Quote:
Originally Posted by karunaji
I am not talking about reverting the development. When the medium changes we cannot continue the path we have taken with print media. Instead, we have to take a new approach to design text. The whole principle that a reader can change the font size and reading area by will or convenience has never been possible before and is revolutionary by itself. Now it needs support from experts, vendors, readers etc.
Notice how fonts and typography standards have changed with time in print even though it is the same media (paper)? Switching to e-ink screens is inevitably going to change typography forever. There are already many fonts that look better on screen but terrible when printed on paper.
|
It depends on the font and the intended look. Some fonts only look good on a screen, because it is meant to have some depth to it, that will often get lost when printed. Can it be used on paper and still look ok, yeah but probably requires higher end printing methods than is desired.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karunaji
I haven't noticed any substantial differences so far. For example, neither Kobo, nor Kindle supports block centered text for poetry. I don't know if it is due to format or device limitations but at the end I used small left indent.
|
Are you sure on that, I'm pretty sure that you can do centered block quotes. I don't have a kobo or kindle, but the kobo uses ADE as its renderer, and I just had a centered blockquote in ADE.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karunaji
You can call it usability but it is also influenced by cultural tradition which makes it somewhat subjective. Even the quotation marks are different in different languages and there are enough differences even between the UK and US typography traditions (in addition to minor linguistic differences). Preferring one over other may show your bias.
By no means, I am saying that good typography is no longer relevant in e-books. But it also doesn't have to copy the same standards that are currently used in print. For example, I question that using a special font for Hagrid's handwritten notes will have the same effect on a reader as in the printed book. Honestly, we don't know it because we don't have enough experience with e-readers yet. In the process of experimenting and assessing the results we may even discover new ways to improve readability.
|
It isn't really all that new. Most of the stuff for design in ebooks is that which was first applied to webpages. Reflow, fluid and elastic design, etc aren't new concepts, only is new to the book publishing industry. Font design is also largely the same, regardless of print or digital. If you have the same text on a screen and on paper, why should the style of the text have any difference between the two, especially when most likely the screen is one designed to mimic paper. Yes, from a design and technical aspect, eink is meant to mimic paper.