eBooks as Editions - disable page count, dimensions and weight

Personally, I think page counts for eBooks are pointless. I own a Kobo Libra H2O eReader and I have never managed to get a page count that matches the information listed on various sites. I don’t fully understand the reasons behind the discrepancy, but I’m guessing it relates to Adobe Digital Editions, make and model of eReader, text size, etc, etc.

Obviously, there are no physical characteristics for an eBook apart from the cover image.

I would like to see the page count, dimensions and weight fields disabled when the eBook Format is selected when submitting an Edition.

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We do disable the physical data section when eBook is selected. As far as the page count is concerned, there was some discussion around having an option to select “This eBook does not have a page count”.

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iirc (in BB) page count for a edition(or ebook) refers to the page index written on the last page of a book, not the actual pages a book may have. so may not the best idea to disable that :grimacing:

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My apologies, you are correct the dimensions and weight are disabled when eBooks are selected as a Format. If those fields can be blocked then I think the page count should be included.

I refer back to my previous comment regarding eBook page counts. They have no meaning because they are totally variable depending on settings and all sorts of other factors. Worldcat.org stopped adding page counts to eBook records for that very reason.

It might have some meaning if the submitter stated the file format, font settings and the make and model of their eReader.

Regardless, that information is still variable for the reasons I have outlined above.

This article describes why page counts for eBooks are pointless:

'Because text reflows there are no page numbers in ebooks. As you can see, it would be silly to put page numbers when the pages or screens change all the time. A word could be on “page 13” one minute, and then with a user change of font size, on “page 15" the next.

In fact, an eBook’s “pages” are actually an illusion, created by the device. In reality, an eBook is one very long webpage (or a series of very long webpages), and the view of the “pages” changes as each device opens it, and as each human reader chooses his font size and, in some instances, the font.’

I just wanted to mention that not all ebooks are reflowable like EPUB, AZW3 (Kindle) and the likes, there are also good old PDF, CBR/CBZ (comic books, basically an archive that contains one image file per page) and even fixed-layout EPUB files (also mainly for comics etc.) where the concept of pages makes sense. So I would be hesitant to disable the page count for ebooks in general.

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They’re not precise, but not quite pointless - reflowable or not, knowing if an ebook purports to be 10 pages or 3,000 is pretty useful.

Of course, word count or something would be much better :stuck_out_tongue:

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That is a very good point as I only deal with EPUB extensions, so my focus has been skewed!

I’m not sure if I totally agree with that sentiment. If the figure I get on my eReader is 150 and someone else gets 300 and the submission quotes 240 pages, it all seems a bit nebulous. But then again the concept of “pretty useful” is subjective!

I just read the eBook (ISBN13 9781451627305) of Stephen King’s 11/22/1963 which on my Kobo eReader is shown as 697 pages. The same edition on the Kobo website is listed as 1021 pages, and Goodreads lists it as 864 pages. No doubt this figure varies on other sites for the same edition.

The hardcover first edition is 849 pages and that figure is immutable.

Anyway, it is a moot point as @kellnerd has given a good reason for not blocking the page count.

Maybe it would be helpful to state the file extension when submitting eBooks to give the page count some context.

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