Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
HTML is not a proper ebook format, because it's not self-contained and distributed as a single file (not in its general form, at least).
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I disagree.
HTML is a perfectly valid ebook format...and it is universal, unlike epub and mobi, which still require additional software to read on many devices. (What percentage of devices ship with a built-in epub or mobi reader?)
After all, HTML (and zipped folders with html files and images) are the universal standard of the entire web -- everyone can read a basic HTML file without any additional software beyond whatever their device comes with.
Since many (most?) books don't rely on images to convey information, there's often not a need for a zipped file, you can often publish a straight HTML file if you are willing to sacrifice the cover or include it as a separate JPEG or image.
But even most OSs come with a zip utility built in to open zip files.
Offering HTML in addition to epub, mobi and PDF is a great way to ensure that anyone can read your ebook no matter what device they have.
And HTML is a strong base to use for converting to other formats such as epub and mobi.