Pet E-book peeves

[Kumabjorn]

Mine is that due to page breaks, sometimes when you turn a page there is a single word on the top of the page. I believe in printing they talk about widows and bastards, and they are a no-no. In electronic publishing, are they unavoidable?

[ardeegee]

There is no reason for them to be "unavoidable"-- if someone cared to, the software could be written to look out for that problem and slightly tweak the text to keep that from happening. Whether or not anyone will ever do that is another question.

[Jellby]

The difference is printed books can be tweaked by hand (and an author can even choose a different wording) to avoid widows and orphans (not bastards). The book will typically be printed in a single size, so it can be crafted as carefully as needed. With ebooks, the final "page" could be any size, as can the font, linespacing, etc. so it is impossible to desing the "perfect page". Instead, we have to rely on automatic algorithms to typeset the pages, and sadly current renderers use very simplistic ones. But this is something that should be dealt with by the reading software, not by the book creator.

[Kumabjorn]

Orphans, right!
Couldn't remember it when writing.

[Penforhire]

Mine is, while reading my Sony e-readers how often I hear "is that a Kindle? No? Oh, an iPad then?" I suppose my peeve is aimed at Sony's weak advertising, lol.

[JeremyZ]

I have two pet peeves for eBook readers:

• Fragility of the device
• Battery gauge is not accurate on my K2

They're not big enough pet peeves to be a threat to them, but it is only a matter of time before someone builds a ruggedized eBook reader. One that sacrifices compactness and lightness for impact resistance.

There is a similar movement going on right now for compact digital cameras. Olympus makes the Stylus Tough series, Pentax has their own series too. They have rubber bumpers and sealed enclosures.

Or maybe just a ruggedized hard case for the original devices, like they have for using regular cameras underwater...

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

There is no reason for them to be "unavoidable"-- if someone cared to, the software could be written to look out for that problem and slightly tweak the text to keep that from happening. Whether or not anyone will ever do that is another question.

wouldn't have large you have your font set have an affect on this?

Originally Posted by JeremyZ

I have two pet peeves for eBook readers:

• Fragility of the device
• Battery gauge is not accurate on my K2

They're not big enough pet peeves to be a threat to them, but it is only a matter of time before someone builds a ruggedized eBook reader. One that sacrifices compactness and lightness for impact resistance.

There is a similar movement going on right now for compact digital cameras. Olympus makes the Stylus Tough series, Pentax has their own series too. They have rubber bumpers and sealed enclosures.

Or maybe just a ruggedized hard case for the original devices, like they have for using regular cameras underwater...

as soon as the military gets used to having these in the field for manuals, pdf's etc. I'm sure there will be a troop proof one made

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

wouldn't have large you have your font set have an affect on this?

Yes, but there is no reason a reader's software couldn't-- when formatting pages for the screen after a dynamic type-size change-- "look ahead" and see if there will be pages with only a word or two on that page and make tiny adjustments to the kerning of pages before that, much the way lines are adjusted to do full justification (something else my ebook reader doesn't do.) That the software doesn't justify lines or legitimize bastards or make sure A River Doesn't Run Through It is something they DON'T provide, not something that they CAN'T provide.

[Juliette]

"But paper smells better!"

There, I've said it.

No, really, I've no real pet peeves. Maybe for PDFs, but I've got the right reader for those pesky little characters too now. (No, reflow isn't the best solution of they put data like title or author in the margin; yes, I know that PDFs aren't technically ebooks)

[Lady Fitzgerald]

My pet e-book hates baths (it refuses to be read afterward) and I haven't been able to leash train it. Heck, I can't get it out of the reader long enough to snap a leash on it.

[graycyn]

I think my pet peeve is that if you buy a book and don't feel you would want to read it again after reading once, you can't resell and recoup a bit of the cost.

That's how I used to pay for my reading hobby... guess I'll have to think of other ways, now. Fortunately, I never have spent tons, mostly used my library.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Juliette

"But paper smells better!"

Just get a can of this and you're all set

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Mine is that due to page breaks, sometimes when you turn a page there is a single word on the top of the page. I believe in printing they talk about widows and bastards, and they are a no-no. In electronic publishing, are they unavoidable?

If you had a reader that used ePub via ADE, you'd have widows and orphans on by default and it works. The Kindle does not have windows and orphans. So dumping your Kindle and getting a different reader would sort out your pet peeve.

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you had a reader that used ePub via ADE, you'd have widows and orphans on by default and it works. The Kindle does not have windows and orphans. So dumping your Kindle and getting a different reader would sort out your pet peeve.

Some of these things are hard to research before purchase. Don't think I've seen that in any comparison chart.

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Just get a can of this and you're all set

Absolutely fantastic