Waddap!? ePub double page question

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

You're assuming most people have auto-rotate on. Kindles don't have autorotate in any case.
Sensible, since if I'm lying down and reading in bed, I don't want the text to rotate.
And for my iPad, I do have autorotate on most of the time, but for iBooks I turn it off--double click to get to settings, then one tap.

It's a choice between a couple of taps to zoom the image, or a couple of taps to toggle autorotate.

Anyway, I know you have to deal with very conservative clients, and need compatibility for every possible device, so I don't expect you to change your practice, but it is not "idiotic" to rotate an image if you don't have to worry about what every possible user might possibly do.

It has nothing to do with conservatism. My informal polls, which I take when I see people with devices, is that MOST people seem to have autorotate on, both in eReaders and, in much higher percentages, tablets and laptops.

And FWIW, I have two Kindles that autorotate. Would we all agree that people are going to rotate their device, to landscape, if it's not already in landscape, to view it? Right? And probably zoom it?

So, for the people who don't have autorotate on, they would have to change their device to make it rotate. For those that do have it on, they have to chase it around for a moment, aggravating the hell out of themselves, and THEN go turn it off, right? The people who already have it turned off already know that the image won't rotate. The people who have it turned on, aren't going to be amused chasing it around--I know I wasn't, the first time I stumbled across an image set at 90°. And what if I don't want to rotate the device, to see the image? If the image is set at 90°, I have no choice. When the image is not rotated, then everybody has a choice of how to see it.

To my way of thinking, you irritate fewer people, by setting it top-up, rather than top-left. Almost everyone will turn the device, to seea it in landscape orientation, anyway--so those who have auto-rotate on, are set; those who have auto-rotate off will have to fix that. But as I said, my poll-taking indicates that those with it turned off are vastly in the minority. I'm just trying to piss off the fewest number of people, that's all.

I honestly don't care about it--if someone wants to do that, it's their book.

Spoiler:

I had an unhappy print client that was livid about how SMALL his spreadsheets were, in his 6" wide print book. I had to argue with him about rotating them, top-left, to give the spreadsheets enough room. He blamed us for how tiny they appeared, and eventually, had someone ELSE redo his book, to achieve his goal--having them make the book 10" wide and I don't know how tall. He was convinced that "nobody" puts spreadsheets in a print book sideways--I've only seen them in hundreds, but what do I know? Idiotic, that he never realized that the stupid things would be too bloody small to read in a 4.5" wide page. Sweet Jesus.

Hitch

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Hitch

If you think about it, it's idiotic to pre-rotate the image. Why? Nobody is going to look at it that way; they're going to tap the image, most likely, and then rotate their device to view it. Right? Why set it at 90? Why not just put it in the "right" way, with the top toward the top of the device--whatever that is--and allow the user to choose how to see it? They'll invariably rotate their device. We already know that, right? So why make it aggravating, to force them to go turn auto-rotation off, since you know that they're going to do it ANYWAY????

I have to side with AlanHK, there are SOME cases where pre-rotated images are... preferable (mostly for devices that don't have any rotate functionality). This is okay for personal consumption.

BUT, if releasing a book for the public, I would recommend against them for all of the reasons Hitch stated.

Nothing makes me more frustrated than the 3-step auto-rotate dance that happens on the phone:

Ooooh, a rotated Landscape image:

- I turn phone Landscape? Image turns into a thin unreadable stripe in the center.
- I sit up and try to hold the phone flat and get back to Portrait? Phone flips to upside-down mode.
- I rotate phone in Z-axis, finally get Portrait back.

Like NotJohn said, sometimes it's easier to place the device down and rotate YOUR ENTIRE BODY/HEAD instead of rotating the device. And you know when the 3-step dance appears, you'll be sitting up getting frustrated. :P

Originally Posted by Hitch

It has nothing to do with conservatism. My informal polls, which I take when I see people with devices, is that MOST people seem to have autorotate on, both in eReaders and, in much higher percentages, tablets and laptops.

Side Note: I recently got pissed off with the goddamn Square app on Android. A few months ago there was an update that caused the damn thing to not respect rotation, forcing customers to sign in this super thin/tiny box. Even forcing the rotation via Quick Settings didn't help.

Here's a whole giant thread about it:

https://www.sellercommunity.com/t5/T...-to/td-p/76565

They marked it as "Solved", and have no intention of currently fixing this bug.

It's causing many people to get so frustrated they are leaving the app completely. I assume the same would apply to a frustratingly laid out ebook (potential book refunds).