ideaskeron.blogg.se - Kindle ebooks with sidenotes

#Kindle ebooks with sidenotes free

The publishing industry seems to have a complete disregard for the user's need. This footnote is so long that the UI pop-up isn't big enough to contain it and displays a scrollbar.Īgain, this isn't a criticism of this specific author. How does an author decide what goes in the body and what goes in the notes? How does the user know whether the footnote is a citation or is explanatory?įinally, again from the same page, there's this: Here the author provides a citation and some explanatory text. And, that's assuming that I know that reference numbers are tappable, and that the tap-target is large enough that I don't accidentally interact with the book in some other way. In this example, I click on 13 and my ebook reader - KOReader displays a little pop-up at the bottom of the screen.īefore I tap the link - I've no idea what's behind it. (This criticism applies to most books I've read, but this is what I'm currently reading.) But I am unsure how I am supposed to read it 5. I'm currently reading "Race After Technology" by Ruha Benjamin". Here's my problem / User Need - how does a user know which type of footnote they are encountering? In the wild

Usually an explanation of an TLA 3 or technical term. Think of it a bit like a Director's Commentary on a DVD.

A diversion which, while interesting, is not relevant to the main argument. Anything from something a bit useless like "(Smith 1984.)" to a fully semantic " Baucherel, Kate, Blockchain Hurricane. In my experience, there are four types of footnote:

#Kindle ebooks with sidenotes free

Feel free to add your own, well-researched, stories.) Types of footnotes (This isn't a thorough bit of user research. So that readers unfamiliar with the subject don't feel excluded. As an author, I want to add an explanation for some jargon or terminology.

Because I hate deleting text and my editor told me to take it out.

As an author, I want to add more details which don't fit in the main body of the text.

So that critics can't use that to question my credibility.

As an author, I want to show that I have done my research.

So that I can understand the rest of the book.īut, there's also another user, who often takes precedence:

As a reader, I want to understand what a newly introduced term means.

Because I'm interested in this specific topic

As a reader, I want to know a little more about the subject being discussed.

So that I can see if the author is being accurate.

As a reader, I want to look up a reference to a quoted work.

Some of these are the fault of the author, some the publisher, some the eBook format 2, and some the reader app.įirstly, what's the point of a footnote? This is a rough and untested bit of user-storying. There are a few things that really annoy me from a usability point of view. I don't think they are really suited to eBooks - but they seem to have come along for the ride into the future. Footnotes are a weird skeuomorph hangover from the days of printed text. And I'm getting increasingly annoyed about footnotes 1. I've been reading lots more non-fiction books than normal.