Ikarus: Teaching and Studying in Virtual Learning Environments Home -> Weekly -> Forums -> Studygroup Technology -> Reading articles online READING ARTICLES ONLINE by Paul Schulz - Saturday, 15 March 2003, 02:28 PM Hi all. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it inconvenient to read text from a screen? I have tried to adjust screen intensity, contrast, colour and refresh rate, using other fonts, even changing background and foreground colour, adjusting the light on my desk, but I still prefer a paper print (black on white). Well, it is not that I can’t read, I just find it more relaxing with a piece of paper in my hand. It’s movable, light, and it does not radiate. I can take the paper with me to the kitchen, reading a bit while preparing a sandwich and so on. Reading from a screen feels a lot like staring into a lightbulb. And a screen is heavy to move, and the cables are way to short. You get the idea. So what the hell has this to do with interactive learning? In the articles they discuss different fonts and layout and stuff, but not the actual reading part. Came to think of it, I rarely find printer friendly versions of a text online, maybe this is true to interactive learning (CD) as well? Paul Re: Reading articles online by Jessica Smaaland - Saturday, 15 March 2003, 03:16 PM I have the same problems. It's ok with short texts, like in this forum, but longer articles is almost impossible. This is of course something one should think about when designing an online course. For me it's easiest to read Verdana, small font (like the one beside the window I just writing in: Read carefully, Write carefully etc.), and very short lines, maybe 60 signs. Then I think it's better to have links so that the pages don't get so long, as long as you can se all links all the time. Not like the pages where you only have a forward- and a backbutton. But I rather prefer paper. That's why I never think e-books will be a thing in the future. And therefore I think you should also provide a printerfriendly version of the text. With CSS this is extreamly easy. Re: Reading articles online by Marianne Hetty - Saturday, 15 March 2003, 05:18 PM I totally agree with you. Reading long articles is very tiring for the eyes and in my case, neck and back. Although I love to wander around the Internet, I seldom read all of the articles I find interesting. It's a shame actually, I probably miss a lot of good information. It's easier to read an article that is divided into small sections and where the text is not to small. Marianne Re: Reading articles online by Sascha Timm - Sunday, 16 March 2003, 10:45 PM The same on my side. Although my screen runs with 1024x768, millions and millions of colors and 85Hz, I get tired of reading articles, mails, webpages, news etc. after some time. Important stuff gets printed to be carried around and to be read in the railway, in the kitchen, in the living room, in bed... However, for creating online content, I see a problem with the delivery of long texts to students: nobody will read them on the screen, everybody will print them. Can somebody quantify these costs (Is having students print their own articles a way of externalising costs?) Is it better to send out printed textbooks for every online course? How is this affecting the quality of online courses? (less content so that the pupils read it?) And what about the environmental implications: according to many studies the paper usage is rising and the paper-free office will never arrive. See e.g. "In Paper we trust..." ftp://ftp.lexmark-europe.com/brochures/de/corporate/press/papertrust.pdf or "Cutting the Costs of Paper: Saving Forests, Water, Energy ... and Money""Cutting the Costs of Paper: Saving Forests, Water, Energy ... and Money" http://www.worldwatch.org/alerts/991211.html Re: Reading articles online by Paul Schulz - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 12:39 AM Whaoo, some scary reading there. But there is hope for the future: Electronic paper. Check this out: http://www.eink.com/news/releases/pr68.html According to an article (in swedish here: http://www.evertiq.com/newsx/read_news.aspx?newsid=3700) they claim that a electronic paper will be out on the market within a year from now. It will be as thin as ordinary paper, and work much as a normal B/W screen. Perhaps this can save our beloved planet for a litle bit longer ;). Companies involved are E Ink together with Philips, Motorola, Lucent and Toppan. /Paul Re: Reading articles online by Paul Schulz - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 12:43 AM There is somthing with a computerscreen that is annoying for the eye, I guess. One can read a book for hours, but thats impossible for the same text online. /Paul Re: Reading articles online by Petri Karhumaa - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 03:46 AM In my opinion one of the reasons why it's more comfortable to read on paper than on screen is the width of the text. Usually, computer screen is wider than a page on a book for instance. So, your eyes have to roll from left to right on every line, and that's irritating if you are reading a longer time. But there is at least one simple solution: Using frames (on a web page) or otherwise getting the width of the text smaller. I once read an article about how much more time it takes to read same text on the screen (even if the width was comfortable) than doing it on a paper. I don't remember the percents but the difference was significant. Anyone who happens to know about it in more detail? :-) /Petri Re: Reading articles online by Petri Karhumaa - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 03:50 AM Hmm, to get even further from interactive learning:-) I'm a bit concerned about how the everlasting looking at the screen affects ones sight? My totally unscientific study amongs my own friends and relatives shows that it's a lot more common to have a bad sight if you spend a lot of time surfing the net or otherwise using your computer... Re: Reading articles online by Christer Lind - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 11:18 AM Hi out there :-) I experience very clearly the problems you all mention, since about 40 % of my sight on the left side of both eyes is gone! I'm waiting for a larger 19 inch screen, which will help. But how many can afford such a screen? I think one of the problems reading from screen is that you lack overview of the content. One thing is to use the browsers function under the Wiew menue, "Full screen". Test that! I have also tried to use "large fonts" (property of the Window Desk Top). OK, this give me large text, but again, I loose oversight. Re: Reading articles online by Jessica Smaaland - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 04:13 PM It seems that people have a bit different oppinion about the reading time. I found this, pretty old (but I doubt the situation has changed since then), article about reading on computer screens. I can't agree with it. For