[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

[...] (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 would strongly recommend against this.

"Real Page Numbers" (RPNs) do serve an actual purpose for Accessibility reasons, especially for blind readers.

See the ebookcraft 2019 talk "The User's Perspective: Accessibility Features in Action", which was given by a blind person and explained many of the pitfalls of poorly converted ebooks.

Side Note: For all the discussion you would ever want to know about RPNs, I recommend checking out these infamous threads:

• Sick of Amazon Kindle books without Page Numbers (especially posts #129+, where I join in the picture).
  • I summarized pros/cons for 7 different methods of referencing parts of text, and your fractional pages would fall under my "Page Numbers" category.
• Real Page Numbers for Reflowable Kindle

Originally Posted by 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.

It seems like you're trying to create an absolutely arbitrary numbering that doesn't fit ANY sort of standard, making the fractional numbers even worse than just normal "Real Page Numbers".

If you're going through all this trouble, just stick with RPNs from the physical book.

I would say your new "Fractional Page Numbers" have even more disadvantages than a percentage/screen/byte-based approach. In this case, I would say including no RPNs at all would be better than arbitrary fractions.

Originally Posted by jhowell

I also prefer page numbers to not be screen numbers, but I understand why others may want that instead. It would be nice if readers had a choice.

Yep, the ultimate is a user-chosen preference between all:

• Real Page Numbers
• "Screens" (Book or Chapter)
• Percentage (Book or Chapter)
• Byte-based methods (ADE 'pages' or Amazon 'locations')

Since I wrote those in-depth RPN posts above, I've become a bit more lenient towards Screen/Percentage.

The different methods can serve different purposes:

• RPNs are great for reference/citation (or book clubs).
  • Especially important for Accessibility.
• Screens/Percentage are much better for estimating reading time.
• Byte-based are better if you're reading within a single ecosystem (if you only read on ADE/Kindle devices, the numbers will be the same).

which is why allowing all options is so much better, and you can flip between them as needed.