PRS-500 [Feedbooks.com] Poll for Template - Round 2

Hadrien · 05-14-2007, 07:38 PM

With a new extended font support, Feedbooks is polling users of Sony PRS-500 at Mobileread, for their favorite font. The winning font will be in the new template for this device (you can also easily customize such settings).

Our first poll didn't gave us any clear winner with a tie between two fonts: Helvetica and New Century Schoolbook.
Helvetica is a sans-serif font: http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/helvetica/
New century is a serif font: http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/newcent/

For this run-off poll, there's only these 2 fonts left.

As soon as there's a winner, I'll change the settings on feedbooks.com and dump the whole cache for the sony reader files. There's a lot of extras we're working on right now, like biographies in every book or recommandations at the end of our books that will be included at the same time that we set the new font for the template.
For those of you who liked another font, they're all available in our custom PDF settings, just set them once, and it'll work for all of the content that we offer on the website (books/user generated content/newspapers).

astra · 05-15-2007, 07:31 AM

Don't like New Century. It reminds me of Times New Roman, too many unnecessary elements.
Helvetica is really an excellent font. Reminds me of Arial or Verdana but this one is brilliant. Very clear and easy to read. Unfortunatelly, New Century is irritating me for some reason

dhbailey · 05-15-2007, 07:41 AM

I find the sans serif fonts to be easier to read on any electronic device, although I don't have a strong reaction against serif fonts the way that astra_lestat seems to.

And the poll seems to be very evenly divided, so ultimately we may just have to let the people who use the templates choose.

Alexander Turcic · 05-15-2007, 09:30 AM

Sans-serif is also my personal choice. From my experience I can read it quicker than Serif type on small electronic screens.

Hadrien · 05-15-2007, 10:42 AM

It's pretty much 50/50 once again, although those against serif fonts are much more vocal about it. There's a timer on the poll this time around, we'll see which font ends up first...

Bob Russell · 05-15-2007, 11:41 AM

It could be my eyes, but I have trouble with the busyness of sans serif fonts. Serifs make it so much more comfortable to read. But I was shocked in the comparisons that Times New Roman was not a great font on there. I liked New Century Schoolbook much better for example.

As expected I dispised Avantgarde, Helvetica, Latin Modern. They seemed weak and hard to focus on. For me, I felt like I was reading online.

Serif fonts are more common for printed pages, and I like the Reader e-books to feel like printed pages not computer screen pages.

Hopefully that places a loud voice on the other side of the fence also. It's a big deal for me. But I also am very aware that until I have read several books in a font on a particular device, it is quite possible that my feelings could change. First impressions of fonts can be very misleading.

Hadrien · 05-15-2007, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Russell

It could be my eyes, but I have trouble with the busyness of sans serif fonts. Serifs make it so much more comfortable to read. But I was shocked in the comparisons that Times New Roman was not a great font on there. I liked New Century Schoolbook much better for example.

As expected I dispised Avantgarde, Helvetica, Latin Modern. They seemed weak and hard to focus on. For me, I felt like I was reading online.

Serif fonts are more common for printed pages, and I like the Reader e-books to feel like printed pages not computer screen pages.

Hopefully that places a loud voice on the other side of the fence also. It's a big deal for me. But I also am very aware that until I have read several books in a font on a particular device, it is quite possible that my feelings could change. First impressions of fonts can be very misleading.

I agree that serif fonts are much more book like. I get the same feeling with texts lacking hyphenation or proper justification too: it feels like a screen, not a book.

But at the same time, most of these readers don't render serif fonts as nicely as they should.

There's some good points on both sides: but everyone's a winner on this one, if you don't like the font of the template, you're a few clicks away from "custom settings" where you can set the font that you like the best.

Hadrien · 05-18-2007, 11:38 PM

Well... New Century Schoolbook won this poll, it'll be the new template. I'm resetting the cache for the Sony PRS-500 right now.

For those of you who'd like to use another font: http://www.feedbooks.com/user/custom_pdf?settings=true

View Poll Results: Serif or Sans-Serif ?
Helvetica	5	35.71%
New Century Schoolbook	9	64.29%
Voters: 14. You may not vote on this poll

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05-15-2007, 07:31 AM	#2
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	Don't like New Century. It reminds me of Times New Roman, too many unnecessary elements. Helvetica is really an excellent font. Reminds me of Arial or Verdana but this one is brilliant. Very clear and easy to read. Unfortunatelly, New Century is irritating me for some reason

05-15-2007, 07:41 AM	#3
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	I find the sans serif fonts to be easier to read on any electronic device, although I don't have a strong reaction against serif fonts the way that astra_lestat seems to. And the poll seems to be very evenly divided, so ultimately we may just have to let the people who use the templates choose.

05-15-2007, 09:30 AM	#4
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,171 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Sans-serif is also my personal choice. From my experience I can read it quicker than Serif type on small electronic screens.

05-15-2007, 10:42 AM	#5
Hadrien Feedbooks.com Co-Founder Posts: 2,263 Karma: 145123 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Paris, France Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad	It's pretty much 50/50 once again, although those against serif fonts are much more vocal about it. There's a timer on the poll this time around, we'll see which font ends up first...

05-15-2007, 11:41 AM	#6
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	It could be my eyes, but I have trouble with the busyness of sans serif fonts. Serifs make it so much more comfortable to read. But I was shocked in the comparisons that Times New Roman was not a great font on there. I liked New Century Schoolbook much better for example. As expected I dispised Avantgarde, Helvetica, Latin Modern. They seemed weak and hard to focus on. For me, I felt like I was reading online. Serif fonts are more common for printed pages, and I like the Reader e-books to feel like printed pages not computer screen pages. Hopefully that places a loud voice on the other side of the fence also. It's a big deal for me. But I also am very aware that until I have read several books in a font on a particular device, it is quite possible that my feelings could change. First impressions of fonts can be very misleading.

05-18-2007, 11:38 PM	#8
Hadrien Feedbooks.com Co-Founder Posts: 2,263 Karma: 145123 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Paris, France Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad	Well... New Century Schoolbook won this poll, it'll be the new template. I'm resetting the cache for the Sony PRS-500 right now. For those of you who'd like to use another font: http://www.feedbooks.com/user/custom_pdf?settings=true

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