Quote:
Originally Posted by Arios
...And all these little problems (text ragged right or not? non breaking space, so so drop caps...) raise the question of the autonomy of digital formats.
Are we still in the wake of Gutenberg or in the wake of medias with reflowing formats? And these medias can they, by themselves, have formats of their own? Is it necessary to always just copy paper books, rather than trying to create something new, more adapted to the "digital material"?
If the printing press (see the old but still interesting 1979 book of E.Eisenstein) has had a strong effect in changing mentalities, can it be true of digital media?
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No doubt true, but actually as websites evolve I see them moving toward print appearances rather than vice-versa, with justified text no longer uncommon. (I still use ragged right, however.)
The important issue for those of us who make a living this way is what people are most likely to buy. Give that best-selling e-books (I use the Wall Street Journal list, because the New York Times is too dignified to include self-published books on its august Lists) are justified, almost without exception, I will continue to use justification in my books.
I have a hundred or so books on my Fire HD. Only one is ragged right. I did read another (the Daniel Allon thriller) that I downloaded from the public library--again, the only unjustified book of scores of library books I have downloaded over the past couple of years.
I want my books to look familiar to the people who buy books similar to the ones I buy (or borrow).