Re: [tdf-discuss] Question about proposing the creation of a new format

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On 25/04/11 8:53 PM, Christian Lohmaier wrote:
> There is also http://odt2daisy.sourceforge.net/ - in case your reader
> supports the daisy format.

I hadn't even heard of DAISY, but it looks very cool so thanks for
pointing me at it.  I just installed the extension and will have a
little play with it at some nebulous point in the future.

> Other than that: what would be a special requirement for eReaders?

I can't speak for anyone else, but as long as an eReader can display
content as it would in a normal book then it's good enough.  If that
book is a novel, then it will usually be pretty easy (e.g. text,
italics, bold, small capitals, subscript, superscript and maybe
footnotes).  If that book is a text book (e.g. a science book) with
charts, formula, pictures, etc.) then more may be required.

> I know PDF is suboptimal because it needs to scale to the display
> screen.

When it comes to books, PDF is only really useful for type-setting a
print book (e.g. the way Lulu uses them for preparing print on demand
books).

> plain text might be boring to read (headings, etc hard to spot, lack
> of structural information for navigation), rtf might not be
> supported by the reader...

Well, I wouldn't opt for either of those formats.

> So there probably is no one-size-fits all solution. And it depends
> on what the purpose is: personal use (i.e. conversion of random
> documents) or dedicated publishing (aim is to write a book and
> publish it) and thus how many restrictions you can impose on the
> structure/formatting of the document.

Exactly.  At this stage most ebook publishers, including
self-publishers, usually need at least two or three formats for each
publication and often more.  Until your post I was considering PDF,
ePub, Kindle (.mobi) and maybe one or two others (.lit and whatever
Sony uses).  Now you can add DAISY to the list too.

It takes a little time to prepare all the relevant formats, but
compared to the process of writing, proofing and editing, not really
all that much.


Regards,
Ben

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