me it takes longer time to read from the screen. http://psych.utoronto.ca/~muter/pmuter2.htm Re: Reading articles online by Ken Larsson - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 04:35 PM This is surely an issue when you are designing online learning environments, as already have been noted. Is there a way around this ? Or should we just accept that many have problems reading from the screen and only publish the content in abreviated form ? What inpact will this have on education on the whole if we can not distribute the full text to university and collage students ? Is there a good technical solution to this ? What do you think ! :-) Ken Re: Reading articles online by Håkan Jeppsson - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 05:25 PM Of course there are good technical solutions. If we skip the fact that we all get the screen we deserved. And if we also skip the fact that new technology like the e-ink paper will arrive (by experience, they will probably have low resolution in the first versions). The producer of information must give access to information in levels (XML), beginning with title, then abstracts, body, conclusions etc. Only some will read full articles in the future. The use of other Media than just text will be a must otherwise no one will here you in the information storm. Since many have difficulties to read it might be good to consider using media such as the voice as an example. This change is something the university has to consider. For text the font resolution has to improve. As an example it should be forbidden to compress pdf files to low resolution just to make the file smaller to satisfy low bandwidth user. If you wait for something good it is worth waiting, because it affects the way you look upon life. There is another way but I will spare your eyes for the moment. Re: Reading articles online - technical solutions by Jochen Dietermann - Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 08:30 PM Hi Ken, some answers are given already in this discussion. The width of the page should be not as wide as the screen. If you have to always move your eyes when reading you get tired soon. Another item is the using of fonts. Like in this environment one should use a bigger font-size than usually and a serif-less font like Arial or Helvetica. The font-style should be plain or bold - italic styles are hard to read on the screen. And now to the background and font-colors. As a background a light color is the best choice. The darker the background colour the sooner the reader gets tired - especially on longer texts. Background colour and font must correspond with each other - e.g. light blue on red looks, well, very strange for the eye. Black on white or light grey is still to be preferred. For headlines and other shorter text parts another (dark) colour can be chosen. So, if one designs for the web one should be conservative - indeed only two font families work on all OS-platforms well: the Times family and the Helevetica/Arial family because these fonts are on all OSes installed by default. A thing depending indirectly with reading from the screen is the light in ones room. There should be a lamp behind the sreen thats rays point to the ceiling (not directly in the room). One may know this from the television where a light pointing that way improves the picture, too. This is what I have on ideas so far. ;-) Jochen Re: Reading articles online by Kristoffer Ullenius - Wednesday, 19 March 2003, 05:50 PM I think the differences and the advantages of paper materials get smaller the more used you are to reading online. For a couple of years I've practically only read newspapers online and now it doesn't feel inconvenient at all. It's become a habit. Although very long and compact texts are still hard to read (I've never tried reading a whole book). But since you use a different technique when reading online, for example rather scan for important words than read word for word and jump back and forward using links, it's very important that online materials are well designed for the web. This link gives some basic pointers. http://www.edgerton.k12.wi.us/ms/writing_for_the_web.htm What I think is a bigger problem concerning online materials is the credibility. It's important for a writer to earn the reader's trust. As a reader you want to be certain that the information is correct and up-to-date. Often the quality of the information is hard to calculate. /Kristoffer Re: Reading articles online by Ante Demirian - Thursday, 20 March 2003, 10:35 PM Hello! As I know there are special units, like a PDA with extra big screen, for e-books. These units you can take with you whereever you want, just like a regular book. Offcourse you can read e-books on your computer screen, but as you said it will be very tiring to read a whole book this way. Just like you, I also prefer to turn paper pages and maybe get some paper-cut once in a while :-) So long, and thanks for all the fish Re: Reading articles online by Jessica Smaaland - Friday, 21 March 2003, 12:45 PM It one thing to read the news on the screen, another if you really have to remember the text or if you're going to use it in some sort of own text. I can read newspapers easily on the web, but I still haven't learn how to read papers, thesis etc in an efficient way. I can't really belive that this is something you get used of. If I'm writing something then I need my sources where I easily can see them, and where I can jump between them and my own text. Of course you can do this in the computer aswell, but it will take longer time (or you have to have a very big screen where two documents can be shown side by side). So for e-learning I still think this is a very big problem. And I don't know how to solve it. Yes, the text can be presented in a more convienient form, but it doesn't solve all problems. Like the lack of overview, or the the annoying buzzy sound from the computer (although they've got more silient). Re: Reading articles online by Robel Altun - Saturday, 22 March 2003, 01:18 PM Hi Paul I also have problem reading text from the screen so I printed out the articles and reed them on piece of paper (black on white). I think that the eye relaxes more when you read it from a piece of paper then from the screen. Best regards Robel Re: Reading articles online by Paul Schulz - Saturday, 22 March 2003, 01:20 PM Hepp on you! One step to help me in my life online, is the use of multiple screens. It helps me to orginize things in a more "fysical" way. There is some good software out there for all of us that can't afford the hardware required. I use vitualDesk. Free for everyone here: http://ashtec.de.vu/ Or use Linux (with I don't) /Paulmoney to pay for a modern system. I don’t think we will help the poor people by convincing them to by products like this. Until we can help them in another way they will be better of feeling the nice smell of the flower and have a nice chat with their neighbour about what to do.