In the last few years, technology has made reading comfortable. Customizing for your particular needs has become fairly easy. If the usual Times Roman font is getting hard to read, shift to this slightly blacker Georgia font.
Or just make the type larger. Unlike doing this with a magnifying glass, there is no need to reposition as you scan a wide text column: the text will be "reflowed" into a narrow column with fewer words on each line. See the three examples below; each has a different column width.
If you've tried reading anything long on a computer screen, and found it tiring and fussy, give these devices a try. Serious design work has been done.
Here are the three "devices" that I will use for examples, all displaying the same Kindle book. The iPhone 6 is 5.5 inches tall, the typical height of a paperback.
- It mimics the printed book page, except that you can change the type size, type face, line spacing, and even the color of the "paper" should you find white too bright. The video shows how to change things.
- You can read outside in a lawn chair in bright daylight with no strain. If thoroughly engrossed, you may discover that the sun has set, yet the clever screen lighting gradually compensated for the dusk. Unlike reading lights, it won't keep your spouse awake after midnight, either.
- It is really lightweight and can be held in one hand for a long time. It's a touchscreen, so a light finger tap (not a push) "turns the page." On the Voyage, a little squeeze also works, true one-handed reading and page turning.
- If the downloaded book has color photos, it will show them in grayscale.
- Most people download books via wi-fi; if you don't have such a setup, just ask around in the lobby for the password to the building's guest network. Or you can pay an extra $70 for the Kindle model with a free-for-life wireless channel to Amazon; it works without a login, wherever there is a cell phone signal, so even less fiddling.
- Every week or so, you plug it into any USB port and charge it for a few hours. Turn off the wi-fi or wireless data and it will last four weeks (six for the Voyage).
- Shopping for books with Kindle editions can be done with the device, but it is faster to use a web browser at the Kindle Store. Most new books seem to come in a Kindle edition, usually for half the price.
- You can check out e-books from the Seattle Public Library on-line and read them on any Kindle device.
- Great for ordinary books; not so good for textbooks or newspapers.
- Good choice for reading digital editions of newspapers and magazines where one scans a lot before settling down.
- Color touchscreen, various sizes. Not so good in daylight.
- Battery life usually one day.
- Heavier, usually a two-handed job but easier page-turning than for a hefty book.
- There is a Kindle app, and it knows where you left off reading on another Kindle device, making it easy to switch devices.
- Besides reading, can watch videos, surf the internet, read/send email, play games.
- Apple makes it difficult to shop the Kindle store via Amazon's app, so use the iPad's web browser. Apple has their own bookstore for a different format of e-books.
- Just like a small-screen iPad; they often run the same apps.
- Except for weight, all iPad comments apply to iPhones and similar smartphones.
- Since you always have your phone with you, it is just the thing for reading for 15' in waiting rooms or on the bus.
- Amazon.com/Kindle will guide you to an app-mimic (Kindle Reader App) so that you can continue reading your book. Or shop for books.
- NYTimes.com offers several ways (constantly changing) to read the daily paper, including app-like displays that reflow the text at the type size you would prefer. But they often make it difficult to copy-and-paste.
- Whenever you are reading a story or web page with a lot of ads alongside, look for a Reader View option with the 2.5-bars icon. That may put you back into comfortable reading territory.
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