Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great
This is an old question here at MR. They're not asking for 2 pages, they're asking for 2 columns. Why have 2 columns? Well, why do you see multiple columns in large books like encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc?
My guess is that it's easier to read. But whatever the reason, multiple columns are the rule, not the exception.
BTW, I did some screen shots of my 10" tablet last year:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/album.php?albumid=198 |
We studied this in journalism classes a long time ago. The question is why do newspapers and magazines--which have book sized pages--still print the text in columns. The answer presented to us, is that it's cheaper that way.
People can read the material faster and easier with columns because every time the reader's eye gets to the end of a line they have to find the start of the next line. If the lines are long it's harder to find the next line quickly given how the text is typically printed.
The reason it's cheaper is that the publishers squeeze the lines together to use less paper for a given amount of text. With Mobi this isn't so much of a problem because the eBook lets you to set the line spacing. That said, I like the two column pages in the iPad. It seems to make reading easier.