An exercise in readability.

For me, readability should be the number one concern, but we often get lost in all the buzzwords and current ideologies that many times run interference with great, easily understood communication. We need our visuals to be clear in order to understand graphic communication but the message is seldom as clear as it could be.

Although we seem to have a good grasp of the printing process, display technology is still advancing at a rather fast rate. Considering that the technology industry is investing billions of dollars into in enhanced displays to help people more easily comprehend what is on a device why are content providers obfuscating their content? Although my personal attention span is high, even I have a difficult time reading on a display because of all the distractions. Technologically speaking; pixel density, improved colour accuracy and greater contrast ratios aren’t necessarily helping me understand anyone’s message any better, in fact I would almost argue that if we went back to CGA resolutions I would be less distracted.

Fortunately there are some initiatives right now that take readability very seriously. Basically both serve up platform and resolution independent content that can be easily read without distraction. The two companies I am referring to are Treesaver and Readability.

Treesaver

Treesaver is an open source JavaScript framework and platform independent technology based on HTML5, which allows for the fluid reformatting of text, images and video. I think the best thing about this technology is that it automatically reformats gracefully for various screen sizes:

Obviously one of the benefits of this technology is that it encourages great design because the designer can place more emphasis and time on a single layout. And instead of wondering what the next ‘killer product’ will be, e.g., the iPad, one no longer has to be boxed in by a single technology standard.

In the end, the reading experience is great for all concerned: there is minimal distraction for the reader and more attention can be secured by the designers into original content design that better uses the native screen real estate. I must close by saying that my old boss and mentor Roger Black is a partner in this endeavour.

Readability

This is another very simple but effective technology play. Readability is an application that functions as a browser add-on, which allows for the unobstructed reading of saved articles. Once one saves the article they can then read it at their leisure on any device at a more convenient time. As a bonus this technology also allows one to share their reading lists.

I have only one wish for this application: I hope it becomes an open source project to allow people the option of distributing their content freely.

Both of these technologies cater to the content providers or writers by allowing for monetary benefit. I encourage all readers to go to both sites, learn more and play around.

Although both these initiatives are designed to benefit article content, I think the message is clear that we as readers want and need better experiences when it comes to the delivery of content on display devices. Both of these companies are taking grand steps towards achieving this and both seem to be very flexible with their delivery methods. I am sure that in the near future we will all benefit.

LG Philips LCD e-Ink Flexible Paper

Throughout this last year I have been fixated on the technology, media and publishing news that never seems to rest. Major shifts in technology and their acceptance are happening so quickly that even as the writers in traditionally established publishing houses publish their articles, their scribing becomes nothing more than the thoughts of mere pundits. The following are some of those article titles taken from two months in early 2010.

Headlines of the ebook’s relentless digital march

January 08
The Gurdian | CES 2010: The ebook revolution

January 9
NYT | A Deluge of Devices for Reading and Surfing

January 10
NYT | Optimism Takes Charge at Consumer Electronics Show. From Print to Phone to Web. And a Sale?

January 11
Wattpad Release | Wattpad Closes Funding Round

January 13
All Things Digital | Sony’s E-Reader Opens New Chapter in Kindle Rivalry

January 25
The Millions | Confessions of a Book Pirate

January 26
Technology Review | Amazon Expands the Kindle with Apps

January 27
NPR | Will An Apple Tablet Heat Up E-Book War?
NPR | In An Era Of Immediacy, Why Fear The E-Book?

January 28
PCWorld | Apple’s iPad Ready to Challenge the Kindle
Neowin | Is the iPad Apple’s iFail?
The Economist | The book of Jobs
The Economist | Steve Jobs and the tablet of hope
Daring Fireball | Various and Assorted Thoughts and Observations Regarding the Just-Announced iPad
NYT| Despite Changes, Many Still Oppose Google Books Deal

January 29
Itbusiness | Apple iPad — 5 setbacks and two show stoppers
The Guardian | Palms, Kindles, Nooks, iPads – none are as cool as Gutenberg’s gadget
WSJ Blogs – DIGITS | E-Readers Fall Short for News, Study Says
The Journal | Measuring the iPad’s Potential for Education
Learning Solutions Magazine | Apple’s iPad: What does it offer for e-Learning?

