Quote:
Originally Posted by Solitaire1
Based on what you wrote, it seems like styles (for word processing) correspond to objects (for programming). If so, this could be very usable as long as there are some clear, simple, and consistent rules are established when formatting the ebook.
An ebook style guide that everyone agrees to follow would help to make this a reality. Once it becomes a firmly established tradition, that will provide an incentive for ebook formatters to follow that tradition since ebooks that don't follow that format will seem to look odd (nothing actually wrong, but it looks different that what has come to be expected). It is much like form that printed books currently take is the result of centuries of experience in formatting books.
One of the things that I like about HTML as an ebook format is that it is long established and can be easily mastered after only a small amount of study. The addition of CSS provides formatting control that HTML lacks. A combination of the two should be able to provide all of the formatting needed for an ebook.
|
You've got the nutshell, including the *long* time it takes to develop adequate styles (or objects). FYI, object-oriented programming was developed in the early 90's-and is only new being widely used. And even then, most of the 'use' doesn't take advantage of object-oriented programming features-the programmers are doing the same old code in 'the new language'. This would be, I think, like writing HTML with CSS, but the CSS only contains a couple of the most common styles-everything else is coded inline.
I hadn't actually thought about having industry-wide consistency. Programming is, pretty much, company-specific so I just hadn't thought in those terms. I suspect you're right-centuries of experience will be needed for that.