Readable Web » Digital Publishing

The Look That Says Book – On AListApart

Richard Fink — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 12:34:24 +0000

An article I wrote about Hypenation & Justification in web design was published on AListApart today. Titled: The Look That Says Book.

Please visit the comments page and weigh in on how you feel about the current level of support for hyphenation and justification in browsers.
Do you think H&J is important? Not? OK, then what? I’d like to hear what you think.

Sidenote: Editors – Wow, What A Concept!

Unfortunately, the nature of blogging is such that input from an editor just isn’t feasible except in rare instances. So it’s incredibly refreshing to work with sharp, technically astute editors like those at ALA.
Much thanks.

E-Book Publishers Go Delusional

Richard Fink — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:01:36 +0000

Book publishers seem lately like a group of prep-school kids who’ve gotten into an altercation with a bunch of gang-bangers on their way home. Pepper spray versus automatic weapons. Yeesh.

An article today in the NYTimes, E-Books Fly Beyond Mere Text, tells of publishers once again revisiting the fantasy land of “multimedia”. This latest phase, as publishers move along the Five Stages Of Grief, is bargaining:

“Maybe if we provide books with a web-like experience, we can save our jobs!”

Instead of concentrating on real problems and opportunities publishers pour resources into desperate attempts to stay relevant with a bad imitation of the web.

Newsflash: Saving your job may be a great motivator but it is not a source of opportunity. (Personally, all this reminds me of the Fashion Industry circa 1988 as the last dominoes in the migration of apparel manufacturing to low wage nations began to fall with startling speed.
Google “auto workers, Detroit” for more perspective.)

Dream On

So now publishers are coming up with “enhanced” books, “amplified” books, and “enriched” books.
No, don’t get involved. Just keep walking and call 911, it’s all you can do.

In providing this web-like experience, the operative word is “like”, as in pale imitation. No book editor on earth can “clear” enough copyrighted material to remotely come close to the depth of information I can get on the web, for free, on any facet of any book.
Look, I know they’re desperate. And as a refugee from a dead industry myself, I understand. But what world are they living in?

Aren’t any of these people aware of what happened to Microsoft Encarta?

I had heard about the plans for an “amplified” book from Penguin’s Molly Barton at the Future Of Reading Conference at RIT. The crowd at the conference was largely academic, with some librarians and publishing insiders sprinkled in. Yet even an older, relatively staid audience like that knew immediately the idea was lame.

Font designer Gary Munch deadpanned, “Uh, didn’t they try that before in the nineties?”. Such was the general reaction. To top it off, Barton made a snide comment – with pride, too – about Penguin NOT hiring web savvy “kids” to work on their e-book efforts. This raised eyebrows all around, too. Looks deceive. Beware the librarians.

We publishing professionals know best, was the message. Big mistake.

To Kindle Or Not To Kindle

Richard Fink — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:43:52 +0000

Decisions, decisions.

Today my wife the doctoral candidate asked my advice on whether to buy a book she needed as a P-Book or the Kindle edition. (We have the Kindle DX.)

The name of the book is The Structure Of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. (Strangely, I remembered both the book and the author’s name. I think I might have read it a long time ago during my history-of-technology phase.)

Anyway, here were the considerations:

Delivery: Kindle is instant versus having to wait (and pay extra) for the P-Book.

Price: $9.99 for the Kindle versus $13.80 plus shipping for the P-Book.

Payment Method: Both instant – quickpay or autopay or one-click or whatever Amazon is calling it.

Intrinsic Quality: Print is print is print. Expectations will be met. There will be a Table Of Contents, there will be an Index. You can flip through it. However, there’s no equivalent to a “flip through” on the Kindle. And Kindle books can vary in quality depending upon how the digital file is created. This usually means problems navigating through the book. How widespread these problems are with Kindle books produced by commercial houses, I don’t know. But the fear flashed through my mind – and that’s a problem for both Amazon and publishers of titles for the Kindle. I wonder what the return policy is.

Miscellaneous Pros For the P-Book: You can resell it. You can loan it to a friend who doesn’t have a Kindle. It’s just as easy to scan and OCR parts of it as it is to try and copy and paste from the Kindle. (Can that even be done? …gotta work on my Kindle-skills.)

