade EPUB3 does not require.

Do you handle DRM and license keys?
DRM is applied by Kitaboo’s reader infrastructure once the title is ingested. We deliver the source EPUB; the publisher or Hurix configures per-student, per-device licensing inside the Kitaboo platform.

Can existing print textbooks be converted?
Yes. We rebuild from InDesign, Word, or PDF source into EDUPUB-compliant XHTML, encode equations as MathML, and rebuild exercises as native widgets rather than flat images.

What accessibility standards do you meet?
We target Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 Level AA, with alt text, language attributes, heading structure, and screen-reader-friendly MathML embedded throughout.

Do you add Common Core or Lexile metadata?
Yes, where the publisher supplies the alignment data. We embed Common Core codes, Lexile measures, and grade-level-equivalence tags so titles index correctly in district catalogs and learning management systems.