On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 9:00 AM, Evan Leibovitch <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org">evan-ieNeDk6JonTYtjvyW6yDsg@public.gmane.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im"><div></div></div><div>Of course, in the digital realm the very concept of the page is backwards-compatibility hack that may itself be replaced by other navigation tools, just as the traditional index in books has already been made redundant by the user's ability to do full-text searches.</div>
<div class="im"><div><br></div></div></div></blockquote><div> <br>But a full-text search doesn't replace a thematic index. Full-text search might catch all the instances of the word "pedantic", but it doesn't help me with the "see also: neckbeard". ;-) <br>
<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im"><div></div>Ah, there's the rub... what's "proper"?<br>
</div></div></blockquote><div class="im"><br>Sadly, good book typography is something you shouldn't notice. It's only when it gets really bad do you see it.<br> <br><div><br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="gmail_quote"><div>
This kind of thing is easy to verify -- the HTML/CSS spec certainly allows for <a href="http://xhtml.com/en/css/reference/orphans/" target="_blank">orphans</a> and <a href="http://xhtml.com/en/css/reference/widows/" target="_blank">widows</a>. So if a content provider cares to want them, the browser (or ereader) will obey.</div>
</div></blockquote><div class="im"><br>So knowing how to add "p {orphans: 3;}" to my CSS makes me Jan Tschichold? <br><br>With the narrow screens that e-readers currently have, hy­phen­ation is crit­ical in getting the information density on a page up there for rapid reading. I'll bet that, even though e-readers al­low for hy­phen­ation con­trol, 99% of users won't change them from the dull defaults. And yes, I de­lib­erately wrote this para us­ing what I under­stand to be HTML's best shot at soft hy­phen­ation. Craptastic, no?<br>
<div><br></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="gmail_quote"><div>That's my point.It isn't -- and it can't be -- what is needed in textual content delivery going forward.</div>
</div></blockquote></div><br>If your plans include paper output, TeX might make a very good formatting backend.<br><br>Once e-readers get rid of the "Loading ..." wait time as you open up a new book and the FLASH-lookit-me-I'm-a-Tek-4014-taking-all-day-to-refresh page turning, I'll use one. Until then, I'll be in the stacks.<br>
<br>cheers,<br> Stewart<br clear="all"><br>-- <br><a href="http://scruss.com/blog/" target="_blank">http://scruss.com/blog/</a> - 73 de VA3PID<br><br>