Alrighty, so this assignment is me looking at and remarking on the various online book formats that might be used in the Epics of India UnTextbook. . . Let's jump right into it, shall we?
Hathi Trust- So, first things first, when you go to the site for Hathi Trust it tells you that you don't have access to the text, which led to me having to sign in to the server through OU before I could access the book--not difficult, but a bit of a hassle. However, once you get to the book and navigate to the story (which is in itself easy), the format of the site is simple and easy to navigate, with clean formatting and a simple interface.
Internet Archive- This site is nice in that it brings you right to the text, no sign in required. As for the format, once again this site is easy to navigate with a simple, user-friendly interface. I think I may like this site better than Hathi Trust, though I could not necessarily tell you why. . .
Google Books- Oh, Google, how many things you can do for me! Personally, I like how the Google Books digital copy is white and black rather than the yellowish and black of the previous two, but I have never been a fan of navigating Google Books. So even though I prefer the white pages here, I'd still vote Internet Archive over Google.
PDF- So I like the pdf in that it is again the black text on a white background, but it kind of sucks that you can't link to a specific story. And while navigation is not necessarily difficult, it does take a while for the various pages to load as you scroll through the document. . .
Okie dokie, it's time for the final verdict--drum roll, please! Firstly, I used my touchscreen laptop for this assignment and the Google Chrome browser (yay, Chrome!!). For the best option, I would choose either the Internet Archive or the PDF (the archive was easy to navigate and quick to load, but the black and white and familiar format of the pdf outweighed the costs of having to wait a while for loading). Worst option would probably be Google Books, just because I do NOT like the way you navigate books and things on this interface.
I do a lot of reading both online and offline, with a lot of my online reading being news articles or various essays or book excerpts for college coursework (as well as blogs and websites and things, haha). While reading in my browser, I normally take notes in a window alongside the reading (whether that be on Blogger or in Word) or I highlight and put comments along the margins of a Word document or PDF file. I often do not print out hard-copies of online material unless it is especially important or extensive note-taking/translating must be conducted.
Hope this was helpful! Arrivederci!
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