highlighted text in kindle book

flhden · 10-17-2010, 12:57 PM

Just read my first book on my new kindle 3 wi fi and I love it. Just wondering why it occasionally has a number and some random highlighted text that is underlined with the option to remove the number but the text still remains underlined. No big deal but can't figure out WHY.
Thanks

macminer · 10-17-2010, 01:33 PM

That's the "popular highlights" feature. If a lot of readers highlight the same passage, it gets tagged as a "popular highlight" in the Amazon database and that's what you see. You can turn it off in the general settings (second page) if you are not interested.

curstpriest · 10-17-2010, 06:53 PM

Most useless feature ever!

flhden · 10-17-2010, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macminer

That's the "popular highlights" feature. If a lot of readers highlight the same passage, it gets tagged as a "popular highlight" in the Amazon database and that's what you see. You can turn it off in the general settings (second page) if you are not interested.

Thank you very much. I would have never found that as I didn't know there was more than 1 settings page. It's not a big distraction but I'm anal about knowing why things do what they do.
Thanks Again

macminer · 10-22-2010, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curstpriest

Most useless feature ever!

In most situations - yes. But I imagine it may come useful in books like textbooks. If you're preparing for an exam and see that many people highlight the same passage, then it is perhaps important and worth noting. If you're just reading fiction, it can be quite distracting.

curstpriest · 10-22-2010, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macminer

In most situations - yes. But I imagine it may come useful in books like textbooks. If you're preparing for an exam and see that many people highlight the same passage, then it is perhaps important and worth noting. If you're just reading fiction, it can be quite distracting.

Because textbooks are never distributed exclusively as PDF which this feature won't ever work with anyways? OH right.

macminer · 10-22-2010, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curstpriest

Because textbooks are never distributed exclusively as PDF which this feature won't ever work with anyways? OH right.

Amazon's own category:
Books › Reference › Education › Test Guides - College & University

Results:
Kindle Books: 139
PDF: 2
Printed books: 3183

Or another:
Books › Reference › Education
Kindle Books (4,276)
PDF (15)
Printed Books (40,576)

Mind we are not talking about what format a particular college uses (the ones you know might indeed use exclusively PDFs, the ones I know - typically MSWord

), but about a Kindle feature, and here the statistics is 139 Kindle Books to 2 PDFs or 4276 Kindle Books to 15 PDFs. Books not bought from Amazon won't ever have the "popular highlights".

curstpriest · 10-23-2010, 01:10 PM

Well now, go for it then.

I on the other hand am one of the people when buying used books, will sit there and flip through every page to make sure that the previous owner wasn't a highlight/underline freak - preferably a person who failed the class and didn't use the book at all (as indicated by lack of wear @ the corners of the book)

sirmaru · 10-23-2010, 06:23 PM

I like the highlights of others to see what they liked. I also use my own highlights and notes a lot.

jgumphress · 10-24-2010, 08:21 AM

I too learned about this feature through this forum. I posted the same question. Also, I do not care for the highlights to be visable while reading. It is distracting to me and makes the screen look clutered. Thanks for the wonderful info you people provide for us.

10-17-2010, 12:57 PM	#1
flhden flhden Posts: 37 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Rhode Island Device: sony prs300, Kindle 3 wi fi, Kindle Fire	highlighted text in kindle book Just read my first book on my new kindle 3 wi fi and I love it. Just wondering why it occasionally has a number and some random highlighted text that is underlined with the option to remove the number but the text still remains underlined. No big deal but can't figure out WHY. Thanks

10-23-2010, 06:23 PM	#9
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	I like highlights. I like the highlights of others to see what they liked. I also use my own highlights and notes a lot.

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10-17-2010, 01:33 PM	#2
macminer Connoisseur Posts: 98 Karma: 660420 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Poland Device: Boox Nova 3, Lenovo Tab 4 8" (formerly many others)	That's the "popular highlights" feature. If a lot of readers highlight the same passage, it gets tagged as a "popular highlight" in the Amazon database and that's what you see. You can turn it off in the general settings (second page) if you are not interested.

10-17-2010, 06:53 PM	#3
curstpriest Confused Posts: 402 Karma: 5538 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bay Area Device: Kindle DXG	Most useless feature ever!

10-23-2010, 01:10 PM	#8
curstpriest Confused Posts: 402 Karma: 5538 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Bay Area Device: Kindle DXG	Well now, go for it then. I on the other hand am one of the people when buying used books, will sit there and flip through every page to make sure that the previous owner wasn't a highlight/underline freak - preferably a person who failed the class and didn't use the book at all (as indicated by lack of wear @ the corners of the book)

10-24-2010, 08:21 AM	#10
jgumphress Connoisseur Posts: 59 Karma: 948 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Arlington, TX Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I too learned about this feature through this forum. I posted the same question. Also, I do not care for the highlights to be visable while reading. It is distracting to me and makes the screen look clutered. Thanks for the wonderful info you people provide for us.