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For scientific articles pagination is still important, because it's how you refer to a particular part of a paper. If things like font size and line spacing are

For scientific articles pagination is still important, because it's how you refer to a particular part of a paper. If things like font size and line spacing are at the control of the consumer, pagination is not preserved. This problem is harder than you one would think naively.

Blikkentrekker 3y ago
No, the problem is very easy, referring by page number is simply ridiculous. As well as all those “(<Family Name>, <year>)” citations, Besides, in HTML one can directly link to the relevant part.
- IlliOnato 3y ago
  I am afraid you are being naive... You see only one factor out of many. Being able to link directly to the relevant part is irrelevant (pardon my pun!). Such links are machine-readable, not human-readable. Scientific text need visual citations and being able to name the referred part for reading comprehension. And Harvard-style citations (AKA name-date) exist for a reason; when your read a paper even in interactive format it helps when you can recognize citations to certain papers and not having to click on them or memorize numbers. Other styles have their own advantages and disadvantages; that's why they all exist and used by this or that journal, and no consensus on a single "right" style was ever reached.
lsaferite 3y ago
Seems like they should use detailed section numbering like military documents and laws. Referring by page number seems very course by comparison.
- IlliOnato 3y ago
  This would require a change from the currently near-uniformly adopted standard. The problem with this: you need to create a new standard, get everybody to agree to it, and get busy scientists who are concentrating on content and not representation to adapt this new standard in their writing, essentially requiring them to change their habits and spend extra time on writing (which many of them hate), for no obvious gain from their point of view. I am not saying it's not possible, or not worth it, but it is not easy and simple either.
  - ngcc_hk 3y ago
    Very hard as it is from physical paper world … and even then you have to make sure version is right as page number change.

Blikkentrekker 3y ago

No, the problem is very easy, referring by page number is simply ridiculous. As well as all those “(<Family Name>, <year>)” citations, Besides, in HTML one can directly link to the relevant part.

IlliOnato 3y ago
I am afraid you are being naive... You see only one factor out of many. Being able to link directly to the relevant part is irrelevant (pardon my pun!). Such links are machine-readable, not human-readable. Scientific text need visual citations and being able to name the referred part for reading comprehension. And Harvard-style citations (AKA name-date) exist for a reason; when your read a paper even in interactive format it helps when you can recognize citations to certain papers and not having to click on them or memorize numbers. Other styles have their own advantages and disadvantages; that's why they all exist and used by this or that journal, and no consensus on a single "right" style was ever reached.

lsaferite 3y ago

Seems like they should use detailed section numbering like military documents and laws. Referring by page number seems very course by comparison.

IlliOnato 3y ago
This would require a change from the currently near-uniformly adopted standard. The problem with this: you need to create a new standard, get everybody to agree to it, and get busy scientists who are concentrating on content and not representation to adapt this new standard in their writing, essentially requiring them to change their habits and spend extra time on writing (which many of them hate), for no obvious gain from their point of view. I am not saying it's not possible, or not worth it, but it is not easy and simple either.
- ngcc_hk 3y ago
  Very hard as it is from physical paper world … and even then you have to make sure version is right as page number change.