Small grey page numbers on side of Kobo

[TravellingTwo]

I've created an ePub file and someone is testing it on a Kobo for me.

One of the bugs we can't figure out is that small grey numbers appear to the right side of 3 pages. The number is always that of the following page on the Kobo.

Any idea what causes this? We've looked at the ePub code but don't see anything out of order.

[sabredog]

That sounds like it is the Kobo's reading software and not the ePUB. All the ePUB's displayed on my Kobo have the page numbers in small greyed font on the right side.

[HarryT]

Why do think this is a bug, may I ask? All ADE devices display page numbers this way.

[Asawi]

It's not a bug, but it's also not something all ADE devices display. For example Sony PRS-600 does, PRS-350 doesn't. Kobo does, Nook doesn't. I consider it a "feature" and actually like having it present, others don't.

[MechR]

I think it's a bug that happens when overwriting an .epub file with a newer, altered version. Kobo loads the new text but fails to readjust the page intervals or something, so the numbers end up in odd places instead of in the upper-right corner where they normally go.

[The Terminator]

Tell him to put the Kobo to the lowest font size, this will make the page numbers display on the top of every page turned. It's not a bug, all library E-pubs have this. You'll notice the page count on the bottom of the screen doesn't change with every push of the button. Since this book is not a specialized version bought from a retailer the page count will not adjust to the font size and that's why they have to have the little grey numbers on the side.



Hope this helped

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why do think this is a bug, may I ask?

Probably because these numbers overwrite part of the words, making them often unreadable.
I'd love to turn that off...

[TravellingTwo]

Originally Posted by sabredog

That sounds like it is the Kobo's reading software and not the ePUB. All the ePUB's displayed on my Kobo have the page numbers in small greyed font on the right side.

Why would it appear on only 3 random pages though? The rest of the pages are fine.

[Cyberman tM]

Originally Posted by TravellingTwo

Why would it appear on only 3 random pages though? The rest of the pages are fine.

How many pages?
IF (big if!) these numbers are from the ADE software, then - as far as I know, you might want to search the other forums here for details - they're calculated by counting the bytes in the file.
I think someone said for DRMed/compressed files it's about every 1024 bytes or something.

[MechR]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

IF (big if!) these numbers are from the ADE software, then - as far as I know, you might want to search the other forums here for details - they're calculated by counting the bytes in the file.

The gray numbers are definitely not from ADE; I see them even though I don't use ADE.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MechR

The gray numbers are definitely not from ADE; I see them even though I don't use ADE.

Of course you're using ADE. ADE is the software that displays the book on the Kobo.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by TravellingTwo

Why would it appear on only 3 random pages though? The rest of the pages are fine.

The page number is only displayed at an ADE page boundary. This will probably only occur every 3 or 4 "screens" on the reader.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cyberman tM

Probably because these numbers overwrite part of the words, making them often unreadable.
I'd love to turn that off...

The creator of the book needs to leave a sufficient right margin such that the numbers don't overlap the text. A 13pt right margin is a good choice.

[MechR]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Of course you're using ADE. ADE is the software that displays the book on the Kobo.

Really? Assuming ADE = Adobe Digital Editions, I highly doubt that. The Kobo runs Linux, and there is no Linux version of Adobe Digital Editions (unless you run the Windows version via Wine, but Wine isn't in the list of packages used to build the Kobo software).

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by MechR

Really? Assuming ADE = Adobe Digital Editions, I highly doubt that. The Kobo runs Linux, and there is no Linux version of Adobe Digital Editions (unless you run the Windows version via Wine, but Wine isn't in the list of packages used to build the Kobo software).

Whether you doubt it or not, it's true. There's no standalone Linux version of ADE, that's perfectly true, but the firmware of all eInk readers which read ePub files nonetheless uses an embedded version of ADE. But you don't have to take my word for it: I'm sure that the Kobo has some sort of "Legal" or "About" screen which shows the copyright information for its firmware. Look at that and see what it says.