There’s a good article on Slate today - Lazy Bastards: How we read online. It begins:

You’re probably going to read this.

It’s a short paragraph at the top of the page. It’s surrounded by white space. It’s in small type.

It goes on to consider the differences between reading on screen and on paper.

The author draws on guru Jacob Nielsen’s work. In particular his comment “[U]sers are selfish, lazy, and ruthless.” So, it’s all our fault then. (Well, since I am a paid up member of the Nielsen for President party, actually, it’s all your fault.)

I saw my first Amazon Kindle on Saturday. I was in the Louvre Museum and an American chap was using it to look something up. He gave me a demonstration and it looks pretty cool - smaller than I thought. Perhaps the differences between reading online and reading from paper are narrowing.