Misc: Particularly attractive e-book designs: Summary

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- VIDEOTRON -dot- CA>]

A few days back, I asked for suggestions on attractive e-book designs  
in landscape (horizontal format). I received the following suggestions:

- To clarify the context a bit, this is for my "Effective Onscreen  
Editing" book. Mostly text, but with a certain number of screenshots.  
My choice of landscape format is so that it'll fit well on the  
computer screen, but still be printable on standard letter-size paper  
(both UK and US sizes). I hope to offer a POD version too, but for  
those who can't wait, there's at least the option of printing.

- I do recognize that choosing a "rigid" format in which the text  
doesn't reflow isn't necessarily the best solution, since many e-book  
readers prefer to choose their own window size, font size, etc. My  
initial thoughts are to accept the tradeoffs implicit in a rigid  
format such as PDF. However, something like HTML plus CSS is an  
attractive option, but I'm concerned about sending out what would  
then effectively become a Web site. Compiled HTML might be an  
acceptable solution, but I don't know how to do this cross-platform  
so the result will run on Mac and Windows.

- Good layout skills will, of course, be important. I've been in the  
publishing biz for 20+ years, so I know the basics. I'm mostly  
looking for good examples of attractive design (i.e., pretty pictures  
I can look at online, not general design guidelines). I'm pondering  
the notion of a three-column grid, with two narrowish columns of text  
(for easy reading) and room for graphics of various sizes, but  
haven't actually done any trial layouts yet to see how this would work.

- Adobe provides a range of samples on their Acrobat CD. I'll have a  
look to see what turns up. "Verso Books" apparently published a bunch  
of interesting stuff in landscape format, so a trip to the bookstore  
will be in order. Darn! <g>

Thanks to the following for their suggestions: Russell Brasel, David  
"Bear" Chinell, Fox Cole, Bruce Johnson, Tom Johnson, Karen Lofstrom,  
David Loveless, Dick Margulis, and Jill Schultz. If your name doesn't  
appear in this list, it means I never saw your message. Sorry! Please  
re-send.

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Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca

(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)

www.geoff-hart.com

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