Quote:
Originally Posted by robinson
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).
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'kay. I tried reading on my Fujitsu p1510 convertible tablet. The width in portrait mode is about like a pBook, or my Sony. So that apparently isn't it for me. I tried reading in a darkened room and a well lit room. I adjusted the fonts. I confess I didn't muck around with trying to change background and type colors, I couldn't find a ready means of doing so. I'm not about to futz with the brightness of my monitors, as most of what I do (reading diagnostic medical images) pretty much requires that the brightness be maxed out, and I don't want to be messing with those controls constantly. I don't want to screw around with settings, I want to drop a file on a device and READ IT without feeling like my eyes are going to start spontaneously bleeding.
And, yes, I "read" on a computer for hours a day. On chat boards, e-mail, editing documents, writing and reading reports. But that is a very different kind of reading with frequent breaks away from the screen to look at the keyboard, look at an image file, etc. Not sitting down and JUST READING text. That I can't handle and I've been trying off and on for two years.
Maybe an iPod/Phone has the ability to do these sorts of things more easily. But the screen size is just too small for me. Maybe the iPad will be different in terms of eye strain for ME (and/or easier to make it so), but I suspect it will be too heavy. The p1510 is definitely too heavy for routine recreational use, and even my Sony Touch isn't quite as light as a pBook paperbook.
I'm not sure why everybody tries to convince everybody else that their personal preferences, experiences, or problems are all in their head or can be "fixed" if they just get used to it or do something else. It's fine to make some suggestions for things to try or share your experiences, but why can't everybody accept that different people have different experiences and tolerances? If the screen flash on an e-ink screen bothers you and you've given it an honest shot, fine. Return it. I don't think you'll get used to it any more than I'll get used to and enjoy raisins in my oatmeal cookies. If you don't like the glare or the contrast on the Sony Touch or Daily, you have my sympathies, not my instructions on how to hold it just so or direct your lighting. You shouldn't have to consciously think about how to handle such things in order to read comfortably on your device, IMO. If you are happy reading on your netbook or your iPhone or your hacked programmable calculator, congrats! But don't try to convince the world that EVERYBODY should be equally as happy.