Re: TeX as an eBook engine?

[luigi scarso <luigi.scarso@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 2:52 PM, William Adams <will.adams@frycomm.com> wrote:
> On Dec 3, 2009, at 8:22 AM, luigi scarso wrote:
>
>> Not really.
>
> My apologies, lost the thread of the discussion. I agree w/ this.
>
>> With mkiv you can typeset xml files as pdf,
>> so you can also (using modes) convert it to xhtml (we have lua now).
>> Writing a css is not a problem, and you can also manage fonts -- after all
>> you know them because you need for pdf . Other  infos are trivial.
>>
>> Following this route you can also make an (x)html for a WOFF enable
>> browser
>> like firefox 2.6 beta -- it's almost the same of epub, after all
>> Cfr
>> people.mozilla.com/~jkew/woff/woff-spec-latest.html
>>
>> Of course none can say that epub is like pdf from a typographical point of
>> view
>> but for low energy devices can be better epub than pdf.
>
>
> I'll grant that .epub can be more flexible and more appropriate, but one has
> to keep in mind that one is giving up quite a bit of typographical quality,
> and that one is at the mercy of the h&j of the viewing program and I've yet
> to see one which puts more than a minimal / brain-dead / greedy --- set as
> much as will fit on the current line and then break to the next algorithm
> in.
It's true of course.
anyway  have you seen
http://people.mozilla.com/~jkew/woff/woff-spec-latest.html
http://people.mozilla.com/~jkew/woff/
?

I was at guit meeting this year, and  Kaveh too, and I have seen his
device with TeX.
It's really cool: it's not a simple dvi reader, it's a TeX
implementation+dvi reader
so one can exchange tex snippets with similar devices
Next release will use xetex.

I have some experience to port pdf in similar
devices too (it was 3years ago, too much time ago, really)
and in the end I'm convinced that (x)html is still the first choice.


-- 
luigi
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