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If you print your ebooks for some reason rather than buy used copies, granted you have to convert to pdf for that. Why prefer an epub... They have flowed text

If you print your ebooks for some reason rather than buy used copies, granted you have to convert to pdf for that. Why prefer an epub... They have flowed text, and ebook readers let you customize font and font size so that the book's text adapts to you rather than you adapting to a particular combination of publisher quirks and zoom necessary to fit in a particular device's or app's viewable size. They're generally smaller files. And if there's something about the epub you don't like, you can actually fix it. If a book is available in both PDF and epub formats, it's a reader's prerogative to pick the one they want, and there are specific types of books where PDFs might be preferable. However, if there's no original pdf, what is the objective of converting an epub to pdf in order to read it on a computer? Whatever you think you're accomplishing, I think you're mistaken. You end up with a pdf that looks exactly like how a typical ereader would display the epub. Minus the flowed text and font customizability, and probably with poorer navigation as well.

rualca 6y ago
> Why prefer an epub... Does epub support proper proper math notation typesetting? Moreover, text in a webview doesn't flow as nice as vanilla TeX, and can look outright atrocious.
- orangeoxidation 6y ago
  Converting an epub to a pdf adds nothing, only "fixes" your view to specific settings (font, etc.). You won't get better math typesetting that way, if it was missing in the epub.
- 0-_-0 6y ago
  Epub3 does support math rendering: https://docs.mathjax.org/en/v2.7-latest/misc/epub.html https://docs.mathjax.org/en/v2.7-latest/misc/epub.html
- harshreality 6y ago
  Math epubs can be done properly using mathjax; equations can be written in typical TeX notation and rendered into MathML or SVG or various other targets. Also, modern unicode fonts have good coverage of math symbols, so a lot of abstract math can be written inline without even resorting to mathjax. Algebra, set theory, and things like that. I think the delay there is the many older ebook readers and apps that have quirks that require workarounds to get mathjax to work. Why bother, when publishers could just render equations to images or SVG and hardcode them? Mathjax just takes that rendering step out of the publishing pipeline. Text flow... are you talking about inter-word spacing and rivers? My take on that is: full text justification was always a bad idea, only promoted for aesthetic reasons and to show off fancy layout engines that reduced rivers and other bad artifacts. It seems some publishers are doing away with it in new books. Poetry and plays rarely used it.
  - enriquto 6y ago
    > Text flow... are you talking about inter-word spacing and rivers? My take on that is: full text justification was always a bad idea, only promoted for aesthetic reasons and to show off fancy layout engines that reduced rivers and other bad artifacts. It seems some publishers are doing away with it in new books. I would say that mathematicians are extremely picky about the quality of their displayed formulas. Most of what can be produced by mathjax is not of acceptable quality. I speak about fine-tuning of kerning, alignement, etc. Having "reflowable" text is a nightmare for typography-inclined people: the flow is an essential part of the content and you do not want to lose it!
    - harshreality 6y ago
      Everyone prefers better typography, but what qualifies as readable and acceptable for math? Generations of mathematicians learned from handwritten (including horrible scribbles on chalkboards), typewritten, and facsimile/photocopied material (like many Dover reprints). Current mathematicians grab scans of old math books from online pirate libraries. Math material on the web is mostly mathjax, and it's just fine. Math rendering doesn't have to be up to Spivak's standards to be just fine for reading and learning. And there's an even greater gap between "just fine" and "acceptable". Back to the main points: Epub is a better format for everything except niche uses (textbooks, especially math, papers, etc) where there's an argument for pdf. It's rather weak, but I understand the argument and I don't throw a fit when such material is only available in pdf. Most regular books aren't even published in pdf format anymore, for good reason. There's no reason to convert epub to pdf except to print it — and why the hell would you do that? buy a used print copy — or to send to someone who doesn't have an epub reader — in which case you're better off giving them the name of an epub app to search for and install, so that they can read epubs in the future, rather than converting every epub you want them to read into poor quality pdfs. Meanwhile, mathjax will only improve, along with publishers' general css competence.
    - Tepix 6y ago
      Unless the text size is too large or too small on your device. I'll take accessability over finer points of typography any day.
- robin_reala 6y ago
  You can bring in MathML into ePub with no problem. I guess your question then is “are there renderers that support MathML?” The answer to that is yes: Kobos have good MathML support.

rualca 6y ago

> Why prefer an epub... Does epub support proper proper math notation typesetting? Moreover, text in a webview doesn't flow as nice as vanilla TeX, and can look outright atrocious.

orangeoxidation 6y ago
Converting an epub to a pdf adds nothing, only "fixes" your view to specific settings (font, etc.). You won't get better math typesetting that way, if it was missing in the epub.
0-_-0 6y ago
Epub3 does support math rendering: https://docs.mathjax.org/en/v2.7-latest/misc/epub.html https://docs.mathjax.org/en/v2.7-latest/misc/epub.html
harshreality 6y ago
Math epubs can be done properly using mathjax; equations can be written in typical TeX notation and rendered into MathML or SVG or various other targets. Also, modern unicode fonts have good coverage of math symbols, so a lot of abstract math can be written inline without even resorting to mathjax. Algebra, set theory, and things like that. I think the delay there is the many older ebook readers and apps that have quirks that require workarounds to get mathjax to work. Why bother, when publishers could just render equations to images or SVG and hardcode them? Mathjax just takes that rendering step out of the publishing pipeline. Text flow... are you talking about inter-word spacing and rivers? My take on that is: full text justification was always a bad idea, only promoted for aesthetic reasons and to show off fancy layout engines that reduced rivers and other bad artifacts. It seems some publishers are doing away with it in new books. Poetry and plays rarely used it.
- enriquto 6y ago
  > Text flow... are you talking about inter-word spacing and rivers? My take on that is: full text justification was always a bad idea, only promoted for aesthetic reasons and to show off fancy layout engines that reduced rivers and other bad artifacts. It seems some publishers are doing away with it in new books. I would say that mathematicians are extremely picky about the quality of their displayed formulas. Most of what can be produced by mathjax is not of acceptable quality. I speak about fine-tuning of kerning, alignement, etc. Having "reflowable" text is a nightmare for typography-inclined people: the flow is an essential part of the content and you do not want to lose it!
  - harshreality 6y ago
    Everyone prefers better typography, but what qualifies as readable and acceptable for math? Generations of mathematicians learned from handwritten (including horrible scribbles on chalkboards), typewritten, and facsimile/photocopied material (like many Dover reprints). Current mathematicians grab scans of old math books from online pirate libraries. Math material on the web is mostly mathjax, and it's just fine. Math rendering doesn't have to be up to Spivak's standards to be just fine for reading and learning. And there's an even greater gap between "just fine" and "acceptable". Back to the main points: Epub is a better format for everything except niche uses (textbooks, especially math, papers, etc) where there's an argument for pdf. It's rather weak, but I understand the argument and I don't throw a fit when such material is only available in pdf. Most regular books aren't even published in pdf format anymore, for good reason. There's no reason to convert epub to pdf except to print it — and why the hell would you do that? buy a used print copy — or to send to someone who doesn't have an epub reader — in which case you're better off giving them the name of an epub app to search for and install, so that they can read epubs in the future, rather than converting every epub you want them to read into poor quality pdfs. Meanwhile, mathjax will only improve, along with publishers' general css competence.
  - Tepix 6y ago
    Unless the text size is too large or too small on your device. I'll take accessability over finer points of typography any day.
robin_reala 6y ago
You can bring in MathML into ePub with no problem. I guess your question then is “are there renderers that support MathML?” The answer to that is yes: Kobos have good MathML support.