Quote:
Originally Posted by ahi
I'd like to hear from people who hold the view that eBooks are better for being without a concept of pages. Why do you think so? What downside would you perceive to trying to make eBook display software treat reflow formats as having pages? (Whether pages of predefined length like ePub, or pages of dynamic length [i.e.: screenfulls]?)
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Page numbers and sizes have never been standardized. Back in the dark ages when I was a student, I occasionally would take a class that involved a book I already owned, but I still had to purchase the same edition the teacher was using so they could make reference to specific pages. It made no sense then and even less now.
If you want some standard way to define references to text, or measure the length, why would you try to link to something that is not standardized to begin with? It feels like a throwback to people measuring distance in 'feet' using their own foot length. If someone tells me an ebook is 300 pages referring to screens, but I don't know if they are using a Palm III or a desktop with a window maxed out to 1600x900 resolution, then 300 pages is meaningless. Even on a PDF, even if I know the font used, if I don't know that their pages are US Letter, A5, or optimized for a 6" reader, pages are again meaningless. Why tie ourselves to a standard that is not standardized?
I know people have problems with it, but for measuring the length of a book, word count seems the simplest way to judge if I am considering a short story or long novel or something in between. As for referencing text passages, naming chapter and scene or chapter and paragraph seems to work well for most things.
The Bandit