Reinventing the History Textbook for Online Learning

I have two middle-school-aged children in my home who have been using online History books for two years. Their verdict: terrible. This is hugely interesting to me because they are wired to the hilt. So, what don't they like about it? The difficulty of going back and forth, trying to find information, which speaks to a format problem, not the use of computers. In Historical Thinking, the textbook is addressed from the point of being controversial, which speaks more to the balance between learning facts and synthesizing events in a way that enables students to think in historical contexts. The focus, in my view, ought to be the use/creation of software that allows teachers to create their own textbooks, which serve as a platform for whatever they're doing in class. Both my children had amazing History teachers, who utilized Project-Based Learning throughout the year; but, both felt frustrated by the textbook, which seemed to slow learning down. If students are going to be required to read History textbooks online, then those materials should developed in a way that suits the medium, as well as suits the needs of the teacher and students!