| the lexiaProject public gui initiative | ||||
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The lexiaProject Public Initiative's primary goal is to make reading longer texts on a computer screen better, faster, more efficient and even more enjoyable. The project does not aim to "kill the book," as many writers, publishers, librarians and academics might fear. Rather, the project hopes to provide an alternate means for those readers who, by whatever circumstance, must read extended texts from a computer screen.By structuring the initiative such that key concepts are made freely available, the project hopes to achieve its secondary goal -- wide acceptance and adoption of project techniques and technologies. It is no secret that on-screen reading is a problem -- statistically speaking, reading extended texts on a video display screen is about 25% slower than reading a similar text on paper. Research suggests that the on-screen reading problem can be "solved" by increasing the fidelity of a video display. That is, by increasing the apparent resolution of a computer screen, scientists have measured that test subjects can read extended texts essentially as fast as they can read a similar text on paper. This seems to be true whether the increase in fidelity is achieved by using better hardware (screens with more picture elements per square inch) or by fooling the eye via a technique called anti-aliasing (which smooths the edges of otherwise jagged screen typography). Furthermore, tests conducted with proofreading tasks suggest that high-fidelity video displays can also be considered nearly as efficient as paper for task-oriented reading.I don't deny that techniques for increased fidelity, such as Microsoft's ClearType, can improve the readability of on-screen texts. However, it is my belief that the application of lexiaProject techniques can further improve on-screen reading so that, when these techniques are combined with high-fidelity computer displays, it might be even better in some circumstances than reading text on paper. | ||||
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