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Originally Posted by Turtle91
I agree that the simplest form of an ebook is just plain text with no markup whatsoever... But part of the reading experience is having a good presentation! Just try telling a chef that presentation means nothing  |
You can have plenty of good layout and lovely style that enhances a novel. Drop caps and Small Caps lead-in first paragraph text are superfluous and hardly seen in the last 100 years in novels for adults. Small Cap lead-ins never been popular. To me it's weird that some ebook publishers are going back to these long abandoned (on paper) extras that are not even that portable and unsuited for phones and 6″ eink ereaders. Even more often using fancier scene breaks than paper print. Doing stuff because you can and it seems prettier is a poor choice in ebook production of novels.
No, I don't want ebooks with no styles, layouts, formatting, like a Palm PDA has, or PD ebooks had for over 30 years, but there seems to be an increasing trend to over complicate novels as ebooks compared to paper and too much over egg the prettiness. The Typesetting equivalent of purple prose. Been there and done that on paper in 1990s out of ego and ignorance. Sometimes a bit less is better for getting across the content. I know how to do very complex stuff, like needed for a science / Maths text book, or a comic / graphic novel etc. But I chose not to for novels. Having balance is the thing.