Tips for reading on a laptop? - Page 2

pilotbob · 02-15-2009, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tali3sin

As for used/refurbished/out dated/etc eBook Readers... Well, as I've said, I literally (semi-pun?) can't afford to buy a book. All money that comes into my possession is for food, train tickets, household supplies, and rent

And your computer and internet access...

But, seriously, that's to bad. But I would rather read a paper book than read a book on my PC or laptop. There must be book swaps or libraries somewhere in your area?

BOb

Patricia · 02-15-2009, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

There must be book swaps or libraries somewhere in your area?
BOb

Ah, but Tali3sin is working abroad and the locals will be reading in Czech.

desertgrandma · 02-15-2009, 09:25 PM

Tali3sin, how long will you be in the Czech Republic?

If what Patricia says is true, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself into the culture and learn the language.

I know you are an English teacher, but I'll bet there are those who would love to 'tutor' you.

What do you think?

tvg · 02-16-2009, 03:35 AM

Hi,

I've noticed strain, and also pain in my eyes before and have been researching this a little.

close to a 100% of the people I know have their screen turned up "nice and bright", also every commercial tells you that a bright screen is the best.

guess what: for looking at a movie in a well lit room thsi is true, because for a movie the contrast is very important. for a book (black text on white background) the contrast is more then enough so brightness can be lower

to diminish strain on your eyes:
turn down the backlight a LOT (i usually have it below 50%)
take care that the area around the screen has more or less the same brightness as the screen itself.
when possible increase fontsize to a little bigger then a paper book.

grt
Tom

tali3sin · 02-16-2009, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Tali3sin, how long will you be in the Czech Republic?

If what Patricia says is true, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself into the culture and learn the language.

I know you are an English teacher, but I'll bet there are those who would love to 'tutor' you.

What do you think?

I am absolutely keen on learning the language, and have been brushing up on local culture/history/tradition as much as I've had time/brain capacity for.

Culture/history/customs etc has proven fairly simple so far, through conversation, research, simple observation, and visiting places that are free to visit

The language has proven more difficult, I can now read and sound out the alphabet, pronounce most words without a hitch, and have a basic grasp of enough to get me around town, use basic courtesy, and one or two other things.

Been trying to find someone to "language swap" with - but this has proven surprisingly difficult. Not so difficult that I'll stop trying though

Should still be here for the rest of the year, minimum, so plenty of time

tali3sin · 02-16-2009, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

And your computer and internet access...

But, seriously, that's to bad. But I would rather read a paper book than read a book on my PC or laptop. There must be book swaps or libraries somewhere in your area?

BOb

Just as a point of interest, my internet acess is rolled into my rent and utilities. After comparing my rental price, with other apartments of similar size/feature/location... the internet works out as pretty much free

As for swaps, none that I've found so far (doesn't mean they're not there!). My best hope is that another expat leaves the country, decides not to ship their books, and gives them away to the first taker for free. <-- so far I haven't been quick enough, found out in time.

My second best hope, is to earn a bit more cash in the near future

tali3sin · 02-16-2009, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvg

Hi,

I've noticed strain, and also pain in my eyes before and have been researching this a little.

close to a 100% of the people I know have their screen turned up "nice and bright", also every commercial tells you that a bright screen is the best.

guess what: for looking at a movie in a well lit room thsi is true, because for a movie the contrast is very important. for a book (black text on white background) the contrast is more then enough so brightness can be lower

to diminish strain on your eyes:
turn down the backlight a LOT (i usually have it below 50%)
take care that the area around the screen has more or less the same brightness as the screen itself.
when possible increase fontsize to a little bigger then a paper book.

grt
Tom

Drop the backlight, increase the font-size, duly noted!

desertgrandma · 02-16-2009, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tali3sin

I am absolutely keen on learning the language, and have been brushing up on local culture/history/tradition as much as I've had time/brain capacity for.

Culture/history/customs etc has proven fairly simple so far, through conversation, research, simple observation, and visiting places that are free to visit

The language has proven more difficult, I can now read and sound out the alphabet, pronounce most words without a hitch, and have a basic grasp of enough to get me around town, use basic courtesy, and one or two other things.

Been trying to find someone to "language swap" with - but this has proven surprisingly difficult. Not so difficult that I'll stop trying though

Should still be here for the rest of the year, minimum, so plenty of time

Its too bad that, instead of having your own apartment, you couldn't have found a 'room' or something with a family.

I guarantee that by now, you'd be almost fluent!

I understand the attraction of having your own place tho. I'm not being critical, honest, just trying to think of a way to read more.......

