Reading Experiment - Narrow Margins

[theducks]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A Google search for "why are newspapers printed in columns" returns lots of answers, all of which seem to say essentially the same thing. Here's a typical reply:



https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-re...and-newspapers

So it seems it's a combination of practical considerations about making layout changes AND considerations of readability.

A traditional Linotype (AKA Hot type) could only cast so long of a slug reliably

[tomsem]

Interesting article on relationship between font size, line length and line spacing (leading):

https://medium.com/@zkareemz/golden-ratio-62b3b6d4282a

I have been pretty much going with minimal margins on smaller screens, but maybe I'm over-doing it.

[fjtorres]

I've always preferred dual column landscape on apps that support it.
I'll have to check the line width I end up with on FBREADER.

Edit: 68 characters. Heh. Almost on the "optimum".

[underscore]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I've always preferred dual column landscape on apps that support it.
I'll have to check the line width I end up with on FBREADER.

Edit: 68 characters. Heh. Almost on the "optimum".

Do you know some android application that reflow epub to a couple of columns?
I can't seem to do it with the apps installed in my onyx n96
(oreader, fbreader, onyx neo reader and neo reader v2.0)
I vaguely remember such an option on my old linux m92 but i could be wrong.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by underscore

Do you know some android application that reflow epub to a couple of columns?
I can't seem to do it with the apps installed in my onyx n96
(oreader, fbreader, onyx neo reader and neo reader v2.0)
I vaguely remember such an option on my old linux m92 but i could be wrong.

The ePub 2 standard doesn't support reflow into columns. EPub 3 does.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The ePub 2 standard doesn't support reflow into columns. EPub 3 does.

I meant software controlled output.
For example on Moon + Reader, i can pick an option "two pages in landscape mode" so i guess the same thing can be implemented in portrait as well.

Can look cool / improve reading speed on big ereaders
(which you buy for work pdf but then you use also for epub novels).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by underscore

I meant software controlled output.
For example on Moon + Reader, i can pick an option "two pages in landscape mode" so i guess the same thing can be implemented in portrait as well.

Can look cool / improve reading speed on big ereaders
(which you buy for work pdf but then you use also for epub novels).

Sure - a number of reading apps support 2-page view in landscape orientation. That's not really the same thing as reflowing between columns on the same page, though, because the latter has to take into account the positioning of other elements on the page.

[kennyc]

Interesting discussion. Thanks

I can definitely vouched for the Amoled screen vs LCD having just been 'forced' to move from the former to the latter.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Sure - a number of reading apps support 2-page view in landscape orientation.

I'm searching one supporting it in portrait :-)

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by underscore

I'm searching one supporting it in portrait :-)

MapleRead and Marvin support 2 columns in portrait (and landscape). But they are IOS apps.

[DiapDealer]

I just desire to BE reading. I don't care how fast or slow I consume. Too many different factors (mood, time of day, alertness, external stimuli, interest, writing style) contribute to my reading rate at any given moment to attribute all that much extra weight to margins, or characters per line, or line-height, or screen technology and such.

I gave up focusing on how well, or how fast, or for how long of a stretch I read. When I want to read for a long period of time, I read for a long period of time—regardless of typographic minutiae or screen technology. When I don't feel as motivated to do so, then I read in shorter spurts. I've always been fickle in this regard. Even when paper books were my only choice.

I like to read. Analyzing how (or how well/fast) I read?? Not so much. Reading is the goal for me, not finishing. *shrug*

NOTE: post not intended to diminish the topic, nor to seek to belittle/end the discussion. By all means, carry on. Just my opinion.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I just desire to BE reading. I don't care how fast or slow I consume. Too many different factors (mood, time of day, alertness, external stimuli, interest, writing style) contribute to my reading rate at any given moment to attribute all that much extra weight to margins, or characters per line, or line-height, or screen technology and such.

I gave up focusing on how well, or how fast, or for how long of a stretch I read. When I want to read for a long period of time, I read for a long period of time—regardless of typographic minutiae or screen technology. When I don't feel as motivated to do so, then I read in shorter spurts. I've always been fickle in this regard. Even when paper books were my only choice.

I like to read. Analyzing how (or how well/fast) I read?? Not so much. Reading is the goal for me, not finishing. *shrug*

NOTE: post not intended to diminish the topic, nor to seek to belittle/end the discussion. By all means, carry on. Just my opinion.

[dwig]

Back when I was studying typography in college the general wisdom was that readability was best when the line length was somewhere between 36-42 characters. It varies a bit with font design (character width relative to x-height, length of assenders and decenders, ...) and how the type is set (leading, added letterspacing, ...). I have mild dislexia and find that, in general, line lengths on the narrow side of this range work best for me.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I just desire to BE reading. I don't care how fast or slow I consume ... I like to read. Analyzing how (or how well/fast) I read?? Not so much.

Barry did say that he's finding that he enjoys the story more when it goes more quickly. That sounds like a good reason to 'analyze.'

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Barry did say that he's finding that he enjoys the story more when it goes more quickly. That sounds like a good reason to 'analyze.'

For him, sure. That''s why I mentioned I wasn't looking to invalidate the discussion. Just offering an observance. And that observance is that ebooks in general have seemed to spawn an (over)abundance of meta-reading scrutiny.

I've got shelves full of books that are wildly disparate in their typography, margins, characters per line, font-faces, and font sizes; yet in my years of discussing reading online pre-ebook/pre-ereader explosion. I can't remember any similar discussions (among readers of fiction) concerning these issues.

I've no doubt that Barry would prefer to read faster, for longer periods of time. But I can't help but think the concentration on the more meta aspects of the reading experience in general is, at least in part, the cause of his issue. Not the specifics. The extraneous details are in the back of his mind while reading. "Do I like reading this way? Are these margins narrower than the last book I read (or the last device I was reading it on)? Do I like this font better than the other one?"

My ability to read quicker for longer periods of time is probably more than 90% mind-set and environment these days. As I age, immersion becomes harder for me. I have to make it happen. The outside world becomes harder for me to filter out, and it becomes harder for me to stay awake in a comfy reading chair. Early morning when it's quiet, when I'm fresh, before my brain gets stuffed with the day's nonsense, is when I need to do my heavy-reading now. Evening or night is rarely more than reading in short spurts and dropping my device when I fall asleep.

I've no doubt that characters per line plays a part, but I think that many times, we let studies about typography, characters, fonts, and screen-technology blind us to the fact that sometimes our reading habits just change--that WE just change. Striving to find the perfect reading device that presents the text in the perfect manner, on the perfect screen is an exercise in futility that can be detrimental to enjoying a good book in and of itself, in my opinion.

Dang. That was long!