Better text reading in IE?

[HDougHI]

Like a lot of people here, I read a lot online with my browser. But
regardless of the browser, there are some fairly simple-to-fix things (it
seems to me) that make the experience really s*ck. For instance, I like
hitting the space bar to get the next screenfull, but when I get to the end
of the article/post/whatever, I hate the way my eyeballs bounce around
searching for the actual last paragraph.

I realize there are text reader and ebook programs, but those generally
require the dowloading and/or conversion of html text. What I'd like to see
is a browser functionality or plug-in that would allow the better reading of
online text.

I really liked (and still like) the Microsoft Reader app to read texts. The
prob is that although the .lit Reader format is based on well-formed html,
Reader itself can't be used as a "browser." One has either to download a
file already formatted as .lit, or download the html file and convert to
..lit. I want to be able to browse a blog or a newspaper or an online version
of "On the Origin of Species" or whatever and be able to read that then and
there.

Here is my short list of features that would make for easier reading of
online text. I don't think that any of them (or all of them put together)
are technically very difficult to accommodate -- but what do I know?

(1) Page "swipe." By "swipe" I mean that when you go to the next page, or
page down, the page image doesn't just blink to the next bunch of text, and
neither does it scroll. What should happen is that the new page replaces the
old page from the top down. Think of it as though one were turning a paper
page. This isn't just an anachronistic gesture -- it helps the eye focus on
the "incoming" page. Ideally, the swipe time can be adjusted, or even
eliminated. The older version of Reader used to do this -- I think.

(2) Only full lines of text at the beginning and ending of the browser
window. No half line of text at the top or half line of text at the bottom.
The first line is a complete line of text, and so is the last line.

(3.1) The first line of the next page is always just that. Not one and a
half line of the previous page and a bunch of the next page. Page down gets
you the next page.

(3.2) Paging down to the last page shows the last page starting with the line
after the one you just read. If there are only 4 lines on the last page, the
rest of the frame is just blank. This will prevent the bounce my eyeballs do
when they search around for the actual next line.

There are a bunch of other features, but this would do it for me. Is there
something out there already or am I just weird?

Doug

 

[Vanguard]

Like a lot of people here, I read a lot online with my browser. But
regardless of the browser, there are some fairly simple-to-fix things
(it
seems to me) that make the experience really s*ck. For instance, I
like
hitting the space bar to get the next screenfull, but when I get to
the end
of the article/post/whatever, I hate the way my eyeballs bounce around
searching for the actual last paragraph.

I realize there are text reader and ebook programs, but those
generally
require the dowloading and/or conversion of html text. What I'd like
to see
is a browser functionality or plug-in that would allow the better
reading of
online text.

I really liked (and still like) the Microsoft Reader app to read
texts. The
prob is that although the .lit Reader format is based on well-formed
html,
Reader itself can't be used as a "browser." One has either to
download a
file already formatted as .lit, or download the html file and convert
to
.lit. I want to be able to browse a blog or a newspaper or an online
version
of "On the Origin of Species" or whatever and be able to read that
then and
there.

Here is my short list of features that would make for easier reading
of
online text. I don't think that any of them (or all of them put
together)
are technically very difficult to accommodate -- but what do I know?

(1) Page "swipe." By "swipe" I mean that when you go to the next page,
or
page down, the page image doesn't just blink to the next bunch of
text, and
neither does it scroll. What should happen is that the new page
replaces the
old page from the top down. Think of it as though one were turning a
paper
page. This isn't just an anachronistic gesture -- it helps the eye
focus on
the "incoming" page. Ideally, the swipe time can be adjusted, or even
eliminated. The older version of Reader used to do this -- I think.

The PageUp and PageDown keys are used to navigate quickly through a page
which can obviously be larger than the display area of the browser. How
long is a page is a choice by the author who won't know what video
resolution you are using for your monitor. PageUp and PageDown are used
to move within that same page but to do so in large chunks rather than
line-by-line when using the arrow keys. What, you want to usurp these
keys and force everyone to scroll down and up using just the arrow keys,
a process that would result in very slow and tedious scrolling? It's up
to the author to put navigation links in their article to flip to the
next page. They could, for example, even provide a frame that stays put
so you can flip pages regardless of your current position on the page or
use a sliding window that keeps those navigation links in view as you
scroll around.

(2) Only full lines of text at the beginning and ending of the browser
window. No half line of text at the top or half line of text at the
bottom.
The first line is a complete line of text, and so is the last line.

That is not a browser problem. That is a problem with a lazy author who
doesn't compose so there are no partial lines (or orphaned lines from a
paragraph).

(3.1) The first line of the next page is always just that. Not one
and a
half line of the previous page and a bunch of the next page. Page
down gets
you the next page.

Same complaint as above (extended to cover orphaned lines). That again
is how the author chose to compose their page. Your argument is with
the lazy composer that doesn't proof-read what will be displayed in a
web page based on where they delineated the page boundaries. HTML pages
are variable in length so there is no reason an author needs to orphan a
sentence from its paragraph.

No, PageDown gets you down further - and quickly so - to more text that
is outside the boundaries of the window for your browser which is
resizable (the author won't know what size you use nor is he going to
compress the text to make it unreadable because you have a small window
size) and its size depends on your video resolution. You have arrows
keys for granular movement within a page. You have the PageUp/Down keys
for fast movement within that same page. The rest of us aren't willing
to sacrifice fast movement because you think Page* keys refer to pages
in a book. If you have problems understanding how to scroll, visualize
the PageDown key as meaning DownFurtherOnThisPage (but that won't fit on
a keycap).

(3.2) Paging down to the last page shows the last page starting with
the line
after the one you just read. If there are only 4 lines on the last
page, the
rest of the frame is just blank. This will prevent the bounce my
eyeballs do
when they search around for the actual next line.

You got me on this one. Don't know what you mean. Again, sounds like a
lazy author problem in segmenting their content into easy-to-read pages.

There are a bunch of other features, but this would do it for me. Is
there
something out there already or am I just weird?

Well, you know that just leaves you open for troll replies.

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Is there something out there already

Middle button Autoscrolling?

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[Robert Aldwinckle]

You got me on this one. Don't know what you mean. Again, sounds like a lazy author problem in segmenting their content into
easy-to-read pages.

He means that you can't predict where the line you were reading is going
to be because it was only a partial page scroll. Full page scrolls make it
predictable (more or less) where you can continue reading from where
you were when it was (e.g.) near the bottom of the page. Even multi-line
scrolling e.g., using the Cursor keys, causes the same sort of hunt for
continuity because the movement is so abrupt. If it "slid" to the same
location there would be much less disruption caused by the need to
move down.

I think some alternating background shading would solve this problem.
An author might be able to solve the problem that way if they could do
it dynamically according to window size, etc. but I think it would make
a useful option for any browser.


Robert Aldwinckle
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