Sony or Nook Touch

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's a problem because you override font, line-height, and margin. But hat if you want the margin as is and a different font? You can't have both. You get a different font, different margins, and maybe different line height. It would be good to be able to just override one thing and leave the rest as is.

Yes, that would be nice.

But then, I edit the CSS of every book I buy anyway so I can actually leave 'publishers default' enabled and still have the book displayed the way I want.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ST-One

Yes, that would be nice.

But then, I edit the CSS of every book I buy anyway so I can actually leave 'publishers default' enabled and still have the book displayed the way I want.

I do the same thing. The override on the nook isn't good enough. The margins are still too large at the smallest setting.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I do the same thing. The override on the nook isn't good enough. The margins are still too large at the smallest setting.

They are indeed.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ST-One

They are indeed.

I don't see why we cannot have adjustable settings. Why do they have to be fixed? What's the reason we cannot type in a number to get get the font size and the margin size? If we could set the font based on a type size, there would be no need for different adjustments. Just put in the number and get the size you want. Same with margins on devices that now support margin settings. If I want 0 margins, I get it. If I want a small margin, I get that too. If I want large margins, I get that as well. See, all we need is a way to type in the numbers corresponding to the settings we want and we have what we want, not what they think we want.

[mcooke66]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't see why we cannot have adjustable settings. Why do they have to be fixed? What's the reason we cannot type in a number to get get the font size and the margin size? If we could set the font based on a type size, there would be no need for different adjustments. Just put in the number and get the size you want. Same with margins on devices that now support margin settings. If I want 0 margins, I get it. If I want a small margin, I get that too. If I want large margins, I get that as well. See, all we need is a way to type in the numbers corresponding to the settings we want and we have what we want, not what they think we want.

Simple - Usability. Most users want something easy to understand geeks love geeky things like setting the point size of a font. Most users would find that confusing compared to a graphic with 6 font sizes and a few margin sizes displayed with a graphic.

I never understood why everyone is so picky abut the fonts. We all read paper books without complaint and never had any choices, now that we have this great device with all these options we have to pick that to death. never mind, that is human nature as well.

I just pick my favorite font, select the margin and font size most comfortable and read.

As far as the designers of e readers they target the majority of users which always means trade offs.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by mcooke66

I never understood why everyone is so picky abut the fonts. We all read paper books without complaint and never had any choices, now that we have this great device with all these options we have to pick that to death. never mind, that is human nature as well.

Well, first off, we didn't ALL read paper books without complaint and without choices; exhibit A would be the Large Print runs of books which are highly necessary for many people. And then some folks just plain didn't buy certain books with crappy fonts because they were crappy.

Second off, margin size is NOT the same issue as font size. with a publisher-set margin size, you could very well end up with a tiny little river of text with mountains of white space on either side, depending on the size of your eReader. I have a 5" screen and some of the publisher margins are killer and very distracting.

Third off, the reason people demand choices from eBooks that they didn't demand from paper books is because it's simple enough technology to implement. With paper books, it was pretty impossible to have custom font/margins, but with eBooks, it's incredibly easy, so why shouldn't we ask for them?

The fact that the old format had certain flaws does not have ANY bearing on the new format. Nor should it.

[boswd]

Originally Posted by mcooke66

Simple - Usability. Most users want something easy to understand geeks love geeky things like setting the point size of a font. Most users would find that confusing compared to a graphic with 6 font sizes and a few margin sizes displayed with a graphic.

I never understood why everyone is so picky abut the fonts. We all read paper books without complaint and never had any choices, now that we have this great device with all these options we have to pick that to death. never mind, that is human nature as well.

I just pick my favorite font, select the margin and font size most comfortable and read.

As far as the designers of e readers they target the majority of users which always means trade offs.

I agree some people on this forum make reading far more difficult and complicated than it needs to be.

[mcooke66]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

Well, first off, we didn't ALL read paper books without complaint and without choices; exhibit A would be the Large Print runs of books which are highly necessary for many people. And then some folks just plain didn't buy certain books with crappy fonts because they were crappy.

Fair enough, I personally never thought about the margins and fonts of the book I was reading, I was interested in content, and because I had no choice put it out of my mine, I guess.

Second off, margin size is NOT the same issue as font size. with a publisher-set margin size, you could very well end up with a tiny little river of text with mountains of white space on either side, depending on the size of your eReader. I have a 5" screen and some of the publisher margins are killer and very distracting.

Understood, that is why I pick the margin size I prefer and do not use the publishers default.

Third off, the reason people demand choices from eBooks that they didn't demand from paper books is because it's simple enough technology to implement. With paper books, it was pretty impossible to have custom font/margins, but with eBooks, it's incredibly easy, so why shouldn't we ask for them?

You should ask, just do not be surprised that you are ignored in favor of the majority of users who do not need or, more importantly would not appreciate the precision of control that you would, that is all. As I said it is human nature to ask.

I am in the software business and I certainly understand that there is no technical limitation in providing a text box to type in the point size of the font you want, or a drop down with 25 choices. The issue I was addressing is that when creating software for the mass market, usability is more important to the acceptance of the software then ultimate flexibility, many users get very rattled by too many choices they do not understand, and the end result is they feel like they have no choices.

The NST has the following options:
7 font sizes
6 font choices
3 line spacing options
and 3 page margin options

All displayed graphically so the user can see the choice they are making before making it. I think they made a really good balance between usability and configuration options.

I get a bit geeky about this subject sorry. I just really think the NST has done far more right then wrong in this area.

[ST-One]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't see why we cannot have adjustable settings. Why do they have to be fixed? What's the reason we cannot type in a number to get get the font size and the margin size? If we could set the font based on a type size, there would be no need for different adjustments. Just put in the number and get the size you want. Same with margins on devices that now support margin settings. If I want 0 margins, I get it. If I want a small margin, I get that too. If I want large margins, I get that as well. See, all we need is a way to type in the numbers corresponding to the settings we want and we have what we want, not what they think we want.

The choices the NookTouch offers are quite good, but a little more flexibility would be nice.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mcooke66

Simple - Usability. Most users want something easy to understand geeks love geeky things like setting the point size of a font. Most users would find that confusing compared to a graphic with 6 font sizes and a few margin sizes displayed with a graphic.

I never understood why everyone is so picky abut the fonts. We all read paper books without complaint and never had any choices, now that we have this great device with all these options we have to pick that to death. never mind, that is human nature as well.

I just pick my favorite font, select the margin and font size most comfortable and read.

As far as the designers of e readers they target the majority of users which always means trade offs.

Then I have a better solution. Give the users a set of selections and then on the same screen as the selections, an advanced setting that then takes the user to a screen that allows us to put in numbers for the settings. That would satisfy both the regular user and the more advanced user without giving up anything.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ST-One

The choices the NookTouch offers are quite good, but a little more flexibility would be nice.

The problem is that no matter how many preset setting you give people, there are those that will want something not offered. Like I prefer no margins. No offered. But if we could customize the settings by tying in a number, I'd get what I wanted and everyone would as well if the presets are not good enough.

[mcooke66]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Then I have a better solution. Give the users a set of selections and then on the same screen as the selections, an advanced setting that then takes the user to a screen that allows us to put in numbers for the settings. That would satisfy both the regular user and the more advanced user without giving up anything.

That is definitely an option, then it comes to cost of development vs return in sales. My guess is that they saw no real big return for creating an Advanced configuration interface. Or maybe they are just incompetent, you always need to to keep that as open option.