iPad mini aspect ratio is awful

[AppleRobert]

Buying the DKR BluRay on Tuesday one gets ultraviolet. I will watch the movie extensively on my hdtv BUT it will be nice to check it out on the iPad 4 occasionally.

[darngooddesign]

Nope. 4:3 is the best for people who don't just watch videos.

[NT1440]

Originally Posted by vastoholic

Most of the things we read on the internet are not laid out in columns anymore anyway, and magazines are slowly moving away from this strict format as well.

Says the guy that apparently doesn't read any articles anywhere on the internet.

[vastoholic]

Originally Posted by NT1440

Says the guy that apparently doesn't read any articles anywhere on the internet.

Sorry, just what I've noticed. Hardly anything I read on the internet is in the standard newspaper column format anymore. Yes, I'm sure the pages will automatically resize for you. But all of my favorite websites do not follow the the tiny 11 pica column size.

Even if there's a site that has columns such as this, what about the rest of the content on the page? With a narrower screen then you have to scroll around all over the place to see all the related articles, etc. With the 4:3 ratio you can easily nearly all of the content on the page.

[NT1440]

Originally Posted by vastoholic

Sorry, just what I've noticed. Hardly anything I read on the internet is in the standard newspaper column format anymore. Yes, I'm sure the pages will automatically resize for you. But all of my favorite websites do not follow the the tiny 11 pica column size.

I've found columns only getting more popular as of late. Every news site I read has articles broken out in columns that are perfect for a double click.

Not that any of that matters, the reader feature of safari is a work of art so our conversation is essentially rendered moot

[vastoholic]

Originally Posted by NT1440

I've found columns only getting more popular as of late. Every news site I read has articles broken out in columns that are perfect for a double click.

Not that any of that matters, the reader feature of safari is a work of art so our conversation is essentially rendered moot

I guess I'm not sure on what you meant by columns. I thought you were talking about like a typical newspaper column that's only about 5 or 6 words wide.

[NT1440]

Originally Posted by vastoholic

I guess I'm not sure on what you meant by columns. I thought you were talking about like a typical newspaper column that's only about 5 or 6 words wide.

Oh no not at all. I was referring to the form factor of way longer length than width. I always zoom to full screen on my mini or use reader but they are still in the "column" format.

I think there's a more specific word for that particular column format that you're talking about, I just can't for the life of me remember what it is.

[vastoholic]

Originally Posted by NT1440

Oh no not at all. I was referring to the form factor of way longer length than width. I always zoom to full screen on my mini or use reader but they are still in the "column" format.

I think there's a more specific word for that particular column format that you're talking about, I just can't for the life of me remember what it is.

Ahhhh, gotcha. This is what I see more these days and probably what you're talking about as well:





It's more like reading from a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper than a news paper. I haven't seen too many, but it seems like scientific/academic journals are still following the really narrow column form.

[NT1440]

Originally Posted by vastoholic

Ahhhh, gotcha. This is what I see more these days and probably what you're talking about as well:





It's more like reading from a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper than a news paper. I haven't seen too many, but it seems like scientific/academic journals are still following the really narrow column form.

I'd have to agree with you entirely. Seems like only journals really use that narrow form factor anymore.

[vastoholic]

Originally Posted by NT1440

I'd have to agree with you entirely. Seems like only journals really use that narrow form factor anymore.

Crisis averted. lol

[zhenya]

4:3 is one of the big advantages iPads have over the competition. Yes, they lose out a bit for movies, but really, why optimize a sub 10" screen for movies? Video will always be a minority of usage for the majority of tablet users. Why make a device that lends itself to being picked up in any orientation awkward in one of them?

Finally, the 768 point width of the ipad is PERFECT in portrait for the width of most modern websites. With the narrower tablets, you may not always get the entire content on the screen without scrolling left to right.

