How do you like your eBooks to look? - Page 5

cybmole · 02-20-2011, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeremyR

. But why is it people type like that on the internet, instead of writing like they do in a book? After all, there is a tab key, so indenting shouldn't be a problem.

.

it is not just amateur typists. as I said earlier in the debate, all news sites, all web articles use blank lines between paras + no indents. even amazon's own Kindle user guide does this.

I had become so used to that that at first I did not believe that printed books had no blank lines - I had to go check some!

I found one that didn't - my wife has a printed book of open university study notes and that uses web style formatting.

Jellby · 02-20-2011, 05:45 AM

It's nothing new, it's typewriter convention. When using a typewriter you are not supposed to care about formatting, you just care about the text and some basic structure. So you use straight quotes and apostrophes (because that's what typewriters have), you don't try to justify the right margin, and you don't care about the paragraphs looking "nice", just about their being clearly separated.

This style also applies wherever formatting is not available (plain text files), or not worth applying (like in internet forums). For anything where some formatting is expected, I find this typewriter style unacceptable, but the world is full of unacceptable stuff (I'm just reading a book with no indent and no space between paragraphs... and with translation and spelling mistakes).

Kevin2960 · 02-22-2011, 07:03 AM

I Prefer my eBooks with WORDS on the page,

other than that I care little, just so long as there ARE words on the page!

GeoffC · 02-23-2011, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin2960

I Prefer my eBooks with WORDS on the page,

other than that I care little, just so long as there ARE words on the page!

picky ....

DreamWriter · 02-23-2011, 12:47 PM

I PREFER AN INITIAL OR DROP CAP letter to start the unindented first paragraph of a new chapter/section, followed by small caps for five or six words. I find it easier to read when subsequent paragraphs are indented. I prefer slight separation between paragraphs, but no spacing is okay. One space between paragraphs would definitely be too much.

View Poll Results: How do you like your eBooks to look?
Indented and no line space between paragraphs	66	33.33%
Indented with a line space between paragraphs	35	17.68%
Not indented with a line space between paragraphs	32	16.16%
Indented with a 2 or 3 pixel line space between paragraphs	51	25.76%
Not indented with a 2 or 3 pixel line space between paragraphs	8	4.04%
Other (please explain)	6	3.03%
Voters: 198. You may not vote on this poll

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02-20-2011, 05:45 AM	#62
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,549 Karma: 19500001 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	It's nothing new, it's typewriter convention. When using a typewriter you are not supposed to care about formatting, you just care about the text and some basic structure. So you use straight quotes and apostrophes (because that's what typewriters have), you don't try to justify the right margin, and you don't care about the paragraphs looking "nice", just about their being clearly separated. This style also applies wherever formatting is not available (plain text files), or not worth applying (like in internet forums). For anything where some formatting is expected, I find this typewriter style unacceptable, but the world is full of unacceptable stuff (I'm just reading a book with no indent and no space between paragraphs... and with translation and spelling mistakes).

02-22-2011, 07:03 AM	#63
Kevin2960 YODA's Uglier Twin Posts: 974 Karma: 6295251 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Leicester, UK Device: PRS-600 and 2 Kindle 3's - and now a K4 + HTC Desire HD	I Prefer my eBooks with WORDS on the page, other than that I care little, just so long as there ARE words on the page!

02-23-2011, 12:47 PM	#65
DreamWriter Books are brain food. Posts: 2,950 Karma: 4836916 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: U.S. Device: Paperwhite · Fire HD6/HD8/HD10 · Galaxy Tab A7	I PREFER AN INITIAL OR DROP CAP letter to start the unindented first paragraph of a new chapter/section, followed by small caps for five or six words. I find it easier to read when subsequent paragraphs are indented. I prefer slight separation between paragraphs, but no spacing is okay. One space between paragraphs would definitely be too much.