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2 column is so helpful in reading the paper imo. It's easier to jump and see previous parts, no need for page width equations that use a lot of empty space. And
by somethingsome 3y ago
2 column is so helpful in reading the paper imo.
It's easier to jump and see previous parts, no need for page width equations that use a lot of empty space.
And basically the style is enjoyable for me, I really don't see what is not approcheable.
Having a different style of the paper will not magically make it easier to understand. Focusing too much on the format instead of the content is counter productive.. And having somewhat standardized sections allows an academic to jump to juicy parts with enough experience.
- bjourne 3y agoIt's absolutely trash for accessibility. Most pdf readers can reflow text when the file uses only one column but not so with two-column files. I.e reading two-column articles on cell phones is pretty awful. The real reason most articles are two-column is because "it looks more professional" which is the kind of cargo-culting OP rallies against.
- somethingsome 3y agoI read most of my papers on my phone without any issues, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. With Adobe PDF, you double click on one column, it zooms onto it perfectly, you double click again, it goes full page.. Navigation is super easy, the zoom feature perfectly fit the column to my screen.
- bjourne 3y agoThen you must not have tried many pdfs because there are many where the reader can't detect the columns. Even when column detection works, you can't increase the font size beyond what the pdf uses as the text won't be reflowed. It's of course an even bigger pita for those relying on text-to-speech to read pfs.
- somethingsome 3y agoI don't know, something around 1 to 3 per day for the last 7 years maybe, I read and write papers as a living.. I never really had any problem.. I mostly have issues with epub like formats.. Of course tts is a different beast, but.. Try to read science in general with tts.. It doesn't make sense.. And you need time to process each sentence and put it into context.. So even with reflow, tts would be a nightmare for science content.
- skydhash 3y ago> I mostly have issues with epub like formats. Epub is great for content that is mostly texts (Novels,…). As soon as there are objects that need to keep their relative distance to each other (equations, diagrams), I go for PDF. It's also not easy to get good typesetting for epub files. I believe that typesetting gives you a visual map that provides an additional memory boost. Doing focused reading on a phone is a no-no for me. I use my tablet for PDFs and my e-reader for epubs.