4 ms·

It is a terrible limitation of Latin characters that it's hard to read vertically. However the hard coded as images labels is inexcusable. Zooming in causes the

by _6fmb 6y ago

It is a terrible limitation of Latin characters that it's hard to read vertically. However the hard coded as images labels is inexcusable. Zooming in causes the images to look upscaled and terrible.

saagarjha 6y ago
I think it might actually be more readable (as someone exclusively versed in languages that can be read left-to-right) if the letters were oriented horizontally, L I K E S O . Otherwise it's a bit difficult to recognize their shapes.
- knolax 6y ago
  I see Latin characters embedded in vertical CJK text a lot and have encountered both the method the website uses and the one you proposed. In my opinion your method is harder to read because most people read entire clusters of letters at a time, and if the letters were arranged vertically you then have to slowly read it letter by letter instead. In contrast (for me at least) it's very easy to read 90° rotated text by simply tilting my head. I think the 90° rotation method is also the official way of embedding latin text in vertical CJK as well.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    I think that’s actually a great point, which I failed to really realize because the words in this case were novel so I was reading them one character at a time, so I actually responded with “how do I make this unfamiliar thing easier for me to read right now”. I would expect being able to recognize rotated Latin script well enough with a bit of practice as well.
- goblin89 6y ago
  Japanese is traditionally written top to bottom, right to left. Vertical typesetting (mainstream in print media but rarely seen on the Web, even though CSS has decent support of TB-RL CJK typesetting now) follows this rule, rotating any words from LR-TB writing systems 90 degrees clockwise. The idea may seem unconventional at first approach, but this page’s layout—impractical as it is—is like a breath of fresh air to my eyes.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - masukomi 6y ago
    in places with romanized lettering it was long ago determined that this is much more difficult for readers to process. It may be a breath of fresh air for you but for most readers it's difficult to mentally process.
    - goblin89 6y ago
      Of course, my appreciation is subjective. However, I find that the approach described by saagarjha has the objective issue that letters in one word are more difficult to visually connect to each other, and would require a monospace font specially designed for vertical writing.

by _6fmb 6y ago

It is a terrible limitation of Latin characters that it's hard to read vertically. However the hard coded as images labels is inexcusable. Zooming in causes the images to look upscaled and terrible.

saagarjha 6y ago

I think it might actually be more readable (as someone exclusively versed in languages that can be read left-to-right) if the letters were oriented horizontally, L I K E S O . Otherwise it's a bit difficult to recognize their shapes.

knolax 6y ago
I see Latin characters embedded in vertical CJK text a lot and have encountered both the method the website uses and the one you proposed. In my opinion your method is harder to read because most people read entire clusters of letters at a time, and if the letters were arranged vertically you then have to slowly read it letter by letter instead. In contrast (for me at least) it's very easy to read 90° rotated text by simply tilting my head. I think the 90° rotation method is also the official way of embedding latin text in vertical CJK as well.
- saagarjha 6y ago
  I think that’s actually a great point, which I failed to really realize because the words in this case were novel so I was reading them one character at a time, so I actually responded with “how do I make this unfamiliar thing easier for me to read right now”. I would expect being able to recognize rotated Latin script well enough with a bit of practice as well.
goblin89 6y ago
Japanese is traditionally written top to bottom, right to left. Vertical typesetting (mainstream in print media but rarely seen on the Web, even though CSS has decent support of TB-RL CJK typesetting now) follows this rule, rotating any words from LR-TB writing systems 90 degrees clockwise. The idea may seem unconventional at first approach, but this page’s layout—impractical as it is—is like a breath of fresh air to my eyes.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- masukomi 6y ago
  in places with romanized lettering it was long ago determined that this is much more difficult for readers to process. It may be a breath of fresh air for you but for most readers it's difficult to mentally process.
  - goblin89 6y ago
    Of course, my appreciation is subjective. However, I find that the approach described by saagarjha has the objective issue that letters in one word are more difficult to visually connect to each other, and would require a monospace font specially designed for vertical writing.