|
WebWord Weblog Posting Posting Date: September 12, 2002 Electronic publishing, usability, and a free lunch (IBM) -- "Publishers who want to create an electronic book have to choose: try to protect it against piracy or make it usable. In this article, I contrast the extremes of the philosophy and argue for open standards and accessible data in electronic data products. The impact of these decisions on usability is also considered."
Reader Comments...
I have been reading e-books on PDAs (Palm and PocketPC) for a couple of years now and have been on the whole disappointed. I don't like the fact that I cannot any of the text from the book if it want to quote it. It's much easier to scan in a paragraph from a print book. I have found only two advantages of e-books that apply to me: 1) Bookshelf Space Every 18 months my wife and I have to clear out our bookshelves to make room for more books. If I want to read a book but am not willing to give it shelf space for even a short period then I may get an e-book version. 2) Holidays I generally take three or four print books on holiday. As I usually read those halfway through the holiday I like to buy three or four e-books to take as they don't take up any more space in my suitcase, and I can try some genres or authors that I wouldn't normally read. Every other aspect of e-books has been a disapointment to me. Posted by: Mac on September 13, 2002 01:34 PM
Home | Moving WebWord | Cool Books | Hot Web Sites
URL: http://webword.com/weblog/ ©1998-2005 by WebWord.com. All rights reserved. |