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winsomnia · 02-06-2011, 05:19 AM

I've only made myself familiar with the world of e-books, since 2010.
I know e-books have been around for over a decade (and perhaps portable e-readers as well).

I've found some of the e-books I've bought to have large margins on the right and left, making the text look like a fat centered column on my kobo. I might be exaggerating, but there is way too much "white space" and not enough text on my "page."

I would really like to know if this is peculiar to new e-readers, or if this has been the case for years on earlier portable e-readers. I want to know why this wide-margin formatting is the way it is. Is it because these e-books were originally formatted for machines that were much wider (for instance, a 13" netbook)? Or is the kobo doing something to the margins of these files that other e-readers are not?

Are the publishers even aware that there is a problem? Or do they see extra wide margins as simply an odd but acceptable authoring choice? And who in their right minds believes that extra wide margins is good for small electronic screens?

I bought into this world of e-books to read, and I prefer more text than blank space on my small kobo screen. And that is merely one point (of many points) of poor formatting I have frustrations with.

02-06-2011, 05:19 AM	#7
winsomnia Groupie Posts: 164 Karma: 190082 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: BC, Canada Device: kobo Touch, kobo Aura	I've only made myself familiar with the world of e-books, since 2010. I know e-books have been around for over a decade (and perhaps portable e-readers as well). I've found some of the e-books I've bought to have large margins on the right and left, making the text look like a fat centered column on my kobo. I might be exaggerating, but there is way too much "white space" and not enough text on my "page." I would really like to know if this is peculiar to new e-readers, or if this has been the case for years on earlier portable e-readers. I want to know why this wide-margin formatting is the way it is. Is it because these e-books were originally formatted for machines that were much wider (for instance, a 13" netbook)? Or is the kobo doing something to the margins of these files that other e-readers are not? Are the publishers even aware that there is a problem? Or do they see extra wide margins as simply an odd but acceptable authoring choice? And who in their right minds believes that extra wide margins is good for small electronic screens? I bought into this world of e-books to read, and I prefer more text than blank space on my small kobo screen. And that is merely one point (of many points) of poor formatting I have frustrations with.