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orwell2k · 09-22-2009, 10:12 AM

I haven't been through all the replies on this forum, so forgive me if I'm repeating issues or raising points already dismissed. But my problem with ePub is perhaps not so much the format itself as the reader implementations on devices. They seem to handle displaying ePub files very poorly. And perhaps the limitations I expereience are a consequence of the format itself, but I'm not sure.

I use FB2 almost exclusively, so any Mobi, ePub, LIT or whatever files I obtain or buy, DRM or not, almost always end up as FB2 for my personal use. People whine about the loss of Mobi DRM on the BeBook (Hanlin V3 clones and new V5), but to be honest I found the reader implementation pretty poor. The ePub reader is worse, and will probably improve to about the same level, but IMHO will still be basically crap.

Not that the FB2 reader solves all a user's problems. I love the flexibility of displaying FB2 files, in terms of choosing fonts, font sizes, interline spacing, etc., and being able to use a CSS file in the crengine folder to really tailor your display. The "packaging" of ePubs seems to exclude this kind of flexibility, although I'm not really sure. I figured as an "open" format employing XML it would be child's play, but apparently not. FB2 is an XML and seems to offer maximum flexibility.

But FB2 does not offer good linking/footnoting, which can be an issue with some books, especially non-fiction when they employ a lot of chapter notes and links to other sections. As pointed out, FB2 also does not offer good multi-level TOC support. In many ways these issues could be simple to fix by updating the FB2 schema, so maybe this will happen. But for the bulk of my reading for novels and so on, FB2 rules!

And why is FB2 not more widely used? Well partly because it was developed in a non-English language region (Russia) and not supported by a mega-corp. The Russians have a huge source of free classic Russian literature, and the FB2 format has been used for many years as one of the nice formats for creating eBooks from HTML/TXT files.

I have been using eBooks for about 7-8 years, from the days when I used a Pocket PC device (Acer n10) to read eBooks. Even then I tried LIT and Mobi readers on the device, but the good ol' Haali reader for FB2 files still one the day. On eInk devices it's CoolReader and FBReader, but FB2 is still the format to beat, at least for my uses. And as I don't mind the little extra work of converting most of my source files to FB2 for reading, I'll stick with it.

And one other point. The majority of supposedly proof-read eBooks I have bought tend to have a number of formatting errors (things like spaces before apostrohpes, missing quotes, etc.) and typos/grammatical errors. So much for proof-reading - what the hell are we paying for (another rant entirely)? These are in the source file, not a product of any conversion to FB2. So since I have to correct most books anyway, the extra work to create FB2 is incremental, and worth the effort.

Just my $0.02 worth...

09-22-2009, 10:12 AM	#78
orwell2k Addict Posts: 357 Karma: 1112 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Euroland Device: PocketBook 360°, BeBook (Hanlin V3), iRex DR1000S, iPad	I haven't been through all the replies on this forum, so forgive me if I'm repeating issues or raising points already dismissed. But my problem with ePub is perhaps not so much the format itself as the reader implementations on devices. They seem to handle displaying ePub files very poorly. And perhaps the limitations I expereience are a consequence of the format itself, but I'm not sure. I use FB2 almost exclusively, so any Mobi, ePub, LIT or whatever files I obtain or buy, DRM or not, almost always end up as FB2 for my personal use. People whine about the loss of Mobi DRM on the BeBook (Hanlin V3 clones and new V5), but to be honest I found the reader implementation pretty poor. The ePub reader is worse, and will probably improve to about the same level, but IMHO will still be basically crap. Not that the FB2 reader solves all a user's problems. I love the flexibility of displaying FB2 files, in terms of choosing fonts, font sizes, interline spacing, etc., and being able to use a CSS file in the crengine folder to really tailor your display. The "packaging" of ePubs seems to exclude this kind of flexibility, although I'm not really sure. I figured as an "open" format employing XML it would be child's play, but apparently not. FB2 is an XML and seems to offer maximum flexibility. But FB2 does not offer good linking/footnoting, which can be an issue with some books, especially non-fiction when they employ a lot of chapter notes and links to other sections. As pointed out, FB2 also does not offer good multi-level TOC support. In many ways these issues could be simple to fix by updating the FB2 schema, so maybe this will happen. But for the bulk of my reading for novels and so on, FB2 rules! And why is FB2 not more widely used? Well partly because it was developed in a non-English language region (Russia) and not supported by a mega-corp. The Russians have a huge source of free classic Russian literature, and the FB2 format has been used for many years as one of the nice formats for creating eBooks from HTML/TXT files. I have been using eBooks for about 7-8 years, from the days when I used a Pocket PC device (Acer n10) to read eBooks. Even then I tried LIT and Mobi readers on the device, but the good ol' Haali reader for FB2 files still one the day. On eInk devices it's CoolReader and FBReader, but FB2 is still the format to beat, at least for my uses. And as I don't mind the little extra work of converting most of my source files to FB2 for reading, I'll stick with it. And one other point. The majority of supposedly proof-read eBooks I have bought tend to have a number of formatting errors (things like spaces before apostrohpes, missing quotes, etc.) and typos/grammatical errors. So much for proof-reading - what the hell are we paying for (another rant entirely)? These are in the source file, not a product of any conversion to FB2. So since I have to correct most books anyway, the extra work to create FB2 is incremental, and worth the effort. Just my $0.02 worth...