The best idea I've hear so far here, is turning down the brightness of your screen....

kacir · 02-16-2009, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tali3sin

The language has proven more difficult,

Slavic languages can be ... overwhelming for an English speaker. A noun (the same word) can have 7 diferent forms. For example "I see book" (vidim knihu) uses different form of the word "book" (kniha) than "with book" (s knihou) and that is different from "about book" (o knize).
Each noun has gramatical gender (like German language) as oposed to the English
Also verbs have different form according to the gender of the subject.
Another example
one beer is (1 pivo)
two beers are (2 piva)
and five beers is witten (5 piv)
Now take pivo, piva, piv and make 7 forms out of each of them ;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tali3sin

I can now read and sound out the alphabet, pronounce most words without a hitch,

That is because in Czech language the same letter is read the same way in any word, unlike in English.
take English word
angel
and word
angle
Letter A is pronounced in two *totally* different ways, despite being followed by two identical letters 'ng'.
It means that the FOURTH letter after A can change the way the first is pronounced. Crazy! I can't understand how kids are able to learn to read. Kids in Slavic countries have enough difficulties learning to read.

tali3sin · 02-16-2009, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Its too bad that, instead of having your own apartment, you couldn't have found a 'room' or something with a family.

I guarantee that by now, you'd be almost fluent!

I understand the attraction of having your own place tho. I'm not being critical, honest, just trying to think of a way to read more.......

The best idea I've hear so far here, is turning down the brightness of your screen....

Ah, see, my girlfriend and I moved together - and it was important to us that we have our own place.

And you'd think that we'd be fluent by now, considering the sheer number of people we interact with on a daily basis - particularly by teaching.... but we work at an international school, and languages abound!

Anyway, Kacir has brought some new information to my table - about English selection in public libraries, that I was completely unaware of. Hurrah!

Maybe I won't need to dim my screen after all ;-)

tali3sin · 02-16-2009, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kacir

Slavic languages can be ... overwhelming for an English speaker. A noun (the same word) can have 7 diferent forms. For example "I see book" (vidim knihu) uses different form of the word "book" (kniha) than "with book" (s knihou) and that is different from "about book" (o knize).
Each noun has gramatical gender (like German language) as oposed to the English
Also verbs have different form according to the gender of the subject.
Another example
one beer is (1 pivo)
two beers are (2 piva)
and five beers is witten (5 piv)
Now take pivo, piva, piv and make 7 forms out of each of them ;-)

That is because in Czech language the same letter is read the same way in any word, unlike in English.
take English word
angel
and word
angle
Letter A is pronounced in two *totally* different ways, despite being followed by two identical letters 'ng'.
It means that the FOURTH letter after A can change the way the first is pronounced. Crazy! I can't understand how kids are able to learn to read. Kids in Slavic countries have enough difficulties learning to read.

Beer is always the best example ;-)

And yes, I was completely struck by how easy it was to pick up the sounding-out of the language (aside from one or two trouble letters). It made so much sense, that I couldn't understand how other languages didn't work out the same way in the end - although, SMS/internet chat speak seem to be pushing English in that direction, ever so gradually.

Stringer · 03-03-2009, 11:22 AM

Few things to consider:

1) Where do you read? Keeping the laptop at a table and sitting at the front of it doesn't work for long. I find my bed the best place to read, but body wants dynamics to the subject and it is a bad idea to stay on one place all the time.

2) What do you use to scroll/change pages? Having a keyboard is good thing to have because it gives you option to use arrows instead mouse, but the mouse is the best tool for main scrolling because it allows you to move your hand freely. I would suggest you obscure the mouse's optical sensor with a tape or something and use the notebook's mouse pad when you need cursor. Otherwise the mouse's cursor might wander on its own. The scrolling should be done with the mouse's wheel. It wouldn't hurt to buy one of those notebook mouses that are smaller than normal ones.

3) What kind is your notebook? Less weight and noise is better. For reading, you should sacrifice every bit of speed you can for lower power consumption. That is because less power means less heat and might (depending on the device) also mean less fan noise. As a bonus, you can take the cord off which makes it easier to change your side (if on bed).

It wouldn't hurt to replace the harddrive with flashdrive, which can handle shocks and are absolutely noiseless. If you buy the flash, remember 4gb is more than enough for reading. However, I would stay away from MLC based flashes because they are really really slow (I tried Transcend's and even clicking the Start menu took something like 10 secs).

Also, you don't need 17" display for reading. I wouldn't go to the smallest displays (<9") either, but then what I have only experience from 15-17" screens so I might be wrong with that. Max. brightness might do sometimes, but most of the time I would suggest you lower it a bit.

4) What software are you using for reading? I would require free scrolling (line by line) with the mouse's wheel and ability to change the font size. If you can also change colors, then that is a nice bonus. Automatic bookmarking is also a good thing to have. Most of the time I find my self adjusting the font size a lot larger than by default and then scrolling the lines as I read. My focus stays pretty much on same spot all the time. That wouldn't work if you have to change whole pages like on paper books.

5) What else? Keep breaks from time to time. Take a walk at park or something and then come back to your e-books.

That's all I could think of per now.

Patricia · 03-03-2009, 12:34 PM

I find it more restful to avoid scrolling and go for any program that allows for page turns.

Jaie · 03-03-2009, 01:40 PM

I use a UMPC with Microsoft Reader. Of course, my netbook is so much smaller than the average laptop so my experience is of course different. I hit F11, have the text size a bit larger and I use it a lot to read books on. Especially since discovering lit files. I have thousands of lit files from all sorts of genres. I can also flip my UMPC's graphic properties,and read it more like an open book.

