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Old 01-23-2008, 10:19 AM   #90
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
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My take on the question:

No, PDF is not an eBook format.

Let me explain what I mean by that.

To me, an eBook format, by definition, should be "aware" of the basic structural elements of a book - titles, lines, words, paragraphs. When you change the font size, it needs to be able to reflow lines and paragraphs. It should be aware of the concept of a "word", preferably allowing you to search for it, or look up its definition in a dictionary.

PDF files do none of that. PDF was designed as an electronic representation of a printed page. A PDF files doesn't know about lines, or words, or paragraphs. All it contains is instructions of the form "draw the letter 'A' in such-and-such a font at such-and-such a position on the page". The only structural "unit" in a PDF file is the letter (or other graphical element) and the page. No words, no lines, no paragraphs, no titles, no chapters; in short, none of the elements which make a book.

There are indeed a great many books which can be obtained in the form of PDF files, but to my mind, PDF files is what they are, not eBooks.

So, for these reasons, I vote "no". PDF files are not eBooks, even if they do happen to contain the pages of a book.
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