An early (and incomplete) example of what is made possible using JSON and a scripting language like PHP.
Using a separation of style and content there's no need to repeat html mark-up (and jQuery) for each book or chapter, making it lighter and more flexible than creating each book in HTML/CSS/JavaScript and much more reusable. Not to mention easier to add all the bells and whistles you want without changing the content (data).
This future approach to producing books will save time and enable editors to refocus on the content rather than hacking the content to work in each different ereader, because every book will be updated programmatically each time the parsers are improved and adapted for each format. This means that you will no longer have multiple book content files that each need to be updated separately.
It will be possible, via this method, to package books in EPUB and Kindle formats, as well as to deliver and parse in Android and iOS with a single JSON file. Developers will be able to access books via a web API and make their own skins and interpretations of the books.
Indexes will also be searchable via web API and easy to build - nothing more than a replication of the print index within a JSON framework and without the page numbers.
Note: There isn't a single HTML tag included inside the JSON files that are used, this is pure and uncluttered JSON given meaning through arrangement and structure not a repetitious number of unnecessary object names or format specific arrangements or namespaces. The parsers handle all of the style elements so that the content (data) doesn't need to, and in turn the content editors don't need to (and once creation tools are developed there'll be zero reliance on human ebook editors to crack open files and alter code ever again).
To find out more see: https://github.com/sketchytech/json-book
You can contact me on twitter: http://twitter.com/sketchytech
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