Miscellaneous Pros For the Kindle Edition: Nothing to carry, it travels with the device. It also travels with the iPad via the Kindle app. Is there a desktop version of the Kindle app? I don’t know.

Bottom Line: This book is a must-have, not discretionary. (The local library could, in this instance, be an option since the course requiring it won’t last forever.)
But on the logic of, “Well, ten bucks more or less isn’t going to break me”, the Kindle edition won. Later today, I’ll check out the quality issues and report back.

Transitions, transitions.

[ UPDATE: A Few Hours After First Post ]

The book indeed has a table of contents. However, when you first “open” the book on the Kindle, for some reason it jumps to the Preface, not the TOC. Don’t see much logic in that. Plus, who reads the damned Preface anyway. I know the author is grateful to their family, to God, and to that first-grade teacher who put them on the path to authorship. There should be a “Start Reading” option that takes you straight to the meat. Or, start with the TOC, for heaven’s sake. But anyway….

Part of the reason for this post was to display, unashamedly, my own ignorance of what’s up with Kindle books. From what I can see, the best thing about the Kindle is the iPad Kindle app. Much, much more usable. And in Naples, Florida, where I live, it’s too damned hot in the sun, anyway.
In a comment on this post, Joe Golton of FilterJoe, who’s not ignorant says:

“Richard – You’ve already pulled the trigger on this one but there’s a few things that would be helpful for you to know before purchasing any more books from the Kindle store:

1) There IS a way to flip through a book, but only if the book is formatted with “waypoints.” Waypoints are the little dots you see at the bottom of the Kindle’s screen for books that have them. Look at the Kindle DX User’s Guide for an example. Just flick the controller to the right (or left) flip forward (or backward) through the book chapter by chapter.

2) You can usually download a sample to see if the book has Table of Contents and waypoints enabled. You will want to do this for any book that has chapters, to see if it is set up to take full advantage of the Kindle formatting.

3) Nonetheless – a sample will usually only show you the first 5% or so of a book. So you may not get to preview whether graphs were done correctly.

The Nook from Barnes and Noble has the advantage of allowing you to browse the entire book while you are in the Barnes and Noble store. The Nook also has another “flip through the book” option – a slider that can be used on the touchpad to jump to different parts of the book.”

So there you have it. And me, too.

Two Joes On The State Of E-Books

Richard Fink — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:19:23 +0000

Everybody knows that books are special. Books require special “formatting”. And special E-Readers, of course, which will – via small nasal attachments – give you that special new book smell, too. (Don’t believe it? It’s already available as an aerosol.)

Just remember that what “everybody knows” is useless information. And upon close inspection, usually flat-out wrong or at least outdated.

From Joe Clark:

I’ve been re-reading Joe Clark’s article Web Standards For E-Books on AListApart and you should, too.
Other posts of interest would be these, on Joe C’s blog:
Travis J. Nichols’ ‘Ugly Stick’
Retraining Readers Of An Industry Organ

From Joe Golton:

Joe Golton’s blog is called “Filter Joe” and his passion is filtering information – finding ways to tame the information beast and get what you need without the crap. Joe’s latest post is a hands-on report about just what kinds of information can be viewed without hassle on the Kindle.
Can You Read Anything On The Kindle? …Almost, With Google Reader

E-Book Formats: The Mad Scramble

Richard Fink — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:37:40 +0000

I haven’t been reporting much on developments in the e-reader biz lately. Simple reason: I can’t keep up and I don’t think it pays at this point to even try. I’m enjoying the shake out, though.

The mad scramble is being driven by two factors:
1) Screen technology has gone mobile in a big way – with the Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, Android, and so forth and so on.
All the stuff you could possibly have the time to read can now travel with you. And if that isn’t enough, even more stuff you’ll never ever have the time to read can be sent wirelessly to you.
2) These screens do provide a satisfying reading experience. And they are getting better all the time.

The New iPhone’s “Retina” Display

I checked out the new iPhone with it’s ultra-sharp Retina display the other day and it was amazing, really. As an iPhone user, I was very skeptical about it being worth the hassle and expense of an upgrade, but to these tired old eyes, it definitely is. I’ve simply never seen a display with text as crisp and sharp at small sizes as I saw on the new iPhone. I did a side-by-side comparison with my current phone and all I could say was, “Wow”. The next day I was using my wife’s iPad for something and I couldn’t help but try to imagine what it would be like if the iPad had the same quality screen as the new iPhone. Wow++. Only a matter of time, I suppose.

