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[theducks]

1 user here

Vertical scrolling in Multi-column (Serpentine). Yec'th
Down Up-Down Up-Down Up-Down

(Smooth) Horizontal scrolling is probably for eyes tracking text.

A full screenfull jump/flip (skip the page turn animation please) allows the eyes to quickly locate the new starting point and continue reading (do not overlap by single a line, either please. It fits on this page or it is on the next one, not both).

[pollito pito]

Originally Posted by theducks

Vertical scrolling in Multi-column (Serpentine). Yec'th

Could you elaborate or better, give an example of what you mean ?

thanks

[theducks]

Originally Posted by pollito pito

Could you elaborate or better, give an example of what you mean ?

thanks

Reading like an inverted N with a scroll to get to the bottom of the column. Your eyes must follow the path of the stroke.

The case where the bottom of the column is not the bottom of the screen (A Portrait layout on a Landscape screen)

Give me on a page turn (Next)
1 + 2
3 + 4
5 + 6

Maybe it is just me. I read FAST 600-800 WPM (Fiction speed )when I am on a roll
I could never drop into the groove on a tiny phone screen.

I read on my PEz.
I Flick the thumb switch about 6-10 times a minute, just a tiny bit more often than a dead tree book page turn.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by theducks

Reading like an inverted N with a scroll to get to the bottom of the column. Your eyes must follow the path of the stroke.

Since this thread is about an epub reader on a computer screen the whole topic of multicolumn text scrolling seems rather contrived to me. What possible use is multicolumn text in a reflowable format on a computer screen anyway? It just seems like a throwback to archaic dead tree technology. The reading area can be as wide or narrow as the user desires in Firefox, and then it is possible to read rapidly with just casual flicks of the mouse scroll wheel for vertical scrolling. My $0.02

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

Since this thread is about an epub reader on a computer screen the whole topic of multicolumn text scrolling seems rather contrived to me. What possible use is multicolumn text in a reflowable format on a computer screen anyway? It just seems like a throwback to archaic dead tree technology. The reading area can be as wide or narrow as the user desires in Firefox, and then it is possible to read rapidly with just casual flicks of the mouse scroll wheel for vertical scrolling. My $0.02

Here is a 2 column chapter. The turn arrows go to the next/previous chapter.
The second column start is the 50% point in the chapter.
Serpentine Scrolling is mandatory in 2 col view
Simple scrolling (wheel) in 1 col view Your eyes still have to track the last point while scrolling to keep reading.
If there were a horizontal scroll bar that would advance page (or page sets) as displayed. Using the mouse scroll wheel (with context switched to page) would be cool .

[adun]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

....
What possible use is multicolumn text in a reflowable format on a computer screen anyway? [...] The reading area can be as wide or narrow as the user desires in Firefox, and then it is possible to read rapidly with just casual flicks of the mouse scroll wheel for vertical scrolling. My $0.02

Most computer displays are wide. To have a comfortable reading width, you
would need to resize the Firefox window in a portrait shape. On one side you would see
a lot of distracting elements (for instance from the desktop) and on the other side you are
wasting potentially useful for reading space.
Please check this site using FF in full screen mode (F11).
http://kenneth.kufluk.com/google/js-columns/ . Click on the last paragraph. Now, imagine instead of 4, just 2 columns. You can also see this site:
http://www.arpia.be/2010/02/tutorial...mn-web-pages/#

Do you still prefer a long/tall page per chapter?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by theducks

Serpentine Scrolling is mandatory in 2 col view

That was the whole point of my post, that multi columnrequires more eye movement and distraction, while a single column of a comfortable width is much simpler and more efficient to read, and only requires gentle scroll wheel flicks to keep going with no annoying page jumps.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by adun

Do you still prefer a long/tall page per chapter?

Of course, otherwise I would have voted my preference for multicolumn.
When I read, nothing else on the screen is a distraction because the text is what I focus on. Multiple columns require more mobile focus, so they are distractions in themselves.

[pollito pito]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

That was the whole point of my post, that multi columnrequires more eye movement and distraction, while a single column of a comfortable width is much simpler and more efficient to read, and only requires gentle scroll wheel flicks to keep going with no annoying page jumps.

Define “gentle scrolling”. How do you do not to over or under scroll? Because
if you do any, you’ll miss your reading point with the consequent delay and
eye movement.

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by pollito pito

Define “gentle scrolling”.

Hmm, just argumentative ? I thought mikelv was looking for opinions?
I think that my opinion has been stated as well as I can manage, so I will call it a night and let others give their opinions.

[mikelv]

Thanks for your feedback!

Let me first of all explain again what the purpose of the multicolumn layout is: if the lines are too long, it's pretty hard to read. Using a multicolumn layout shortens the lines. The intention is not to change anything concerning scrolling/paging, this works as before by vertical scrolling or vertical paging (page up/down keys on the keyboard).

I understand that some don't like the serpentine reading (read column 1 to the bottom and then go up to the beginning of column 2), maybe because they expected that it works different like in readers known from the iPad or they just find it hard to use. But page simulation/vertical scrolling is a different story. This brings in a new complexity concerning rendering and navigation.

For now I start with the "simple" multicolumn layout and will see which feedback I'll get when the new version is available to everybody. Perhaps I'll add vertical scrolling or something like that in one of the next versions but right now I don't promise it .

[Laisvunas]

Hi Michael,

It seems that the purpose of multicolumn layaut is to display more relevent text on the screen area.

But current implementation of multicolumn text in ePUBreader which forces the reader to do serpantine-like scrolling defeats this purpose because in cases when chapter is long the fragments of columns which will be displayed on screen area will not be relevant to each other.

The implementation of multicolumn layout is done right in Lucifox/Lucidor - there multicolumn text is only so much high as the screen and the reeader sees only pieces of text which are relevant to each other. In this inplementation scrolling is done horizontally.