Re: Bill Hill on why the browser is the reader

--- In [email protected], "joseph harris"
<smilepoet@...> wrote:
> 
> 
>   JH writes:   Well, Tony, perhaps that's because we all have
different eyes, and because eye abilities change with age.   For some
the screen is not the best things since sliced bread, and many people
may find the WSJ in print easier to read than you do.
> 
>   JH writes:   That doesn't make you better or them better, just
with different capacities.   And here may be the reason that print may
continue for a very long time.
> 
>   JH writes:   Joseph Harris
> 

I understand that people's eyes are different.  I wear glasses and
have for some time.  I'll be turning 51 in a couple of weeks, too.  My
point is that no matter what format a book is published in, there will
be those who will not like it for whatever reason.  I have customers
who LOVE books printed on creme-colored paper because it "is easier on
the eyes" than bright white.  Other customers say they hate the
creme-colored paper because it doesn't provide enough contrast.  And
the people on both sides of the argument come from all age groups,
wear glasses or don't wear glasses.  Research says that
full-justification on a printed page makes the text harder to read for
most of us, yet I have a few readers who complain about ragged-right
margins in some of the books I have published.  

On my ezine website, for the first two years the background was solid
black with white letters.  Most people liked that, but there were
quite a few who said it was very hard to read.  So, I changed it to a
light gray background with black text.  I still get comments about
readability, but from different people.  And black text on white was
"too glaring!" for most people.

I recently created a survey on ebooks, to find out what people want in
their ebooks, what is a good way for the ebook to be deployed, etc.

While I am receiving a lot of good input, I'm also amazed at the snide
comments: "No, I've never read an ebook and never will!"  "I would
never pay for an ebook"  "I would only even consider reading one if it
were free!"

A couple of very telling remarks were: "An ebook implies
self-publication and low quality,"  and  "Ebooks are not from
reputable publishers."  These people were obviously ignorant of the
facts of the market.

Print may, indeed, continue for a very long time.  As a publisher of
print books and a guy with over 3,100 books in my home and buying
more, I'm fond of the smell and feel of paper.  But I'm not going to
be a dinosaur about it.  I realize that paper, though coming from a
renewable resource, is still relatively finite because of all the
other things that go into its preparation (petroleum and energy).  And
I also realize that, if my computer screen flickers and dances, it may
be because (1) it needs maintenance or (2) I need a new monitor.  

More and more newspapers are folding (no pun intended!), consolidating
and/or moving a majority of their content to electronic format.  I
don't see this as a bad thing, considering the literal tons of
newspapers that are thrown into landfills every day.  Sure, it COULD
be recycled, but most of it is not.  And I don't have time to flip
through the ads and search for where a story continues on page D-17...
Give me the online format where I can search for stories about the
topics I want, and where I can read the whole story without flipping
through pages of dreck.  (Yes, I know the inserts and ads pay for the
paper... but there are ads on electronic versions that don't get in my
way.)


Tony Burton



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