E-Reader? Got One. It’s Called A Browser.

And so, everybody’s scrambling to establish themselves as the dominant platform or format or application, or something or other for the burgeoning market for “books onscreen”.

Here’s a simple fact that, for me, stands out: All day long I read from an application called a browser. You’ve heard of them, right? Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome – those guys. But yet, when it comes to paper books that have been ported onscreen, I’m being asked to use some other application called an E-Reader.

Why? What’s wrong with this picture? Are the words in a paper book different than the words on a blog?

As you ponder this question, check out the free browser-based Ibis Reader. (Yes, for the iPhone/iPad it’s an app. A matter of screen real-estate, I suppose. When will mobile Safari support full-screen mode?)

I’m also keeping an eye on Blio, new e-publishing software that seems to be a little different from the rest of the pack, but we’ll see when it soon debuts.

Wanna e-publish? Jeffrey Zeldman posted a nice, brief roundup with some juicy links a couple of days ago.

Old Farts, New Media

Richard Fink — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Rochester, New York

Over the past two days here at the Future Of Reading Conference at RIT there’s been two talks by publishing industry insiders – Molly Barton of Penguin Books and Jane Friedman, former longtime President and CEO of Harper Collins Publishers Worldwide.

There’s a big difference in age between them. One of them is young and one of them is, well, probably a grandmother. (Didn’t ask, but she mentioned she had four sons.) One of them understands where the publishing of books is headed and the other one seemed a little stodgy, frankly.

Here’s what they look like. Guess who’s clued in, who’s not:

Jane Friedman, Clued In

In the days of print, competition between the major publishers could afford to be a “gentlemanly” affair. But in these days of digital and print-on-demand, it’s guerrilla warfare. Jane Friedman brought up the fact that there’s 80,000 independent publishers in the USA. Twice. She gets it. And she gets the change in mood, too. It’s not just digital distribution, there’s a change in expectations. Many readers want to feel a relationship, a connection to the author. A name on a book cover isn’t enough. And readers want to get the book they want, whenever they want it, on whatever device they’re using, wherever they are. She gets that, too.

Jane Friedman is co-founder of start-up publisher Open Road Integrated Media. And for the first time, they are publishing digitally, with no accompanying print edition, Negotiating With Evil, by Mitchell Reiss.
Let me say that again: no simultaneous print edition.

Hey Jane, How ‘Bout DRM?

After her presentation, I asked Friedman if all of Open Road’s titles were DRM’d (Kindle, Nook, etc) and she said that at the moment, all of them were. I asked if they were considering releasing anything under trusting, open licenses and she said it wasn’t out of the question but that Open Road is a very new company, give it time, and certainly anything and everything that gets books into the hands of the most readers and generates revenue for the authors is on the table.

OK. Maybe someday I’ll be able to quote a paragraph or two without jumping through hoops. (Or, alternatively, downloading the cracked edition which we all know will exist. Not condoning, just saying.) But in the meantime, it’s refreshing to see somebody with long experience thinking anew and acting anew.

Next, more from the conference: Chris Anderson of Wired, Jon Orwant of Google Books, and my new hero, old fart Richard Lanham, Professor Emeritus at UCLA.

The Future Of Reading

Richard Fink — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:49:00 +0000

Rochester, NY
On the two planes I had to take to get from Florida to Rochester, I was reading the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig I downloaded (for free, natch) and then transferred to my iRex 1000 e-reader using a custom formatted PDF from Feedbooks.

The illustrations in the PDF edition are missing. Sometimes the iRex skips pages inexplicably. The iRex has no network connectivity. But still, what Lessig has to say is making its way into my brain. Maybe I’ll compare the Mobi or EPUB editions from Feedbooks on the iPad with what I’ve got on the iRex in a future post.

