Quote:
Originally Posted by ratinox
I'm not suggesting otherwise. I'm questioning the assertion that reflowable text is a hard requirement to qualify as an ebook.
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PDFs exisited before ebook formats and were not called ebooks. The entire point of original ebook formats was reflowable. It was only later that fixed formats to badly ape PDF were added.
It's revisionism and confusion to LATER claim that fixed layout are also ebooks. They are electronic format books.
PDF is from 1992 and no-one till recently called it an ebook format. It was an electronic format for print replica or for actually printing. Interactive forms was added later.
OEBPS was developed in 1998, released in 1998 and developed to epub2. Originally only intended to the reflowable.
Mobipocket was 2000, bought in 2005 by Amazon and used for mobi in 2007 on Kindle. Originally intended to be reflowable.
PDB (at least two Palm ebook formats, LIT/LRF, CHM (used for MS ebooks) were all reflowable formats.
Only reflowable is a true ebook as the distribution can be done with no assumptions as to resolution, font size and screen size.
Any fixed layout other than PDF was developed for commercial reasons, manly for alternate DRM for print replica. Though epub3 doesn't inherently have DRM and adds fixed layout to ape PDF. An epub3 can be a real ebook, but also there is epub3 which are not ebooks, but either print replica or multi-media or interactive.