Some say that PDF is not a very good ebook format.
For me it is my format of choice for reading public-domain books on cybook as it helps me overcome the original non-customizable layout for mobi books set by the manufacturer. Secondly, it helps me bypass the lack of fixed page numbering in reflowable formats.
On books that are available in html, e.g. on PG, I do the layout myself, I set the page size, choose my preferred font face, size and line spacing and export them as PDFs.
This way I have full control over how the ebook looks on my liseuse, so I'm independent on the manufacturers implementation of reflowable formats, no matter how good or bad it is.
And this is the strong side of PDF, it gives you full control, but only at the moment of creation. The shortcoming, of course, is that you can't make changes to the layout on the fly. But you're all aware of this.
Bottomline is that I've been using PDFs for some time, read many books this way and under the given circumstances it makes for a great and very usable ebook format.
As to Ahi's comment about reflowable formats being broken-by-design -- I haven't read your ludicrously long argumentations
, still I dare to disagree.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ahi
reflow is only necessary because both eBook technologies and the eBook market are incredibly immature
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Reflow addresses the problem of displaying the same text on various sizes of displays. This can't be relieved by any future breakthroughs in e-publishing technology. Reflow is to stay here with us for as long as people will read on various devices and displays of various sizes.
I see future in reflow with a far more meticulous and complex specification of layout. It could very well be PDF, there's a fat chance it might keep its prominent position among ebook formats even in 10 years, it all depends on how the issue of reflow will be tackled.