4 ms·

I think the general prediction that print will contract to the production of only high-quality "permanent" documents is spot-on. I'm not so sure, however, that

I think the general prediction that print will contract to the production of only high-quality "permanent" documents is spot-on. I'm not so sure, however, that pagination will go away, at least not without the invention of a new UI element to replace it (other than scrollbars). Pagination is useful to our mental models of progress through a document. I'd go so far as to say it's one of the reasons scrolls died out while we're still using the bound book format many centuries after it was invented. A hundred pages is a lot easier to parse than an infinite number of positions on a scroll, while recall and addressing is vastly easier citing a page number than counting out a distance to scroll.

SamAtt 17y ago
You know, I agreed with you (and even upvoted you) but as I think about it I think you might be wrong. I think the meta point to the article is that our entire idea of what the written word should be is about to change now that the last vestiges of print are reaching the end of their life. In other words you don't see pagination going away because it's part of our mental model of what a document should be like. I think the article is saying that mental model itself is becoming obsolete and we won't have documents as much as we'll have formless information. That's not going to happen overnight (and the article points out there will probably be a hybrid period where print exists beside electronic). But eventually I think it's probably inevitable.
- protomyth 17y ago
  I get the feeling "pages" will be around for a while because we currently use them as a deep link into the material. When a new model for documents emerges, we will still need that index/deep link for citations (I don't think a keyword search with the book title will do for academics).
- mortenjorck 17y ago
  I agree with you as well. I think we're basically saying the same thing; I'm saying the paginated model will stay with us until a new technology-enabled successor takes root. Our expectations of document structure will certainly play a role in pagination's tenacity even after that successor arrives, but I don't think pagination will be our permanent future.
lg 17y ago
I think line numbers are better than page numbers for navigating an electronic document.
- DannoHung 17y ago
  Why not the natural boundaries of written documents: chapters, sections, paragraphs?
  - lg 17y ago
    Because those things require some kind of metadata added by the author while line numbers don't, and line numbers work for any type of text i.e. code. Not that those things aren't also really convenient for navigation, but I'd still want to be able to get at line numbers (though I'd also like to be able to create views, e.g. by zooming, that break up on-screen lines differently than the actual line breaks)
    - ugh 17y ago
      Um, what about changes in font size? That’s a problem for both pages and lines. Oh, I see. You want to introduce “actual” line breaks! Oh, just imagine the joys of explaining that concept to those new to it. They will certainly get it right away ;) (Lines might be a useful navigational tool for code but there is a reason why that number is used nowhere else.)

SamAtt 17y ago

You know, I agreed with you (and even upvoted you) but as I think about it I think you might be wrong. I think the meta point to the article is that our entire idea of what the written word should be is about to change now that the last vestiges of print are reaching the end of their life. In other words you don't see pagination going away because it's part of our mental model of what a document should be like. I think the article is saying that mental model itself is becoming obsolete and we won't have documents as much as we'll have formless information. That's not going to happen overnight (and the article points out there will probably be a hybrid period where print exists beside electronic). But eventually I think it's probably inevitable.

protomyth 17y ago
I get the feeling "pages" will be around for a while because we currently use them as a deep link into the material. When a new model for documents emerges, we will still need that index/deep link for citations (I don't think a keyword search with the book title will do for academics).
mortenjorck 17y ago
I agree with you as well. I think we're basically saying the same thing; I'm saying the paginated model will stay with us until a new technology-enabled successor takes root. Our expectations of document structure will certainly play a role in pagination's tenacity even after that successor arrives, but I don't think pagination will be our permanent future.

lg 17y ago

I think line numbers are better than page numbers for navigating an electronic document.

DannoHung 17y ago
Why not the natural boundaries of written documents: chapters, sections, paragraphs?
- lg 17y ago
  Because those things require some kind of metadata added by the author while line numbers don't, and line numbers work for any type of text i.e. code. Not that those things aren't also really convenient for navigation, but I'd still want to be able to get at line numbers (though I'd also like to be able to create views, e.g. by zooming, that break up on-screen lines differently than the actual line breaks)
  - ugh 17y ago
    Um, what about changes in font size? That’s a problem for both pages and lines. Oh, I see. You want to introduce “actual” line breaks! Oh, just imagine the joys of explaining that concept to those new to it. They will certainly get it right away ;) (Lines might be a useful navigational tool for code but there is a reason why that number is used nowhere else.)