Quote:
Originally Posted by algol
Merci Zelda!
I know the epub specs... But I really like PDF... in PDF things will display the way you (the editor) want it to do. There is (generally) no fancy operations that the reader software will do to change the typesetting.  |
that's true, and it's often the reason cited for why some designers / editors might prefer pdf... as long as you are making them for yourself there is no trouble, but the precise reason you like them is why many people don't ; for most people, one of the advantages of ebooks is precisely that you can modify the display to suit you. for instance, i like to increase the font size when i'm reading in bed without my glasses to make it easier on my eyes. with a reflowable format like epub i can do this without losing any of the formatting ; the text will still look great, and as the designer intended it, but it will be bigger. with a pdf, i can reflow the text (depending on my device...) however when i do that i lose the formatting, which gives a very unsatisfactory result. another reason is that some people really like to use sans-serif fonts for their books. i really dislike those for the body text because i find them much harder to read, so i prefer to use my own preferred font. with epub books this is not a problem, but just try to change the font in a pdf ! (of course, i'm a designer, so i am really picky about how my texts look, just like you.
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anyway, to each his own ; many people find reading pdfs (as long as they are formatted for the proper screen size) to be very nice. and it does give you the possibility of making books which are formatted as perfectly as paper, with control of kerning, etc. which is not possible with automatic justification (on reflowable texts). the important thing after all is to be making nice ebooks ! but do take another look at epub ; you can really do some amazing things with it, and for someone who loves typography i think you might discover you like it a lot !