Quote:
Originally Posted by frabjous
Well, to be fair, my thought was that after tools such as the one we're hypothesizing are created it wouldn't take very long for publishers to offer multiple sizes. Kovid is referring to the time to actually create the tool, which is a little less clear.
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I thought Kovid thought the work required
even with the use of such tools would be excessive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frabjous
Athough it took me significantly less than a day's work to modify my source for Russell's Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy (link above) to make it available in six different sizes, even using existing tools.
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There you go.
Truth be told, I'm sure the amount of manual attention an eBook should ideally receive (in preparation for multi-layout) will differ greatly based on the content and type of content... but yes, I think 7 hours (8 hour work day - 0.5 hour lunch - 2 * 0.25 hour breaks) is more than sufficient to take an average eBook's LaTeX source and customize it to look better (than the automation managed by itself) for a variety of page size and font size combinations.
And, frankly, if 7 hours is too much time for a publisher to put into preparing an eBook... chances are it will show, even in the ePub edition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frabjous
Still, to get "arbitrary" sizing would be much more difficult. But again, this was my first attempt, and if the matter becomes routine, and we encourage people to actually develop new LaTeX packages especially for the task, then who knows how little time it might take? (Of course, my expectations are probably unreasonable high, but I think it's best to shoot for the moon, at least until you fail and know why you can't...)
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I think the key is that "arbitrary" sizing
isn't.
1) Take the smallest screen size people are likely to read an eBook on (some ludicrous mini cellphone's tiny as hell screen, presumably) and put in conditional commands to relax LaTeX strictness sufficiently for screen sizes ranging from that to maybe 3" so that the result is readable.
2) Get a slightly less strictness-relaxed conditional command in there for sizes 3" - 6".
3) Get a slightly less strictness-relaxed conditional command in there for sizes 6"+.
4) Focus on specific screen-size/font combinations you expect people to use. Probably 5"/11pt, 6"/11pt, 5",14pt, and 6"/14pt are a good start. Eliminate blatant/obvious errors.
5) Perhaps put some conditional commands in there to do multi-column for screen-sizes larger than 9", if your text is such that it would benefit from that.
And the result should be a LaTeX source that can generate PDF files that look at least as good, and probably better, than alternative formats on devices ranging from tiny cellphone screens, popular 5" and 6" eBook readers, and larger screened premium eBook readers too. Not the same PDF, of course... and the ones you gave personal attention to will definitely look better. But basically the above should cover pretty much everything of relevance... in not too many steps.
- Ahi