I like the simplicity of Raiz’s re-design (reproduced in the image above). I like the bigger screen. But, in many ways, Raiz’s design is driven by concerns that simply don’t matter to people who use the Kindle for its intended purpose: reading books.
Raiz disparages e-ink because it can’t be read in the dark. If an “inability to be read in the dark” rules out a display technology, then it’s time to start throwing out all those conventional, paper books, I reckon.
Raiz wants the Kindle to “properly render the design intentions of the typographers and publishers that created physical books.” Fact is, the Kindle isn’t a physical book, and there’s no reason for it to honor the conventions of a physical book. The content is independent of the page on which it’s rendered … something you’d expect a web-savvy writer to understand.
Raiz wants color. Why? Because color “opens this device up from being just a book reader into a device that can be good for reading the web.” This ignores, of course, that the Kindle *is* a book reader. It’s a device for reading books. Saying that it needs color in order to be a better web page reader is a bit like saying a cheese grater needs a browning element in order to be a better toaster oven.
Raiz wants to do away with the keyboard. Me, too. It’s ugly. It’s awkward. It takes up too much real estate. The iPhone has proven that a soft keyboard is a workable solution; the problem is, of course, that a touch screen element makes an e-ink screen much harder to see. That said: I’d rather have an actual Kindle with a physical keyboard than vaporware with a touch-screen keyboard.
When it comes to limiting the number of buttons and labels to an absolute minimum, Raiz is right on the money … but when he starts criticizing the Kindle for not incorporating technology that doesn’t exist, he seems to be doing what one commenter characterizes (correctly) as “pretending [that technical limitations] don’t exist and whining for the moon on a string.”
Thanks for the well thought out response. While I don’t claim my design is perfect I’m glad I was able to stimulate a discussion on how things could be better/different.
Thanks for reading – Greg
My only note on the above is that I too would like the color – not for reading the web but for doing one of the things the Kindle is supposed to do – send you your magazines and replace their paper versions. For newspapers, no problem since they’re in black and white anyway. But I’ll miss the color illustrations in many magazines – probably not enough to not switch – but someday when the technology does exist to add color to the Kindle I’ll be glad for it.