Reading Tamil Magazines online

I am subscribed to both Vikatan(paid) and kumudam(free) online. I read them whenever I am bored. This got me thinking about how this compares with reading those magazines in paper format.

Well first and foremost it is economical to get these magazines online rather than getting the paper copy. Also it is good for the environment because so much paper is saved!! And also there is no wait involved in getting the magazines.

However I find reading these magazines in their paper copy to be better than online(at least in the current form they are online).

First thing is trying to figure out what you would like to read. Of course for regular columns you remember the links and click it. But for content that is not regular, you have to click on the links. For some reason I find it tedious to check each link to see if there is any thing interesting rather than just flipping through the pages!!(May be they should just put up a thumnail image of each page as you mouse over the links!)

Second reason is by nature computer monitors are not suitable for reading long because of their backlight.(May be vikatan and kumudam should be available in Amazon's kindle!!)

Third thing is there is so much going on the screen distracting you from what you want to read. For example there is an animating advertisement on the right, all these cluttered links on your left, scrolling news on the top etc.

Fourth thing is for some reason I find myself to be a little restless when reading online compared to reading a real book. For example when reading online I tend to constantly move the mouse cursor over the pages, highlight portions of text that I am reading etc. However when reading a paper magazine I find myself to be more relaxed and fully concentrating!