PDF is not an eBook format

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

If it's plain text and the source is readily available, it's quite easy for a person to make a .pdf which will display quite nicely on a reader (or some other sort of ebook format) --- the problem only arises when someone for some reason has taken text, flowed it into a .pdf and failed to size / format it for the current, small-size, e-ink screens.

That's essentially it.

What many people could use, IMHO, is an app that would essentially take a file (say, an RTF or HTML file, something fairly universal) and do the "hard work" of converting it to a PDF optimized for your particular device and screen size (really, just automating the process for the user). In fact, it's been my opinion that every maker of a reader, HW or SW, should include such an app to convert other file formats to their own wherever possible (in other words, DRM-permitting).

How easy all our lives would be!

Oh, look! Is that a pig flying overhead?...

[Lemurion]

PDFs are great if you want to print something. If you want to read it on a screen not so much. Even if the PDF is reflowable, the reader does not have control over the fonts, so if you want it on a portable device it needs to be formatted for both the screen size and the eyes of the person reading it. Different people need different size and style fonts-- this is particularly true as they age.

Some people swear by Arial, I prefer to swear at it.

The biggest advantage of reading something in a digital form is that it makes it easier to meet the needs of each individual reader rather than the "one-size-fits-all" model of paper. PDF is an expression of that model in digital format.

Yes it can be used as a digital reading format, but unless one has very specific formatting needs it's never a good choice unless it's specifically formatted for the device and the person reading it. At that point the question becomes why should I do something manually that the software does for all the other formats?f

You may be perfectly happy with a PDF that's been specifically optimized for your eyes and your screen, but what about me? What about people who may read on more than one device?

I just finished reading a science fiction magazine on my Palm TX. But I read part of it on my Nokia 6126. I need different font and page sizes for a 2.2" screen at 320x240 than for a 3.8" screen at 480x320. PDF makes adjusting that more difficult than it needs to be.

It meets certain needs, but as a general eBook format it causes more problems than it solves.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Even if the PDF is reflowable, the reader does not have control over the fonts, so if you want it on a portable device it needs to be formatted for both the screen size and the eyes of the person reading it...

You may be perfectly happy with a PDF that's been specifically optimized for your eyes and your screen, but what about me? What about people who may read on more than one device?

That's why I suggested an app that would take a file in another format and optimize it for you and your e-book reading app, whether it be Mobi, eReader, or Acrobat on your laptop.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

PDFs are great if you want to print something. If you want to read it on a screen not so much. Even if the PDF is reflowable, the reader does not have control over the fonts, so if you want it on a portable device it needs to be formatted for both the screen size and the eyes of the person reading it. Different people need different size and style fonts-- this is particularly true as they age.

Some people swear by Arial, I prefer to swear at it.

The biggest advantage of reading something in a digital form is that it makes it easier to meet the needs of each individual reader rather than the "one-size-fits-all" model of paper. PDF is an expression of that model in digital format.

Yes it can be used as a digital reading format, but unless one has very specific formatting needs it's never a good choice unless it's specifically formatted for the device and the person reading it. At that point the question becomes why should I do something manually that the software does for all the other formats?f

You may be perfectly happy with a PDF that's been specifically optimized for your eyes and your screen, but what about me? What about people who may read on more than one device?

I just finished reading a science fiction magazine on my Palm TX. But I read part of it on my Nokia 6126. I need different font and page sizes for a 2.2" screen at 320x240 than for a 3.8" screen at 480x320. PDF makes adjusting that more difficult than it needs to be.

It meets certain needs, but as a general eBook format it causes more problems than it solves.

Zoom is for that very problem. A combination of zooming and reflow can provide you with the size text you want a still flow the document. As to the font type, most eBook Readers don't give you much control over that.

Dale

[cerement]

I will agree, PDF qualifies as a layout language (based on PostScript which was a page description language) and not as a markup language. But with all of the document markup languages available, it seems kind of silly to keep trying to invent new ones. Especially since there are several on the list that already have free, high-quality, open-source tools available to convert their markup into a variety of output formats.

[My vote would've been for one of the TeX based derivatives since Knuth took into consideration hyphenation, justification, proper typography, math equations, as well as a host of other issues when originally designing TeX. But everyone is on the XML buzzword wagon nowadays ... ]

[edit] ... and I'll agree with Lemurion, from a design standpoint, people who still use Arial or Times (with the selection of free OpenType Unicode-compliant fonts available) definitely need to be sworn at

[KoopaOne]

ePub hopefully will be the Standard for publishing Ebooks in the futures. Since it's basically XML, it will be very easy to make converters for the different Ebook-Formats you possibly need.

[Lobolover]

it's sadly too wide spread and restricting.I don't supose anyone knows a way to "turn of" the security setings?

[NatCh]

Just don't turn them on when you're making a file.

If you're asking how to "turn them off" in someone else's file, then answering the question would be against forum policy.

[Lobolover]

1-sending a private email on the matter wouldn't be?

[NatCh]

Soliciting such a thing here would be.

Unless you're joking. You really should try out the emoticons, they make it much clearer when you're joking.

[Lobolover]

im realy not joking,and I can't use emoticons.I need to PRINT them.

[NatCh]

I'm not sure I follow: how do you mean you have to print them?

[alia]

I'm not crazy about PDF... but I will use it when it's the only thing available (specifically for non-DRM titles). BooksOnBoard has a bunch of non-DRM eBooks (and yes, to answer the subject of this forum, I do think they're eBooks) that I've downloaded, and the reading experience is decent. I know there's a way to convert non-DRM pdf files to Mobi, but I haven't researched how to do it yet...

[NatCh]

MobiCreator will do that, I believe.

[alia]

Thanks! I'll get it.