Comments on: E-books as the new large ‘print’: An eye doctor speaks out http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sat, 17 May 2008 02:08:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Rob Preece http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-749014 Rob Preece Tue, 01 Apr 2008 22:43:46 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-749014 I had the opportunity to play with a Kindle last weekend. I was impressed by the number of font sizes. Sadly, my much-loved eBookWise offers fewer options. Not a problem for books available in HTML or RTF as I can re-size them first and then convert but something of a problem for books where the source files are not easily accessible. (This is one reason all of our books are available in HTML format). Rob Preece Publisher, www.BooksForABuck.com I had the opportunity to play with a Kindle last weekend. I was impressed by the number of font sizes. Sadly, my much-loved eBookWise offers fewer options. Not a problem for books available in HTML or RTF as I can re-size them first and then convert but something of a problem for books where the source files are not easily accessible. (This is one reason all of our books are available in HTML format).

Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com

]]> By: Jim Lester http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748858 Jim Lester Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:59:14 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748858 I would think that large font reading on any current generation eInk device would become annoying rather quickly because of the refresh rate of the screens. In the thread post by Alan on mobileread, the medium large size, 36pt, was fitting about 10 words (5 lines ~10 characters/2 words per line) on the screen. So you weren't even seeing a full sentence on the screen, and to get to the next part of the sentence you would have a 1-3 sec delay while the screen refreshed. That much of a delay that often would bug the heck out of me. As much as I like the eInk devices, I would think that the better responsiveness rates and size of LCD screens would make them more suitable to reading at large font sizes. Does anybody here have experience with this that they would like to share? I would think that large font reading on any current generation eInk device would become annoying rather quickly because of the refresh rate of the screens.

In the thread post by Alan on mobileread, the medium large size, 36pt, was fitting about 10 words (5 lines ~10 characters/2 words per line) on the screen. So you weren’t even seeing a full sentence on the screen, and to get to the next part of the sentence you would have a 1-3 sec delay while the screen refreshed. That much of a delay that often would bug the heck out of me.

As much as I like the eInk devices, I would think that the better responsiveness rates and size of LCD screens would make them more suitable to reading at large font sizes.

Does anybody here have experience with this that they would like to share?

]]> By: Alan Wallcraft http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748782 Alan Wallcraft Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:27:14 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748782 See the recent discussion at http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22376 Using 72pts per inch, the Kindle's maximum font size is about 18pt, the Cybook's is about 24pt and the iLiad's is about 30pt. The above MobileRead thread links to screenshots (bitmaps) of the Kindle and iLiad largest sizes and to photos of the Cybook largest size font. The default (non-adjustable) line spacing on all three devices is much too large for large fonts. Note that is is not a font issue, all the devices use scalable fonts. FBReader on the iLiad can use larger font sizes, but it also has automatic hyphenation and fine control over line spacing (both of which may be essential at really large font sizes). See the recent discussion at http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22376

Using 72pts per inch, the Kindle’s maximum font size is about 18pt, the Cybook’s is about 24pt and the iLiad’s is about 30pt. The above MobileRead thread links to screenshots (bitmaps) of the Kindle and iLiad largest sizes and to photos of the Cybook largest size font. The default (non-adjustable) line spacing on all three devices is much too large for large fonts.

Note that is is not a font issue, all the devices use scalable fonts. FBReader on the iLiad can use larger font sizes, but it also has automatic hyphenation and fine control over line spacing (both of which may be essential at really large font sizes).

]]> By: Brian Darvell http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748773 Brian Darvell Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:10:04 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/04/01/e-books-as-the-new-large-print-an-eye-doctor-speaks-out/#comment-748773 I think i-devices is a pun for both 'ipod' and 'i' as in 'eye'. ;) I think i-devices is a pun for both ‘ipod’ and ‘i’ as in ‘eye’. ;)

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