January 30
TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home | Apple’s iPad DRM uncertainties make the Financial Times: ePub gummed up

Jan 31
Mediaweek | The iPad: Great Type Hope? Optimists see iPad’s promise, but where’s the video?

Feb02
NYT | Rosensweig Lands at Textbook Renter Chegg.com

Feb 03
Mashable | Amazon Buys Touchscreen Company for Its Kindle Division
PC World | Five Reasons Why the iPad Won’t Change Higher Education

Feb 04
All Things Digital | PBS’s “Frontline” Considers the “Digital Nation”–A Lot of Handwringing Over the Inevitable, but Watch It Anyway

Feb 05
Wired | Panacea or Poison Pill: Who Gets to Decide About $10 E-Books?

February 07
Guardian | As I start to write my latest book, I fear for the future of publishing. Retailing pressure and the emergence of the ebook are threatening the future of authors and their work
The Sunday Times | British Library to offer free ebook downloads Jane Austen: Originals cost £250

February 8
NYT | Kindle Books in Snack Sizes
NYT | Publishers Win a Bout in E-Book Price Fight

February 10
Inside Higher Ed | E-Library Economics
NYT | E-Book Price Increase May Stir Readers’ Passions
NYT | Do School Libraries Need Books?

February 12
NYT | Do E-Readers Cause Eye Strain?

February 15
The Guardian | Why I’m an ebook convert
L.A. Times | Apple to wrap digital books in FairPlay copy protection [Clarified]

February 16
The Australian | Don’t resist e-books, Carr warns

February 21
NYT | Textbooks That Professors Can Rewrite Digitally

February 22
The Phoenix | Holy Scrollers! The future of e-publishing can be found in one of the world’s oldest books.

Feb 24
Inside Higher Ed | A Win For Publishers

Feb 28
NYT | Math of Publishing Meets the E-Book

March 01
The Independent | Here’s to the small print: The past and future of compact literature

March 02
Gigaom.com | Books Now Outnumber Games on the iPhone

March 4
The Globe and Mail | A lament for the bookshelf
Publishers Weekly | Barnes & Noble to Test Bundling e-Books, p-Books

Book Spines

The more interesting spines hold my attention firmly while the others usually get nothing more than a quick glance. Visually, I note the colours on the spine, how clean the design is and how clearly I can read the typography. But not until the other day did I ever note the publisher’s logos. I don’t know why they seemed so visible on this particular afternoon, but they were suddenly obvious and unavoidable. I stopped looking and reading the spines and started scanning them for the incredibly variety of logos instead. Most had artwork except for the academic presses, which generally consist of only the name of the press. I noticed that many of the publishers had designed special logos for alternate audience segments and other publishers had refreshed or modernized versions of their logos represented on their more resent print runs. Generally all the logos were one colour line work, using only positive and negative space to make themselves recognizable.

Now for a sobering thought. I can’t help but think that this lovely collage of book spines is going to go the way of the dodo when eBooks become the standard. There will simply be no more jacket art nor spines to peruse, no more colour, line and type to hold my attention. There really is something I enjoy about the tactile quality of the printed book and I am certainly going to miss it if or when it is gone.

A book spines analogy

When the paper book disappears, and some form of eBooks replaces them it is going to be a dark day. I believe it will be a sore reminder of the day when ‘vinyl’ was no longer available on mass. I enjoyed flipping through all that vinyl, there was an art to quickly flipping through hundreds of albums at my favourite record store. Every so often one of the covers would hit a chord with me, I would stop and stare at that album and maybe even pick it out of the bin. If I did, I would lift it up gently and slowly slide the vinyl and lyric page out of its jacket and read the poetry. [Sound of record needle scratching across vinyl goes here] Now we have music downloads so the love of the format is gone, it is mostly about money and distribution now, and not the listener’s experience. Sigh… what follows is a sample from a friend’s bookshelf.