The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Mixing up.
People use those because that's what's available.

Yes. We don't hear folks complaining about unsuitable units of measurement here or demanding the US system. Everyone is happy with metrical units, because that's what they've been using their entire life.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yes. We don't hear folks complaining about unsuitable units of measurement here or demanding the US system. Everyone is happy with metrical units, because that's what they've been using their entire life.

To me that an important point. Use the system that works for you. If you are interacting with others make sure that everyone is using the same measuring, either Metric or U. S. Customary System (USCS). As an example, the reason the Mars Lander crashed is because everyone involved was not on the same page.

One of the reasons the U. S. hasn't fully moved the The Metric System is due to the issue of Specifications. From what I understand, for legal reasons you can't just convert a specification's measures from USCS to Metric, it has to be approved and that is a very expensive process (over $1,000 per specification) and an aircraft has many specifications. Likewise, road signs are very expensive to replace for the same reason, in the U. S. they have to comply with very specific specifications. This is why it will be a very long process to fully convert from USCS to Metric.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I convert en dashes to em dashes and remove the spaces. I also convert . . . to an ellipsis with no extra space.

I don't know where some people learned typesetting, but they failed the course.

One other thing I'd like to get rid of is a single quote for speech. It should be a double quote for speech.

What I've done for use a double quotation at the beginning and end of speech, and a single quotation mark at the beginning and end of a quotation within the speech.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

What I've done for use a double quotation at the beginning and end of speech, and a single quotation mark at the beginning and end of a quotation within the speech.

Which is one of the standards. As long as the author is consistent, I can live with it. What causes me close to pain when reading are the authors who seem to pick quotation marks at random.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Which is one of the standards. As long as the author is consistent, I can live with it. What causes me close to pain when reading are the authors who seem to pick quotation marks at random.

I agree, and I tend to follow consistent formatting when writing my stories. As an example, I use four typefaces:

• Calibre - For Headings
• Times New Roman - Main Body
• Comic Sans - For text handwritten by someone
• Courier - Text that printed or displayed on a screen

Something I find an irritant when it comes to ebook formatting is combining a blank line between the paragraphs with a first-line indent. One is fine, the other is fine, but when you combine them one of them is redundant.

[ownedbycats]

Oh no not comic sans

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Oh no not comic sans

Comic Sans is okay in some uses. The problem is that it has been overused and used in settings that it is not appropriate. Example I've seen it used at a funeral home and at a church.

I chose it for handwritten text because...well...it looks like written text. That's the intention. However, that's the only place I use it, although I used it on my smartphone for a time because it is very readable.

[ownedbycats]

When they change the cover because of a stoopid TV or movie adaptation.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

I agree, and I tend to follow consistent formatting when writing my stories. As an example, I use four typefaces:

• Calibre - For Headings
• Times New Roman - Main Body
• Comic Sans - For text handwritten by someone
• Courier - Text that printed or displayed on a screen

Something I find an irritant when it comes to ebook formatting is combining a blank line between the paragraphs with a first-line indent. One is fine, the other is fine, but when you combine them one of them is redundant.

Just use sans-serif for headings.
No need to embed a body font. Time New Roman is terrible for this.
For handwritten notes, just use italics.
For text printed or displayed on a screen, use monospace.

That way you don't need any embedded font that don't work and don't look good and for eInk will be terrible.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

When they change the cover because of a stoopid TV or movie adaptation.

Oh yes, I'm not a fan of that. I used to have nice matching set of Patrick O'Brian books except for the first one which had a movie cover and was smaller. Grr. I also kind of feel it says you were definitely not into it before it was cool. (Although I did read all of those before I saw the movie. Maybe it was a "soon to be a major motion picture" cover? I forget. I've given them all away now.)

I guess it's a little worse with ebooks because they can change it after you've bought it, but also covers don't really matter so much.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I guess it's a little worse with ebooks because they can change it after you've bought it, but also covers don't really matter so much.

Not on MY ebooks. I have whatever cover I want and no-one change change it except me.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I used to have nice matching set of Patrick O'Brian books except for the first one which had a movie cover and was smaller.

And adding insult to injury, the movie was mostly based on the tenth book in the series!

[John F]

Not on MY ebooks. I have whatever cover I want and no-one change change it except me.

Just curious ...

Just like DRM shouldn't be stripped from KU ebooks because authors don't get paid, covers shouldn't be downloaded without compensating the cover artist?

[ownedbycats]

How are the cover artists paid? I always assumed it was a flat onetime fee.

[John F]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

How are the cover artists paid? I always assumed it was a flat onetime fee.

I assumed that also. And I assumed that the publisher paid the artist for its use. I assumed that covers are copyrighted works, and someone owns the copyright, so to use the cover you must get permission from the copyright owner.