Reading in Landscape

[Anabana]

I'm hoping to find a front-lit reader on sale sometime during the holidays, but in checking stats on Kobo Glo, Paperwhite, and Nook Glow, NONE of them mention landscape. Is this feature becoming obsolete on readers and only available on tablets?

Will going from a 5" screen to a 6" screen make up the difference for old eyes?

I really like the balance of holding a reader in landscape when reading in bed.
Hmmm -- maybe some sort of book holder lap-pad? Anyone use a book holder for reading in bed?

[Quexos]

The Sony readers have landscape reading. I know cause I had it on my previous reader. Only I never used it.

[Lima Bean]

I just discovered landscape reading for my Kindle. It's easier on my eyes, but for some reason when I swiped it with my finger the book would often jump ahead to the next chapter, which didn't happen on landscape mode.

[Conor]

http://reviews.cnet.com/e-book-reade...5437744-2.html says the Paperweight has landscape.

[Andrew H.]

PW has landscape, although I've never used it.

[copyrite]

I read in landscape mode on my PW at the kitchen table. I fold the front cover back on the case and prop it open in the table. :-)

[ebusinesstutor]

I usually read portrait, but when I am eating or drinking coffee in an copy shop, I have a little stand for my Galaxy Note so I don't have to hold it. I find it is more stable and works better in landscape than portrait.

Didn't know so many ebook readers didn't offer it.

[Zetmolm]

Can someone who prefers reading in landscape mode explain to me why they prefer those long lines? Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you, I just don't understand. Researchers tell us that a line length of approximately 8 words is optimal for reading comfort and speed. That is one reason e.g. why newspapers use columns. For ereaders that means portrait (unless you use very large fonts).

Back on topic: some e-reader manufacturers may have read about this research as well, and decided that it's not worth it to implement landscape mode.

[Billi]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Can someone who prefers reading in landscape mode explain to me why they prefer those long lines? Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you, I just don't understand. Researchers tell us that a line length of approximately 8 words is optimal for reading comfort and speed.

I have two readers on which I occasionally read landscape, the Bookeen Opus and iRiver Story HD.
The Opus is 5" only so the length of the line is not that critical. But nevertheless Bookeen implemented a two-column mode here.
On the iRiver I sometimes read pdf files in landscape. The number of words/syllables in a line is then exactly like in a book, so it can't be too wrong.
With both readers, the buttons are more convenient to reach in landscape, at least for a left-hander.

[Lima Bean]

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

Can someone who prefers reading in landscape mode explain to me why they prefer those long lines? Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing you, I just don't understand. Researchers tell us that a line length of approximately 8 words is optimal for reading comfort and speed. That is one reason e.g. why newspapers use columns. For ereaders that means portrait (unless you use very large fonts).

Back on topic: some e-reader manufacturers may have read about this research as well, and decided that it's not worth it to implement landscape mode.

My eyes are bad. I use a large font. This means I get less than 8 words in regular mode. Landscape is what's comfortable for me.

[HarryT]

Perhaps it might be easier to ask which readers DON'T have landscape mode. I don't think that any of the ones that I own don't have it.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Perhaps it might be easier to ask which readers DON'T have landscape mode. I don't think that any of the ones that I own don't have it.

That would be about right.
Pretty much every reader I've had going to the original rocketbook and PDAs allowed landscape reading.
Now, *multi-column* landscape (which I prefer) is a bit rarer though not unheard of, even on eink readers.

[teh603]

Far as I can tell, my iRiver Story didn't have it. 'Course it was a really primitive one, so that sin't much of a surprise.

[Zetmolm]

@Billi and @Lima Bean: thanks for your explanation.

[Yapyap]

You can see a picture of the Kindle Paperwhite in landscape mode here (link to a picture in the Customer Images Gallery on Amazon).

I haven't actually tried it, but one thing I noticed when I first got mine and played with the options a bit was that the Paperwhite seems to only allow either portrait (in one direction) or landscape (in one direction), unlike my Kindle 3 which allowed to change the orientation in all four directions (i.e. including upside down, with the keyboard on top, and in landscape having the keyboard on either side).

On the one hand I understand that it would be less useful with the Paperwhite form factor, as the sides (top/bottom and left/right) are much more similar in size than on the Keyboard, but it does mean that it's impossible for example to have the lights on top, which some people might prefer, considering their possible slight unevenness in lower surrounding light / when turned up high.