Quote:
Originally Posted by DaleDe
Well, at least you will agree that the paper margin in a printed book is a lot bigger than is really needed. I like 2 pixels margin on my eBookwise just because the font tends to bleed a little into the next pixel but, of course there really is still a rather large margin in the form of a frame around the image. This does just fine at allowing finding the next line in text easily. The margin doesn't have to be done with the precious few pixels in the screen display. Screen real estate management is an art in itself much different from a page of a book just like column real estate in a newspaper is managed much differently than a book. There needs to be precious little margin to sastify most people based on the number of people satisfied with a newspaper. YMMV,
Dale
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i will agree that formatting for the screen is not the same as formatting for print, especially if the text is re-flowable. i also agree that in ebooks we don't need a margin as large as commonly found in paper books (although i will say, that the inside margin of most paper books could stand to be wider, for improved reading at the edges of lines next to the binding ; but that is a completely different and unrelated question
). however i don't think you can consider the frame of the device to be a margin, because there is a physical and --more important-- *visual* boundary between the edge of the screen and the frame of the device.
look at this forum : each post is enclosed in a frame. between the frame and the beginning of the text, there is a little space. there is even more space if you look at the page in full-screen, because for improved reading comfort, the maximum length of the lines is limited, and instead there is empty space on either side. this is not just because your moniter is much bigger ; it is for improved readability. from time to time, i have seen websites made by an amateur, where the text begins quite literally at the very edge of the window ; even if you put the window full-screen there is not one pixel space to separate it. and even worse, if you do put it full-screen, the text fills up the complete width of the window. this presentation is so difficult and unpleasant to read, that when i find a site like that, if the content is interesting enough, i will copy it out and paste it into word and read it there, rather than in my browser. if it's not interesting enough, i will leave the site without reading it.
obviously, i'm not saying you have to use 20% margins on all sides ; as i said, i use 2% which is really quite small, probably about as wide as an "a". however, it is enough to allow the characters to display properly without any trouble of being slightly cut off or the edges being masked, and it is enough to allow the eye to easily find its place on the page and a bit of space to "turn" in. this may sound silly, but it is quite important.