Bigger is better as phone book restores type size

The next telephone directory delivered to Wanganui man Ian Boyland will be a lot more use to him than this year's.

Its print size is being enlarged back to the size it was two years ago. The change is a response by the makers, Yellow, to complaints from Wanganui users that the type was hard to read.

"I'm rapt that they're going to do something," Mr Boyland said.

He wrote a letter to the Chronicle when the phone books arrived, complaining about the small print size.

This year he's been mainly using a phone list he wrote for himself, in big print, of numbers he rings a lot. He also bought a magnifying glass to help him read this year's directory.

The small print must be tough on advertisers, who pay for their listings, Mr Boyland said.

The new Wanganui telephone directories will be delivered in November, Yellow communications manager Katherine Cornish said.

They will still be a smaller-sized book, but the print will be larger and on directory-grade paper which is less transparent.

The larger print size will be common across 15 New Zealand regions. Ms Cornish said people in larger centres were more likely to look up phone numbers online.

"Particularly in the regions people still really rely heavily on the books," Ms Cornish said.

The number of listings in directories hasn't changed much, she said, despite the advent of cellphones.

People with landlines have an automatic listing, unless they want their number unlisted. A cellphone listing costs an extra $20.80, and a second listing for another surname also costs extra.