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So, this topic haunted my dreams last night, and I came up with this: Last Wednesday, I went to the grocery store and bought apples and oranges. By Sunday, I had eaten 50% of the apples but only 10% of the oranges. How many apples did I eat? How many oranges? Do I need to buy more of either to avoid running out? My point is that percentages are incomplete and meaningless without context. In an ebook, I need some indication of the total number of "pages-work-as-well-as-anything-else" to compare where I started, where I am now, how much farther I have to go, etc. And since different versions of the same printed book do not share consistent page numbers, I have no expectation that an ebook would conform to some other format's page-numbering system. I like Kobo's decision to put chapter progress and book progress on the screen together, because it gives me information I find useful. Would I prefer static page numbers versus page numbers based on screen and font size? Perhaps. Would I prefer only percentages? Definitely not! As Jon noted, using percentage by itself turns every book into 100 "pages" anyway, with each book's "page-length" varying wildly, which would drive me crazy. (By the way, I ate 2 apples and 4 oranges, which feels counterintuitive when the only information available is percentage.)
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