Since you are sharing your experience in reading with the iPad this might be a good place to ask a question which either you our your readers could answer. I have a friend who has failing eyesight -- so bad that she cannot even read with a very strong magnifying glass. What I am wondering is whether or not font sizes on a iPad book reading application can be increased to very large size and still be usable, readable on the screen. If so this might be a great device for people with impaired vision. Anyone out there care to comment?
I think I read a review saying the writer's wife loved the iPad for being easier to read than large-font books.
I took some photos of the iPad in three of the best reading applications in the largest font setting.
The Kindle app at the largest font setting:
The Instapaper app at the largest font setting:
The iBook app at largest text setting:
iBook at one of the medium text settings:
iBook at the smallest text setting (this is very small indeed):
They are all very good apps, and it seems to me they might help.
Frank said:
Thanks for the help Eo.The demonstration photos were great and gave me a good idea of the range of current possibilities.
However, her eyesight is very poor -- so we may have to wait for the development of an app for people with impaired vision.
She/we live in Australia -- so the iPad isn't even available here as yet.
eolake said...
I would say that looking at the iBook app's biggest setting, if that's not going to do it, then the only thing would be to wait for a possible future iPad or tablet with a bigger screen, because the text can't practically get bigger on this one.
If she combines the largest text here with a loupe... ?
Here's an idea: Get her a desktop computer (Mac or PC) with a large screen, and install Amazon Kindle on it, and enlarge the text there.
... OK, I just did that on my own screen... see pic hereunder. You won't find bigger text outside road signs!
Also, by the way, both desktop computers and Kindle 2, and iBooks on the iPad (I've heard), can read aloud to her, in an mechanic, but understandable voice.
8 comments:
Thanks for the help Eo.
The demonstration photos were great and gave me a good idea of the range of current possibilities.
However, her eyesight is very poor -- so we may have to wait for the development of an app for people with impaired vision.
She/we live in Australia -- so the iPad isn't even available here as yet.
I would say that looking at the iBook app's biggest setting, if that's not going to do it, then the only thing would be to wait for a possible future iPad or tablet with a bigger screen, because the text can't practically get bigger on this one.
If she combines the largest text here with a loupe... ?
Here's an idea: Get her a desktop computer (Mac or PC) with a large screen, and install Amazon Kindle on it, and enlarge the text there.
... OK, I just did that on my own screen... see pic. You won't find bigger text outside road signs.
My eyesight is good, but boy do I find Eo's writing in this topic insulting (on behalf of those with very poor eyesight).
I would say that looking at the iBook app's biggest setting, if that's not going to do it, then ... because the text can't practically get bigger on this one.
It can not? As long as the screen can fit one word, or even just one whole character, the text can certainly -- and very practically -- be made bigger.
Have you ever seen any assistive technology for those with poor eyesight in use?
If she combines the largest text here with a loupe... ?
You mean like hold a loupe in front of the iPad screen, just because the Apple engineer didn't bother to implement higher zoom levels?
It is difficult for me to imagine a more stupid idea.
... see pic hereunder. You won't find bigger text outside road signs!
The difference in size between that type and the type on road signs is hundreds of percentages. If your eyesight is really poor and you still want to use what little you have left, you quite literally may have to magnify your reading material to that size.
Now, there is kind of a technical reason why the iPad can not be made to magnify text any bigger. And that is memory limits. Font caches would quickly grow out of hand. But what they could do, however, would be to limit this feature only to a single font, say Helvetica, and maybe even to a subset of a symbols in the font. Also, when in this mode, they could switch off rendering of all inline images.
So, ultimately there are no excuses. And who knows, in future versions Apple might well address this need.
Also, by the way, both ... can read aloud to her, in an mechanic, but understandable voice.
Now, this is a great idea!
I certainly hope that "insulting" is an overstatement. I'd admit to limited insight, though. I had not enough data about it to imagine that anybody might want to read text one character at a time. But of course I can see that if the alternative is no reading at all, then the choice is clear.
It is difficult for me to imagine a more stupid idea.
Really? I can. Like, for example, the Apple engineers going to the trouble and expense of adding features for 0.00001% of the population. And making the rest of us pay for it.
I have low vision and from looking at the images here I could not use an iPad without my frame-mounted monocular which is heavy and quickly becomes uncomfortable. I have a Kindle DX which at its largest font is easy to read and on a good day I can live with the second largest font.
This is pretty old, I suspect some of the apps have been updated to show larger fonts yet.
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