Comments on: Apple iPad: E-Book Reading, Kindle-Killing, Business-Saving Product of the Century? http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/01/apple-ipad-e-book-reading-kindle-killing-business-saving-product-of-the-century/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=apple-ipad-e-book-reading-kindle-killing-business-saving-product-of-the-century Practical Advice to Help Self-Publishers Build Better Books Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:27:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: chairman bill http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/01/apple-ipad-e-book-reading-kindle-killing-business-saving-product-of-the-century/#comment-17319 chairman bill Tue, 08 Nov 2011 11:04:03 +0000 http://www.thebookdesigner.com/?p=4003#comment-17319 I have dyslexia, and I'm an academic; not an overly happy combination. I struggle with papers & other texts, written in serif fonts & justified across the page (introduces anomalous spacing, making it harder to read). Devices such as the iPad have the potential to change this situation, by allowing the reader to choose the font style, choose the font colour, align text left, change the background colour, and so on. Unfortunately, this seems to be a potential so far unrealised. The iPad could be a real game-changer for people with dyslexia. I have dyslexia, and I’m an academic; not an overly happy combination. I struggle with papers & other texts, written in serif fonts & justified across the page (introduces anomalous spacing, making it harder to read). Devices such as the iPad have the potential to change this situation, by allowing the reader to choose the font style, choose the font colour, align text left, change the background colour, and so on. Unfortunately, this seems to be a potential so far unrealised. The iPad could be a real game-changer for people with dyslexia.

]]> By: MyName http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/01/apple-ipad-e-book-reading-kindle-killing-business-saving-product-of-the-century/#comment-15025 MyName Sun, 17 Jul 2011 17:11:49 +0000 http://www.thebookdesigner.com/?p=4003#comment-15025 I'm glad to say I waited for an iPad 2 to come out which meant having a larger support available than would have been last year. It's much more usable than I expected and it's freed me from having to sit at my computer for a number of tasks. Especially web browsing. There are a few things that come to mind as far as the original topic goes. First, as someone pointed out on the web, it seems that ebook readers are geared more towards the text centric works and the current standard isn't able to replace the coffee table type of book (or the National Geographic type of magazine) just yet. PDFs can replace them up to a point, but the screen isn't a good size for many of those books. I think the plan is that, since the ePub standard is basically a wrapper around XHTML, simply wait for HTML 5 to come out with its improved layout tools and then incorporate that into the next generation of ebooks. To put it simply, I think the iPad has a good niche as a way to replace the paperback and the store itself is probably a bigger achievement than the reader as it's very easy to get new books. It's also replaced a lot of the more formal tech documentation. And it plays videos and sings and dances and all that jazz. I’m glad to say I waited for an iPad 2 to come out which meant having a larger support available than would have been last year. It’s much more usable than I expected and it’s freed me from having to sit at my computer for a number of tasks. Especially web browsing.

There are a few things that come to mind as far as the original topic goes. First, as someone pointed out on the web, it seems that ebook readers are geared more towards the text centric works and the current standard isn’t able to replace the coffee table type of book (or the National Geographic type of magazine) just yet.

PDFs can replace them up to a point, but the screen isn’t a good size for many of those books. I think the plan is that, since the ePub standard is basically a wrapper around XHTML, simply wait for HTML 5 to come out with its improved layout tools and then incorporate that into the next generation of ebooks.

To put it simply, I think the iPad has a good niche as a way to replace the paperback and the store itself is probably a bigger achievement than the reader as it’s very easy to get new books. It’s also replaced a lot of the more formal tech documentation. And it plays videos and sings and dances and all that jazz.

]]> By: Joel Friedlander http://www.thebookdesigner.com/2010/01/apple-ipad-e-book-reading-kindle-killing-business-saving-product-of-the-century/#comment-14941 Joel Friedlander Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:51:38 +0000 http://www.thebookdesigner.com/?p=4003#comment-14941 Yes, the problem is that although there are many fonts on the iPad quite a few applications (like iBooks) restrict which fonts the user has access to. Odd but true. Thanks for the additional info. Yes, the problem is that although there are many fonts on the iPad quite a few applications (like iBooks) restrict which fonts the user has access to. Odd but true. Thanks for the additional info.

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