Format

Shown is an image of a standard layout for books. It is crucial to keep in mind the text size, font, spacing, indentations, and headers or footers when laying out a book. These are just a few of the different formatting parts to take into consideration.

Format refers to the way something is arranged or laid out. Formatting is essential to print culture because it makes or breaks how a book is made, displayed, and read. Think of a book’s format as a guide — especially for the printers who are putting the book together, a good, easy to comprehend format is key to easy manufacturing of the book. Additionally, when reading the book, a good format should keep the reader engaged and give them an easy and enjoyable reading experience. The format of a book, magazine, article, or journal is similar to the style or design of a book.

History

From the earliest days of printmaking, thanks to Gutenberg, format has been an integral part in keeping books and printed works uniform when producing multiple copies of the same work. The use of formatting works in a standard way made for an easier process as well. The use of signature-marks, which were typically letters or numbers, made for an easy guide for printers when formatting works. Over time, as printers evolved to become faster, easier to use, and as demand grew, other forms of print format were discovered. The most common book formats, back then and now, include: Paperback, hardcover, and mass market. Other, less common formats include: Flexibound, concealed wire-o, and flipback. Each of these formats call for a different printing and reading experience. Another example of format in books includes a book's weight, size, bulk, and orientation. Essentially, format also suggests how a book should look and feel in the reader's hands.

Present Day

Shown are different devices that one could read an e-book on. It is important to take the size of the device into consideration when formatting an e-book, this way the reader can have a pleasant reading experience on their phone, laptop, kindle, etc.

In addition to print media, digital media uses format as well. In our ever evolving world, digital media is becoming more and more prominent in our day-to-day lives. A primary form of this is seen in e-books. Two main formatting types for e-books are fixed and fluid format. Fixed format is similar to typesetting, only digitalized, while fluid format is more ideal for text-based books and books that include small images in the text. Both of these formats are better suited for different types of devices when reading an e-book (Ex: the fluid format is more suitable for a small screen layout). In the modern day, other formats that utilize the fixed and fluid formats include: PDF, which is a popular format for most e-books, HTML, Mobi, and EPUB.

Notes

1. McGill, Meredith L. "Format." Early American Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 16 no. 4, 2018, p. 671-677. Project MUSE, https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/eam.2018.0033.
2. Zeng, Y., Bai, X., Xu, J., He, C. G., & Huan. (2016). The influence of E-book format and reading device on users' reading experience: A case study of graduate students. Publishing Research Quarterly, 32(4), 319-330. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-016-9472-5
3. Berne, Debbie (2024). The Design of Books: An Explainer for Authors, Editors, Agents, and Other Curious Readers. The University of Chicago Press