An abundance of Claras, a derth of Libra(s)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by talaivan

I have the Libra Colour and find it is as good for reading BW books as the Sage or the Elipsa. I wonder if the people complaining about it have actually tried using it. In fact, I can't tell the difference in the image of text except for size.

I've used most of the different eInk panels since the Sony Reader PRS-500. So I do know what a darker panel is like and while the panel on the Libra Colour is readable, it;s not as good as the panel on the Libra 2.

I know if I had a darker panel, I there are times I would have to either turn on the light, up the font size or both with the LC where I don't have to do either with the L2.

Because I've used panels that are darker with less contrast then the Carta 1200, I don't need to see the LC in person to know what it's like reading plain text. The only thing I don't know is if I would see the sparkels on the Kaleido panel with text. If I did, that would be annoying to me.

With the L2, in bed with no lights on, I have the light set to 3. I cannot do that with the LC as I would not be able to read.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by rcentros

Being "used to something" is another way of saying that's what we expect. I expect that my eReader will have good contrast, with a black font and a whitish screen. I see colored (and grayish) fonts inserted in Internet texts all the time. To me they're, at best, a distraction or, at worse, cause me to squint because (especially with grayish text) the contrast is not as good and the text is not as clear.

I've got nothing against color eReaders for those who want them. I understand that not everyone has the same taste (or the same eyes). But to say I prefer black text on whitish background because I'm "stuck in my ways" or "I don't think it can be done another way" is simply not the case. There's a reason why paper books are not (often) printed with a non-black font and it's not because black is the only choice. It's because black on white creates the best contrast. And good, dark contrast in fonts is what I'm looking for — in both an eReader or in a paper book.

I only wanted to point out that we are children of the way things are done in our time. We have always read in black and white because that is how the books we know have been distributed (with the odd anecdotal exception). This is what I mean when I say that we have not been able to choose. We cannot go to a bookshop and ask for a book with chapter headings in blue, quotations in red and notes in green. Just as we cannot go to a newsagent and ask for a black and white version of a magazine that has been printed in colour. We have no choice. And we are used to it because that is how we have lived it, not because we have stagnated. This is not a complaint, nor is it a criticism of the way we read.

But this has not always been the case. We sometimes forget that there was a time when printed books were not considered "real" books. Federico da Montefelto abhorred them because he was a child of the age of the marvellous illuminated manuscripts (where the presence of colour did not confuse anyone, but differentiated and clarified the text). For the exquisite readers of the 15th century, a book printed in black and white was little short of an abomination.

I have nothing against monochrome e-readers, on which I have read for many years and where I still occasionally read. But I don't see them as the finished product of a deliberate and thoughtful design that has decided to exclude colour because it makes for better reading. "That's it, we've done it. This is what we wanted to offer and what readers want". I rather think that the absence of colour in e-readers is due to a technological limitation and that they will continue to evolve in the direction of colour. But maybe I'm completely wrong.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by cellaris

I rather think that the absence of colour in e-readers is due to a technological limitation and that they will continue to evolve in the direction of colour.

You are correct. The problem is not the addition of colour but that doing so compromises the monochromatic performance, which is how 99% of novels are formatted. If it were possible to get colour covers without sacrificing BW performance, I'd be on board with that.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

You are correct. The problem is not the addition of colour but that doing so compromises the monochromatic performance, which is how 99% of novels are formatted. If it were possible to get colour covers without sacrificing BW performance, I'd be on board with that.

Yes. No one would have any objections then, whether they personally need color or not.