Quote:
Originally Posted by fjtorres
I just happen to be a stickler for ergonomics and immersion.
Conversely, I find it perverse to see so much wasted effort trying to turn genuine digital devices and files into imitation paper and in the process degrade a naturally immersive experience.
Reminds me of the early days of TV when some shows were literally video broadcasts of radio shows and single-camera fixed-focus theater plays.
It's early in the ebook game and a lot of people still don't understand that ebooks are not pbooks minus paper.
Eventualy it'll sink in.  |
This is an issue with tech in general. Page turn animations in iBooks, record companies trying to force full album sales, real page numbers, etc. It's a shame. But I think consumers are largely to blame. Consumers generally don't have much imagination when it comes to something new. They tend to want familiarity.
Companies (or perhaps consumers) should move on. Microsoft have been using the term 'digital first' to describe the idea that user interfaces and media should be designed to be all digital with no unnecessary ties back to the physical/analogue world. Windows Phone 7 is a great example of this. Why treat your phone's contact list as a rolodex when you can use it to group together all kinds of different information in natural, discoverable ways not possible with a little address book?
An ebook is not a digital representation of a physical book. It is some media in an electronic form that should take advantage of all that the digital medium can offer to improve it.
But e-ink is (at least for me) more about making reading comfortable, and for providing efficient battery life. It's not about imitating paper. I don't find current LCD screens pleasant to read from.