Quote:
Originally Posted by anamardoll
You cannot, after all, reflow a physical book, but that doesn't make it less of a book.
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If you don't mind, I'd like to address this one specific point because it is often brought up in defense of PDFs. It's true, but it's also irrelevant because not all books use the same size pages. When a book is laid out, the content determines the page size.
Something that needs lots of charts, tables, and illustrations like a textbook or RPG rulebook is printed on larger pages. Something like a novel, which doesn't need complex formatting is printed in multiple sizes, first in hardcover, then in paperback - and it's typeset differently for each size.
The issue with ereaders is that the screen size is fixed, so everything has to fit into the same display area. That fixed area for all books makes a huge difference. No one's trying to fit a massive RPG rulebook into a mass market paperback.
It's this fundamental difference that makes any reference to paper books not reflowing moot. They don't reflow because the content has already been fitted to the page.