I'm glad that we seem to be on the same page. I was afraid there was something obvious I was missing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kovidgoyal
As for references, IMO paragraph numbers are far superior, and no, you don't have to prerender the contents to use paragraph numbers as references.
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You do, however, have to
examine the contents of the files which, while perhaps negligible compared to rendering, is still slower than making assumptions based on the file size. Furthermore, the only such system in widespread use is Digital Editions. Not even Calibre uses the paragraph number for its "page numbering". There would have to be a very good reason to throw out a perfectly acceptable system.
Paragraph numbers have the advantage of being far more specific, but they aren't perfect. As mentioned, they are slower to calculate (although the results are easy to cache and the calculation is perhaps so fast as to not matter). I don't normally argue that the speed should be a concern, but it is worth mentioning. I also believe that some publishers will mess up this system by creating documents using tags that don't conform to the definition of a "paragraph" but look perfectly normal when reading. Then there is the possibility that the numbers aren't "human" enough. A 270 page paperback book I have here has 1300 paragraphs, and each page turn on an e-ink device is going to advance the reference number by about 7 or 8. Are readers going to find such large numbers acceptable?
On the other hand, the Bible is a pretty large precedent...