 Webpage result with tiny fonts |  After Choosing Menu and Article Mode |
 After Pinch-zooming larger | KINDLE EDITION OF THE BLOG: HOW TO DEAL WITH LINKS LEADING TO IMPOSSIBLY TINY FONTS I've received some understandable grumbles from subscribers that links to free books don't go to the Kindle-device version of the Kindlestore, which is easier to read, and that, instead, the links go to unreadable webpages with tiny fonts. That's true, and in the Free-book-alert blog entries, I mention that Kindle Edition Subscribers, who get the last 25 blog articles on an edition, should do those links from a computer. Having said that though, it's Amazon who decides where the links go, and they take subscribers lately to a fast-loading modified or simplified web-site version for mobile devices although not to the simplest version, the Kindle-device version of the store. I can't do anything about it, unfortunately. |
SOLUTION
What I do want to point out is that once you're on one of those result pages of TINY print for an item, there is a solution.
You can press Menu and then "Article Mode" to read the book description there.
It's extremely clear that way. And it loads quickly also.
I've made some screenshots above to show you the difference if you choose this reading mode that Amazon has provided but doesn't say much about.
In Article Mode, however, you can't choose to buy or interact -- but once out of Article mode and back to Web Mode (you can use Menu or Back-arrow to get back to Web Mode), you can opt to press a button to get a free sample (from which you can later get the book if you like the sample) or to "purchase" it for $0.00 if the current pricing is still free. If intrigued, the latter is wise, as the free-books last for only hours or a couple of days.
With a Kindle Touch, all of this is fairly easy. While you can pinch-zoom the entire page of text and see it larger, you'd still need to scroll around. So it's best to start with selecting 'Article Mode.' Once you're back on the tiny-font webpage, use pinch-zoom to enlarge the text to find the box to request a sample if wanted, or to get the book.
With the Kindle Keyboard's results page, you get a ZOOM box that you can click on to enlarge that boxed section. This can be good for getting a sample but it's awkward. You still do have, however, that 'Article Mode' for reading the book description.
I hope this helps. Amazon's recent change to a faster-loading books-webpage makes clicking on links of interest with your Kindle device more worthwhile than in the past.
Kindle Touch 3G, US-only Kindle Touch WiFi (US) Kindle Touch WiFi-Only, outside US
Kindle Keybd 3G (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G) K3 Special Offers K3-3G Special Offers DX
Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers. Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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Very helpful...thanks! I keep running into the tiny font issue, often due to sloppy e-book design on the part of the publisher. Trying to zoom tiny graphics on a K3 can be frustrating if, as you pointed out, the publisher didn't bother to use high res graphics.
ReplyDeleteGordon,
DeleteThanks for letting me know it helped. I'd actually forgotten about Article Mode working for this after getting too used to the more awkward pinch-zooming or double taps etc of the more android-based later models.