<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Paul's amusing reference and valid questions about readability regulation [should other factors such as kerning, paper quality, ink (color), font type be included?] of the _material_ text bring me to my question to this list's expert readership, for a current project in which the limit of readability is sought for artistic purpose: a hybrid book/pdf/online publication which aims to benefit of specific media qualities, in the mix.<br><br>A pdf is zoom-able, a 2pt size text at 400+% reads from a screen and prints well. Web browsers scale text but not images. The book, well, is a book -- no need to again praise its superior intimacy and usability. But it needs a seperate reading device to zoom in it.<br><br>My question is simple: in your experience, which combination of font, type size, ink color, paper quality gives the most extreme detail in the hands of a skilled off-set printer? Or in another printing technique, provided the result would be 'ink on paper'. Which material qualities would enlarge best under the magnifying glass?<br><br>Artist James Lee Byars once showed me a 10x10mm piece of paper which had been printed on some Swiss mountain in a dust free room and under other 'perfect' conditions. I forgot how much words it contained but its type size was under 2pt for sure. Then we know about small type engraved rice grains, pin heads etc. I'd be interested in any reference to miniature (text) print and other fabrication/reproduction 'out there'. Like the miniature books exhibition at <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/miniatures/index.shtml">http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/miniatures/index.shtml</a><br><br>Today we have the nano bible: <a href="http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2007/12/nanotech-squeez.html">http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2007/12/nanotech-squeez.html</a>.<br><br>With reading devices developing parallel to writing technologies, where will practical applications go?<br><br>Jouke Kleerebezem<br><a href="mailto:nomanisanisland@wanadoo.fr">nomanisanisland@wanadoo.fr</a><br></body></html>