Designing for the Kindle (Part 1)

I got a Kindle yesterday (the base-level $79 model) and so far I’m impressed. After playing with it for a few days or a week, I’ll write up more of my thoughts here.

I have discovered a couple things about designing for the Kindle, though. First, the best dimensions for a PDF (because I haven’t played around with any other formats) are 3.5” by 4.5”. I may refine these, but right now it seems to work the best. I’ve been using 8/10 or 9/11 point type. Haven’t yet determined the best kinds of typefaces.

Second, a way to force the Kindle to recognize those dimensions. As far as I can tell, the Kindle automatically resizes PDFs to center the text/content on the screen, regardless of the document dimensions. That’s not great for anyone who wants to dictate exactly how their PDF should look.

Here’s my workaround for InDesign. Add a shape the exact dimensions of the document to the master page. Set the color to black, then dial the tint down to 1%. It’s invisible on the Kindle screen (and pretty much on my laptop screen, too), but the software that renders the PDF recognizes it as content, and therefore centers it on screen. I tried an entirely white shape and a 0% tint shape, but the Kindle doesn’t recognize that as content.

That’s it for now. More to come!

  1. itslasertime posted this