Two Fiction Reading Queries

[riverfox]

1. Which do you prefer when reading fiction from a website?

• Black font on white background?


• White on black?


• Dark Grey on white?


• blue on white?


• black on light grey?


• dark color on light color other than white?


• Another preferred color combo?

2. When it comes to reading offline, do you use the webpage, or would you like to have a .pdf or .docx download option?

Comments

[brootang]

I personally like either white on black or pale writing on other dark colour.

If reading offline I read on my PDA, usually I cut and paste it from the website and save as a Word document for this, as its easy to change the font on the PC and then just transfer onto a memory card for reading.

[riverfox]

Thanks! Very helpful. :)

Do you prefer to convert (i.e., copy/paste) to a Word doc yourself or do you think it'd be handier to have me offer that file format?

[brootang]

I prefer to copy/paste myself as I am using a dinosaur PC an with old version of word. Also, I have an old PDA (but I love it) and even if I download a larger fics it still needs to be broken into smaller chunks or it freaks out when trying to open the files.

I am pretty easy going really, as long as I can save and read the fic I am happy :o) x

By the way this colour scheme is very easy reading x

[discodiva76]

The only trouble I have is with white on black...I actively avoid sites with this..it hurts my eyes and I find the reading of it almost impossible...

I like a pale neutral colour for a background with dark/black writing ...

I do the same as brootang...I copy and paste to Word from the website page and save it to transfer to either my Tomes app on the iPad or over to my little Sumvision...I did this when I got my Sony E Reader as it was the easiest way to copy the docs over and I'm such a dinosaur with tech stuff I've stuck with what I know....


xoxoxoxo

[riverfox]

Thanks, that's helpful! :)

So as I asked Brootang, would you like for me to offer a Word file download?

[ivorygates]

Grey type on a light bg makes me want to go and hunt down the page designer and rip out every single one of their fingernails with pliers. It is VERY VERY HARD TO READ if you have intermediate vision problems. And this (you may have guessed by now) makes me very cranky.

Black type, please, on a very pale (but not glaring white) bg. Very pale grey [bg] is okay, as is very pale blue or green (are you old enough to remember the days when some of the paperbacks were printed on "Easy Eye" paper?).

My .02.

White on black, no; it's hard to *see*, let alone read.

[riverfox]

LOL Could be worse. Could be dark green type with hot neon pink background, which I've seen. I'd like to smack every "designer" who uses any neon color as a background.

Oh I remember that grey-green paper. :)

Thanks for the FB, it's very helpful. :)

But could you tell me if you'd like a writer to offer alternate file downloads?

[ivorygates]

Hm. I tend to not read offline, but were I to do so, I'd prefer an "on-purpose" (ie, the .pdf or .docx -- which i would instantly convert to .doc because I do not ever in the entire future history of fankind ever intend to upgrade Word 2003 -- option) download rather than having to wrestle with the alternative methods of textwrestling.

Designers should be locked into a room with the Encyclopedia Britannica formatted in their preferred colors/fonts/sizes and not let out until they've read it. My two favorites so far have been...

1. Red on chrome yellow. JIMINY CHRISTMAS, PEOPLE!

2. Light pink on.... SLIGHTLY DARKER PINK! Hello, I am down with Hello Kitty TOO! But I would also like to know whether there is text on the page, or if I am just hallucinating, you know???

Opinions. I haz them.

[riverfox]

LOL Um, yeah. Word 2003+. The dreaded ribbon conversions. It took me *ages* to learn that frickin' thing. I nearly didn't bother, but I'm a silly fan of "updates please!", but more, I'm a bigger fan of "the pretteh", since I learn visually and for some reason, I have to have a pretty GUI to do any bloody thing. *eyeroll*

Light pink on dark pink? Unreadable. Wouldn't even try. It'd be more useful to do those color blindness tests. ;)

[jdjunkie]

Anything except white on black ... my eyes! Preference is good old black on white (well, I am a newspaperwoman *g*)

I do like a pdf option. :-)

[riverfox]

Awesome. :) That was very helpful. :)