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##Online textbook—pro and contra

I want to discuss not the general discussion but applied to this particular course.

1. Online textbook is *free*. There is no free paper textbook (and cannot be any). There exist however free digital resources (online or offline). Moreover, it will remain free and freely available. Since it free it does not cost anything adding more material, graphics and so on. 
2. This textbook is *maintained*. It means that it could be modified almost instantly if some of students find some parts either not clear emough or contain misprints or errors. PDF version is not maintained during semester (but after it it will incorporate all changes of the online version).
3. This is *truly digital*. It contains what a printed textbook cannot contain in principle: clickable hyperlinks (both internal and external) and a bit of animation (external). On the other hand, CouseSmart provides only a poor man's digital copy of the printed paper.
4. One should remember that you need an internet connection. Even if you save web pages to parse mathematical expression you need MathJax which is loaded from the cloud. However you can pront every page to pdf to keep on you computer (or download pdf copy of the whole textbook).
5. Due to html format it  *reflows* and can accommodate itself to smaller screens of tablets without using too small fonts. I doubt if one can read it comfortably on smart phones (too small screens). On the other hand, pdf does not reflow but has a *fidelity*: looks exactly the same on any screen. Each version has its own advantages and disadvantages.
6. True, it is less polished than available printed textbooks but it is maintained.