Hi,
While I agree that plain text lacks expressibility, I never found that feature useful in most books I've read, and many times it is downright annoying ("when character A mindtalks with character B I put it in italics" kind of stuff), so I am happy to convert to plain text. Personally I believe a novel should convey the meaning through text only (leaving aside maps and stuff like that), but that is my taste. Project Guttenberg with all the classics does just right in txt for example. I like html more for embedded stuff like table of contents, chapters, maps...
About DRM, I just do not touch such books. I'd rather buy them in print and scan them for my personal use even though it takes a little time, than buy a
rental book (which any drm implies - you accept drm, you do not own the book, you just rent it).
Liviu
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Originally Posted by Impixi
The trouble with plain text is it lacks the necessary 'expressibility'. Even for fiction, you occasionally need to emphasise words or clarify/distinguish blocks of text (eg for a change of tense or perspective, etc).
For online viewing, I think HTML is suitable for most purposes. The biggest drawback, however, from a publisher's point of view, is the lack of DRM. The absence of file compression and 'packaging' can also be a nuisance.
For documents that will be printed, PDF is probably the best bet. Again, the biggest drawback from a publisher's point of view is the lack of decent DRM.
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