Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
Exactly so.
Checking a few paperbacks and hardbacks I have to hand, the text blocks inside the books are:
15cm x 8.5cm = 15.9:9
17cm x 9.8cm = 15.6:9
16.5cm x 9.6cm = 15.5:9
15.7 x 8.8cm = 16:9
So a 16:9 screen seems t match the text block aspect ratio of traditionally published books much more than the 4:3 of most ebook readers.
|
However, 'text block' size/format ratio is not the same as 'page' size/format ratio because you are discounting the left and right margins.
I believe the white space of the margins has an effect on the reading experience, making the process of moving the eyes' focus from one line to the next (or scanning through a paragraph or page while searching for a particular word or phrase) easier, as there is more 'space' for the eyes to roam and get their bearings without the distraction of the vertical (most often dark) border created by the screen bezel being jammed in right up against the edge of the text.
This would not necessarily be a conscious distraction, but there nevertheless.
The (deep-) reading experience involves a complex but much-studied and now quite well understood eye-brain process which is demonstrably sensitive to, and affected by changes in the delivery of the text - e.g. screen (transmitted light) vs paper (reflected light) or the absence/presence of serifs.
The easier it is for the eye-brain to 'see' the text, the greater the ease of reading
and also the greater the
comprehension of the subject matter. This has been proven time and time again in controlled studies of how much readers retain, and how well they understand what they have just read after reading from a screen vs reading from a book or printed page. The presence of serifs is also proven to ease and therefore aid the process of deep reading.
I have not seen any studies on reading from e-readers (e-ink) but I suspect the ease of deep reading and effect on ability to concentrate etc. lies somewhere between screen and traditional paper. E-ink is certainly less tiring on the eyes - I think that much is generally agreed upon here.