I’ve been annoyed by this problem for some time. This afternoon it just became even more unbearable, perhaps because I have a slight stye affecting my right eye.

What is the problem?

Well put quite simply it is that the course materials for W100 are printed on paper that is quite glossy and shiny. Even the print appears shiny. This means that, in order, to read the print without shininess, I have to move my head around much more than when reading other books.

I suspect that this is done to make the course materials look attractive. Unfortunately, it makes it more difficult to read. It seems to be the case with nearly everything I have that is published by The Open University.

It is not the case with the OUP books or Pearson books that are also on my shelves. Perhaps the OU could take some advice or some good practice from those publishers?

originally published on my OU blog.