Kindle firmware version 5.10.3

[Futuregrace]

How about the bottom of kindle says
On left “pg 150 of 301”
On the right “50%”

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by John F

Page x of y is definitely superior to percent. Percent doesn't give an indication of how long the book is. To get an equivalent, you would need x% of y pages.


IMO, YMMV.

That would certainly be true if the percentage were given in isolation, but it's not. Eg, looking at my current book, I see "Page 466, 62%", so I know how many pages I've read, and that I'm a little over half way through the book. That for me is more useful than knowing that the book has 750 pages (or whatever the exact number might be).

Ideally Amazon would give us the choice, so we'd all be happy .

[John F]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That would certainly be true if the percentage were given in isolation, but it's not. Eg, looking at my current book, I see "Page 466, 62%", so I know how many pages I've read, and that I'm a little over half way through the book. That for me is more useful than knowing that the book has 750 pages (or whatever the exact number might be).

Ideally Amazon would give us the choice, so we'd all be happy .

Does it show a decimal percent for longer books, otherwise it doesn't seem very precise.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by John F

Does it show a decimal percent for longer books, otherwise it doesn't seem very precise.

Do you honestly care how far through a book you are to a precision of better than 1%?

[Braid]

Originally Posted by HarryT

When you look at a bookmark in a physical book, you gauge your progress through the book in percentage terms: you think "that bookmark is about three quarters of the way through the book".

On Kobo devices, when you are browsing between books, and when the device is switched off, progress is displayed as a percentage, in-keeping with your analogy. It is only when you are reading the book that is shows 'page 14 of 127' (although you also have the option to view percentage instead).

I think what makes this a bit frustrating on Kindle is that the page number display is halfway there; it's not that there is no page number at all. It's just that, without knowing how many pages are in the book, the page number is useless to me.

I had never thought about it before, but I would be interested to see the option to show the percentage to a couple of decimal points. That feature could really solve my main problems with percentage view: namely, that I don't know how much of the book I am reading with each page turn; with longer books I can turn the page ten times and still not move a percentage point. So yeah, pehaps I do "honestly care" hehe.

[rashkae]

I agree that seeing the total size of the book is important. (In either pages or Amazon Location, but since Calibre automatically counts the words and pages for me, it's actually a very consistent metric.) However, I never felt the need to have the page total display all the time. The Book progress, (swipe up.) bar has been more than sufficient. If I were to request a change to the footer, it would be to stop cycling the display with a tap. I'm always tapping it by accident, then need several other taps to restore.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Braid

I think what makes this a bit frustrating on Kindle is that the page number display is halfway there; it's not that there is no page number at all. It's just that, without knowing how many pages are in the book, the page number is useless to me.

The combination of page number and percentage read tells you the number of pages in the book, although I can think of almost no circumstance in which knowing the number of pages would be of interest to me. Eg if you’re on page 100, and you’re 25% of the way through the book, the book has 400 pages.

[Braid]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The combination of page number and percentage read tells you the number of pages in the book, although I can think of almost no circumstance in which knowing the number of pages would be of interest to me. Eg if you’re on page 100, and you’re 25% of the way through the book, the book has 400 pages.

Right. But as I turn page after page, and the percentage stays the same, then the display is failing to inform me of how much progress I am making. So in that case, I have to turn the page ten (or more) times to see how many taps equals to a percentage. On Kobo devices, this does not happen - when I turn a page, I get instant feedback on how much progress I have made in the book, without having to turn the page ten times to see how many page turns goes into a percentage point.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Braid

Right. But as I turn page after page, and the percentage stays the same, then the display is failing to inform me of how much progress I am making. So in that case, I have to turn the page ten (or more) times to see how many taps equals to a percentage. On Kobo devices, this does not happen - when I turn a page, I get instant feedback on how much progress I have made in the book, without having to turn the page ten times to see how many page turns goes into a percentage point.

We’re both happy with the system employed by our respective readers of choice, so it’s all good .

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Both scrolling and immersive reading would have a devastating effect on battery life: remember that the number of screen updates is one of the most significant uses of power on an eInk device. "Time remaining" works absolutely fine for me, and is far more useful than a nebulous "pages remaining"; the connection between pages and number of page turns is ill-defined.

I would be fine with an implementation of immersion reading that simply kept the page synced with the audiobook, i.e. no realtime text highlighting whatsoever. This would not have ‘devastating effect on battery life’, unless you consider playing an audiobook (or using VoiceView) in itself detrimental to time-between-charges (I would be interested in some careful benchmarks in an attempt to quantify how detrimental it is - I suspect it is not as detrimental as it was when there were physical speakers or headset/speakers plugged in to audio port/dongle).

I don’t find time-remaining very consistent from one book to the next and it does not seem to be very self-correcting. So I leave it off, as it is too distracting for me. When I get antsy about seeing how far it is to the next chapter I’ll engage Page View, peak at Go To Contents, etc. But ideally I am more focused and don’t need constant feedback.

What I’d like is to be able to turn off progress display altogether, but be able to see progress display when tapping to reveal reading options, or when engaging Page View (which Kindle for iOS does). Unfortunately Kindle interprets this setting as “do not show me progress, ever” and that is too minimalistic for me.

[newkindlefun]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We’re both happy with the system employed by our respective readers of choice, so it’s all good .

Also, every one of the books I've swiped up from the bottom shows page X of Y or Location X of Y anyway, and shows a progress bar. If percentage alone isn't enough.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by newkindlefun

Also, every one of the books I've swiped up from the bottom shows page X of Y or Location X of Y anyway, and shows a progress bar. If percentage alone isn't enough.

Good point. I’d forgotten about that.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by newkindlefun

Also, every one of the books I've swiped up from the bottom shows page X of Y or Location X of Y anyway, and shows a progress bar. If percentage alone isn't enough.

Tapping at the top of the screen does something similar.

[Braid]

Originally Posted by HarryT

We’re both happy with the system employed by our respective readers of choice, so it’s all good .

The Kindle Oasis 2 is the reader I use 80% of the time... but I guess for the other 20% of the time, it is all good!

[John F]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you honestly care how far through a book you are to a precision of better than 1%?

Like I said, I prefer page x of y, which gives an exact value, so yes, I honestly care.

Do you honestly not care?