[j.p.s]

There are already quite a few numbering schemes for showing location in an ebook, but I would like to discuss one more, (decimal) fractional page numbers. This would allow "real page numbers" that match a specific print version for reference purposes (but does have the problem that many books have multiple print editions with varying pagination), and still show change for each ebook page turn.

I did some experimenting and it can already work on some EPUB and Kindle readers (example screen shots attached).

I started with the plain text for Henry Ford's autobiography My Life and Work and added asciidoc formatting markup. Next page number link targets were added based on a scan at archive.org, and when that was working, half-page link targets were inserted between each pair of "real page numbers".

Also attached EPUB, KF8 (azw3), and KF7 (mobi) formats and Kindle apnx files to the next post. The uncompressed mobi8 apnx file needs to be copied to the .sdr folder the kindle creates for the book and the mobi7 apnx needs to be copied to the same place as the book. The EPUB uses the page-map method for page numbers (none of my readers support pagelist numbering), but it would be easy to make a pagelist version.

The devices I tested that supported the fractional page numbering were Pocketbook 360, K4NT, PW3, Voyage, Oasis 2, Onyx Boox M92, and iriver story HD.

It did not work on original Kobo H2O with original firmware, koreader on Voyage, or Calibre.

The asciidoc and other support files will be attached to the second post.