Kepub limitation

[aluisscp]

I like reading books in Kepub format because of how page numbers are adapted to reading on an ereader (with every turn you advance one page), unlike regular epub.

Another good think is the chapter organization is a lot better IMO, because it gives you a more realistic experience of actually reading a book and not just text after text until you reach the end of a book. Also, I can say to myself: "one more chapter and that's it" and know how many pagesuntil that chapter ends.

The thing is, even though Kobo displays the percentage read, it is different for a book with 800 pages and one with 200. Is there any possibility of also showing the number of pages left until the end of the book?

[Joques]

I think there is - but you can only have the one or the other. But do what I did, and include the page number in the title of each book - then you have the total page number right there in the page header :-)

[EndlessWaves]

Originally Posted by aluisscp

I like reading books in Kepub format because of how page numbers are adapted to reading on an ereader (with every turn you advance one page), unlike regular epub.

Actually the Adobe Reader method used in epubs is designed for eReaders. It doesn't reference the page numbers in a paper edition but instead has one 'page' per 1000 characters so different people can find the same location despite varied font and margin settings and different screen sizes.

Originally Posted by aluisscp

Another good think is the chapter organization is a lot better IMO, because it gives you a more realistic experience of actually reading a book

Be careful comparing eReaders to books. Generally new technology starts off close to old technology and then gets further away. Expect future eReaders to drop book-like features rather than adding them.

Not that I'd expect chapters to go. The index will vanish, replaced by search, but chapters are helpful for avoiding sections as well as finding them.

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by EndlessWaves

Actually the Adobe Reader method used in epubs is designed for eReaders. It doesn't reference the page numbers in a paper edition but instead has one 'page' per 1000 characters so different people can find the same location despite varied font and margin settings and different screen sizes.



Be careful comparing eReaders to books. Generally new technology starts off close to old technology and then gets further away. Expect future eReaders to drop book-like features rather than adding them.

Not that I'd expect chapters to go. The index will vanish, replaced by search, but chapters are helpful for avoiding sections as well as finding them.

You make some good points, and I think we are already seeing some of the separation from traditional publishing, but I disagree about the use of indexes. Writing them is a specialized form of writing and especially valuable for complex non-fiction. There are an amazing number of ways to think about facts; a professional index writer studies the text closely until they understand all the elements and how they are connected to each other before designing the index.

As to separation from the printed method of publishing, it seems to me there are different kinds of people eBook readers appeal to. The extremes are speed readers and close readers. Speed readers like eReaders that can completely fill the screen with text, they adjust the eReader to show narrow line spacing, eliminate margins and find the smallest font they can read without slowing down. They want hardware with high definition screens and the fastest possible page turns.

Close readers read more slowly. They notice the appearance of the book and are sensitive to its design. They like a little white space to open the book up and look for a font that is attractive rather than simply utilitarian.

Another group is composed of people with reading problems that can sometimes be helped by the flexibility of eReaders, such as fonts designed to help with oddities of vision. For example, I have trouble seeing edges and prefer a more open font than any typeface I've seen used in printed books, so some eReaders allow the owner to supply their own fonts. eReaders with "read aloud" features help the blind and eReaders with automatic scrolling of the text help people with trouble holding the reader and turning pages.

The Kobo Aura series do better at meeting these various needs than any other I personally have found. That's why I'm enthusiastic about them.

[Anak]

Originally Posted by aluisscp

I like reading books in Kepub format because of how page numbers are adapted to reading on an ereader (with every turn you advance one page), unlike regular epub.

Not true per se, if the epub has no embedded page-map or pageList or contains universal (not vendor specific [read: Adobe]) "page markers" like <a id="page=3"/> (similar for figures <a id="fig3.0">, chapters <a id="c3">) then it falls back to arbitrary page numbers using roughly 1024 bytes per page.

The Adobe renderer respects these "solutions".

The Access Renderer for kepub has similar issues.
If you increase the font size, let's say double or triple it from the current size. The page numbers per book or chapter stay the same. Therefore a page turn does not automatically increase the page number as shown on the pageometer on the bottom of the screen.

