Skipping ahead / Index

LucentBeam · 10-26-2010, 06:27 PM

There are some things that I stopping me from buying Kindle over another reader.

One of them is that I've heard you cannot skip ahead to any page in the book.

Since there are only "fake" demo units in stores, I have not been able to test out a Kindle 3 to navigate.

Here are my specific questions:

1. Can I jump to (for example) page 200 if I wanted?

2. Is there still an index at the end of a reference book that will let me jump to that particular page? For example, I look up a term in the index and am given a page number.... (that then I can jump to?)

susan_cassidy · 10-26-2010, 07:03 PM

You can jump to a specific location (there are no pages per se, it uses 'locations' instead, which are like small pages).

Most books have a linked Table of Contents, so that you can go to the TOC, then click on the link for Chapter 4, for example.

Whether there is a linked index is completely up to the publisher. I wouldn't hold my breath.

However, you don't need an index, since you can search for any word and jump to the place(s) that the Kindle found that word.

LucentBeam · 10-27-2010, 06:15 PM

Thank you!!

Until I bought the Kindle, I guess I was confused about what "locations" meant.
Now I realize that "location" is just the Kindle term for "part in the book" and if I stop thinking about "page numbers" and think about "location", then it's easy enough to skip around as much as I want!

Gwen Morse · 10-28-2010, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LucentBeam

Thank you!!

Until I bought the Kindle, I guess I was confused about what "locations" meant.
Now I realize that "location" is just the Kindle term for "part in the book" and if I stop thinking about "page numbers" and think about "location", then it's easy enough to skip around as much as I want!

Yes, exactly. Locations are substitutions for page numbers.

If you have a TOC, you can jump to the start of each chapter. If you know the location, you can jump to any location in the book.

emalvick · 10-28-2010, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gwen Morse

Yes, exactly. Locations are substitutions for page numbers.

If you have a TOC, you can jump to the start of each chapter. If you know the location, you can jump to any location in the book.

And actually, it will depend on the sophistication of the TOC. Some items (like the Kindle manual) have a more detailed TOC that you can skip to subheadings and sections quite easily.

As far as indices go, it will really be up to the publisher. An ebook is really just a variation on an HTML document, so it can have hyperlinks, etc to anywhere in a book (that's what the TOC is), and there is no reason why one couldn't have an index besides the fact that a search works just fine as a previous user suggested.

I do think it would be nice if while searching one could see all the results so that if searching for a particular word or topic you could choose which occurrence to go for by location rather than in order they come up (i.e. if you know the item you want is in the back of the book but it is mentioned earlier, so you go straight to the later occurrence rather than the one in the introductory chapter).

Erik

tomsem · 10-28-2010, 09:08 PM

Many books also link chapter headings to jump to their reference within the TOC, which is kind of nice if you are chapter hopping.

10-26-2010, 06:27 PM	#1
LucentBeam Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 20 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle 3	Skipping ahead / Index There are some things that I stopping me from buying Kindle over another reader. One of them is that I've heard you cannot skip ahead to any page in the book. Since there are only "fake" demo units in stores, I have not been able to test out a Kindle 3 to navigate. Here are my specific questions: 1. Can I jump to (for example) page 200 if I wanted? 2. Is there still an index at the end of a reference book that will let me jump to that particular page? For example, I look up a term in the index and am given a page number.... (that then I can jump to?)

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10-26-2010, 07:03 PM	#2
susan_cassidy Wizard Posts: 2,251 Karma: 3720310 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: USA Device: Kindle, iPad (not used much for reading)	You can jump to a specific location (there are no pages per se, it uses 'locations' instead, which are like small pages). Most books have a linked Table of Contents, so that you can go to the TOC, then click on the link for Chapter 4, for example. Whether there is a linked index is completely up to the publisher. I wouldn't hold my breath. However, you don't need an index, since you can search for any word and jump to the place(s) that the Kindle found that word.

10-27-2010, 06:15 PM	#3
LucentBeam Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 20 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: USA Device: Kindle 3	Thank you!! Until I bought the Kindle, I guess I was confused about what "locations" meant. Now I realize that "location" is just the Kindle term for "part in the book" and if I stop thinking about "page numbers" and think about "location", then it's easy enough to skip around as much as I want!

10-28-2010, 09:08 PM	#6
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,905 Karma: 27013865 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Many books also link chapter headings to jump to their reference within the TOC, which is kind of nice if you are chapter hopping.

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