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The new version of iBooks allows you to read books in a continuous scroll instead of page by page. This has, surprisingly, set off an argument on which is the better way to read an ebook. I don’t get it. Paging is clearly an artifact of the technology of paper books, a technology I love deeply, but one that doesn’t make a lot of sense in an ebook reader. What's your preferred method of reading ebooks?
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I think that paging has the advantage of being able to maintain your place on the screen by location on the screen. Interestingly, ancient scrolls did not have pages, so are we going back in time? Obviously doing scrolling has the advantage of not having to move images so that they can be fully displayed on a page.
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Paging.
In the browser I normally scroll short articles and mostly pgup/dn long ones; the only place where the latter works poorly is on the last fractional screen of text because the resume reading point is in mid screen instead of at the top.
Minimizing movement (and RSI risk) was one of the major reasons why I bought a kindle keyboard with page turn buttons instead of a touch screen model. Having to either swipe my finger a fixed distance down the screen to bring a new screen of text (or make more frequent shorter swipes that only move 2/3rds to 3/4ths of a screen) would be worse than just swinging my thumb out and tapping the screen.
PS when did continuous scrolling get redefined to mean being able to scroll and stop at an arbitrary point in a document and not text that's always moving (hopefully at the speed you're reading) like the ticker at the bottom of the TV on news channels or the way StarTrek TNG displays always were shown as working? I tried the latter almost as soon as I got a mouse with a scroll wheel and once the OOOOH SHINEY!!!! wore off found it more maddening than useful (the need to read at a slant disrupted my autopilot and slowed my speed by at least a third). I was this >< close to sounding off on a rant about that before actually clicking (and reading) the link.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Dan Neely wrote: In the browser I normally scroll short articles and mostly pgup/dn long ones; the only place where the latter works poorly is on the last fractional screen of text because the resume reading point is in mid screen instead of at the top.
PS Browser (or browser addon) developers: creating an option to have the last pgdn place content as if there was infinite white space at the bottom of the page would earn my undying love.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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