Quote:
Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel
sonist, i've got a thread just for you....
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Thanks, Zelda. I looked at it, and it was helpful, but while I certainly might be missing something, I still do not see any clear advantages of EPUB over PDF.
Elfwreck points out some positives, such as being an HTML container. But, frankly, while HTML may make a programmer's heart happy, it sucks in terms of design capabilities. PDF is much, much better.
As to small screens, I doubt most people will prefer them, once larger screens come to market at affordable prices. But regardless, if we have 2-3 sizes established as standard (e.g. 6", 9.7", 12"), then publishers can design as appropriate, for material which does not lend itself to reflow. Again, we do have well-established standards for paper sizes, so why not for ereader screens?
Moreover, I am not sure EPUB robust enough for complex layouts, where design is of great importance, such as magazines. We already know that PDF is.
The bottom line is, PDF is already a standard on the desktop. And not just for printing.
On the web, if one wants precise control over a non-dynamic page, they use PDF, and most browsers can deal with it with ease. Blogs, etc., are generally dynamic, editable, and do not often demand precise design and layout control - books and magazines are the opposite.)
To me, it's a natural step to adopt PDF as ebook standard, as well as emagazines, etextbooks, enewspapers, etc..
DRM is no more of an issue with PDFs, than with EPUB. If anything, I thought PDF DRM is already defeat-able.