Quote:
Originally Posted by AliceWonder
The point isn't that huge code listings in an ePub is a good idea.
The point is that there are legitimate reasons for monospace fonts in currently produced media, such as was used on the Thomas A. Anderson's computer screen in The Matrix when Trinity contacted him.
And none of those lines would cause a problem in a book if using the code tag, which allows for line wrapping when needed.
Readers without monospace fonts are an unfortunate decision because there are legitimate reasons for publishers to use them where a variable-width font does not give the atmosphere to the reader. I do not understand why that is hard for some to comprehend.
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It has nothing to do with
comprehension. It has to do with years of experience, in making hundreds and thousands of books, on untold numbers of devices, and seeing everything that can, and does, go wrong.
Quote:
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Publishers who use a code tag, a perfectly legal tag to use - or even a span if they want monospace but it's not semantic code - have no choice but to bundle their own because some devices lack the ability to properly render HTML that is specifically supported by ePub.
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You have
one book to worry about. You can, as you control that book, make certain assumptions about where it will be read, on what devices and all that. For those of us that do this professionally, we have to assume that the book will be read on devices that are positively unfriendly to the standards--and unsurprisingly, most really ARE downright unfriendly thereto. Apple's one of the worst offenders; KDP for all the horsecrap that people say about MOBI, is actually more compliant than is iBooks. B&N's Nook is another headache.
Then you get the eReaders, software "devices" built by every Tom, Dick and Harriet, which will either automatically override all, repeat, ALL the CSS and HTML that you've put in the book, or only "some" and/or will allow the user to do so.
And new-to-it users, who think that everything in the standard is, of course, supported someplace when in reality, the opposite is true. Sure--there are some pure, plain,to-the-standards eReaders out there, but by and large, it's the sellers of the devices that are driving the bus. Don't believe me? Look at the last few revisions and "updates" to the ePUB standard, notice how much of it has to do with multimedia and Apple and then cogitate on who is maintaining the "standards" and for whom....
There are plenty of readers w/o monospace fonts. As I tried to explain, initially, I have no issue with them when used in a limited way. As long as they aren't used for the reading material, by and large, hey--your book. Your choice.
Vis: the calibre metadata tags--I recommend you review what Calibre is for--a library tool--and why those tags exist. They have
nothing to do with walled gardens.
Hitch