Quote:
Originally Posted by GregS
There are a number of problems associated with ebooks that need attention. First, for serious rather than recreational reading page numbers are now meaningless, at best as internal references to p-book editions. Standard formats need to include rational numbering schemes as mandatory requirements.
If we end up numbering chapters and paragraphs, the option of showing the numbers has to be dealt with elegantly - at the moment this is a black-hole. Page numbers are effectively gone, and nothing is there to replace them.
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I've been thinking that reflowable ebook editions of serious works should include an extra index of "page numbers" taken from the page numbers of some reference fixed-layout edition. The reference page numbers need not always be displayed, but should easily be called up on demand for momentary display or for inclusion in an annotation. Chapter/paragraph references should also be available in a similar way as both a navigation index and on-demand displayable property of the current reading location, though such references need not be linked to a particular fixed-layout edition of the work.