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PDFs can work really well on ebook readers. However, most PDFs don't work at all well on ebook readers. If you make a monochrome PDF with minimal margins, wit
by threedaymonk 14y ago
PDFs can work really well on ebook readers.
However, most PDFs don't work at all well on ebook readers.
If you make a monochrome PDF with minimal margins, with a sensible font size, for a 6 or 7" screen, it will be attractive and readable on a that screen. It can - if you do it right - have better wrapping, widow/orphan control, and fonts than a normal ebook, too. I have an old Sony Reader PRS-505. The screen's the same as a Kindle, but the processor is slow, and paginating its native format takes ages. Nonetheless, it can display PDFs very rapidly. Before I got a Kindle, I used to convert books from text into small PDFs, with attractive embedded fonts, and read them on the Sony that way.
However, if you try to read an A4 PDF, with two columns and massive margins, on a 7" screen, you're going to have a bad time.
The downside to using PDF is that you lose the ability to reflow. But that's the upside too, at least if you have complex content that's not amenable to reflowing; many technical books fit into this category.