Quote:
Originally Posted by Namekuseijin
PDF is only standard for printed books. Digital displays demand reflowing formats like html and epub.
Screen state can clearly benefit from reflowing content, even to the point of allowing four pages on screen in the case of 16:9 PC displays, as long as you've got good resolutions for the reduced font sizes. On mobile devices, it's portrait mode all the way, with more content per page.  |
From your response I gather you do not play pen and paper RPGs.
Many of the publishers of these games make their game rulebooks available in both paper and electronic form - but only in PDF. We're not talking novels, which reflow easily, but rulebooks with complex formatting including but not limited to charts, tables, sidebars, multiple columns, and illustrations.
It just doesn't reflow easily or well.
It also doesn't work with comics. There are a lot of public domain comics out there in CBR/CBZ format that have not been processed for panel by panel viewing, and are best viewed as full pages.
It's another case where 16:9 works very poorly and does not allow for more content on the screen.
It works fine for text - but it doesn't work for everything - and it certainly cannot be said that 16:9 will always put more content on the screen than 4:3 would.
Compare the Velocity Cruz Reader and the Velocity Cruz Tablet, both with 7" Diagonal screens:
The 4:3 aspect ratio Cruz Reader at 800x600 resolution has about 23.5 square inches of screen on a 7" diagonal.
The widescreen Cruz Tablet at 800x480 resolution has about 21.6 square inches of screen on a 7" diagonal.
Both 7" devices. Both from the same manufacturer. The 4:3 device displays more content than the widescreen. Widescreen does not always mean more content.