e-book readability, comprehensibility and satisfaction

Abstract

The style of text, including number of columns, line spacing, typeface, and font-size, may affect e-book readers' understanding, readability and satisfaction. Along with the recent appearances of e-book devices such as Amazon's Kindle, Apple iBooks, and Barns & Nobles' Nook, user experiences reading with e-books is considered critical. In this study, we investigated the issues in terms of readability, comprehensibility, and satisfaction by systematically measuring two major typographical factors: number of columns and line spacing. The study showed that these two independent variables are critical for e-book experiences from these three key aspects. Finally, the implications of this research are discussed.