Re: the bigger picture
- From: "Bob Kobres" <bkobres@[redacted]>
- Subject: Re: the bigger picture
- Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 19:10:30 -0400
bowerbird wrote:
> the pagenumbering-difficulties that acrobat shows
> are not unique to acrobat. this is a general issue that
> must be addressed by every e-book viewer-program.
> (for instance, i could've picked on djvu just as easily...)
>
> generating a second set of pagenumbers is _not_ the
> right solution. even if the viewer-program can handle
> the two sets flawlessly, us _human_ end-users cannot.
> as i've said, two sets of pagenumbers has zero benefit,
> it only has the cost of causing confusion to us humans.
The problem is with the terminology used by the software engineers when
designing a viewer for a multifile format such as PDF or DjVu--PAGE # is an
unfortunate assumption of what a single image file in such a format might
actually be! The solution is to build into viewers the option of viewing
FILE # and/or DESCRIPTION, which could include terms such as Spine, Front
Cover, Blank Page, Copyright Page, Bastard Page, Title Page, Frontispiece,
Map, Page iv, Page 1, Page 2&3, Plate 1, etc. This can be done now with
Bookmarks (PDF) or Outline (DjVu) but that terminology is needlessly
confusing to the user.
Bob Kobres
Hargrett Library
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602