AAR

[willaful]

I was griping about yet another ebook that has the table of contents after everything else in the beginning, making the chapter links virtually useless, when it occurred to me that this is just a holdover from print books. That's how it's done in print, so they keep doing it that way even though it no longer makes sense. If it's a scan it probably makes it easier, too.

But it makes ebooks harder to use. Ebooks have certain advantages, but they also have disadvantages. Ebook publishers should not create more disadvantages if they can avoid it.

You'll sometimes find copyright info at the end of an ebook. This strikes me as very sensible. The small presses that only do ebooks often have a more sensible approach, for obvious reasons.

Any other ways you can think of that ebooks should break away from the traditional models?
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"I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own." -- Rudolf Flesch, _How to Make Sense_

[Mark]

Not break away, but restore: most ebooks are missing cover blurbs.
I read blurbs to see h/h names & basic plot, and I can't do that with many ebooks.

[Winnie]

I have a Kindle. What I miss about reading an ebook compared to a paperback is the order of the book. When I am reading an ebook I always start at the cover. That way the ebook is basically the order of a book. I like to read the acknowledgments and the dedication. I too miss the cover blurbs. I don't know why the ebook is so different from a book when you open it.

[willaful]

It sounds like you and I feel exactly the opposite on this point, Winnie.
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"I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own." -- Rudolf Flesch, _How to Make Sense_