Quote:
Originally Posted by donnieparker
I actually don't know the answer to this. Ebook team is a separate department. I would imagine there's some hand-tweaking involved, though, since ebooks can't replicate everything perfectly from print editions.
|
The problem as I see it is trying to replicate the pBook format for the eBook. It's usually fails. Overall, the formatting for commercial eBooks is not good.
eBooks are different from pBooks and should be treated as such and the formatting should be what works for eBooks. A lot of what's done is done poorly and sometimes just plain wrong.
Sure you can create the eBook from an InDesign export. But that ePub then needs to have someone hand tweak the code so it's good. I've cleaned up plenty of inDesign disasters so they then look good and is easy to read.
One of the first mistakes done with InDesign is allow the same fonts used for the pBook to be embedded in the eBook. Most of those fonts do not look good on an eInk screen. Another is to set the line height to be the same as the pBook. Then there are the font sizes of different sizes where they should be the same. Offset text should be the same size as the main body text. Having a CSS with hundreds of unused classes is another mistake. Having the same L/R margins as the pBook is yet another botch job. Paragraph spaces are a good way to take the reader out of the story. I know they don't work for me.
Really, if you want to give the reader the best experience, you have to not make the eBook look like the pBook. Most programs these days have settings for line-height, the font, L/R margin. If you includes these things, some programs will not allow the user to set them as wanted. So it can be an uncomfortable reading experience.