[ale] Print vs electronic: Was: Remove systemd network handling

[Steve Litt]

Leam Hall via Ale said on Fri, 24 Sep 2021 18:36:18 -0500

>On 9/24/21 6:10 PM, Steve Litt via Ale wrote:
>
>> And who in 2021 would write a document on printed
>> paper?
>> 
>> SteveT  
>
>*raises hand slowly*
>
>Easier on my old eyes, and I read fast enough that a kindle slows me
>down.

Yeahhh, for the most part the dead trees argument was sparring between
two guys with a very different view of the world, and can safely be
ignored. But because one of the things I do for a living is write,
produce and publish books, I'm very interested in your preceding
sentence.

It sounds to me like printed documents are actually easier on your
eyes, I presume giving you less eye strain, headaches, etc. Is this
because of the glaring white background, or some other reason? If the
glaring white background, do your devices give you the option of using
a light tan background? Does that help?

Some people (like me) have no choice but to read electronic docs,
because we can't comfortably focus on anything less than 15 point. A
normal paperback printed in a font I can read would be five or six
inches thick, whereas on a device I can crank it up to clock face type
size and read comfortably. Does your eyesight restrict the font size you
can read?

Are you one of those people able to read line by line instead of word
by word? If so, I can well imagine that five or six words per line
would slow you down. On mobile devices, have you tried turning the
device landscape so you get longer lines? Of course, doing so means you
have to page down much too often, and that would slow you down.

Do you ever consider reading on your computer monitor? Doing so would
solve the words per line and lines per page problems, but would
eliminate the portability most people require.

I can't go back to printing my books; it's economically infeasible now
that I have to compete with PDF and ePub books. But I *can* work to
bring the benefits of printed books to my PDFs and ePubs.

Thanks,

SteveT

Steve Litt 
Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques