Pace of Ereader/Ebook change

[Sarmat89]

Originally Posted by HarryT

HTML is a semantic standard - it defines "purpose", not appearance. Eg the "<em>" tag specifies that text should be emphasised...

...and HTML forces us to use it for everything that requires italics: not only emphasis, but book titles, characters thoughts, and everything else which would require specific markup tags in a sane book format.
HTML mixes up logical and physical layout when creating the simplest fiction elements: letters, titlepages, poems—they have to be imitated by CSS styles.
Also EPUB cannot handle metadata: there is no support for genres, series, translations, artists...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Sarmat89

...and HTML forces us to use it for everything that requires italics: not only emphasis, but book titles, characters thoughts, and everything else which would require specific markup tags in a sane book format.
HTML mixes up logical and physical layout when creating the simplest fiction elements: letters, titlepages, poems—they have to be imitated by CSS styles.
Also EPUB cannot handle metadata: there is no support for genres, series, translations, artists...

I'm afraid I have to disagree: that's what CSS is all about. Style names define semantics; style definitions define appearance.

I'd suggest starting a thread in the ePub forum if you'd like to pursue this interesting topic of conversation; it's not really appropriate for this thread.

[theducks]

What I see is missing is simple tools (CSS, not java or hand coded SVG...) for placement in a variable font size with reflow environment.

the ability to invert the box model: make the borders fit around the content+padding

Vertical Placement based upon the view area Vertical metrics (v%, vcenter, vbox-baseline)


This also implies that the wissy-washy EPUB spec become a licensed STANDARD. You must meet the full minimum standard or you can not use the name EPUB. Just like USB, HDMI and other standards agencies do. Any manufactures extensions can not break the base EPUB if rendered on another brand

It is absurd that all the hoops e-book wranglers need to go through for the various brands that claim EPUB support, just to produce something other than a fairly basic book.

[rem736]

software changes aside, i'd say the only hardware innovation left is true and rich color e-ink. the current washed out colors of the jetbook color just isn't cutting it.

[Rizla]

Amazon dominates and has no interest in innovating e-ink.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Amazon dominates and has no interest in innovating e-ink.

Well certainly not directly. Not when they own a competing tech that's being developed when it comes to sunlight readable low power color displays.

[barryem]

I doubt that most fiction readers will have much interest in color e-ink and since that's at least half the market, probably more, I wonder how much incentive any manufacturer has to go that way.

Barry

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by barryem

I doubt that most fiction readers will have much interest in color e-ink and since that's at least half the market, probably more, I wonder how much incentive any manufacturer has to go that way.

Barry

It really depends on how big the niche is that want color e-ink. If there is money to be made, someone will do it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by barryem

I doubt that most fiction readers will have much interest in color e-ink and since that's at least half the market, probably more, I wonder how much incentive any manufacturer has to go that way.

Barry

But reading devices are not the only - and probably not even the most important - market for eInk. Low-power daylight-readable screen have innumerable commercial uses, and many of those (eg advertising displays) would certainly benefit from colour.

As soon as decent colour eInk becomes available, I strongly suspect that greyscale devices will quickly disappear from the market.

[crossi]

I can see the use for a color e-ink panel that displays downloaded advertising in stores. Even if expensive for a sizeable panel probably worth it. The increased cost for an ereader for someone not into manga probably not. Tablets cover that use. Not that I wouldn't like to see color bookcovers but the amount I would pay for that improvement is probably less than it would cost.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Amazon dominates and has no interest in innovating e-ink.

Amazon (and others) use available (Patented) Display technology, Standard Chips and other components. Even Apple. What they excel at, is the Packaging of these. Look and Feel and software UI.

Most designs are Price driven. Apple fans are the ones willing to pay extra $$ for those Retina Displays, but most mainstream devices are only prime targets for Cost Reduction.

I spent some time at a r&D facility in a group where the next lab over was a group charged with cost reducing (2nd Gen) e-readers. The scuttlebutt was over 1/2 the component cost was the display module and there was little wiggle room.

[crankypants]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Lets just hope that the next jump is to an actual "standard" rendering process, so that books will look the same no matter what device you read them on...

That was the point of the PDF file format, but you can't rewrap most PDFs now, but I hear that's coming. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm just happy EPUB2 supports underlining, bold and italics and lists. As a computer programmer for 30 years I know consolidation of standards can take years before industry settles on 1 or 2 standards. Heck even in the EDI world, the EDI spec is so broad every single automotive company has their own standard of what an X12 purchase order should be. (I worked in the automotive EDI industry too.)

There's an old joke with programmers: "Standards are nice because there are so many to choose from." That's a sarcastic joke because when a software c ompany has dozens of X12 purchase order formats to support, that isn't a standard at all, it's more of a "recommendation".

[barryem]

I've been thinking about color e-ink screens since I made my post. Almost everything I read is fiction so that's what I really care about.

I do a lot of short reading sessions on my phone in between longer sessions on my Kindle and I have the reader on the phone set to a sepia background with dark text. I really do like that combination so maybe even for me a color e-ink screen might be attractive.

I wonder if they could make a sepia e-ink screen.

Barry