How do you like your eBooks to look?

[HarryT]

I repeat the question to you, Pablo. How do you prefer to indicate a scene change?

[bucsie]

I like the asterisks too.
I read several books in which scene changes were not emphasized and it was really annoying. Three sentences into a paragraph I was thinking... oooh, right, it was a scene change, that's why he said/did that.

[AndrewH]

Drop cap? Small caps or bold for the first few words of the new scene?

[HistoryWes]

Originally Posted by queentess

I've read ebooks like this, but it always makes me feel as though the book is somehow... cheap? I can't explain it. I see 3 asterisks and I think it's poorly done.

That's why I always use 5 !

* * * = cheap.

* * * * * = expensive 66.66% better!

Of course now there's the question of * Infaltion. What if somebody does

* * * * * *

Now that's just too much!!

[lila55]

I also like the asterisks for a scene change. For me they have something quaint and cosy, not at all going in the direction of cheap.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I repeat the question to you, Pablo. How do you prefer to indicate a scene change?

Maybe using a very simple image?

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by AndrewH

Drop cap? Small caps or bold for the first few words of the new scene?

Some formats don't support drop caps or small caps. Bold is a possibility, but I don't think it would look nice to my eyes.

[Namekuseijin]

how about context for scene change?

[GeneS]

I prefer paragraphs to be indented and to have a slight separation between paragraphs (a few pixels - I generally set a space of 0.20em to 0.25em). I use blank lines, short horizontal rules, 3 (or more) asterisks, or similar to indicate a thought break. Generally, I will use blank line(s) within a page or a short horizontal rule/three asterisks at the bottom of a page.

[elemenoP]

For scene change: I would like a short video clip of a movie director's clapper board slamming down and someone yelling "aaaaaand.... SCENE!"

Because what we all want from our readers is more multimedia, right?

eP

[JSWolf]

I chose option #1 as I like having no space between paragraphs and in that case, you do need the indent. I like a 1.2 or 1.1 em space for the indent. The 5% that a lot of LIT and Mobipocket use is ridiculous.

If you do want to use something other then space to designate a section break then try the following...

• • •

But for the first paragraph of the the chapter and the first paragraph after the section break, I prefer no indent. That way you know where you are based on the no indent.

[Piper_]

I was 50/50 between indented and no line space, and indented with a 2-3 pixel space. I finally clicked no pixels, but only because I already use the extra line spacing setting on my Kindle, and adding any extra looks too much.

If I didn't already space them so wide, I'd want the extra pixels.

I also like indents to be small - 0.5 em is my favorite.


For section breaks, I'm happy with * * * (and there should be nothing less, imo) but I always appreciate and enjoy the extra effort of a nice little graphic instead, especially if it's thematic in style.

[ATDrake]

When reading on my Kindle, I like the typography to look more like a paper book. Thus:

No-indent on the first paragraph of a scene/section. Drop caps for the first letter in a chapter and/or small-caps for the first line of a new scene optional but appreciated.

Succeeding paragraphs indented, with either no obviously noticeable space between them (preferred) or no-indent with obviously full-line height between them (I usually edit this to switch it to the first option if I can). A minor spacer which separates paragraphs without looking like it does is okay, but if it's something like a blatant quarter-to-half line, it makes the text look wonky and subtly grates on my nerves.

Blank space for scene breaks is fine, though for longer works I prefer a more obviously visual separator like asterisks or horizontal rule or a little decorative image, especially for those books which have no chapters, but do have separate scenes and sections containing said scenes.

Chapters start on new pages. Don't have huge side-margins or too-deep text-indent (about the space of 4-6 letters should be it).

For stuff I read on my Mac, paragraphs with no-indent and spaces between seem to work better, if only because I'm used to reading text that way on a computer screen. Though my Kindle preferences apply when I read e-books in the smaller window space of a dedicated reader app like Lucidor or NOOKStudy, possibly because I associate them with book-reading to begin with.

Pet peeves:

Books which have both no space between paragraphs and no-indent, of which several have been recently free via Amazon. Also, books with more than one line-space between paragraphs and very ambiguous scene breaks (unless the story was actually meant to be told continuously).

I assume these are formatting errors caused by incompetence during the conversion process or KindleGen's notorious bugginess with handling CSS.

[carld]

After years of reading online I've gotten used to not having indents. I now find them a little off-putting. I also prefer one line-space between paragraphs, two to mark scene changes, and asterisks if there's any ambiguity.

[lebleaux]

Originally Posted by carld

After years of reading online I've gotten used to not having indents. I now find them a little off-putting. I also prefer one line-space between paragraphs, two to mark scene changes, and asterisks if there's any ambiguity.

Pretty much sums it up for me too.