Quote:
Originally Posted by thibaulthalpern
I want to respond to cerement's signature that says, "To manufacturers: Design an ebook reader for readers that focuses on design and typography."
I wholeheartedly agree with that one! Reading and books is not just about plain text. Plain text is the reason I shy away from .HTML files for digital readers. Typography and book design and layout is very important. Because of that, I generally favour formats that are Adobe Digital Editions or Adobe PDFs or variants thereof because they are not only concerned with plain text but also design and layout.
In fact, I find the whole business of being able to change the font of a digital book to whatever you want rather "insulting".  Okay, said in jest. But, the fact that some digital formats allow us to change to any fonts willy-nilly is suggesting that design and layout is merely secondary to plain text. Not so. Communication happens not just through text but through design and so forth. |
I agree with you! I've compared some mobi books from Amazon to their paper counterparts and the format is totally rearranged. I much prefer PDFs (from sources like Overdrive) because I know the ebook will preserve the intended formatting. I understand the desire for ebooks to be readable on digital readers of all sizes (which requires reflow) but it would be nice if ebooks came with 'original format' and 'reflowable text' options. Perhaps this is what Fictionwise's MultiFormat eBooks offer.