[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I simply want to add--yes, it's true that "emulating" print layout doesn't work (well) on most smaller devices. But you know what? (Here goes ALL my credibility with Jon, lol!)--I love it. I infinitely prefer a creative approach that makes me feel like I'm reading a print book.

But when fonts are embedded that are too light for eInk, I can't feel like I'm reading an pBook. When there are paragraph spaces, I cannot feel I am reading a pBook. When the font is too small (not using the default size), I cannot feel I am reading a pBook. When there is a line-height used, I cannot feel I am reading a pBook. When the indents are too large, I cannot feel I am reading a pBook. When there are paragraph spaces and no indents, I cannot feel I am reading a pBook.

For example, the "Cthulhu Casebooks [of Sherlock Holmes]" which were put out by Titan. Totally crazy eBook formatting--the book designer decided to make each chapter head an entire "page/screen" by itself. And it really works, for those 3 books. When you go to chapter X, you get an entire page of drawings, (of Chthulu's tentacles, presumably) with a cool font for the chapter number and name/title. It resizes nicely on a lot of devices; the person who made the eBook should have done a better job for Kindles, BUT, I still like it. So there!

I did download one of these eBook from the library and there are some good and bad points to it. The chapter header is definitely different. On my laptop with Calibre's Viewer, there is some space left at the bottom of the screen. On my iPhone, there's not enough room at the bottom of the screen. So in this case, it's best to do it the way it's done. It does work. The font used for the chapter titles works. But, the font used for the body text doesn't work. It's just way too light. It's Times New Roman and that is a terrible font to embed. That is a big fail.

And I like space around chapter heads, too. Neener-neener-neener. So what? If done wrong, yes, it's unhappy-making, but when done right, it works on all devices and nobody's member or girls are going to fall off, just because there's a bit of whitespace above the chapter head.

Some space maybe, but not some silly amount of space. ANd don't do it with a % as that changes depending on what device is being used. The space needs to be consistent. So use em and not % and don't go more then 2em. Don't use 1/2 the screen for the chapter header.

What doesn't work is when David Dilettante decides to "create" his chapter heads and does that with a whack-load of "enter-enter-enter" or a font size that's 50% larger than it ought to be and it's set in px so that you can't change it.

Or the chapter header is too small.

We've all looked at and seen and loved books that make good use of whitespace and design for eternity. It's not that easy to just switch one's brain off, on what you expect to see to something ELSE that is already different, and think, "oh, well, it doesn't matter if the chapter head is boring and bland and all that, it's JUST an eBook." Phooey on that.

What amount of space around the chapter header do you prefer?

Sure, I am extremely careful with clients' books. We don't do anything too "out there" unless we have an adventurous client. We did a book with illos, above/below each Part Page announcement (e.g., "part 1," etc.) in a book for a client, like the Chthulu Casebooks, and he loves it. I'm waiting to see what the public reception of it is, assuming the thing sells. But...you can hardly blame ebook creators/designers/formatters for wanting to inject a bit of elegance or TLC or creativity or something into their work for their clients. When done right, it can really make a book stand out, in a world of many millions of poorly-done books and eBooks.

Yes, be creative. Don't be boring. A lot of blank space in the chapter header is boring. Cthulhu Casebooks [of Sherlock Holmes] chapter headers works because they are creative in a good way. But to have "[too much space]Chapter 1[too much space]start of the chapter text" is boring and for me, it doesn't work. Either be creative or don't have so much excess space.

For example, with the amount of space wasted in chapter headers in a Jame Patterson book, you can get an extra screen of text then you would if a reasonable amount of space for the chapter header was used. Because there are over 100 chapters, you can get way too many extra screens.