In reply to pec:
One of the features of most of our books is that the topos for long multi-pitch routes are as full page as we can possibly get. Even if we do fit text around them, this tends to be done in gaps rather than forcing the topo to be smaller. So there is no space to be gained in most cases from shifting descriptions to another page (this is against our fundamental rules anyway, so we would never do it).
There is, however, a lot of clarity and topo quality to be lost by making the book a smaller - say A6ish - in size.
You only need to look at the topos in out North Wales Classics book (A6), and compare them to the same topos in out North Wales Climbs book to see the massive difference in clarity that the bigger A5 format affords.
That said, the point about book size is one that people do mention. We could do two or three smaller books, but again, that is losing one of our selling points - people have shown time and again that they prefer books with lots of information in them.
I personally have found photographing the page a very workable option, especially since you can zoom in closer than you can with the book.
The other option that we will be offering soon is our App. Obviously this is still a small screen on some phones, larger on others, and getting large with the latest iPhones, but it is designed to be navigated and used on that screen size and is more useable than a photo by some distance. Also, screen technology is moving on at an incredible pace and I am sure it won't be long before there are some very portable larger screen devices available.
Alan