[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

[FONT="Georgia"]I think the key for a viable ebook format is consistency. Based on what I've read, it seems like ePub formatting is not consistent from reader to reader. To contrast, one of the main strengths of a PDF is that it renders consistently as long as it is sized for the ereader's screen. When I create a PDF for my reader I know exactly what it will look like on my reader.

But not what it will look like on a different-sized reader, or a computer screen, or a Blackberry. There is no format that looks the same on all readers.

For me, HTML is a good ebook format as long as consistent rules are set down when tagging (such as not allowing tags that cross each other) that must be followed without exception.

Who decides on the tags? What happens when the technology changes, and browser programming can offer more options--are we stuck with the old tags? Are old books no longer compliant because they use deprecated tags?

Rather than CSS, I'd like to see consistent default formatting established as a starting point for all ebooks on all readers (such as a default font and a standard amount of space between the paragraphs),

Why should one person's reading preferences become the default for all readers? Some people like serif fonts. Some like sans serif. Some have preferences that change depending on what they're reading on. (I like serifs on my Sony, but sans-serif on LCD screens.)

but these can be altered via formatting instructions within the tags (like tag codes that indicate "this paragraph is in Helvetica" and "no space after this paragraph").

You're assuming all devices will have Helvetica. Or that, as is the case now, a lot of formatting just won't apply to all devices, and books will look different depending on what machine you use to read them.

If no specific formatting instructions are provided within an ebook, then the ebook should look the same on all ebook readers.

They can't. Not all ebook readers have the same display tech. A 3" iphone screen and a 6" e-ink screen and a 19" computer monitor cannot make ebooks "look the same."

Also, rather than trying to take shortcuts within the format, I'd rather see a very verbose ebook format where everything that is not the default is explicitly spelled out within the tags. This will allow for better rendering since everything is clearly spelled out within the ebook.

We've got that. What we don't have, is devices that will read all of those tags. And the more verbose the coding, the longer the book takes to load; while devices are getting faster all the time, they still slow down on books with lots of formatting. So most programs work to eliminate unnecessary or redundant coding -- with the problem that, on a different machine, those distinctions might be useful.

There aren't any simple answers. And we tend to forget, in the discussions, that we don't have one perfect format for printed material, either--we have mass market paperbacks, and hardcovers, and coffee-table books, and magazines, and folded brochures, and 4" stapled pamphlets, and letters in envelopes, and 2'x3' architectural blueprints, and tiny medical instructions shoved in pill bottles.

The print industry never settled on a single standard for all written material, and it's pointless to think that digital written material is ever going to come up with one perfect format. It's possible that most novels will settle on a format, but non-novel ebooks may be scattered across several formats--some epub or mobi, some PDF where layout is critical, some .exe with multimedia embedded, some .cbr because text is unimportant to them, and so on.