Dial M for miniature
A GENERAL outcry that has followed in the wake of the latest phone book release seems to prove size does matter.
As people around the region have opened up their new, compact White and Yellow Pages directories only to find they need a magnifying glass to read it, it's become apparent that distributors Sensis may not have found the right balance between the size of the book and the size of the text.
Sensis is open about the small type, publicly advertising that magnifying aids would be available for those who requested one.
But in the meantime, phone book users across the region are spending a lot of time squinting.
Walkervale retiree Nina Higgins said she got a shock when she opened the pages to find the shrunken text.
"I was looking for a postcode and the numbers were so small that I had to get out my magnifying glass," she said.
Despite being in her 80s, Mrs Higgins said she had never had any problem with her eyesight.
"What would happen in an emergency and someone accidentally dialled the wrong number because they are too small?" she said.
The new phone book is also much smaller than the previous edition, but Mrs Higgins was a fan of this change.
"It makes it much easier to store," she said.
A number of people also posted complaints on the NewsMail's Facebook page about the change.
"I find it almost impossible to read and some of my friends have expressed the same view," Glenda Wilkins posted.
"My nanna will be 84 this year and won't even touch a mobile phone, without even mentioning a computer - she relies on her phone book," Rita Rayer posted.
And business owners are getting their noses out of joint too.
Rod Modrow said he had problems with the text size after paying to advertise in the Yellow Pages.
"I wasn't told when I placed ads that the book would be smaller this year," he said.
Sensis spokesman Damian Glass said one of the criticisms of the book in the past had been that it was too big and difficult to handle.
"People prefer the compact format and they've also asked why we can't publish books in this format with the old font size," he said.
"If we use the old font size we'll end up with the same problem - a book that's too big."
Mr Glass said no decisions had been made about font size for next year's book.
