Do readers really prefer EPUB/MOBI over PDF? Personally, I've always preferred PDFs.
Nicely written article, by the way. Genever Benning's board meetings elicited a chuckle!
Nicely written article, by the way. Genever Benning's board meetings elicited a chuckle!
If the book has a lot of graphics or other content that doesn't translate well to a smaller device (I read the vast majority of books on my kindle, a few on my Galaxy S3) then I prefer pdf. A book I bought on using Gimp falls well into that category. I don't even bother trying to read it on anything less than a 19 inch monitor. There are too many large images and layout is too important.
Comics I prefer in PDF or CBR - either way. Though it still falls into the same issue that I haven't found a good experience with comics on my Nexus 7 or anything smaller. They are the only thing that has made me feel the desire to purchase a larger tablet.
A bunch do. When I read eBooks, I prefer them because I want the text to be reflowed on my device. PDFs only look good if your screen is about the dimensions that the PDF was authored for.
> Personally, I've always preferred PDFs.
Hmm, I didn't make that format available but I certainly could once I figure out how. I'm not familiar with people buying PDFs. Is what you expect basically just a digital version of the print layout?
But to answer your question, yes I prefer reading the digital versions of print layouts as they are. Quite possibly because I feel the EPUB/MOBI ebooks I have are not laid out so well.
I may be biased because of my particular collection, but what I've felt is the PDFs in my collection "look" attractive and compel me to keep reading. I can see the creative effort that has gone into them by their authors and editors. Different colors for different kinds of text, syntax highlighted code, good fonts, diagrams fit correctly, proper indentation, proper word wrapping, chapter headers, footnotes at bottom of page, image wrapping and alignment in a way that improves readability - etc. They justify the word "e-books", in the sense that they feel like paper books.
EPUB/MOBI on the other hand I guess are subject to layout rules of the particular reader and screen size, and for me, they don't look so attractive. In most of my ebooks in these formats, code snippets for example are not syntax highlighted and so don't make easy reading. Image wrapping is all out of whack - an image is on one page, but its explanation which kind of assumes the image is visible right there by its side, is actually on the next page. Little details like that.
I agree with you about having to zoom and scroll a lot. But the readability of PDF makes zooming and scrolling worth the effort for me. I guess ebook UX too is just as subjective as website UX.
Additionally, ebook readers are much better for the eyes.