4 ms·

The Kindle is great, I just don't use it enough to justify keeping it around, especially if I buy a tablet. If the Notion Ink Adam (http://www.notionink.in/ ht

by ydant 16y ago

The Kindle is great, I just don't use it enough to justify keeping it around, especially if I buy a tablet. If the Notion Ink Adam (http://www.notionink.in/ http://www.notionink.in/) lives up to the hype, then I will buy it, and it's more likely to be with me. I love the display and the form factor on the Kindle. It just disappears in your hands and is great for reading. My problem is I consume so much more dynamic media (blogs, websites, etc) these days and a lot less static (books). More often than not I grab my phone than the kindle for reading, which means I read fewer books and more websites. The Kindle is horrible for reading magazines. Navigation and skimming are stone-age, and there aren't any of the pictures that many of the magazines I want to read (I don't read physical magazines as they aren't conveniently located) are enhanced by. The Kindle also is horrible for reading anything with footnotes. The "joy"stick provides anything but. Try reading a footnote heavy book (my particular example being one Oliver Sacks book) with the Kindle and you'll be ready to send a blank check to the inventor of the touchscreen.

jrockway 16y ago
A touchscreen is not the solution to the footnote problem. Rendering the footnote near the place in the text where it appears is. (Ever read one of those dead-tree books? That's what they tend to do.)
- ydant 16y ago
  Sure it's a solution. It's not the only solution, but neither is in-lining the footnotes or placing them nearby. Placing them at the end of the page has size-issues if fonts are changed. A moderately long foot-note could crowd the entire page if font sizes were increased. The point of footnotes is they are ancillary information that can be skipped if desired. If footnotes have to flow across to another page (or fill a page), then you've introduced an annoyance for the user as they are no longer easily avoidable. Placing them inline has issues if you only want to read some of them and not every single one. End-notes are another use-case that can be handled in pretty much the same way as footnotes if you have a touch screen (or a decent pointing device) and is handled horribly on the Kindle. Just because there's a decent solution for the paper variety doesn't mean the digital variety needs to handle it in the same way. I resisted touch-screens for a long time, but it's clear this is a very good use-case for them.

by ydant 16y ago

jrockway 16y ago

A touchscreen is not the solution to the footnote problem. Rendering the footnote near the place in the text where it appears is. (Ever read one of those dead-tree books? That's what they tend to do.)

ydant 16y ago
Sure it's a solution. It's not the only solution, but neither is in-lining the footnotes or placing them nearby. Placing them at the end of the page has size-issues if fonts are changed. A moderately long foot-note could crowd the entire page if font sizes were increased. The point of footnotes is they are ancillary information that can be skipped if desired. If footnotes have to flow across to another page (or fill a page), then you've introduced an annoyance for the user as they are no longer easily avoidable. Placing them inline has issues if you only want to read some of them and not every single one. End-notes are another use-case that can be handled in pretty much the same way as footnotes if you have a touch screen (or a decent pointing device) and is handled horribly on the Kindle. Just because there's a decent solution for the paper variety doesn't mean the digital variety needs to handle it in the same way. I resisted touch-screens for a long time, but it's clear this is a very good use-case for them.