View Single Post
Old 05-21-2009, 08:49 PM   #49
ahi
Wizard
ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.ahi ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Posts: 1,790
Karma: 507333
Join Date: May 2009
Device: none
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moejoe View Post
If the output becomes good enough and the creation easy enough so that ePub matches (and maybe surpasses) PDF then PDF itself is pointless
Another way of saying what you say there is: "The day websites become good enough that HTML+CSS matches or even improves professionally typeset magazines and books, then magazines and books become pointless."

Ok... so my rephrasing kind of breaks after the comma, but, with all due respect: That will never happen. I really am not exaggerating in my "impossible to automate typesetting" claims. Can't be done: it requires a person. Automatic reflow is handing the keys to hardware+software--it will look like it was done by hardware+software instead of a person.

Websites have been around for well over a decade, and they remain typographically horrible. Designers, web designers themselves even generally acknowledge that.

The approach ePub takes (HTML + CSS) already failed to make the web as good as professionally produced print materials; it cannot make eBooks achieve that goal either.

But I think I should stop, because this is a long-running argument wherein the two sides do not tend to concede points to one another.*

- Ahi

* I mean in general, not specifically in this thread.

Last edited by ahi; 05-21-2009 at 08:51 PM. Reason: adding asterisk comment
ahi is offline   Reply With Quote