To solve this page number issue you have to decrease the font size accordingly. Applies for regular and kepubs.

Originally Posted by aluisscp

Another good think is the chapter organization is a lot better IMO, because it gives you a more realistic experience of actually reading a book and not just text after text until you reach the end of a book. Also, I can say to myself: "one more chapter and that's it" and know how many pagesuntil that chapter ends.

Yes, that's right, when tired you got an idea how many pages you have to read to finish the chapter. This is useful.

About a more realistic experience of reading a book. For the actual page numbers within a chapter: true.
Regarding the lay out of book: false (or partly false).

The embedded css book crafted by the publisher mimics the actual book best.
The Kobo code (a hack actually) overrides this embedded css and applies (wraps arround) it's own css. This messes up the original css and the results may vary from book to book. But I'm not gonna rant about Kobo code issues here.
Let's assume that the Kobo style hacks don't mess up the orignal lay out of the publisher too much and the lay out of a page still looks good but it does not mimic the actual paper book best. The regular epub version does this better. Every single time. That's just the nature of the Kobo style hacks.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Anak

Not true per se, if the epub has no embedded page-map or pageList or contains universal (not vendor specific [read: Adobe]) "page markers" like <a id="page=3"/> (similar for figures <a id="fig3.0">, chapters <a id="c3">) then it falls back to arbitrary page numbers using roughly 1024 bytes per page.

There is an explanation of the page numbering in the wiki here. While it is based on 1024 bytes per page, is based on the compressed files in the epub.

The Adobe renderer respects these "solutions".

The Access Renderer for kepub has similar issues.
If you increase the font size, let's say double or triple it from the current size. The page numbers per book or chapter stay the same. Therefore a page turn does not automatically increase the page number as shown on the pageometer on the bottom of the screen.

Unless you have "FullBookPageNumbers=true" in the config file, the page numbering for kepubs is an exact match to the screens. It recalculates the page numbers as you change the font size, line spacing or margins.

To solve this page number issue you have to decrease the font size accordingly. Applies for regular and kepubs.




Yes, that's right, when tired you got an idea how many pages you have to read to finish the chapter. This is useful.

About a more realistic experience of reading a book. For the actual page numbers within a chapter: true.

I think I've lost track of what you and the OP are referring to here. For fiction, the way that epubs number the books is much more like a paper book than a kepub is. I don't think that I have ever seen a novel, or a collection of short stores, that are numbered per chapter or story. I have only seen this with text books.

Regarding the lay out of book: false (or partly false).

The embedded css book crafted by the publisher mimics the actual book best.
The Kobo code (a hack actually) overrides this embedded css and applies (wraps arround) it's own css. This messes up the original css and the results may vary from book to book. But I'm not gonna rant about Kobo code issues here.
Let's assume that the Kobo style hacks don't mess up the orignal lay out of the publisher too much and the lay out of a page still looks good but it does not mimic the actual paper book best. The regular epub version does this better. Every single time. That's just the nature of the Kobo style hacks.

Personally, I don't find purchased kepubs to be any worse than the equivalent epub. Just about any time I have started the kepub version of a book and found it was strangely formatted, when I looked at epub, it was just as bad. And I have a few very well formatted books that the only way to tell the difference is because of the title and page numbering. And sideloaded kepubs are the same as the epubs versions.

[eschwartz]

The Kindle also has Real Page Numbers (although not all books are supported, and if there aren't any it doesn't lie and say there are ) but I prefer to use the Time Left To Read.

It calculates your average reading speed and uses it to determine how many minutes are left at your current speed, before you finish the chapter/book (you can choose which one).

[jackie_w]

Ah, yes, the masterpiece of design that is Amazon's idea of a convenient method to provide customers with page numbers - a novel concept for books. Rivalled only by the simplicity of customers getting covers to appear in all the places they'd expected hoped to see them. And Collection creation and maintenance - another winner. All methods to which all other ebook/ereader developers should aspire.

Were they all created by the Heath Robinson school of aesthetic software design, do you think? Still it gives the plucky plugin developers something to exercise their many talents.