Quote:
Originally Posted by bfollowell
It depends on if you're going to try to sell the book or if it's for personal use. If it's for personal use, there is no such thing as "just plain wrong". It's up to what each person likes and, if that's the case, then yes, you could easily have margins and indents setup as a percentage. I set my indents for personal use as 5% and they look perfect to me on anything from a five inch screen to a nine inch. Just experiment and find out what works well for you.
If it is for commercial purposes, then I'd follow Jon's advice and go with something like 1-2 em for most indents and margins.
- Byron
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For commercials eBooks, from what I've read about format preferences, those that do not care for no (zero) margins, do like small margins. 1em is too big for a margin. Margins should be specified in points so they always stay the same. What works is just enough to keep the text from the edge of the screen. But, most reading apps/Readers, there is no need for a bottom margin as the text never gets to the bottom of the screen. So you just need left/right/top. And a small margin like 5pt - 9pt would not be too big for most people. 2em is too big for an indent. The largest it should be is 1.5em, but (IMHO) that's still too big. Simon & Schuster (for Star Trek eBooks) is using 1.2em for an indent and that works well. Enough to be noticeable as an indent but not too big to be annoying. I've seen way too many at something stupid like 5%.