CyBook - so frustrating!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by tompe

But you do not know how long this something is so 10% is meaningless.

A lot of the issues would be solved simply by displaying the total number of pages at the end of the status bar, as the iLiad does.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A lot of the issues would be solved simply by displaying the total number of pages at the end of the status bar, as the iLiad does.

Not for me. But if they displayed e.g. (100/1254) for page 100 of 1254 pages I would be very happy. I actually do tings like read 100 pages a day in a book since then I can predict the time it will take and when I will be finished accurately.

[Halk]

For me the progress bar is fine. It makes no difference to me if I'm 150 pages out of 1000 or 100 or 200. All I need to know is that I'm roughly halfway through, or nearly finished or just started.

That said I see no reason why the Cybook can't display the current page at the left side of the bar and the total pages on the right hand side.

It'll do no harm to me, and it'll please others.

It does seem that many people's annoyances will be settled with folder support. That's got to be good news.

Of course my inner pessimism is telling me that we'll only be able to go one deep :P

[gerraldo]

Originally Posted by tompe

Not for me. But if they displayed e.g. (100/1254) for page 100 of 1254 pages I would be very happy. I actually do tings like read 100 pages a day in a book since then I can predict the time it will take and when I will be finished accurately.

Do you want to know a secret? (I just found out)

If you use the "go to page..." feature it asks you for page X of Y (Y beeing the total number of pages)! So the app itself already knows the total number of pages...

Why they can't simply display this under the bar, I REALLY don't know???

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by tompe

This is not a correct description of the opinions. The main use for many people of page number is to get the correct sense of progress. For that it does not matter that the pagination changes.

Harrys discription was correct, some people want them/need them. You are one of them. Other people couldn't care less and say it is a thing of the past. Harry is one of them I'm another one. So what is wrong with Harry's discription when he writes:

Page numbers are a "love it or hate it", thing.

You love/need them, I not really hate them, but I have no use for unrelyable information that changes when I change font family, font size and even is different when you go forwards or backwards. It gives me no sense of were I am because page 123 has no meaning at all. It can be in the first 10% of a book or in the last 10% depending on the fontsize. The progress bar is much better in showing me were I am

And even if the information was correct...I simply don't need it. I have much more use for arrangeing books on the meta information contained in the mobi format

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ortep

So what is wrong with Harry's discription when he writes:

He wrote:

Page numbers are a "love it or hate it", thing. Many people (myself included) regard them as entirely irrelevent on a device where pagination alters depending on what font and what text size you have selected. Others disagree.

This is a lie by omission since it does not mention all relevant reasons for wanting page numbers and it does not mention the most important reason that people often do not think about.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ortep

H
You love/need them, I not really hate them, but I have no use for unrelyable information that changes when I change font family, font size and even is different when you go forwards or backwards. It gives me no sense of were I am because page 123 has no meaning at all. It can be in the first 10% of a book or in the last 10% depending on the fontsize. The progress bar is much better in showing me were I am

Eh, I said you needed the total length also. A progress bar only cannot give you were you are since you do not see the total length and it is a very big difference being halfway in a 200 page book and being half way in a 1000 page book in terms of what you expect to happen in the book.

[K-Thom]

Funny how many people obviously seem to need page numbers.

I don't even check the amount of pages (left) in a book I read, so why should I bother in an ebook?
I usually look at the botton of a book and compare the thickness of pages I already read to the ones which are left. About as rough and succifient as a progress bar.

The only thing I need the page numbers for is to remind me where I stopped reading since I neither use dog-ears nor bookmarks. But even this my reader does for me now.

Page numbers ... next time they'll ask for folders!

[tompe]

Originally Posted by K-Thom

I don't even check the amount of pages (left) in a book I read, so why should I bother in an ebook?
I usually look at the botton of a book and compare the thickness of pages I already read to the ones which are left. About as rough and succifient as a progress bar.

There is a significant difference. You see the total thickness of the book when you do that.

If you do not check the number of pages left how do you decide if you should finish a book before going to sleep. Usually you can totally destroy a book if you do not read the ending in one go.

[Kino]

Well, this seem to have developed into an argument about page numbering!

The reason why I would like them displayed is because several times in the first week the book hung up\froze and reverted to the library OR I had to do a reset.

Going back into the book I was reading started again at the first page. It took me ages using the GOTO PAGE option to find where I'd left off!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Kino

Well, this seem to have developed into an argument about page numbering!

The reason why I would like them displayed is because several times in the first week the book hung up\froze and reverted to the library OR I had to do a reset.

Going back into the book I was reading started again at the first page. It took me ages using the GOTO PAGE option to find where I'd left off!

Unfortunately, page numbers would not have helped you there, due to the bug (which exists in all versions of the MobiPocket Reader) which means that the page numbers displayed when you read a book sequentially do not correspond to where you end up when you "go to" a specific page number.

[gerraldo]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Unfortunately, page numbers would not have helped you there, due to the bug (which exists in all versions of the MobiPocket Reader) which means that the page numbers displayed when you read a book sequentially do not correspond to where you end up when you "go to" a specific page number.

Yep, that's true, but at least the total page number seems to be correct (just changes with font and/or size) - at least this should be easy to show at the end of the bar!?

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by Kino

Hi,
1. It freezes up and reverts back to the splash screen in the middle of reading something.

When I had problems with this, it ended up being due to a bad SD card reader. After the unit was replaced by Bookeen things were much better.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by slayda

If your JPEGs are properly sized for the Cybook, you could create a PDF file with them that should work OK.

I would not put it in a PDF as this makes reading comics more cumbersome than sticking to single JPegs. Rather convert the images into a single mobi using calibre. Fiddling a little with the settings to give you the largest image and reducing other whitespace might/should do the trick.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by tompe

There is a significant difference. You see the total thickness of the book when you do that.

If you do not check the number of pages left how do you decide if you should finish a book before going to sleep. Usually you can totally destroy a book if you do not read the ending in one go.

Aside from checking how many pages I have left, I use (or would use, rather) page numbers to get back to the page where I left off. Even if page numbers are "relative" (depending on the size and the font selected) it would help me find the page quickly via the GoTo feature (I rarely change font and size and as long as that stays the same the numbers would work). I could also jump back to a certain page to read some interesting quote again (or to somebody else).

The progress bar is absolutely useless for that as it only gives you a very rough indication of where you are in the book (like about 1/3 through) and while in theory any book should open with the last read page next time this doesn't always work and doesn't seem to work at all with some formats (e.g. PDF).