A tablet still is not a book … not yet

Dan Turner discusses why the experience of reading a book on tablets (iPads in particular) is a chore rather than a delight.

In a long article for UX Magazine, he discusses a number of reasons, often related to usability and even biology, why that may be so:

• The physicality of books is linked to comprehension and memory, and reinforces focus and comprehension
• The glossy, reflective screen is a physical strain, degrading the reading experience
• The combination of thinness with weight puts a physical stress on your hands that a book does not
• As a light source often used in darkened environments, potentially disrupt our sleep cycles
• Due to the regular notifications we receive on our tablets, we are easily distracted and find it hard to achieve concentration or flow
• We are conditioned to see screens as ‘work’ or ‘entertainment’ devices, again making it hard to enjoy a reading experience on them

So, he asks, what could we as hardware, system, and app designers do to help reduce distraction? And how can serious user research help us in that?