I have two textbooks I was required to purchase for Web Design classes. I noticed that the hard-copy paper book version is entirely black and white, but the ebook is all color. Aside from saving on printing costs, why would this color inconsistency exist? Is this common in ebook publishing? One publisher is O'Reilly (well-known) and the other is PACKT (less-well-known).

Further, is it common that an author or book designer would take the time to get color images just right, only to have them be printed in black and white? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I hope I've been clear in explaining my questions.

Any help is appreciated.

-- Eric Hepperle