Quote:
Originally Posted by msundman
Do you think word count is a better gauge than character count, and if so, why?
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Well, the basic unit of language is arguably the word. Sure words are different lengths but it does average out. Character count isn't reflective of the language nor does it really give a good idea of speed. Speed readers in particular tend to read words as discrete entities whether that word is 1 character long or 9 the word is read at the same speed. Character count tells me nothing useful about the text, word count atleast gives me an idea of how long it is in meaningful units of language. Also, word count produces more manageable values. I'd rather talk about a 150,000 word novel rather than a 1.1 megabyte novel.
By the way, your 1K=1 Page figure seems a little odd. 1K in English works out to about 150 words. That's a really tiny page. If I'm not mistaken the average pocket size paperback is about 500 words to a page.