Should be a format that can be grep'd, made into PostScript, DejaVu, etc. Versatile. ASCII works well for that. Open, non-proprietary format.
Not only that, working with raw text is so much faster than anything else. less(1) is the most responsive "ebook reader" I've ever used. It never chokes on huge files. less -n
Ever try reading 100 or more PDF's in one sitting?
But with 100 ASCII docs, it's possible to skim them fast using less, or mine some text with some UNIX utility.
I like what this judge said. Digitizing books not just about putting the book on a "paper-like" screen with beautiful fonts, it's about enabling new utility. Working with the text.
If you're targeting grep as a tool to operate on your data, then HTML isn't the best 'raw' format as grep isn't HTML-aware. It can't ignore markup, or translate encoded values (e.g. & => &).
Not only that, working with raw text is so much faster than anything else. less(1) is the most responsive "ebook reader" I've ever used. It never chokes on huge files. less -n
Ever try reading 100 or more PDF's in one sitting?
But with 100 ASCII docs, it's possible to skim them fast using less, or mine some text with some UNIX utility.
I like what this judge said. Digitizing books not just about putting the book on a "paper-like" screen with beautiful fonts, it's about enabling new utility. Working with the text.