undefined | Better HN

0 pointsjebarker3y ago0 comments

> A4 proportions are objectively not great for reading (too elongated).

I spent the first 30 years of my life in the UK and US letter paper always looked too squat when I encountered it at work. I've spent the past 11 years living in the US. I recently dug out some old papers on A4 and they looked weirdly elongated. It's surprising how strong the perceived weirdness of paper dimensions could be and and how easily it was changed. Seems like it's totally subjective and we could probably be comfortable reading in many proportions.

0 comments

8 comments · 2 top-level

WillAdams3y ago· 4 in thread

My favorite proportion, enforced by various bits of TeX documentation set up to be printed on either side of the pond, is 210mm wide (A4 width), but 11" high (letter-sized height).

It's a workable compromise which ensures that all versions of a document have the same pagination/index.

barryparr3y ago

You could also store paper with those proportions in American file cabinets without folding.

WillAdams3y ago

And they can be stored in A4-sized cabinets w/o difficulty as well.

swores3y ago

I'm curious if there's a reason, or just accidental quirk of your comment, that you gave one dimension in mm and the other in inches?

TylerE3y ago

Because that’s what the standards are specified as?

1 more reply

solarkraft3y ago· 2 in thread

I don't work with paper much, so the squares I stare into most are either wide or narrow and high.

To me A4 looks weirdly fat/short/square-ish on first look.

On a longer look I think it looks very nice (especially so knowing why the ratio was chosen).

In general though, I prefer narrower columns for reading (closer to A5), so I don't know why it should be even wider/shorter.

jebarkerOP3y ago

> especially so knowing why the ratio was chosen

My understanding was that the advantages of A4 are more practical than aesthetic. Is that not true?

chimeracoder3y ago

> My understanding was that the advantages of A4 are more practical than aesthetic

The oft-cited reason is that you can fold A4 in half, etc. to form other standardized paper sizes.

Which sounds nice, but in practice just doesn't come up all that often.

2 more replies

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse