On 9/27/2012 5:55 PM, don kretz wrote:
What I think has a chance of some agreement, which we are currently lacking, is an enumeration of the properties of a text that is sufficient to provide a readable, enjoyable, accurate basis for average readers (presumably still the PG target market;) stated in non-technical terms.
So as for sufficiency, what Jon has proposed for his RTT has some merit.
Then, before information to duplicate the layout, a good readable accurate product could be easier to produce if things were identified by what they are, rather than what they look like.
What do I mean by "what they are"?
Something like (these are only some examples):
1. Entire text in the proper sequence. 2. Identification of paragraphs. 3. Identification of chapter boundaries. 4. Identification of chapter headings. 5. Enumeration of illustrations, including a graphics file, caption, credits, explanatory keys, and location in text. 6. Enumeration of footnotes, with reference position in the text stream. 7. Tables ditto. 8. Mathematical expressions. 9. Quotations. 10. Correspondence Addressee Salutation Body Closing clause Signature
We're currently not collecting most of that, except by inference from the layout; with little consistency and great ambiguity. It all could be identified and marked with less effort than we're putting into what DP requires now.
I can agree with part of that, Don, and with the idea that focusing on page layout may not be as critical. But if you're targeting enjoyment and readability I think you also need the italic/bold/gesperrt markup. Without them you lose emphasis and tone, which will make the reading experience more confusing and less enjoyable, in my opinion. So I think capturing them is at least as important as capturing this other semantic information. Also, location of an illustration in the text is not necessarily relevant in producing an ebook. I've seen a lot of books where the printer put the illustrations in wherever they'd fit, or wherever it was convenient, and often quite removed from where they would make sense to the reader. -- Walt