Quote:
Originally Posted by Barty
I don't know how everybody settled on 6", but it's pathetically small. Not even the size of a mmpb,
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I had 6" reader previously and I was very satisfied with the amount of text on a screen.
Now I have highly configurable reader with 5" screen and I am very, VERY happy with the size. Plus, it fits in my pocket.
There is absolutely NO reason for having an insanely large margin on the text on an e-ink reader. The bezel on device provides "margin". I know what I am talking about, having used passive LCD and e-ink readers for more than 10 years.
A friend of mine raised the same question the other day.
I have made a paper "model" of 6" screen, with the text exactly the size that I am using on a reader and with very narrow margin around the text. Then I grabbed several paperbacks I had laying around and when I placed my 6" paper model on the page, my friend was extremely surprised to see that the width of the screen is the same as the width of text on paper page.
If you take time to learn some things about typography, you can find out that there is optimal number of characters on line(*) for the best readability. If the lines are too short there are very few words on page, and the right margin is too ragged (in case the text is left justified) or the distances between words are too inconsistent (in case the text is fully justified). Also, your eye has to move to the next line too often. On the other hand if you have 24 inch wide-screen monitor and if you display text on full width, the text is almost unreadable, because as your eye travels back to the beginning of the next line you loose vertical position and also because you eye needs more than 3 "jumps" to scan the text.
(*) the most widely accepted number for optimum line width is 55 - 75 characters, in practice it is up to 85 characters.
Just grab a random book (**) and count number of characters on average line.
(**) the older the better, because nowadays everyone that can use MSWord at beginner level considers himself/herself a typographer and the books are churned as quickly as possible, with as small budget as possible.