Comments on: Why is the ePub logo contest taking forever to happen? And what about the all-caps issue?

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:14:01 +0000

Good news. Mike Smith at the IDPF will be responding in the next day or so. Meanwhile if possible, please hold off on comments about the contest delay and ePub vs. EPUB. Let’s see what he has to say.

Thanks,
David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:56:00 +0000

But Steve, ePub is already more commonly used on pub domain and bookstore sites than “OEB.”

[moustache_twirl]A problem that can be easily rectified...[/moustache_twirl]

Hello, Mike? If you’re reading this, please answer Steve. Although he and I disagree, he deserves at least a nice acknowledgment.

Yes, Mike... give us a shout, or we're gonna start calling your e-book format "Weeb" from now on! Hah!

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:17:39 +0000

But Steve, ePub is already more commonly used on pub domain and bookstore sites than “OEB.”

Re three-letter and caps: Hey, as noted above, I’ll stick with “ePub: since people already know about it than know about OEB.

> I’d e-mailed Mike S. when I introduced my logo design here, hoping for a comment pro or con. I got crickets. Hope you get a better response.

Hello, Mike? If you’re reading this, please answer Steve. Although he and I disagree, he deserves at least a nice acknowledgment.

Thanks,
David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:36:06 +0000

@David, re OEB vs ePub: Keep in mind that many computers are set (often by default) not to display extensions… in many cases, non-techies have no idea what the extensions of their most-used programs are (take it from me, I see it all the time). And in any event, they shouldn’t have to care. If the docs are described on a website, and on their computers/devices, as OEB, they’ll know what to buy and use (just as the do when they are described on a website, and on their devices, by the extension, of course). My main point is that naming it by the name, and not the extension, is more consistent with other formats.

On the caps thing: Sure, words and sentences in all-caps SHOUT. A 3-letter acronym? Not so much. But capitalizing them helps to make sure they don’t get confused as odd short words. Anyway, as I said, as long as they don’t get confused with something else, what the hey…

@Mark: Maybe people would start referring to OEB files as “Weeb”s… that’s easy to say…

I’d e-mailed Mike S. when I introduced my logo design here, hoping for a comment pro or con. I got crickets. Hope you get a better response.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:33:52 +0000

Thanks, Liza. Ouch. Sorry not to have mentioned you by name.

David

By: Liza Daly

Liza Daly — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:05:14 +0000

The original version of the blue logo is here: http://threepress.org/epub/logos

I put it into the public domain. There are various formats available, including scalable versions.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:23:00 +0000

Another thing to think about is that “ePub” rolls off the tongue better than “OEB” as well. It is just easier to say in conversation as in “just get the ePub” vs “just get the OEB”.

By: David Rothman

David Rothman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:14:54 +0000

Heck, Steve, nontechies do care. Caps seem to shout. As I see it, this is indeed a matter of aesthetics.

Now—about OEB vs. ePub. It is much less confusing to nontechies to make the format name and the extension name the same.

Hey, regardless of our differences, thanks for speaking up.

Meanwhile I’ve emailed Erica and Mike for their thoughts on the issue in the post.

Thanks,
David

By: Steve Jordan

Steve Jordan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:27:48 +0000

There was an “all-caps” issue on this? This always seemed to me to be a localized aesthetics matter, important only to geeks… like saying “sci-fi” as opposed to “SF” or “science fiction.” In both cases, the rest of the world really couldn’t care less, it seems.

Personally, I don’t have an issue using all-caps in designating most acronyms, since it avoids confusing characters (the number one, the uppercase “I” and the lowercase “L,” for example)… though obviously this isn’t an issue for ePub (it could be if they go with the name “OEB”). On the other hand, if the world wants to go lowercase, that’s fine, too… as long as those acronyms avoid confusion, which is what is important.

I’d just like to point out (as I have in other posts) that I think we should be referring to the format’s name, Open E-Book (OEB), rather than the file extension (epub), to be more consistent with other formats’ naming conventions… Adobe Acrobat/Reader is about the only other file format that is perhaps better known for its file extension (pdf) than its name.