[Mr.damien]

Originally Posted by urkel

Huh?!?! "Serious movie watching has to be done on my ipad 3"? HDTVs/large monitors are dirt cheap and movie theaters are everywhere so are people really choosing to do "serious" feature length movie viewing on a 9.7" iPad over a home theater or movie theater? Because it's really sad if people are watching a movie like The Dark Knight rises for the first time by making popcorn, turning off the lights and holding an iPad up to their face for three hours while missing out on the immersive experience of watching an amazing movie in a "serious" movie setup.

I find the iPad to be a "convenient" device for watching youtube shorts or sitcom reruns on netflix but for actual movies then I'd rather wait until Ive got time to see it on a big screen where I can appreciate what 200million dollars of explosives looks like.

I find even sadder to watch a movie in the middle of people eating all the time, making noise and by far with a too high price for watching 20 minutes of ads at the beginning...

[zephyrnoid]

Originally Posted by vastoholic

Yes they wrote them in columns, probably because it flowed much better over a huge piece of paper instead of giant paragraph/wall of text. Is there any reason we can't evolve from this method reading because what we are reading on is changing? Your argument is pointless. Most of the things we read on the internet are not laid out in columns anymore anyway, and magazines are slowly moving away from this strict format as well.

You need to understand. I'm a Human Factors Professional that happens to do a lot of work in technology domains. NOTHING I write is a matter of personal opinion or predilection.

Point by Point....
"probably because it flowed much better over a huge piece of paper instead of giant paragraph/wall of text."
Nope. Having set 'hotmetal-type' in grade school; I know the original reason for column widths. It has to do with fixed size of the hand compositor and the limitations of how it laid columns out on a plate. So that standard 'stuck' LONG after hot metal type died out.

BUT the unintended consequence of narrow column widths for reading will shock you. It turns out that SCIENTIFIC research into the cognitive aspects of reading, comprehension and retention, result in a conclusion that 'we' humans, actually absorb and retain the information read in narrower columns of text, exponentially better than we do when reading wider columns. Why? Because our eyes have to scan less laterally, and then we can MORE EASILY 'pick up' the next line below ( English ).
As a type wonk, I can inform you that big blocks of text can be fun and shaped creatively, add a lot to the reading experience. Heavens knows I do this a lot in my own deliverables. But for reading 'stories' quickly, efficiently and with error minimization, it's hard to beat the newspaper column width.

So what does this mean for the future of tablets that are a hybrid e-reader and multimedia rich computer platform?

My professional opinion is that the outer physical dimensions of the Nexus7's width will turn out to be the maximum width for a single-hand holdable and that 16:9 aspect ratio will dominate completely, with 4:3 being relegated to SD TV land Take note that as Anamorphic ( 2.40:1 ) gains ground, more and more downloadable movies will appear in that ratio. Imagine how silly to be porting 4:3 screens at high prices to a mass of customers that are NOT downloading 4:3 content

[zephyrnoid]

Originally Posted by akdj

Lol...actually it seems (from reading the 20 responses in this thread) that you are Wrong! Newspapers? They're completely dead!!! No one is reading papers any longer. 150 year old newspaper companies are going out of business. Completely different format regardless.

Bizarre comparison. I'm with the majority in the thread. 4:3 is the ONLY way to go on a tablet. Other than specific games that require landscape mode, I'm always using my iPads in portrait. Reading, browsing, drawing, coding, editing photos and videos--actually the latter I do use in landscape. Other than that...even the cases are set up to hold comfortably in portrait mode

Good luck with that Nexus

J

I've never been or followed fanboyz. That's why my second computer was a Apple 128K. You might want to get some education in Human Factors before your consider that the 'way to go' is the way of blind sheep

[GrandPhrase]

Yeah.. Unfortunately, YouTube and TV shows are probably better on the bigger iPad, bigger monitor/TV and the Macs from either less black bars (on Macs) and bigger content (on iPad).

Movies alone are probably better off on the Macs and larger monitors/TVs since even the bigger iPad displays only use 50% of screen on 16:9 movies(as opposed to TV shows and YT that displays videos at a lower AR - which would be fine on either iPad/mini).