i Loathe ePub...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Not necessarily. I find it very difficult to read if there's that extra space between paragraphs. The story becomes sentences that don't fit together anymore and I have to read a page several times to understand what is written...

Whereas I find it difficult to read a book which does not have at least a small separation between paragraphs (my preference is a spacing of around 0.3em). The whole point of paragraphs is that they should be distinct units, and not simply merge into one another.

Fortunately ebooks give us the flexibility to each read books formatted to our preference.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Whereas I find it difficult to read a book which does not have at least a small separation between paragraphs (my preference is a spacing of around 0.3em). The whole point of paragraphs is that they should be distinct units, and not simply merge into one another.

That is the precise chapter separation I'm often seeing, and I absolutely hate it. (Never saw it in a paper book either.)

I prefer an indent of the first line of a quarter to half an inch or so.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

That is the precise chapter separation I'm often seeing, and I absolutely hate it. (Never saw it in a paper book either.)

I prefer an indent of the first line of a quarter to half an inch or so.

Allow me to clarify that I like both a first line indentation (1.5em is my default setting) and a small separation.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Allow me to clarify that I like both a first line indentation (1.5em is my default setting) and a small separation.

Same here. Nearly anyway (1.2em/0.2em). Not meeting those preferences alone won't give me any problem consuming the content comfortably. But if I've got to some other reformatting to do on a book, those changes will be added (if it doesn't take a major overhaul to accomplish).

To those who espouse the idea that "paper books didn't do X, so why should ebooks?", I suggest pulling down a random sampling of print books from your shelves (from random genres) that were published over the last sixty-years, or so, to notice how truly inconsistent print typography was as well. Especially with regard to first-line indents and paragraph spacing. Print layout was all over the place too. We just ignored it because there was nothing we could do about it

The "this is the way it was always done in print" claim is a myth. There never was a standard everyone adhered to.

[Katsunami]

Oh, I've got (had) many books with many sorts of layout and typography. I just never encountered a single one with space between paragraphs. I did encounter many with a font too small to read comfortably. It says a lot that Count Pages counts 1000 pages for a book, even when setting a generous number such as 2100 or 2400 characters for a page, and the hardcover version is only 750 pages...

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Pablo

The author of that post confuses ePub with DRM. DRM is not part of the ePub format or specification. The terms "Adobe ePub", "B&N ePub", etc., make no sense at all, when you read "Adobe ePub", it really means "ePub book with Adobe DRM", but I think you already know that.

You can make a horribly looking ePub book. The same is true for pdf, mobi or whatever format you can think of. That has nothing to do with the format itself, but rather with the skills of the book creator. On the other hand, you cannot modify a pdf, but you can modify an ePub to suit your tastes, provided you know how to remove DRM and have basic html and css skills.

Yes, this.

Originally Posted by Dutchbook

I would LOVE a format that allows you to buy/loan a book from a vendor and just read it...

There is. It's called ePub. The problems you mention stem from:

...the vendors are simply not wanting to accept it.

And that of course can be corrected with Calibre and Apprentice Alf.

As to the initial post, from what I could glean from the screenshots, it was just a badly formatted book rather than any inherent limitation of the ePub format.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Not necessarily. I find it very difficult to read if there's that extra space between paragraphs. The story becomes sentences that don't fit together anymore and I have to read a page several times to understand what is written...

If the space between the paragraphs is too large, your eyes focus on the line gap instead of continuing onto the next paragraph. So it not only takes you longer to read, it can be disconcerting and distracting. That's why paragraph spaces are an issue and they shouldn't exist.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Whereas I find it difficult to read a book which does not have at least a small separation between paragraphs (my preference is a spacing of around 0.3em). The whole point of paragraphs is that they should be distinct units, and not simply merge into one another.

Fortunately ebooks give us the flexibility to each read books formatted to our preference.

Dd you find it difficult to read pBooks that did not have paragraph spaces?

[Cinisajoy]

On the paragraphs: A small space won't both me though I prefer indentation.

Rather like these first two paragraphs.



What does bother me is:





Something like the spacing in the rest of this post.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

On the paragraphs: A small space won't both me though I prefer indentation.

Not sure why so many have conflated the two into an either/or scenario.

[Apache]

I prefer an indent and a small space between paragraphs. This combination makes it easier for me to start reading from where I left off. As far as spacing ruining my reading experience, it doesn't. When I read I am unaware of my surroundings let alone the book. This is the major reason that I am unable to read and walk at the same time.
Apache

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Apache

This is the major reason that I am unable to read and walk at the same time.

I can manage it on a treadmill. But outside? With uneven terrain and obstacles? It'd be the hospital (if not the morgue) for me if I attempted it.

[SleepyBob]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I can manage it on a treadmill. But outside? With uneven terrain and obstacles? It'd be the hospital (if not the morgue) for me if I attempted it.

From your avatar, it looks like you're speaking from experience.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Apache

I prefer an indent and a small space between paragraphs. This combination makes it easier for me to start reading from where I left off. As far as spacing ruining my reading experience, it doesn't. When I read I am unaware of my surroundings let alone the book. This is the major reason that I am unable to read and walk at the same time.
Apache

Why don't walls and posts and door frames move when they see a person coming towards them? That would make life so much easier.

[kyteflyer]

Isn’t it nice that we can reformat our epubs each to suit our own preferences? Thats what I like about them (assuming an app that allows it)