• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

E-book formatting???

Share this page

7

70herald

Luke Skywalker
Country flag
Offline
Anyone else here frustrated by poor text layout on E-books?
I was given a Kindle 3G a few months ago as a gift. Since then I have noticed that of the several books that I have bought the text layout is frequently terrible.

I am currently reading "On Food and Cooking" by Harold McGee, the charts are virtually useless since the layout has totally been messed up. I have also noticed strange hyphenation in the middle of a line. In the printed edition this most likely correct, but obviously ZERO effort has been invested in making it look right on the Kindle version.

This is not the only book where I noticed that the publishers are ignoring how the book looks.

Anyone else notice (or annoyed) by this?
 
I'm of the opinion the e-readers caught a lot of publishers off guard and they rushed to format their various tomes into "readable" files. We'll continue to see this for a while as the dust settles.

Same thing went on with manuals on CD when it first was realized people would actually pay for them.

Haphazard conversion of content in a rush to get to market. feh. Workmanship/craftsmanship gone for a chop, IMO.
 
My ol' brain is frustrated at the whole e-book thing. Like many developments in technology over the years, there are different formats. And when folks show me their new e-book devices, I notice they're often susceptible to glare, color variations, and limits on browsing, page flipping, etc. Not to mention the sometimes almost illegible graphics and page formatting.

But up front, I'm not going to buy a new gizmo for $100+, then be afraid of losing or dropping it. Give me a used 99 cent paperback, or hard cover library book any time.

Like a neighbor said when we got our first color TV in 1954 ... "Not quite up to my standards yet."

There's a great video on YouTube, showing "tech problems" back in the 1500s when people moved from scrolls to paged books. Hysterical. Guy is afraid he'll lose the text when he turns the page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Pu61YkGPk

Gotta run. Need to sharpen my quill.

Tom
 
I find that I enjoy getting some magazines and books for the iPad. I am getting my Model Railroading magazine on the Zinio app, and find it just as easy to navigate, and I can take it with me on the road for doctor's appointments as well as on vacations. It is fast to scan through to find an article or ad I want to consult whether I am in the basement working on the slot car layout, or shopping in a hobby store.

I use the Kindle app for books, and have read several on the unit so far. I recently downloaded a free copy of "Babbit" which I had enjoyed in High School, and wanted to read again. I enjoyed it again and did not even need to write a report afterwards.

I still also get some publications and books in hard copy because of how I plan to use them. But it is easier to carry one iPad with me rather than several items when I am at the museum, the doctor's, or sitting in the airport.
 
NutmegCT said:
Gotta run. Need to sharpen my quill.
Click to expand...

:lol: *snork* :lol:

And that vid is better than the "Blackberry" one! :thumbsup:
 
Bought the wife a Kindle and she just got off the phone with their tech service. Seeing how the thing never came with an instruction directory, it's a hit and miss trial effort to move around in it. Her's reads very well and the fonts are perfectly clear, but very challenging to move around some areas.
 
70herald said:
Since then I have noticed that of the several books that I have bought the text layout is frequently terrible.
Click to expand...

I had one that was annoying (can't remember the title off hand), but I haven't had any real complaints with the dozens of books I've read on my kindle.

I <span style="font-style: italic">have</span> read reviews on kindle-edition books that have complaints about formatting though, so it's not just you. Like any product these days it's worth reading the reviews to see if there are any common complaints with the e-book version you're buying.
 
Back
Top