The new supersize fonts in Kindle 2.5 have completely thrown me off my choice of favorite font size setting. The first thing is that now it seems that the 3rd sized font (from the bottom) is way too small and the 4th sized font is too big – neither works perfectly. The second thing is having those two huge sized fonts makes you rethink what you thought of the earlier fonts.
Let me explain using two examples -
- My roommate in London used to read websites using a pretty large-sized font. After noticing that and using his laptop a few times my own choice of font went up by a size. It was almost as if my eyes and brain realized that larger fonts can be more comfortable or perhaps they just liked the change.
- Reading a long article on a site or blog using a larger font instantly makes the font on other blogs and sites seem miniscule and unreadable. The effect persists – it’s not just a 5 minutes to refocus the eyes thing. It makes you realize there are options and that it might be worth exercising them.
The bigger the font size the larger the impact on the small font sizes.
Supersize Fonts make the Smaller Fonts seem too small
The supersize fonts have turned the two smallest font sizes on the Kindle into miniscule ones. The 2nd and 3rd font sizes used to be my favorite settings and now both seem too small. That should have translated into the 4th size font seeming the perfect fit but it doesn’t – the 4th setting still seems to be on the big side.
It’s great for people with low vision that there are now 2 super size fonts. Yet those two fonts do have an effect on the other fonts - it’s the law of unintended consequences.
The knee jerk reaction would be to add new font sizes between font sizes 3 and 4 and between font sizes 4 and 5 – That would probably cause other problems. Perhaps a sliding scale is the solution – However, then you wouldn’t know exactly where on the scale you were.
The 3 largest font sizes are much more readable in low light conditions
It’s probably the combination of the larger sizes, the darker font, the better screen contrast, and whatever new smoothing Amazon does – The 3 largest font sizes are quite readable in low light conditions. Much more so than the largest Kindle font sizes were before Kindle 2.5. Combine it with the slightly faster screen refreshes and the 3rd largest font size becomes a very viable low-light reading font.
Of course, it isn’t a backlit screen. However, it does increase the range of lighting conditions in which you can read on your Kindle.
Is more choice a good thing?
Let’s forget about low vision people for a moment. For them this change is obviously a great one.
What about someone who can read on all settings - Is it better to have 8 font size options (as compared to the earlier 6)?
Don’t really think so. It almost makes you wish the font size setting was on a separate page or was a sliding scale so that those two huge fonts didn’t tower over everything else. It also makes the Aa button dialog huge and hide most of the screen. A few more options and it’ll be taking over the entire Kindle screen.
We also have lots and lots of things to choose from – 8 font sizes, 3 words per line settings, and 4 screen rotation settings. Add-on 10 line spacing settings and it becomes very – well, very un-Kindle like.
How about a Simple Mode?
Could Amazon just add a ‘Simple Mode’ button that hid most of this stuff?
4 font sizes instead of 8. No words per line settings. Only a keyboard short-cut for Text to Speech and no options. None of the screen rotation options - if you must have them then add-on an accelerometer and a rotation-off button.
The fancy new super size fonts should be chosen on a special page – Why muddle up the choosing process and simplicity for 95% of users to cater to the 5% that need super size fonts?
Basically this is how Kindle 2.5 is shaping up for me -
- Folders/Collections - Good to have feature. Still have only ‘currently reading’ books on my Kindle but they’re neatly organized into Folders.
- Supersize Fonts – Appreciate that they help people. They just bother me and threw me off my favorite font settings.
- Twitter and Facebook – Who cares. Thankfully they are very non-intrusive.
- Popular Highlights – A bit intrusive but interesting to see what people liked.
- Sharper Fonts and darker fonts (better contrast) - Excellent and the best part of the update.
- Slightly faster screen refreshes – Good.
- PDF pan and zoom - Don’t read PDFs so don’t care. It does prove very valuable with PDFs so it’s good for all the PDF lovers.
After all is said and done Kindle 2.5 is a pretty good update and the surprising downside is that it takes away from the simplicity of the Kindle. We really do need a simple mode that just nukes all the newer options and removes all the social sharing stuff.
Filed under: kindle 2 Tagged: | kindle 2.5, kindle font size
Must say i don’t get you on this one, Abhi.
Even with all the new options, Kindle still remains one of the simplest devices of the kind. I bet there are people that never pressed the font button to begin with, much less messed with all the customization options. For those, Kindle is still the simplicity itself. You, on the other hand, love to customize it, and yet complain about the number of options.
The only real issue would be if these new options forced users to set them up or constantly bump into them while using the Kindle. Which they don’t.
Personally i have barely felt the update. It gave me folders which cleaned my clutter, gave me super usable pdf reading, which is very useful to me, gave me several font options which I don’t care about because i’m still using the 3rd setting I always have, and some social sharing options which i find great, although not using them much at the moment.
However all the new options I do use, I had to “opt in” manually. May as well have completely ignored them were my habits that dear to me.
Ultimately you can never have it both ways – no one is going to make an option-less device in this day and age, and when they do add options, they are going to add a bundle of them. That’s simply how consumer electronics work. And most people embrace and cherish this.
The good part is that, in my opinion, nothing you’ve mentioned as a problem in reality detracts from the ease and joy of using the Kindle – quite the contrary in fact.
I’d first just like to quickly say that I 100% agree the size 3 font is a little too small and size 4 is a little too big. I wish there was a font added in between. I don’t have any interest in the 2 super-size fonts, but it doesn’t bother me that the choice is there for others (I just think size 3.5 would be more popular than size 7 or 8).
As for usability, I’ve wondered for a while why computers and devices and applications don’t start off in a “simple mode,” with fewer options and more on-screen help and just a simpler interface that would appeal to the 90% of people who are not software engineers or very tech-savvy. Then have a setting somewhere where power users could turn on “advanced mode” and tinker to their heart’s content. As the “tech support” guy within my circle of family and friends, I can say there’s a huge disconnect between what a software engineer considers “intuitive” and what my mother considers “intuitive.”
I think the focus on simplicity is part of why the iPhone OS (and Kindle) are proving so popular. But why not have the best of both worlds, with an “advanced mode” we power users could turn on to customize and do more cool stuff?