5 ms·

I'm a big fan of EPUB because it's a pretty neat example of the Unix philosophy "worse is better". A proprietary or custom format might have been more suited t

I'm a big fan of EPUB because it's a pretty neat example of the Unix philosophy "worse is better". A proprietary or custom format might have been more suited to creating e-books (drop-caps, for example, would probably have been easier), but using HTML and CSS as the basis means it's open, easily understandable, and pretty simple to make corrections to e-books or even begin making your own. The fact that a teenager with a little bit of interest and a small amount of knowledge can play with an e-book, then view the results on real devices, is hugely appealing. I realise that they could also be making a website, or doing `real' programming, but to some people the ability to correct typoes in _Ender's Game_ or reformat _Dune_ to their preferred layout is just so much more appealing and empowering. When I started playing making websites at age 14, I'd have killed to be able to use those skills to make an e-book.

rpgmaker 11y ago
In spanish there are communities that take paper books, digitalize them and release them in epub format. Books that probably will never see an official digital release, which surprisingly, is the fate of many classic books (it's improving but the spanish digital book market isn't as vibrant as the one Amazon created for english titles). The best community I've found has a huge manual that in essence works as an editorial blueprint of how your epub must be constructed and formatted in order for them to accept your digitalization of a book and release them under their label, which in effect makes this site a clandestine digital publisher of sorts. After you submit a title they have editors that review it, etc. and all of this is done by volunteers online. It's just awesome. There's no need to debate the legality of this site of course but if I was 14 today, with the free time I had back them, I'd definitely be geeking the hell out of that manual and digitalizing some of my many paper books. If there is a heaven, a special place must be reserved for all those guys that make that community work, if you ask me. Anyways, I haven't found similar communities in english although I assume there must be some.
- i336_ 11y ago
  I'm sure there are some Spanish-speaking people that would appreciate knowing the URL to this hub, and a few more who wouldn't mind being aware of its existence so they can reference it, etc.

rpgmaker 11y ago

In spanish there are communities that take paper books, digitalize them and release them in epub format. Books that probably will never see an official digital release, which surprisingly, is the fate of many classic books (it's improving but the spanish digital book market isn't as vibrant as the one Amazon created for english titles). The best community I've found has a huge manual that in essence works as an editorial blueprint of how your epub must be constructed and formatted in order for them to accept your digitalization of a book and release them under their label, which in effect makes this site a clandestine digital publisher of sorts. After you submit a title they have editors that review it, etc. and all of this is done by volunteers online. It's just awesome. There's no need to debate the legality of this site of course but if I was 14 today, with the free time I had back them, I'd definitely be geeking the hell out of that manual and digitalizing some of my many paper books. If there is a heaven, a special place must be reserved for all those guys that make that community work, if you ask me. Anyways, I haven't found similar communities in english although I assume there must be some.

i336_ 11y ago
I'm sure there are some Spanish-speaking people that would appreciate knowing the URL to this hub, and a few more who wouldn't mind being aware of its existence so they can reference it, etc.