Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmikel
This is a matter of personal taste. If it is just for yourself, please yourself.
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Indeed. Nearly all of the typographical choices are opinions, and all over the typography boards/topics are arguments back and forth on "my way is better/nicer".
The thing that I like to stress most though is to just make sure your code is CONSISTENT throughout the book. For example, this is the footnote format I use (pulled this right out of an EPUB I completed today):
In Text:
Quote:
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<p>Adam Smith too is a target of these smear campaigns. One of the most passionate advocates of destructionism had the nerve to call him, in the Introduction to an inexpensive edition of the <i>Wealth of Nations</i>, “an unconscious mercenary in the service of a rising capitalist class” and to add that “he gave a new dignity to greed and a new sanctification to the predatory impulses.”<a href="#fn1" id="ft1">[1]</a> Other leftists resort to even still ruder insults.</p>
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At the end of the chapter:
Quote:
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<p><a href="#ft1" id="fn1">[1]</a> Max Lerner in the Modern Library edition of the <i>Wealth of Nations</i> (New York: Random House, 1937), p. ix.</p>
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Throughout the entire book, I make sure that:
- Footnotes in the text always have an ID of "ft#"
- Footnotes in the end of the chapter are id "fn#".
- ALWAYS wrap the number/symbol/letter in brackets.
This makes it extremely easy to use Regex to change/fix all instances.
So let us say I wanted to flip from [##] format to a superscript number format, I can easily run this Regex:
Search:
Replace:
Or this more robust one:
Search:
Code:
<a href="#f([tn][^>]+)>\[(.+?)\]</a>
Replace:
Code:
<a href="#f\1><sup>\2</sup></a>
Keeping consistent code allows someone to just go in and change it to whatever preference they want, AND/OR in the future, if you decide to switch to a different format, you have made your life MUCH easier.
(For example, in all of the EPUBs I have created, I used that same footnote code, but instead of brackets I had "<sup>##</sup>". I can easily open those old EPUBs and run one Regex, and I will have bracketed footnotes)
That "include the first word in the link" recommendation seems to me like it would be a big pain to reverse/fix/change, and it would look VERY inconsistent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrmikel
If I were trying to do something for old codgers like me, though, I think readability would trump beauty every time!
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Indeed. The ultimate purpose of books is to get across ideas and influence people. The text of the book itself is the most important. Users are going to want to read most comfortably
for them (especially in ebooks), so they will force the book to their personal reading preferences (user margins/line-heights/colors/fonts/font-sizes/background colors...).
All you should do is pick some nice basic defaults (never forcing "black font" for instance), and make clean/consistent code so it is easy as pie for someone to go in and change if they were so inclined.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jellby
In an ideal future, ebook readers will support alternate stylesheets, you could have both versions in the same book, and the user will be able to choose the best for him/her.
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Or just magical user overrides.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zekton
It's a bit of a steep learning curve at the moment, so glad I've found this community. And btw, I think Sigil rocks, just hope it can keep going in some form.
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Most of us are very helpful here. (Just stay away from that evil person Jellby! or Hitch!)
