Quote:
Originally Posted by rogue_librarian
Why? The same is true for "proper" paper books which come in all sizes and shapes. If the ebooks are properly formatted, allowing for reflow, the screen size becomes less of an issue. Not that there isn't room for improvement, obviously.
Agree about the UI in particular.
|
Books come in all sizes and shapes (at the publisher's whim) and many of them are a pain to handle.
Ergonomics are precisely about avoiding those "pain to handle" issues.
And I'm sorry but I don't believe *any* screen size will do. Depending on the device or the function, screen size and shape will have a huge impact on the user experience. Having lived with reading devices (pdas, phones, 5 and 6 in eink, tablet PCs in 8, 10, 12 inches) I know from experience that there is a diference in how long-term reading plays out. a 3.5 in screen is actually better than a 4" for a palm-sized device, for example; or an 8in device could be either a single-hand or two hand device solely on how the controls are placed.
There's a whole science dedicated to designing gadgets that are functional and comfortable for humans, not just slabs with an arbitrary window on them. Some sizes and proportions *are* better to hold and to read on.
I know some folks think any screen is the same as any other--it's all dots on glass, after all--but in the real world of proper product design, there are sweet spots of form and function that work significantly better than even things that look to be almost the same but aren't. Sometimes that extra millimeter or five is the difference between a proper scan width and one that breaks the justification algorithm. Or the extra bit of contrast is the difference between a user getting eyestrain or not.
Its a hard thing to get right and taste factors into it but when a product gets it right customer satisfaction goes through the roof.