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Someone mentioned different uses of HTML tags like <span> etc, and said it was bad formatting. One thing that should be understood is that some of this stuff is DEVICE dependent. Different devices may render the exact same formatting in different ways.
Let's address <span> specifically.
This was due to an IPad/Ibooks issues. An old bug that I don't know if they ever fixed.
Apparently there is/was a problem with ibooks or iPads ignoring certain aspects of html formatting-such as centered text for instance. The way to overcome the problem was by using span tags.
What it means is that generally a publisher SHOULD make a separate coded file for EACH store/distributor. But that doesn't normally happen. More often than not it's one epub file and one mobi file. The tags/formatting that applies to each device is often included in the code. However, at times, this might cause issues, and you may see the resulting problems.
This then goes back to the whole different device aspect. Think about how many different types of readers, phones, tablets etc are out there. Imagine if a publisher had to code for each individual device in a separate file. Through the roof expenses.
Also the tech is constantly changing and one has to adjust and learn unlike with print, it's just one format. Typography.
This doesn't excuse typos etc, but sometimes the paragraph, space issues, etc that you might see are results of the different devices and what's churned out in the process of making one compatible file that a publisher would upload to all the epub accepting stores, and then another for mobi. Hence why the experiences differ so much.
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