Tablet aspect ratio - 16:10 vs 4:3?

[fox]

The LG GPad III 8.0 tablet is really nice; fast, attractive, latest version of Android and comfortable to hold and use. (Camera is reportedly mediocre, but I don't use the camera in a tablet.) The only issue is the 16:10 dimensions. It does make it more awkward to read a magazine than on a 4:3 tablet, even if you have to magnify the text on both. I'm wondering if there's a plain text option that converts an ereader page to a single line of easily readable text as one can do with browsers? So far I haven't been able to find that option on the Google reader or the other two ereaders I've tried.

[Jason]

Not sure I fully understand. Are you viewing a PDF file in your e-reader and it's too wide to be viewable and you want just one column of text?

If it's a PDF without DRM on it, I'm sure there are converters online for converting PDF to TXT or one of the standard e-book formats like EPUB or MOBI. I have no idea which ones are good and how they deal with complex layouts like a magazine.

[fox]

Linux Magazine comes in PDF's. When I view them on an e-reader, you just see the page as it looks in a magazine. It can be magnified, which I definitely have to do on a 16:10 tablet, but then you have to push the text around on the screen to read it all. I was thinking that there might be an e-reader that can take the 2-3 column text on a page and just turn it into one column. It would be much more readable and you wouldn't have to push it around on the screen until you get to the bottom of the viewed text and then just to move it up. This is called "reader view" on a browser.

[Jason]

No idea. PDF isn't like HTML. It's meant to preserve the layout of the original file exactly no matter what device or operating system that it's on so an e-reader can't really change it. It's easy to reconfigure layout it in the browser because HTML allows for lots of different screen sizes. You'd have to convert the PDF file to another format to make it into one column, preferably a regular e-book format. There might be an app that does that but you might have to do if offline and the results may not be great since it probably only works for simple layouts.

Are you sure you don't need better glasses? I only ask because I can read Linux Journal fine on my 8" tablet but maybe it's because it's in two columns so uses slightly bigger fonts. Does Linux Magazine usually use three? Landscape mode might work better, too.

[fox]

Problem is I don't always wear my glasses when I read. ☺  Linux Magazine does use a three column layout on most pages. I tried landscape mode and it does work better on some pages.  For other pages, portrait is better, expanding the text so two columns fit the full width.

[bobf]

I believe Reader View (as I know it in Firefox) is an element of the Adobe Flash Player (or maybe in the Adobe Reader browser shim)? And I think it's in the Player, 'cuz I have at least a couple of Linux installs that I didn't bother to install Reader onto, so those tools wouldn't be available to a browser...?

[Jason]

I believe Reader View in Firefox was a former add-on that is now built into Firefox (Readability or one of the others). They integrated Pocket into Firefox a couple of years ago and Pocket uses the same kind of technology so it's also possible they're using that technology (Pocket also had an add-on). Add-ons are written in JavaScript AFAIK. If Acrobat Reader has a similar Reader View in it, I've never found it.