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New digital reading method: side-scrolling!

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Radishrain –

Today, I was reading on my Kindle Fire HD 8 sixth edition via Word Runner on the Kindle app. When you pause Word Runner, it has a mode where you can just scroll the whole book left to right, with your finger, on one line. I decided to try reading like that (even though it's probably intended as an intermitent mode, rather than a viable way of reading large amounts of text. I discovered that I could read a lot faster that way! I guess new lines really get in the way of reading or something.

The problem with using that feature of Word Runner is that the font size and brightness changes for the focus word. It's not just a scrolling line of text. This has the effect of making it look blurrier when going fast, and being kind of disorienting/dizzying. Also, it doesn't give you a cue to let you know where new paragraphs begin. It only lets you use Word Runner in portrait mode.

So, I propose the following feature for e-book readers:

Have a mode where you can scroll the text on a single line (with your finger, or similar, from side to side). Make every visible word the same brightness and size, and put a paragraph symbol by new paragraphs: ¶

Also, make it so you can go in landscape mode.

Another idea is to fill the whole screen with flowing text, flowing up to (and away from) the current line as you scroll side to side, back and forth, so it looks like one big long snake moving, sort of.

It would also be nice to be able to increase the refresh rate while in this mode (where possible), as that would make it flow more clearly.

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Radishrain

Reading: new lines seems to increase intrusive thoughts

This post was updated on .

I struggle with intrusive thoughts, and reading can trigger them, sometimes. I've discovered that when there are fewer, longer, lines of text, I have fewer intrusive thoughts as I read. I think it helps me remember stuff better, too.

However, reading long lines can be difficult in ways that short lines are easy (it seems harder to keep track of which line you're on and stuff), which is why I proposed a single line method above. I mean, if you only ever have one line of text, you never have to shift down, but you don't have to move your eyes all over the place, either, since you can move the line as you read. This reading method is smoother, and less chunky.

With a conventional method with short lines, it's fun, and seems fast enough to read, but each line is mentally jarring, since it's a new entity.

Short lines can be satisfying in that it's easier to gauge (and track) your progress (than with multiple long lines). However, with a single moving line method, you always know where you are, even more so than with multiple short lines, since your screen is centered on a specific word at a time, and the computer can remember where you are for you.

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