DixieGal · 03-03-2009, 02:30 PM

I love reading on a PC, but find it uncomfortable to use the full screen. I adjust the size to about 1/2 or 3/4 of the screen, so that my eyes seem to have less strain moving back and forth the whole width of the screen.

I prefer the eReader software for reading on the PC. It allows you to hide all of the superfluous buttons and menus, and that makes the page more pleasant to view.

A lot of thought and analysis has gone into making this easier on my eyes. Maybe too much thought and analysis bordering on obsession??

02-15-2009, 09:25 PM	#18
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Tali3sin, how long will you be in the Czech Republic? If what Patricia says is true, this sounds like the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself into the culture and learn the language. I know you are an English teacher, but I'll bet there are those who would love to 'tutor' you. What do you think? Last edited by desertgrandma; 02-15-2009 at 09:30 PM. Reason: location change

02-16-2009, 03:35 AM	#19
tvg Member Posts: 15 Karma: 42 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: netherlands Device: iphone and ipad	screen fatique Hi, I've noticed strain, and also pain in my eyes before and have been researching this a little. close to a 100% of the people I know have their screen turned up "nice and bright", also every commercial tells you that a bright screen is the best. guess what: for looking at a movie in a well lit room thsi is true, because for a movie the contrast is very important. for a book (black text on white background) the contrast is more then enough so brightness can be lower to diminish strain on your eyes: turn down the backlight a LOT (i usually have it below 50%) take care that the area around the screen has more or less the same brightness as the screen itself. when possible increase fontsize to a little bigger then a paper book. grt Tom

03-03-2009, 11:22 AM	#27
Stringer Connoisseur Posts: 81 Karma: 22 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 1 and 2	Few things to consider: 1) Where do you read? Keeping the laptop at a table and sitting at the front of it doesn't work for long. I find my bed the best place to read, but body wants dynamics to the subject and it is a bad idea to stay on one place all the time. 2) What do you use to scroll/change pages? Having a keyboard is good thing to have because it gives you option to use arrows instead mouse, but the mouse is the best tool for main scrolling because it allows you to move your hand freely. I would suggest you obscure the mouse's optical sensor with a tape or something and use the notebook's mouse pad when you need cursor. Otherwise the mouse's cursor might wander on its own. The scrolling should be done with the mouse's wheel. It wouldn't hurt to buy one of those notebook mouses that are smaller than normal ones. 3) What kind is your notebook? Less weight and noise is better. For reading, you should sacrifice every bit of speed you can for lower power consumption. That is because less power means less heat and might (depending on the device) also mean less fan noise. As a bonus, you can take the cord off which makes it easier to change your side (if on bed). It wouldn't hurt to replace the harddrive with flashdrive, which can handle shocks and are absolutely noiseless. If you buy the flash, remember 4gb is more than enough for reading. However, I would stay away from MLC based flashes because they are really really slow (I tried Transcend's and even clicking the Start menu took something like 10 secs). Also, you don't need 17" display for reading. I wouldn't go to the smallest displays (<9") either, but then what I have only experience from 15-17" screens so I might be wrong with that. Max. brightness might do sometimes, but most of the time I would suggest you lower it a bit. 4) What software are you using for reading? I would require free scrolling (line by line) with the mouse's wheel and ability to change the font size. If you can also change colors, then that is a nice bonus. Automatic bookmarking is also a good thing to have. Most of the time I find my self adjusting the font size a lot larger than by default and then scrolling the lines as I read. My focus stays pretty much on same spot all the time. That wouldn't work if you have to change whole pages like on paper books. 5) What else? Keep breaks from time to time. Take a walk at park or something and then come back to your e-books. That's all I could think of per now. Last edited by Stringer; 03-03-2009 at 11:27 AM.

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03-03-2009, 12:34 PM	#28
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	I find it more restful to avoid scrolling and go for any program that allows for page turns.

03-03-2009, 01:40 PM	#29
Jaie Connoisseur Posts: 78 Karma: 24 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Oswego New York Device: JetBook, Aspire One Netbook (UMPC)	I use a UMPC with Microsoft Reader. Of course, my netbook is so much smaller than the average laptop so my experience is of course different. I hit F11, have the text size a bit larger and I use it a lot to read books on. Especially since discovering lit files. I have thousands of lit files from all sorts of genres. I can also flip my UMPC's graphic properties,and read it more like an open book.

03-03-2009, 02:30 PM	#30
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	I love reading on a PC, but find it uncomfortable to use the full screen. I adjust the size to about 1/2 or 3/4 of the screen, so that my eyes seem to have less strain moving back and forth the whole width of the screen. I prefer the eReader software for reading on the PC. It allows you to hide all of the superfluous buttons and menus, and that makes the page more pleasant to view. A lot of thought and analysis has gone into making this easier on my eyes. Maybe too much thought and analysis bordering on obsession??

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