Comments on: Visual Field of Dreams http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/ Change thrives on me Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:28:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Bill http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-6081 Bill Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:34:11 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-6081 A very interesting discussion! I am more specifically looking to see if anyone has studied display sizes for people who have poor vision, but some of the papers listed are pertinent. One thing to keep in mind, particularly for older viewers, is that the population wearing bifocals and having limited eye focusing adaptability may be fixed at the distance that their bifocals focus (usually about 16" inches). Wider screens would require that they move their heads or sway left and right, since the sides of the screen are farther away than the center of the screen. (think Pythagorean equation). Without moving, the sides would be blurry. This is not an issue for youger people, who can still focus their eyes. A very interesting discussion!
I am more specifically looking to see if anyone has studied display sizes for people who have poor vision, but some of the papers listed are pertinent.
One thing to keep in mind, particularly for older viewers, is that the population wearing bifocals and having limited eye focusing adaptability may
be fixed at the distance that their bifocals focus (usually about 16″ inches). Wider screens would require that they move their heads or sway left and right, since the sides of the screen are farther away than the center of the screen. (think Pythagorean equation). Without moving, the sides would be blurry. This is not an issue for youger people, who can still focus their eyes.

]]> By: madhava http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5820 madhava Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:37:24 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5820 A bit of a review of research here: http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/nov02.asp From the print world, Robert Bringhurst (Elements of Typographic Style, a book to love) tells us: “Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.” but, of course, that's from print-land, where we can dictate the size of the font. On a computer screen, probably better to go with lengths rather than number of characters, seeing as it has to do with whether the eye gets lost in the middle of too long a line vs. having to change lines to often. A bit of a review of research here:
http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/nov02.asp

From the print world, Robert Bringhurst (Elements of Typographic Style, a book to love) tells us:
“Anything from 45 to 75 characters is widely regarded as a satisfactory length of line for a single-column page set in a serifed text face in a text size. The 66-character line (counting both letters and spaces) is widely regarded as ideal. For multiple column work, a better average is 40 to 50 characters.”

but, of course, that’s from print-land, where we can dictate the size of the font. On a computer screen, probably better to go with lengths rather than number of characters, seeing as it has to do with whether the eye gets lost in the middle of too long a line vs. having to change lines to often.

]]> By: skierpage http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5816 skierpage Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:41:35 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5816 FWIW I like your line lengths in this blog, though your right margin is a little cramped and the font isn't great. Something that in cross-section looks like a medium-large type hardback book just <em>feels</em> easy to read. At Zoom > Reset in FF3.1 on my 1280x1024 19" LCD with Windows XP Font size "Normal"; those lines are about 81-85 characters per line. I think with a tuned serif you could go to 90. Of course there's the ultimate in old-skool readability, http://www.suck.com/daily/96/12/06/daily.html :-) FWIW I like your line lengths in this blog, though your right margin is a little cramped and the font isn’t great. Something that in cross-section looks like a medium-large type hardback book just feels easy to read. At Zoom > Reset in FF3.1 on my 1280×1024 19″ LCD with Windows XP Font size “Normal”; those lines are about 81-85 characters per line. I think with a tuned serif you could go to 90.

Of course there’s the ultimate in old-skool readability, http://www.suck.com/daily/96/12/06/daily.html :-)

]]> By: Luke http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5784 Luke Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:35:05 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5784 One of the absolute best "CS" books I own has nothing to do with CS but everything to do with how the brain works during reading tasks, and why: it's a psychology book from 1983: "The Psychology of Reading", Taylor & Taylor. Well worth finding a copy if you were interested enough to track down those articles and write this blog post. http://scholar.google.co.kr/scholar?q=author:%22Taylor%22+intitle:%22The+Psychology+of+Reading One of the absolute best “CS” books I own has nothing to do with CS but everything to do with how the brain works during reading tasks, and why: it’s a psychology book from 1983: “The Psychology of Reading”, Taylor & Taylor. Well worth finding a copy if you were interested enough to track down those articles and write this blog post.

http://scholar.google.co.kr/scholar?q=author:%22Taylor%22+intitle:%22The+Psychology+of+Reading

]]> By: Toe http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5779 Toe Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:47:01 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5779 I wondered if long lines would be a problem when I got a 22" widescreen monitor a while back. What I've found is that long lines only become a problem in large, unseparated quantities. If the author understands the word 'paragraph' you end up with a bunch of blocks of text that are only like 2 lines long. As long as it's not line after line after line with no space between them, I don't find it to be a problem. However, I don't keep my IRC window maximized anymore. I keep it full-width, but only about half-height. If it's maximized, it becomes overload. I wondered if long lines would be a problem when I got a 22″ widescreen monitor a while back. What I’ve found is that long lines only become a problem in large, unseparated quantities. If the author understands the word ‘paragraph’ you end up with a bunch of blocks of text that are only like 2 lines long. As long as it’s not line after line after line with no space between them, I don’t find it to be a problem.

However, I don’t keep my IRC window maximized anymore. I keep it full-width, but only about half-height. If it’s maximized, it becomes overload.

]]> By: zerwas http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5776 zerwas Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:02:29 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5776 Thank you for this nice blog post! I use Pivot with my TFT for some years now. Resolution: 1024x1280, and: It's perfect! perfect for what? Web sites Office documents PDFs image galleries ... I will buy a Sony PRS 505 in the next time ... Thank you for this nice blog post!

I use Pivot with my TFT for some years now. Resolution: 1024×1280, and: It’s perfect!

perfect for what?
Web sites
Office documents
PDFs
image galleries
…

I will buy a Sony PRS 505 in the next time …

]]> By: AndyEd http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5774 AndyEd Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:13:40 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5774 Whoops, make that "My take is that human reading processes, especially at the gaze & input level, are so well learned and automatic ... that it’s really hard to mess that up with a simple manipulation of text width." Whoops, make that “My take is that human reading processes, especially at the gaze & input level, are so well learned and automatic … that it’s really hard to mess that up with a simple manipulation of text width.”

]]> By: AndyEd http://clarkbw.net/blog/2008/08/21/visual-field-of-dreams/comment-page-1/#comment-5773 AndyEd Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:10:25 +0000 http://clarkbw.net/blog/?p=353#comment-5773 Nice review Bryan. My take is that human reading processes, especially at the gaze & input level, that it's really hard to mess that up with a simple manipulation of width. You might pick up a bit from our: Gugerty, L., Tyrrell, R. A., Aten, T. R. & Edmonds, K. A. (2004). The effects of subpixel addressing on users’ performance and preferences during reading-related tasks. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 1(2), 81-101. http://people.clemson.edu/%7Egugerty/Gugerty%20et%20al%20TAP%202004.pdf One conjecture is that what holds true today will not be true when computer displays begin to exceed the resolution of typical printed works -- not for a while to come alas. Nice review Bryan. My take is that human reading processes, especially at the gaze & input level, that it’s really hard to mess that up with a simple manipulation of width.

You might pick up a bit from our: Gugerty, L., Tyrrell, R. A., Aten, T. R. & Edmonds, K. A. (2004). The effects of subpixel addressing on users’ performance and preferences during reading-related tasks. ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 1(2), 81-101. http://people.clemson.edu/%7Egugerty/Gugerty%20et%20al%20TAP%202004.pdf

One conjecture is that what holds true today will not be true when computer displays begin to exceed the resolution of typical printed works — not for a while to come alas.

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