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From: Howard on 18 Jul 2010 14:38 Jaimie Vandenbergh <jaimie(a)sometimes.sessile.org> wrote: > On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 21:17:41 +0100, David Kennedy > <davidkennedy(a)nospamherethankyou.invalid> wrote: > > >SteveH wrote: > >> > >> 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. > >> > > > >Seems to be the same attitude that the manufacturers had when CDs first > >appeared; "grab the punter by the wallet an squeeze, surely he'll come > >back for more." > > 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 Looks like an interesting article. Tks. I will read it with interest. I take part in a lot of eBook discussions on http://www.teleread.com Howard
From: J. J. Lodder on 19 Jul 2010 03:46 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? How do you know? How can you possibly know? All you see is a .pdf, without any idea as to how it has been made. Jan
From: Woody on 19 Jul 2010 04:01 J. J. Lodder <nospam(a)de-ster.demon.nl> wrote: > Steve Firth <%steve%@malloc.co.uk> wrote: > > > 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. > > Hence you sometimes see PDFs designed for a particular device. > > > 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. > > LaTeX would be fine in principle, > but it is overkill for the purpose at hand. > The solution is some markup language, > which takes the parameters of the device, > and optimizes the layout. > The problem is that nobody who sells books wants that. > They all want to create a format > (and hence a niche market) of their own. Many people are standardising on ePub, trouble is you can apply DRM to that, so everyone applies their own DRM, so noones can read each other. I am happy to buy a ePub book, as long as it works on all my devices. > > 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. > > If the industry doesn't change > the solution will be piracy, > and conversion programs on PCs, > > Jan > > PS What is really needed is an open standard > for a compressed html-like format, > Somewhat like M$'s .chm, but non-proprietary, Like ePub for instance? -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: James Dore on 20 Jul 2010 03:39 On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:32:23 +0100, Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> wrote: > 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. There seems to be a migration curve, in that as an Undergraduate and Graduate student, Word is found to be adequate. When more complicated page layouts are required, there is a period of about three months of increasing frustration with the limitations of Word, and then another two months learning LaTeX. After that, theses are more manageable. If there are figures or diagrams more complicated than the sub- or super-script, or a Pie chart, then LaTeX wins. At least, that's my general observation here, anyway. cheers, -- James Dore New College IT Officer james.dore(a)new / it-support(a)new
From: Woody on 20 Jul 2010 03:46
"James Dore" <james.dore(a)new.ox.ac.uk> wrote: > On Sun, 18 Jul 2010 18:32:23 +0100, Woody <usenet(a)alienrat.co.uk> > wrote: > >> 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. > > There seems to be a migration curve, in that as an Undergraduate and > Graduate student, Word is found to be adequate. When more complicated > page layouts are required, there is a period of about three months of > increasing frustration with the limitations of Word, and then another > two months learning LaTeX. After that, theses are more manageable. If > there are figures or diagrams more complicated than the sub- or > super-script, or a Pie chart, then LaTeX wins. At least, that's my > general observation here, anyway. When My friend who is a phd student got to the word frustration level, they installed inDesign for her. I guess that cuts down on the couple of months -- Woody |