Shaking off old habits

[MartinC]

Just seen an ebook for the first time on a friend's iPad (can't afford one of my own ).

I'm not sure I like it. OK, it's very pretty, but the double page spread looks odd because a lot of the chapters begin on the left hand side. Not a problem on my Kindle and something I've worked hard to avoid in .pdf versions of my own books.

Does anyone else care about this? Or is it just me, still wedded to paper-based conventions? Presumably facing page design principles evolved because of the physical characteristics of books, but equally books must have evolved at least partly because there is a natural way of doing things.

On the other hand, I can't believe how natural turning the page feels on a touch screen.

[susan_cassidy]

I don't like the double-page display, either, but holding the iPad in the vertical position will display just one page. The double-page thing is only used in landscape mode, I believe.

Of course, paper books display in a double-page format to save paper, but I can only read one page at a time, so I don't see the point of displaying two at a time on a screen.

[mr ploppy]

I made a double-page spread PDF for people who want to print them out to read them, I kept the blank pages in because it would look a bit weird without them. I suppose if that's what Ipad people are used to seeing that's what they will be expecting.

[Nancy Fulda]

I read on a kindle and it only shows a single page at a time.

I suspect a double-page spread wouldn't bother me much, but the glare from an ipad screen probably would.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by MartinC

I'm not sure I like it. OK, it's very pretty, but the double page spread looks odd because a lot of the chapters begin on the left hand side.

Why would that look odd? Except for the first text of the book (not counting other works listings, copyright, ToC and the title page, usually), most books I've read start a chapter on whichever side, left or right, they happen to end up in the natural course of events. From what I've seen myself over the years, books that leave the left page blank so they can start new chapters on the right are definitely in the minority...

[anamardoll]

Yeah, I'm going to weigh in on the confused side. I don't think any pbooks I've read recently have a blank page after a chapter.

[Pinecone]

Also, just to point out, you don't need to buy an iPad to have trouch screen page turns.

All 3 of my Sonys do that.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Yeah, I'm going to weigh in on the confused side. I don't think any pbooks I've read recently have a blank page after a chapter.

I can't remember if I have, or not. I know that several of the ones I own have a blank page (sometimes 2) before the epilogue. I think I've got one or two where it seems to be obsessed with starting chapters on the right-side page and may have a blank page to accommodate this.

[anamardoll]

Yeah, Epilogue are spoilery. I can see that.

[khalleron]

Standard pbook layout is to have all chapters begin on the right hand side. A blank page is inserted if necessary.

Unnecessary with ebooks, but this is still standard practice AFAIK in pbook publishing.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Standard pbook layout is to have all chapters begin on the right hand side. A blank page is inserted if necessary.

Then my book collection is weird since none of the half-dozen books I pulled out at random do it that way. (many don't even bother going to new pages for new chapters, actually)