The double-column trick–for e-books on the Tablet PC, the Cybook and other big-screen readers
Some say the optimal screen for e-book reading might actually be no more than eight inches–so what do you do if you own a big-screen Tablet PC or a laptop or ten-inch-screen Cybook? Even some Tablet PC screens are 14.1 inches. How can your eyes scan comfortably across that–without your blowing up the type to an absurd size? “Big” for e-book reading isn’t necessarily the same joy as on a desktop running a variety of programs, not when your eyes are closer to the screen.
yBook for the double-column trick
Double columns can help. In the case of a Tablet PC, a great program for non-DRMed books is yBook, written up here before. I revisited the free yBook the other day, on my 17-inch desktop LCD, and it worked just as great as before, displaying two columns with the same aplomb I remembered.
Bookshelf
Another program that does two columns is Bookshelf. I don’t find it as easy to install and as stable on my machine as yBook is, but it has display options that yBook lacks, and you might not have the same problems.
Proprietary programs
If your book is DRMed and the proprietary program you’re stuck with won’t do double columns, you can at least try to set up the software for narrow single column against a dark background.
Oh, if only OpenReader already existed–to sever the tie between reading choices and formats!
Cybook solutions
With a Cybook, the answer is simple, at least with nonDRMed books. Just run the uBook reader, where, in the display section of the advanced advanced options, you can select Landscape Left. Some other settings, in case you’re curious, are 4 for bolding and 21 for type size. I currently favor Bodoni type picked up from my desktop PC and inserted in the Cybook’s Windows directory.
Am I overlooking something? Do you own a large-screen portable, and what are your own ways to address the eye-scan issue?
July 25th, 2005 at 10:05 am
[...] Peccato che Natale sia lontano (e che quest’anno non credo riceverò molti regali), perchè poco fa ho avuto un colpo di fulmine per il Cybook, che in due secondi è balzato in cima alla lista dei desiderata: un lettore di ebook con uno schermo a colori 800×600 e uno slot PCMCIA, del formato giusto e a un prezzo abbordabile (300 dollari). [...]
July 25th, 2005 at 1:51 pm
Excellent tip! I should point out though that the largest Tablet PC screen available currently is 14.1″. Expect a trackback to this shortly.
July 25th, 2005 at 1:58 pm
Double columns for ebooks on the Tablet PC
TeleRead is a great source for ebook information and I check their site often since I read everything electronically on my Tablet PC. They point out in a recent article that some ebook readers allow configuration for double columns which makes reading …
July 25th, 2005 at 2:56 pm
Hey, thanks for the kind remarks here and in your blog, JK.
Given that J.K. Rowling is so down on e-books, it’s nice to have a pro-e-book JK.
Seriously, lemme say how much I like your own site. Let’s hope that Tablet PCs will catch on big in time. Meanwhile hats off to the faithful–both Microsoft folks and the independent evangelists–for persisting.
David
P.S. I’ll change the post to say “14.1 inches” or something like that. Always write in if you see glitches.
July 25th, 2005 at 3:17 pm
The Sony Librie eInk ebook reader comes with a Windows ebook reader that reads their DRM’d ebook format as two pages side by side under WIndows (eg Tablet PC.)
There is a small collection of software that knows how to bind documents into the LRF files used by the Sony and Sony has supplied a set of tools that support printing from applications to LRF files etc…
I still continue to be amazed that MIcrosoft never figured out, and never added, double page support for MS Reader when used Landscape on a Tablet PC.
July 25th, 2005 at 3:48 pm
Thaks for the useful info, Scotty! - David
July 25th, 2005 at 4:02 pm
[...] Dual Column Ebook Reading for TabletPC JKOnTheRun points to a TeleRead article about reading ebooks on a Tablet PC using a two column format. They are said to describe how to do it with the yBook and Bookshelf ebook readers. Might be useful so some, but I kind of enjoy on a full screen reading in one single page so I’m not sure what I think. The difference, I suppose, is that on a Tablet PC you are probably up closer to the screen, so it would be more like the paper book reading experience. Worth checking out if you read ebooks on a Tablet PC. [...]
December 4th, 2005 at 1:19 pm
a 2-up facing-pages display works for an .html book too. example:
http://snowy.arsc.alaska.edu/bowerbird/mabie/mabied068069.html