Blog

It was in 2018 when we first released our self-editable EPC commentary EPC.App. The concept was so unexpected for the community that we had to start by explaining that our product is actually an electronic book from which a printed book can be produced. It has turned out surprisingly successful and reliable. For about eight years, we managed to keep it up and running without interruptions and released content updates twice per year leading to the meanwhile 16^th edition of EPC.App. In 2019, we further extended the platform to the corresponding self-editable PCT reference book PCT.App, with annual updates now in the 7^th edition.

However, for the time scales of web services with their ever-changing programming languages and tools, eight years is an extremely long time, and to ensure continued availability, it became necessary to rebuild the underlying software of the EPC.App / PCT.App online platform. Due to the complexity of the system, we have been working on this behind the scenes for about two years and are happy to finally announce its release.

Since we believe in the principle that a running system should not be changed unnecessarily, our top priority was that the new version is fully backward compatible and provides all functionality of the old one. So, if you regularly used EPC.App or PCT.App in the past, we hope you will face no difficulty in finding all prior navigation and editing functions again. Also, any existing data including personal user annotations have been transferred and should be readily available on the next login. If you nevertheless miss something, please do not hesitate to reach out to us (e.g. by the new contact form accessible via Help>Contact Support in the top menu).

As a matter of course, we also used this release to implement several improvements in the new software:

1. The user interface has been redesigned for better overview and more intuitive usability:
   • The prior ribbon menu with its second menu bar has been removed. The functions therein have been rearranged so that the editing functions (editability switch and editing toolbar) are kept visible at the top right of the main window, while still having access to all top menu items for navigation (table of contents, rules & protocols, notes, full text search), see screenshot above.
   • Internal links can now be followed while the edit mode is activated (by Ctrl + click) and will navigate to a view where editing functions are kept readily available.
   • Upon following an internal link to the first occurence of the respective element in the book, now any further occurences are shown as alternative links so that you can redirect if the first did not meet your intention.
   • All buttons are now provided with explaining tooltips, which change depending on availability.

2. The online readability of the book content has been improved by larger spaces, shorter text lines, separation of annotations in grey boxes and suppression of column breaks within larger content elements. These changes do not effect the PDF generation which remains substantially the same. However, the generated PDFs have slightly improved line and page breaks that avoid prior occasional single lines of text on otherwise empty pages.

3. The new EPC.App and PCT.App are fully adapted to mobile devices. They are still run as web browser application and not as stand-alone app, but the menu bar and content page now automatically fit for a wide range of screen sizes. On mobile phones, you can switch easily between viewing the main window or the table of contents for navigation.

4. In the table of contents entries can now be expanded to show detailed sub-entries of each section. Such sub-entries can be followed as links and the functionality is equally provided in the left navigation column (see screenshot above). This replaces the prior overview boxes at the beginning of each PCT.App section and is now consistent for both apps.

5. The functions for editing the structure and contents of a section are now integrated in the left navigation column. Upon activation of “edit structure” (button in upper left corner, see screenshot), said navigation column is temporarily replaced for editing, while the main window provides a live preview immediately showing changes to the respective section.

6. A couple of new editing functions have been added:
   • In said editing of the structure via the left navigation column, users can now add linked content and own comments between author contents. In the prior version, this was only possible at the end of each group.
   • Properly formatted tables can now be included in annotations and comments via the right-side toolbar. In the author comments, this is already used for the lists of states under Art. 3, 65 and 142 EPC.
   • This toolbar now also provides an undo function which has been repeatedly requested.
   • The text color of author and user annotations (default blue and red in screenshot) can now be changed via the marking styles overview accessible via the top menu (gear icon).

7. The notes overview selectable from the top menu now allows to filter notes by keywords (e.g. show only those including the expression “Update (April 2026)”) and to edit notes already in the overview and not only in the respective content section.

8. The user profile and shop sections in the menu have been completely reworked to improve overview and provide new functions:
   • In addition to still provided notifications by email, the new user profile / shop shows the current status of print-on-demand orders and invoices, and allows to download invoices again.
   • Convenient recurrent payments can now be setup using SEPA mandate, credit card, PayPal.
   • Company customers can register their VAT-ID and an additional invoice e-mail address.

We hope you will enjoy the new EPC.App / PCT.App online platform and that it will continue running as smooth as in the past. Your feedback would be very welcome!