Craig Mod on embracing the digital book:
[L]et’s not forget what these applications are: spaces for consuming text. If we don’t get the fundamentals right, we might as well give up.
Both physical books and e-books are text at their cores:
Book designers long ago established rigorous rules for laying out text blocks so they disappear to the reader. They took pride in turning the physicality of a book into a tool for efficiently and elegantly getting information into the mind of the reader. As any good typographer knows: the best typography goes unnoticed.
But:
Our e-readers seem to have forgotten this heritage. They’ve forgotten that their core purpose is simply to present text as comfortably as possible; to gently pull the reader into the story. Every other aspect of experiencing a book is predicated on this notion.
And wise words:
We need to step back for a moment and stop acting purely on style. There is no style store. [according to Zissner] Retire those half-realized metaphors while they’re still young. Instead, let’s focus on the fundamentals. Improve e-reader typography and page balance. Integrate well considered networked (social) features. Respect the rights of the reader and then — only then — will we be in a position to further explore our new canvas.
And with the smart work of Craig and others, I think we are.
