04-29-2015, 03:29 AM | #1 |
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How to format ebooks?
What do you think about ebooks formatted by the publishers?
I recently bought The Grace of Kings from Google, supposed to be the biggest fantasy debut of the year, but line spacing and typeface were set by the publisher. I couldn't change them. Of course, I know enought about CSS and thus freed typeface and line spacing of body portion while leaving other parts as is; the book had very good design apart from this problem. Embedded Hoefler Text instead of the faded Palatino the book has. Photos: http://drop.muratcansimsek.com/IMG_20150429_095521.jpg http://drop.muratcansimsek.com/IMG_20150429_095532.jpg I think best kind of ebooks are like the ebook I have on my hands now. Books should be styled beautifully, The Grace of Kings has good design for other parts like title pages, part pages and such too. Poems within the text should have different margins and all that but the paragraph text should be left alone. What do you think? I hate it when I can't change paragraph's line spacing and typeface but other styling is pretty cool when done well. Also, The Grace of Kings were almost unreadable without fixes, the font was so faded, the line spacing was so big you could almost fit another line between. I wonder what the publisher actually thought when they published a book this terrible. I know how to fix it, most don't. PS. I just notices the title, an ebooks. I feel terrible =( PSS. Thanks for the title =) Last edited by GERGE; 04-29-2015 at 06:26 AM. |
04-29-2015, 05:51 AM | #2 |
Feral Underclass
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If I wanted to read someone else's choice of font, size and spacing I'd buy a paperback. I always strip out all that nonsense, and comment on it in any review I might write later.
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04-29-2015, 06:16 AM | #3 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Now fixed for you. Although it seems this thread is not so much about 'how to format ebooks' as 'how should ebooks be formatted?'.
And I agree - it should be possible to over-ride the base paragraph formatting, but front matter, chapter titles, special text should be done well by the publisher. |
04-29-2015, 07:34 AM | #4 |
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I guess the most publisher still think ebooks are the same as printed books. So they still whant to rule all aspects of layout. They must learn to loose one's hold on parts of the layout.
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04-29-2015, 08:14 AM | #5 |
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I wonder why would one use flash against a backlit surface, not enough light?
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04-29-2015, 08:24 AM | #6 |
A Hairy Wizard
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Good devices/apps should be able to override those kind of settings - paragraph spacing, indent, font size, font type, etc. However, the publishers need to put some kind of initial setting for those devices/apps that can't override. Unfortunately what looks good to one person won't look good to all...
Users need to upgrade their device/app to take advantage of the latest features, or learn to edit css! |
04-29-2015, 08:27 AM | #7 | |
Grand Sorcerer
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Quote:
The biggest problems are with self-published books, though, tradpubs are usually pretty well done. |
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04-29-2015, 10:04 AM | #8 | |
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Quote:
The one thing I always wonder about is why so many publishers embed the font Charis SIL into the book. The default version is terrible for use on e-readers (IMHO). |
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04-29-2015, 10:20 AM | #9 |
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Interesting. On my Kindle Voyage, the line spacing is just fine, I can change to any of the available fonts (serif and non-serif) and over all a nice read. Could this be a Kobo problem?
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04-29-2015, 10:21 AM | #10 |
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ePub problem, I read the CSS.
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04-29-2015, 10:24 AM | #11 |
Books are brain food.
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Personally, I appreciate special fonts for titles and chapters, but readers should be able to select their preferred paragraph font.
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04-29-2015, 12:06 PM | #12 |
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Perhaps because Charis SIL can be embedded legally for free? I suspect aesthetics have very little to do with it.
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04-29-2015, 12:13 PM | #13 |
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04-29-2015, 12:14 PM | #14 |
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Libre Baskerville is a better solution if they are searching for gratis typefaces. It is one of the best free typefaces out there.
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04-29-2015, 12:32 PM | #15 |
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