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Hardware design On-screen design Next Bibliography Index Guideline 22 Guideline 21 Guideline 20 Guideline 19 Guideline 18 Guideline 17 Guideline 16 Guideline 15 Guideline 14 Guideline 13 Guideline 12 Guideline 11 Guideline 10 Guideline 9 Guideline 8 Guideline 7 Guideline 6 Guideline 5 Guideline 4 Guideline 3 Guideline 2 Guideline 1 Introduction Table of contents Previous

"[The ebook] really needs to be made a lot lighter/more portable... I guess you are left with a dilemma - how do you preserve the size/format but make it more portable?"

Participants in EBONI hardware evaluation

Finding the optimum size of ebook hardware is a question of balancing weight, portability and ergonomics against legibility and quantity of text on screen. Small, slim, lightweight devices are easier to hold and more attractive than large and heavy ones; however, users dislike very small screens which restrict the amount of text displayed in any one "page", as they have to turn pages very frequently.


19.1 Devices should be light
19.2 Screens should be large enough to contain a quantity of text similar to that of a paper book. However, this must not conflict with checkpoint 20.1 (devices should be small and light enough to hold in one hand)

Figure 17

Figure 19. Large device: REB 1200

The Palm Vx, which runs a number of ebook software programs, has a 2.3 x 2.3 inch screen and weighs 4 oz, while the REB 1200 dedicated reader has an 8.2 inch (diagonal) screen and weighs 33 oz.

Click to enlarge

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image used with permission from Gemstar