[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Bob Doyle

I created 340 small gifs and added them to the text flow at or near actual page breaks in my print edition.

[...]

Instead of gifs, this time I added page numbers with the same style as those in the print edition.

Ouch... In ebooks, you DO NOT want to have numbers in the middle of the text. (As others have mentioned, they are distracting).

And GIFs of page numbers? That sounds like the absolute WORST. I shudder to think what that looks like when the user raises the font size or changes colors.

Originally Posted by Bob Doyle

Amazon tells me I can offer two versions of the Kindle book, one FXL, one reflowable. I have exported both types of EPUB from InDesign. Kindle Previewer throws lots of errors for both.

The last time InDesign-specific discussion + Page Numbers came up was in this topic:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272034

and from what I was able to gather, InDesign CC only generated the page-list files for fixed format EPUBs.

Originally Posted by Bob Doyle

I am writing up a HOW TO ADD REAL PAGE NUMBERS for textbook authors who want page numbers that correspond to their print edition.

First, you have to painstakingly go through the book and insert invisible links like this wherever there is a page break:

<p>This is some example text<a id="page99"></a> that goes onto the next page.</p>

Probably best to use a logical ID like "page###".

Then you generate the necessary files. There are three different methods to insert "Real" Page Numbers into EPUBs as Doitsu has mentioned:

• EPUB2 Methods
  
  • page-map (only works in ADE-based readers)
    
    • This is a separate XML file you can insert into the EPUB.
      
    • *** Will cause EPUBs to fail epubcheck ***
      
    • You can read more about that in the MobileRead Wiki here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Adob...tions#Page-map
      
  • pageList
    
    • This is XML that gets inserted into the toc.ncx file.
      
    • You can read more about that in the MobileRead Wiki here: https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PageList#PageList
      
    • Doitsu's PageList plugin for Sigil is the only tool I am aware of to make generating the PageList easier: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=265237
      
• EPUB3-only Method
  
  • page-list (confusing name... I know)
    
    • This uses EPUB3-specific <span epub:type="pagebreak"> code.
      
    • See this article as an example: http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2015...ntents-part-2/

As Doitsu mentioned, KindleGen can successfully convert the first two types into Amazon's equivalent.

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

I realize this suggestion would take a lot of work, but if someone really wanted their ebook to contain the exact page numbers to correspond to a certain edition of a print book, could they add the page numbers as footnotes on the words that would be the last word on each page?

While I could see that being better than having GIFs... I still would argue it would be better to not have the "real" page numbers clogging up the text at all. Plus there are better methods.

Originally Posted by Hitch

However--and this is the point, to me--nobody seems to think about the usability of that. In other words, when you "go to" a page, in a print book, the term or concept you're looking for, IS on that printed page.

[...]

But when you create a MOBI, the page size is ABOUT 16.67% of the size of a printed page (or a "typewriter paper" page, 8.5" x 11"). That means that when you click that linked index item, you go to the top of page X. THEN, you have to scan through 1, 2 3, sometimes four pages, to find what you wanted.

For anyone who is not aware, there was a fantastically in-depth discussion in the thread "Sick of Amazon Kindle books without Page Numbers":

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272392

There is lots of information in there for everyone to learn from... but I think the real fun begins at Post #129 when I arrive!

"Real"/Physical Page Numbers make no sense in a digital book.