I'm thinking of doing a style survey

[Clancy_s]

For me for many of the items 'not fussed either way' should be an option, except for allowing the user to set their own styles (I'm currently using prs+ to force my own style for epub)

A font I like for ereading is fontin:

http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/fontin.html

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Most people are NOT going to recognise fonts by their name. Can you provide a graphical illustration?

Good thought, Harry. But I don't know whether Survey Monkey can show images.

I know that OpenOffice Write shows on the drop down choice box, and I could ask people to look there. It's been so long since I've used Word that I don't know whether Word does that - it wouldn't be too hard to check.

Regards, Alex

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Good thought, Harry. But I don't know whether Survey Monkey can show images.

I know that OpenOffice Write shows on the drop down choice box, and I could ask people to look there. It's been so long since I've used Word that I don't know whether Word does that - it wouldn't be too hard to check.

Regards, Alex

Yes, Word does it too, but I have to admit that I'm not familiar with a couple of the fonts you listed: "Bitstream Vera Sans" and "Goudita Sans", and I'd consider myself relatively knowledgeable about these things. Are they Mac fonts?

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by Jellby

While the survey may be interesting, it could encourage authors/publishers to create books with some fixed format that satisfies the most people, while I think it would be best to encourage them to create them with some flexible format that can be easily adapted.

I guess I have a conflict of interest - I'm hoping that there will be a resounding vote showing that most people like to choose their own font-family and text-alignment, and that this will influence publishers to let that happen.

A little off topic: I've found that books created with calibre take away my ability to choose font-family so that I'm stuck with Times New Roman. I've also discovered that if I comment out all reference to font-family in the stylesheet I can again choose my preferred font with my Cybook when reading ePub formatted books. And my preferred font is not Times New Roman.

Regards, Alex

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, Word does it too, but I have to admit that I'm not familiar with a couple of the fonts you listed: "Bitstream Vera Sans" and "Goudita Sans", and I'd consider myself relatively knowledgeable about these things. Are they Mac fonts?

Good Heavens! That's a fast response! I only just finished typing!

Cybook Gen3 ereaders have them as choices. I don't use a Mac, so I don't know whether they are Mac fonts.

It seems that you haven't used your Cybook for a while, Harry.

Regards, Alex

[AlexBell]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm starting to feel overwhelmed, though I still think it would be a valuable exercise.

I certainly won't be offended if someone more computer literate than I takes over the idea. If nobody else wants to I'll plug away at it, but it will take me a while.

Regards, Alex

[kacir]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not familiar with a couple of the fonts you listed: "Bitstream Vera Sans" and "Goudita Sans",

Vera fonts are quite famous.
They look good [to me ;-)], and they have very liberal license, so they are used as default fonts in OpenOffice.org package.
There is also DejaVu font, which is project that took Vera font and modified it for greater coverage of various obscure [understand non-standard-latin] characters.
Bitstream Vera and DejaVu fonts look VERY good on my e-ink reader. They belong to a very small group of fonts that are free and have quality comparable to the best proprietary fonts money can buy.

[neilmarr]

***I'm starting to feel overwhelmed***

Why not just take stock, Alex, and post a revised list to run by folks? That should make it easier to see the wood for trees. Wish I could help a little, but I think you know me well enough by now to realise that, as far as technology goes, I'm stuck somewhere in the Jurassic period. Maybe mutual pal Tony could offer some advice. Cheers. Neil

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by neilmarr

***I'm starting to feel overwhelmed***

Why not just take stock, Alex, and post a revised list to run by folks? That should make it easier to see the wood for trees. Wish I could help a little, but I think you know me well enough by now to realise that, as far as technology goes, I'm stuck somewhere in the Jurassic period. Maybe mutual pal Tony could offer some advice. Cheers. Neil

Thanks, Neil. They're both good ideas.

I'll see what suggestions come in for the rest of the week, and if no one else wants to take over I'll post a draft list of questions early next week. And then I'll work out how to do it. I'd certainly appreciate advice from Tony.

I've thought of a couple more questions myself:
- Do 'accidental' blank pages between chapters irritate you?
- Do you prefer M Dashes to join words like--this (so that the words and the M Dash form a solid group) or to have a space on either side like -- this (so the words can break at the end of lines)?

Regards, Alex

[Sweetpea]

About the fonts: I've no clue (personally) about font names, but I do know a bit about font styles. Add that with the possibility to add your own font there and you should get something you could work with...

[JSWolf]

Alex, if you look at most ePub, you'll see that's not a good style.

Font sizes, margins all over the place,. Hugh spacing at the top of the page for a new chapter. Line spaces between paragraphs, Too much space between sections. And indents too large if there are any.

All of that is what you find in most ePub eBooks. Make an ePub eBook look good.

Take a look at the non-Sony edition of For the Win to see what I think is a good style. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83384

This wills how you what font I prefer, what staling in terms of margins, indents, and paragraph spacing. To me, this is a good format that will work for most people (IMHO).

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Take a look at the non-Sony edition of For the Win to see what I think is a good style. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=83384

This wills how you what font I prefer, what staling in terms of margins, indents, and paragraph spacing. To me, this is a good format that will work for most people (IMHO).

Might work for most, but wouldn't for me. #1 hate the font, #2 the no margins at all doesn't work for me. I don't like the big margins a lot of ePubs try to force on you, but I do need a small amount of space between the edge of the reader and the text. Other than that it is how I like my books though.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Might work for most, but wouldn't for me. #1 hate the font, #2 the no margins at all doesn't work for me. I don't like the big margins a lot of ePubs try to force on you, but I do need a small amount of space between the edge of the reader and the text. Other than that it is how I like my books though.

I agree the fonts used are subjective, but if you are trying to make a single catchall ePub, then no margins may be the way to go. Take a look at iBooks and you'll see it uses pretty big margins and if you have some margins specified, you may end up with even more of a waste of screen space on the iPad or iPhone/Touch. If I had to have a choice of the normally large margins or no margins, no margins wins. But I could handle a tiny amount of margins of say maybe 10px left/right and no margins top/bottom.

[simplyparticular]

Here's one to add:
Do missing scene/section breaks within chapters irritate you?



That is my #1 pet peeve with all ebooks. In fiction, scene breaks are critical in changing the character POV, or voice. In nonfiction, it indicates a shift in topic or focus.

When that break is missing, which is 95% of the time in eBooks, it creates confusion and interrupts the reading experience.

I don't need the fancy curlicues that are often used in pBooks, but a gap between the paragraphs or just a short line doesn't seem like it is asking too much of any of the existing eBook formats right now!

Rant over. Well, until someone brings up eBook formatting again.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by simplyparticular

Here's one to add:
Do missing scene/section breaks within chapters irritate you?



That is my #1 pet peeve with all ebooks. In fiction, scene breaks are critical in changing the character POV, or voice. In nonfiction, it indicates a shift in topic or focus.

When that break is missing, which is 95% of the time in eBooks, it creates confusion and interrupts the reading experience.

I don't need the fancy curlicues that are often used in pBooks, but a gap between the paragraphs or just a short line doesn't seem like it is asking too much of any of the existing eBook formats right now!

Rant over. Well, until someone brings up eBook formatting again.

I've found the opposite. I've found the spacing used in section breaks to be too large. This is because they have to differentiate from a section break and a paragraph space (which we don't need and we don't want).