jim said:
>   Yes different rendering engines,
>   but consider what else is also different:

jim, that's a _classic_ post from you...

you manage, right at the outset, as shown here, to give
the _impression_ that you're making a counterargument.

but, in reality, half your points -- if not more -- actually
_support_ my side, rather than refute it.  surprise, surprise.

and more importantly, all of your points "miss the point",
in the larger sense, because your perspective is muddled,
and you manage to "miss the big picture" almost entirely.

in other words, your shots splay all around the target, but
never manage to actually _hit_ the target.  rather amazing.

so yes, jim...

almost every device out there has "a different renderer"...
some devices might only require slight modifications of the
code-base, but experienced programmers will confirm that
sometimes the "slight" changes are the thorniest of 'em all.

and devices differ in other ways as well, including all those
you mentioned, such as fonts, c.s.s. support, and so on...

on all that we agree, despite the disagreement you implied.

where we disagree is that you seem to think those differences
_matter_, in some important way.  they don't matter.  at least
not in the example i provided.  not in the slightest.  not at all.

yes, the two pages _look_ quite different, in a variety of ways.

the backgrounds are different colors, the fonts are different,
one page was hyphenated and the other one wasn't, and the
leading is different.  links have a starkly different appearance.

but the two pages also look _the_same_ in one important way:
both contain the exact same words, in the exact same order...

***

you also then go on to argue that the very _idea_ that the pages
should "look the same on two different devices" is "incorrect"...
nobody ever seriously argued that, but don't let that stop you...

anyway, you're too unclear about what "look the same" _means_.

do you mean that the fonts and colors and hyphenation and
leading and links should look the same?  because if that's what
you mean, then i agree with you, completely.  they don't matter.

but should the words be the same, and be in the same order?

they _better_!

you also say this:
>   The trick is in authoring "correctly" such that
>   an e-book presents "correctly" while at the same time
>   looking considerably differently on each different
>   reader device -- including on two "identical" Kindles say
>   owned by two different customers who have
>   two entirely different reading preferences.

that seems to give a priority to the user's preferences.  good.

but then you said this:
>   An e-book SHOULD NOT look just like
>   a clone of the paper edition,
>   doing so JUST DOESN'T WORK!

so i guess it doesn't count if a user has a preference that
the e-book _should_ look "just like the paper edition"...
some user preferences are less equal than others, eh?

***

so we see how you fall on both sides of the argument...

the takeaway, though, is that the important thing here
is that the words are exactly the same, in the same order.

and the "big picture" -- which you missed entirely, jim --
is that i was having this discussion with _michael_hart_...

do you think michael hart cares about fonts and colors and
hyphenation and leading and the appearance that links take?
is this how _michael_ judges that a "simulator" is not "real"?

-bowerbird