# Progress Indicator - Toggle On & Off



## Mike67 (Feb 19, 2009)

I would really like to see Amazon program an ALT+ command to turn off (hide) the Progress Indicator at the bottom of the page.  This would be another advantage over a paperbound book for us who do not want to know when the book ends.  I love mysteries and it would make them so much more exciting!  If you like this idea then please let Amazon know as I would think multiple requests would help make it happen!


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I agree.  This would be a nice feature.  You can usually figure out what's going to happen just by knowing the end of the book is coming up.


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## vg (Oct 28, 2008)

Great idea!  I'll send them a feedback email right away


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## Mike67 (Feb 19, 2009)

Thanks!


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

Mike67 said:


> I would really like to see Amazon program an ALT+ command to turn off (hide) the Progress Indicator at the bottom of the page. This would be another advantage over a paperbound book for us who do not want to know when the book ends. I love mysteries and it would make them so much more exciting!


The thickness of the stack of pages on the right doesn't give away how close you are to the end in a dead-tree edition? Or, if you're reading a short story, having seen the ToC, knowing what page the next story begins on doesn't clue you in? It seems like a kind of thin rationalization, given the 'clues' to story progress that are in hardcopy versions that you probably don't think about.


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## Mike67 (Feb 19, 2009)

I have read novels with multiple twists at the end and not knowing how many pages are left would make it more suspenseful.  I see your point with short stories but I don't read them and I think this suggestion would fall into more of the single novel format.  

Sorry that we don't seem to agree on this one.


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## srmalloy (Mar 3, 2009)

While I can understand your desire to not know how much of the story is left, I fail to see how seeing the progress bar is any different from holding a book in your hands and wanting to be unable to tell from the thickness of the pages stacked against the front and back covers while you hold the book open what fraction of the story remains. If the book is an inch thick, and the stack of pages you haven't read yet is only 1/16 inch thick, you can't not see the relative thickness of the left and right sides as you look at the book to read it; it's as much of a giveaway of how much of the book is left as the progress bar is.


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## Mike67 (Feb 19, 2009)

I pulled Michael Connelly's ECHO PARK from my bookshelf and I opened it up to page 377.  I am able to see a fairly decent amount of pages left to read; therefore, I know that I still have quite a ways to go.  Then I jumped to page 395 and I see only a small amount of pages to go; therefore, I know the book is coming to an end and I would not expect too much more in the ways of additional twists, etc.

If I was reading this on my Kindle with the Progress Indicator turned off then at the page 377 point of the story I would not know how much of the story is remaining.  At the page 395 point of the story, I would probably get a feeling that the book is winding down but I would not actually know there are only a few pages left to go.  With the Progress Indicator at say 98%, I would know it is really close to the end.  Sure if I hit the Epilogue then I would know this is it but I guess I am talking more about the final sequences that bring the story to an end.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

I think that Mike is suggesting it as an improvement over a DTB, not a simulation.


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## angelad (Jun 19, 2009)

That sounds like a great idea, but Amazon is kind of slow to integrate everything.  This might take a backburner.


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## Greg Banks (May 2, 2009)

I much prefer knowing how much of the book is left, and quite frankly, I think _not_ knowing would drive me nuts, as I wouldn't consider that a pleasant surprise. But to each his own.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm with Greg. . . .I like to have an idea of how far into a book I am.  But a toggle wouldn't bother me one way or the other because you could set it for what you like!


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## Mike67 (Feb 19, 2009)

Ann - Yes just looking for an "option" here - like having 6 different font sizes.


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