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robinson · 02-06-2010, 07:31 AM

My motivation in posting here was because I kept seeing e-ink advocates across the Internet sweepingly condemn LCD screens and argue that e-ink readers were easy on the eyes--and much easier than LCDs. Statements such as "LCD screens are not good for reading", "LCDs give you eye strain", "Reading on an LCD is like staring into a bright bulb", etc. You all know the type of comments I mean.

It's led to many roundly mocking the iPad as an ereading device--and that's just silly.

I still have full confidence in my statement that millions use and read text on LCD screens for hours a day without eye strain. Now clearly, spend 10-12 hours during the day reading on any device, without breaks, isn't good (as the eye docs say, fixed focus for that long a time is bad for the eyes and can cause headaches and eye strain). But several hours? No sweat for the multitudes.

Sources of Eye Strain

Plus, I'll bet that a big part of the problem with eye strain on LCDs comes from the Flash animation ads during web browsing--they are visually distracting--and from the horizontally long dimensions of many laptops. It's hard on the eyes to move right to left, back and forth, so much. That's an often unrecognized factor in why both the Kindles and i-devices (iPhone, iPod Touch) are loved by many for reading.

I'll also wager that the people who get eye strain from LCDs have the brightness ramped up fully and are using black text against a bright white background-- and have ambient lighting problems (glare, bright fluorescents, etc.)

Fixes

Turning down the brightness, reformatting to a narrower column, changing to double spacing, increasing the font size, turning off lights, or changing the color scheme can make all the difference in the world for ereading on an LCD (e.g., give the page a parchment light tan, or read blue or green text set on a black background).

iBooks' Page Turning

As to the iBooks' page turning animation--it's cool, but it would be the first thing I'd turn off. (Apple better have an option to do that.) The best readers on the i-devices (Stanza, eReader) permit all sorts of customization, including colors, font size, and turning off page animation. So, there should be no visual or page turning artifacts on an iPad while ereading compared to the bothersome screen flashing on an e-ink device! (Sorry, couldn't stop myself from making one more crack about that!

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02-06-2010, 07:31 AM	#35
robinson Zealot Posts: 142 Karma: 997293 Join Date: Jan 2003	My motivation in posting here was because I kept seeing e-ink advocates across the Internet sweepingly condemn LCD screens and argue that e-ink readers were easy on the eyes--and much easier than LCDs. Statements such as "LCD screens are not good for reading", "LCDs give you eye strain", "Reading on an LCD is like staring into a bright bulb", etc. You all know the type of comments I mean. It's led to many roundly mocking the iPad as an ereading device--and that's just silly. I still have full confidence in my statement that millions use and read text on LCD screens for hours a day without eye strain. Now clearly, spend 10-12 hours during the day reading on any device, without breaks, isn't good (as the eye docs say, fixed focus for that long a time is bad for the eyes and can cause headaches and eye strain). But several hours? No sweat for the multitudes. Sources of Eye Strain Plus, I'll bet that a big part of the problem with eye strain on LCDs comes from the Flash animation ads during web browsing--they are visually distracting--and from the horizontally long dimensions of many laptops. It's hard on the eyes to move right to left, back and forth, so much. That's an often unrecognized factor in why both the Kindles and i-devices (iPhone, iPod Touch) are loved by many for reading. I'll also wager that the people who get eye strain from LCDs have the brightness ramped up fully and are using black text against a bright white background-- and have ambient lighting problems (glare, bright fluorescents, etc.) Fixes Turning down the brightness, reformatting to a narrower column, changing to double spacing, increasing the font size, turning off lights, or changing the color scheme can make all the difference in the world for ereading on an LCD (e.g., give the page a parchment light tan, or read blue or green text set on a black background). iBooks' Page Turning As to the iBooks' page turning animation--it's cool, but it would be the first thing I'd turn off. (Apple better have an option to do that.) The best readers on the i-devices (Stanza, eReader) permit all sorts of customization, including colors, font size, and turning off page animation. So, there should be no visual or page turning artifacts on an iPad while ereading compared to the bothersome screen flashing on an e-ink device! (Sorry, couldn't stop myself from making one more crack about that! )