Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
An "ebook" can be at least two different things:
1. A document to be read, viewed, browsed and searched on computer-like devices.
2. A digital "copy" of a traditional book.
If you mean 1, then PDF is not the best suited format, HTML, ePUB, CHM, etc. are way better. But if you mean 2, PDF is the best and most accepted format.
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It seems most PDF detractors here can't get past the "document" thing.
If the focus was just documents, we wouldn't even have this discussion - plain text is perfectly adequate for most. But there are a lot of occasions, where layout and fonts need to be set, and not reflow.
My point is, that as the hardware becomes more robust, e-readers will have to handle a lot more than "documents," if they are to gain wide acceptance. There is no way you can do a very complex magazine design, or ad, with something like ePub (not that I am aware of.) Nor with HTML.
PDF is the only format which can handle such demands. It has also evolved, so for "plain" text, it can reflow on small screens.
And it is ONE format, which can scale depending on the needs. And it is widely popular, and not just for printing documents, but for viewing them on screen (I don't even remember the last time I had to print a PDF, including forms - I just sign fill them out and sign them digitally.)
And, the chances are, that if I purchase a title today in PDF format, I'll be able to use the same file, on my computer, laptop, tablet, or future color e-reader.
I personally don't care that others like competing formats, but my fear is, that a bunch of incompatible formats will only confuse the market, and delay the adoption of ebooks. And that formats, which cannot handle complex, fixed layouts, will be obsolete when large, color, standardized screens become the norm, allowing for complex content to finally be placed on e-readers.
P.S. HarryT, thanks for pointing out that PDF is now an open standard. I think it makes the argument for its adoption even stronger.
P.P.S. kovidgoyal, I am looking forward to getting my donation back :-)