The iRex 1000 is the largest e-paper device around and looks like this:

Thus have I prepared myself through hands-on encounters of the frustrating kind to discuss the future of reading here at the Future Of Reading Conference. It’s being held at the Rochester Institute Of Technology and starts tonight with a kick-off talk and book signing from author Margaret Atwood whose work I am not familiar with but will be by tonight – maybe even convincingly so – through the magic of search engines and Wikipedia.

What, Nothing About the Readable Web Redesign?

Regular readers might have noticed that I’ve upped my blogging game a bit with a redesign. Still not quite tweaked to absolute web perfection but soon, soon. (Done with the aid of Joshua Wold of Sabramedia – to give credit where credit is due.)

A Future Without Flash: Microsoft and Apple Nail The Coffin

Richard Fink — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:54:08 +0000

Wow. Big Changes. Bad news and more bad news for Adobe Flash and Flash developers over the past few days.

Apple Says No Flash On Apple Mobile

First, there was the announcement by Steve Jobs on the Apple blog.

Flash was created during the PC era – for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards – all areas where Flash falls short.

Steve hath spoken. Adobe Flash lies broken.

Microsoft Says Yes To H.264 Video, Says No To Flash

Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of the IE team drove in another nail with an announcement on the IE Blog.

The future of the web is HTML5. Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. HTML5 will be very important in advancing rich, interactive web applications and site design. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only.

The name of this blog isn’t “Watchable Web” so I don’t know anything about what hidden or not so hidden agendas Apple or Microsoft might have for supporting H.264. But Flash’s funeral will have a big impact on the way text looks on the web, and soon.

Web Fonts Become More Important, Cufón, Too.

@Font-Face just became a whole lot more important. If Flash isn’t going to be available on Apple Mobile devices and IE9 won’t support it for video, Flash no longer has a future. For text replacement, it is no longer a viable option, period. As in: stop using as of now, today. As in: if using, phase out, soon.

Open Source Font Serving Engine, Fontue, Released

Richard Fink — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:34:11 +0000

Garrick Van Buren of the font-hosting site Kernest.com has released Kernest’s font serving engine as an open source project.
Garrick’s dubbed it: Fontue.

It seems like everyone and their mother is starting a font hosting service these days so head on over to Github and roll your own!

Developing With Web Standards by John Allsopp

Richard Fink — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:00:50 +0000

Required Reading

In his book, the Blind Watchmaker, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins writes:

— Explaining is a difficult art. You can explain something so that your reader understands the words; and you can explain something so that the reader feels it in the marrow of his bones. To do the latter, it sometimes isn’t enough to lay the evidence before the reader in a dispassionate way. You have to become an advocate and use the tricks of the advocate’s trade.

John Allsopp knows the tricks. And luckily, for those of us who work with things web, his field is web development. If you want to know what’s going on today and in the near term, Developing With Web Standards will take you through it all, step by step.

Snapshots And More

Like its “sister” volume, Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman and Ethan Marcotte, Developing With Web Standards is like flipping through a book of “snapshots”. Each chapter gives you a picture of one aspect of web technology along with the occasional zoom-in on things of particular importance. Seasoned web developers will find in it a valuable review. And no matter how much you know, or how familiar you think you are with something, I guarantee that at some point you’ll find yourself thinking:

“Hey, I didn’t know that. Why didn’t I know that?” Hah!

For myself, I found the chapter on Canvas and SVG especially useful because, frankly, I haven’t paid much attention to Canvas and SVG. (Is there such a thing as keeping up with it all?) And since the book is liberally sprinkled with links and sources for further study, I not only get John’s expert analysis, but a leg-up on how to learn more.

I would also recommend it highly for people who are only vaguely familiar with web development and would like to learn. It’s not a basic primer by any stretch, but it’s written in a friendly and clear style that helps a lot when you’re trying to make sense of a thing for the first time. Yes, you will learn some things, but more importantly, you’ll come away with a clear idea of what it is you don’t know. And when you’re new to field of knowledge, finding out what it is you don’t know can be the hardest part.

The Soul Of An Educator

In addition to authoring, publishing, and software development, John Allsopp is co-founder of Web Directions – which puts together incredible conferences on web development all around the world.

When I grow up, my ambition is to speak at a Web Directions conference and get to rub shoulders with people like John Resig, Steve Souder, and Mark Boulton.

John Allsopp, good luck with the book.