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From: Woody on 18 Jul 2010 11:32 Dr Geoff Hone <gnhone(a)globalnet.co.uk> wrote: > On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 08:28:22 +0100, Jaimie Vandenbergh > <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > > ... ... > >Charlie Stross, currently one of my favourite authors and also a > >techie and gadget fan, has interesting things to say about the > >economics of publishing ebooks. > > > >http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/05/cmap-9-ebooks.html > > > > Cheers - Jaimie > > Don't let Rowland see this! > When I posted a very simplified version of this, he rubbished it. > The Stross account gives the insiders view in real detail, and Rowland > won't know where to start slagging. > > The Stross blog also has a link to the merits of PDF for e-books (that > is, no merit at all). So now for the bug question: > If LaTeX and it's variants are the answer to everything in publishing, > typesetting, etc, why has no-one tried it for e-books? LaTeX and its variants are more concerned with page layout, and embed the controls for page layout in the source text, so quite good for PDF publishing, but not for eBooks, as per the article. From what I see (and remembering I don't use any form of tex), I don't see of any reason that would stop you from using a version of it for producing eBooks but it certainly wouldn't be the thing I would pick for it. From what i see on the net it would appear to be mostly used in academic circles and doesn't have much impact outside there. I certainly haven't seen it in technical publishing, which is where I work (and know other people in other companies), which is mostly SGML based, moving slowly to sgml. -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: Steve Firth on 18 Jul 2010 12:10 Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > LaTeX and its variants are more concerned with page layout, and embed > the controls for page layout in the source text, so quite good for PDF > publishing, but not for eBooks, as per the article. I think Stross and TBH most typesetters don't understand markup languages. LaTeX is for page layout where you have a fair idea of what sort of page is being laid out. What ebooks need is to readable across a wide range of devices, hence why PDF is so bloody awful in this respect. An HTML/XML/SGML type of markup language is what is needed plus a minor revolution in thought among those responsible for designing ebooks. They need to adopt the concept that they can hint how they would like a page to look but not mandate everything in fine detail. Sadly traditional print thinking is present everywhere including the WWW where many web designers leap in by firstly nailing down the exact size in pixels of the canvas in which they wish to operate, ignoring the many different types of browser and output device in existence.
From: Chris Ridd on 18 Jul 2010 13:24 On 2010-07-18 16:32:09 +0100, Woody said: > From what i see on the net it would appear to be mostly used in academic > circles and doesn't have much impact outside there. I certainly haven't And AIUI it (Latex) is a niche even in academia, Word having generally displaced it. > seen it in technical publishing, which is where I work (and know other > people in other companies), which is mostly SGML based, moving slowly to > sgml. s/sgml/XML/, I suppose? -- Chris
From: Woody on 18 Jul 2010 13:32 Chris Ridd <chrisridd(a)mac.com> wrote: > On 2010-07-18 16:32:09 +0100, Woody said: > > > From what i see on the net it would appear to be mostly used in academic > > circles and doesn't have much impact outside there. I certainly haven't > > And AIUI it (Latex) is a niche even in academia, Word having generally > displaced it. That is what I assumed but could really find little evidence on its level of use. > > seen it in technical publishing, which is where I work (and know other > > people in other companies), which is mostly SGML based, moving slowly to > > sgml. > > s/sgml/XML/, I suppose? Err, yes that is what I meant! -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: Stephen2 on 18 Jul 2010 14:16
On Jul 17, 7:11 pm, italian...(a)gmail.com (SteveH) wrote: > Been a bit bored this afternoon, with no energy to do anything after a > 70-ish hour week at work last week. > > So I got around to browsing iBooks. > > There's one particular book I want to read (Start the Car - The World > According to Bumble by ex-cricketer David Lloyd). > > Price at Amazon - £9.49. > > iTunes store audio book - £7.95 > > Kindle Store - £7.16 > > iBooks - £13.99 > > If Apple want to make a success of the iBooks store, it looks like > they'll need to sort out their pricing structure. > > Even the Kindle store doesn't really make it cheap enough to tempt me, > when a physical hardback is only a small amount more. > > Seems the digital book market is being afflicted by the same issues as > the digital magazine market - there's no real price incentive to trade > printed for electronic media. > > (So far, I've only found a single digital substitute for a printed > magazine that's worth buying - my subscription to Retro Cars magazine is > due next month - the digital version is a £12 saving over printed media, > so I may well go for that) > > -- > SteveH A few months ago I wanted to buy a book for the kindle iphone application. The ebook was £12.99 and the paperback in Sainsbury's was £2.99 or something similar. |