07-26-2011, 09:35 PM | #76 | |
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This isn't a case of don't bother to make your eBook look nice because somebody may use settings to override the fonts. Make the ePub as nice as possible and let the reader decide what's the best thing for the reader. In fact, if the ePub was laid out like the pBook and had all the fonts, I would not want to change the fonts. Probably the margins, but not the fonts. |
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07-26-2011, 09:49 PM | #77 | |
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Profeesor McGonagall's signature is also a different font. These are just two examples from HP #1. |
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07-26-2011, 09:50 PM | #78 |
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07-26-2011, 09:51 PM | #79 | |
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07-26-2011, 09:55 PM | #80 | |
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I can't wait to see what comes next. (p.s. not talking about video or multimedia in books-those are a different direction) |
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07-26-2011, 10:51 PM | #81 |
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You know, it's been interesting reading the techies bang on about embedded fonts , format choices, typesetting philosophy, etc. , but let's be blunt: the decision as to whether Pottermore will offer ebooks in mobi format will be ultimately a business decision.
What will matter is that Amazon and it's customers represent 60 % of the ebook market. Those customers for the most part read their ebooks in mobi format on Kindles. There is no way on God's green earth that Pottermore is not going to craft a custom solution for those customers. That solution isn't going to be Calibre, or format conversion, or demand anything technical whatsoever of those customers. Rather, it is going to be a process as simple as those customers buying an ebook on their Kindles. The easiest way to do that will be to simply to have the books available in mobi format at the Pottermore site. There will be a big old button saying " To buy books for your Kindle, click here" and that will be start of the buying process that ill end with them downloading the ebook in mobi format. Those customers will be unaware of the benefits of ePub. And will most likely not care in any case . All that will matter is that they will finally be reading their beloved books on their chosen reading device. Last edited by stonetools; 07-27-2011 at 10:18 PM. |
07-26-2011, 11:09 PM | #82 | |
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These are books for kids. I've had a lot of experience with British English, but I wouldn't expect an 8 year old to have had the same experience. |
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07-27-2011, 12:01 AM | #83 | |
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There are obvious meta tags in ePUBs, but that is not a watermark. A watermark works best when it pervades the data, and cannot be destroyed by changing the data. Look up Cinavia to see what I'm talking about; it's actually amazing (and awful at the same time, but in a way that would not effect books). With Cinavia's audio watermark, you can change the audio, make it lossy, make it a different format, change the volume level, add noise, etc., and the watermark remains intact! I don't know if it's been successfully removed yet! Compare that to an ePUB meta tag: you just remove the meta tag, and you've removed the watermark, way too easy! Your other suggestions are better, and I'm betting it would be something along those lines. But, again, it would have to be pervasive, and non-degradable: eg. adding extra spaces is destroyed by deleting the spaces! Something, for example, that would have to survive breaking the book in to individual chapters; or even possibly individual paragraphs: it would have to stay intact to the point that piracy became impractical. Okay, all that said to get back to the debate: if you can do this with ePub, you can do it with mobi. Unless they're taking the easy way out with watermarking (meta tag), it can be implemented in any format. I still want to see Amazon forced to ePUB, but watermarking isn't going to do it. -Pie Last edited by EatingPie; 07-27-2011 at 06:29 AM. Reason: MADE MY MOST HATED TYPO!!! To instead of Too. |
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07-27-2011, 12:45 AM | #84 | |
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Still, nothing can really be done that can't be removed. It isn't quite like with audio that youcould potentially damage things getting the watermark out. |
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07-27-2011, 12:53 AM | #85 |
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I haven't noticed any substantial differences so far. For example, neither Kobo, nor Kindle supports block centered text for poetry. I don't know if it is due to format or device limitations but at the end I used small left indent.
Latvian epubs usually are sold with an embedded font but only because there are many e-readers that do not support Latvian characters by default. The font is ugly and the book looks much better when converted to mobi and displayed on Kindle with its default font. It would be nice to have a possibility to use additional fonts for highlighting in few cases but Comic Sans should be expressly forbidden in all e-readers |
07-27-2011, 01:09 AM | #86 | |
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Notice how fonts and typography standards have changed with time in print even though it is the same media (paper)? Switching to e-ink screens is inevitably going to change typography forever. There are already many fonts that look better on screen but terrible when printed on paper. |
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07-27-2011, 01:47 AM | #87 | |
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By no means, I am saying that good typography is no longer relevant in e-books. But it also doesn't have to copy the same standards that are currently used in print. For example, I question that using a special font for Hagrid's handwritten notes will have the same effect on a reader as in the printed book. Honestly, we don't know it because we don't have enough experience with e-readers yet. In the process of experimenting and assessing the results we may even discover new ways to improve readability. |
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07-27-2011, 04:08 AM | #88 | ||
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Clearly I'm stupid for wanting to read text in a font size and style that I find most comfortable. Clearly everyones eyes and brains are exactly the same, and there is a single font size and style that is exactly perfect for a given situation. |
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07-27-2011, 04:11 AM | #89 | |
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I don't want to replicate the paper experience, I want to have a good ebook experience. I can't change the font size of a paper book if I have good or bad eyesight. I can't make a paper book suddenly appear in white on black so it is more comfortable to read at night. I can't click in a word in a paper book and get a definition or look it up in wikipedia. Should my mp3 player make me press a button half way through an album before it continues playing, to give me the same sort of experience as having to change sides on an LP? |
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07-27-2011, 06:19 AM | #90 | ||
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I'm not saying it's a bad thing, although with geographic restrictions on eBooks it does mean you're limited to the translation or nothing unlike paper books where you could import the original. I'm just a little surprised. When I read books set in the US or with characters that grew up there, I expect to find americanisms in use. To have an american character using UK slang unless they've spent time in the UK or with people from the UK or it's also common slang in the US would feel out of place. Is it mainly because of the books target audience been children, in which case I agree it makes more sense, or does this also happen with books aimed at adult readers? Quote:
IMO there's nothing wrong with giving readers the original vision of the book so long as they leave in the option for users to customise it to how they wish it displayed, font type/size/dictionary lookups... The time I would object is if in providing that vision they limit user choice, such as doing something daft like using a book made of images so that each page exactly matches the book when displayed on reader X but in turn removing the ability to view that content on another device due to lack of reflow and making font/size changes impossible. But if they aim for the original look of the book whilst keeping flexibility in mind, I see no problem with that. Last edited by JoeD; 07-27-2011 at 06:26 AM. |
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amazon, epub, harry potter, jk rowling, standardization |
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