I’m working on reformats of Bhante Sujato’s four Nikaya ebooks and I’m wondering if anyone who uses the ebooks, either the epubs from Sutta Central directly or the reformatted ones on ReadingFaithfully, actually uses the Guide section.
Personally I’ve never used it in the ebook version and I can’t imagine how someone would. Especially in the AN and SN. Just too hard to navigate on an e-ink device. Maybe on a tablet it would be easier.
Removing it would make the files slightly smaller, but mostly it would allow for a more accurate % completed number as one was reading.
I guess the value of the guide is in the short synopsis that it provides of each of the main Suttas. This might be useful to those reading for the first time, to help them get a feel of what the Sutta intends to cover. Presumably, it might also be useful to an experienced user who remembers the gist of the sutta, but is unsure of the Sutta number… sort of like a precis of the entire Nikaya.
If you’re thinking of alternative placements, perhaps you could integrate each description into the index (though that might make the index unwieldy
The blurbs (as I believe they are officially known) serve a good purpose on the website. Before you read the sutta you can make sure you have found the right one.
In an ebook, however, the guide is all one thing in one place. It does link back to the text. But to actually read it you have to page through, page by page. It just seems unwieldy.
That’s why I was looking for feedback from people who are using the ebook files.
A link in the ebook to the online guides might have to suffice.
But I’m thinking that people who download ebooks etc for offline reading may not get to see this thread, being less active online. How to reach them for their opinions?
