The new book

I know that in couple of days we will find out what's the nextg big thing from Apple. Whether is a a tablet/ebook or not I really don't care too much.
I specifically tried not to write about it because I don't want to align in the row of commentators.

I think that more important is to define what are those features that will make an electronic device a worthy adversary to the god old paper book (or at least to a hard cover).

I plan this for long enough but never made the list. Let's try doing it today.
The list will not have a specific order. May be letter I'll make a prioritized list.
Today I will use bullets:

• ePaper like screen - I like the sensation it gives you in contrast with the LCD. It's better under powerful sun light, has much better contrast, no reflexive, etc. Better to be in colors.
  
• the size is around 7x9' / 17x24cm - I consider this the optimum size for a device that should be capable to display fiction , scientific content or daily newspaper articles. This is a size that fits well in the hand.
• allows some physical flexibility - a device that's not capable to bend a little, even if only the outer shell bends in reality, is hard be compared with a book that's able to accept so many punishment from the reader
• at least 2 days of battery power - it has to last longer than a day even if is on all the time
• very simple docking station (touch only) complemented with solar cells for longer life - I don't want to use a big black clunky device to load some juice in my book, thank you. Better if it just use the solar cells. I can accept a dumb device that's not playing video or something else if it's capable to work on solar power only
• no buttons - even if some technophiles appreciate a technological design this device has to avoid buttons. even the best product designer will make mistakes and place one very important button in the worst position possible. we have touch screens people. let's try using our fingers on it. we use them on a paper sheet, why don't we do the same on a screen
  
• always ON - it has to be always on. or just switch off the screen if let alone for a while
  
• good handling capabilities no matter the orientation - when you keep a book in you hand you use your opposing fingers to bend it in such a way that it fits better in you hand. if you can't replicate the same flexibility in a device at least think about a design that will give the reader a good handling sensation. look at the DSLR. it's a device designed to be kept in your hand. it was designed to be manipulated with one hand and have a good grip while you're making the photos.

That's it for now.
I'll try to add some more tomorrow.

How we read yesterday, today, tomorow

The following lines are in fact a reply to a forum post that tried to convince me that we can read the same on a device as our ancestor have done than on stones:

"Does there have to be a better way to read, besides scrolling and turning pages?"
If you consider reading just a repetitive action of understanding letters the current way of doing thing is OK.
If you consider reading as a method of acquiring information then the old fashion way has a lot of drawbacks.

Aren't you bored by the fact that after 7k years of evolution and 50 years of computer technology around we still read the same?

We have to change. Why do you use the airplane today when the horse was so good yesterday? Because is better.
Be sure that in 10 minutes we can find together better ways of doing things.

Think for a moment at the times when you open a book in order to learn something. At that moment you don't just read the characters. You have to link the ideas the you acquire with information coming from other sources. Compare things, check notes or supplementary materials, theorems, videos, etc. It's simply impossible to put everything in the space of a page and still keep it simple to navigate. And I'm not speaking here about small screens ... it's hard to do a good placement on a full page. I've done this for more than 20 years for newspapers, magazines and all kind of books. Believe me it's a hell to have good information architecture on a simple polygon of a given size and with a fixed amount of letters.

I am definitely not thinking at eye ball tracking. It is just about information architecture and marrying that with the capabilities of the support that now is dynamic not just a simple stone or sheet of paper.

My grandfather had to consider limiting the number of pages for economic reasons. On a display you don't have any limitation on size. And I'm speaking about any size (font, row, number of colors, etc).

Wouldn't be better if, for example, we will rethink the book so that we read not one page at a time but one phrase having around all the information related to it. It will be easier to have just a phrase on screen and all related info at hand than a page filed with side boxes, end notes, footnotes, headings, etc. I'm not saying that this is the way to go ... it is just an example of rethinking the book.

Now let's look at another aspect.
We all know how much the readability depends on the length of the row and the number of characters per row. The number of words on a row will influence also how easy it is to understand the idea.
What if we will adapt the layout to the current phrase.

Some ideas are hard to layout in a page and still transmit the importance of the fragment. We tend to extract them and place a duplicate as a side box or something similar. What if we will think the book as something dynamic not by placing a video betwen lines but having those lines adapt to their importance. Good design implies using a small number of font variations but if change helps in the process of communicating the idea be sure that every designer will understand.

It is not change for the sake of change. And we are not speaking about technology but about reading and information.
The name of the game is improvement and we have to improve the way we read (or the way we prepare information for reading).

Books vs. eBooks

Books are better for reading than ebooks. Period.
There is no argument about that ... and thats said by "me" ... somebody who's happy to read ebooks even on his mobile.
I just wana make a list with all the things that are still to be improuved on the ebook side of the road.
First thing first a definition. I hate that but has to be done.
What is an ebook?
Well ... in my humble opinion an ebook is the assembly betwen a device and the electronic package that describes the book.

When you imagine a car you always consider the road, the gas, the actual car and the driver.
You should do the same for an ebook.