xray feature

[zeppo]

The reviews I've read seem to indicate that when you select to view this feature it shows a graph of sorts showing where a character on that page appears in the rest of the book.  I'll be interested in knowing if this is particular aspect of the xray is something you can avoid.  Now I might at times find it useful to see where a character has appeared among the pages I've already read, perhaps letting me go back to review something.  But when it comes to fiction it seems to me this feature could be a spoiler if it shows you where the name appears in the remainder of the book.  I particularly might want to use it in a book like War and Peace (which I've not read but plan to) keep track of all the names.  That would be useful.  But what if you click on it and right away you are shown this graph that indicates that this character is going to leave the story early on and then show up with a very strong presence at the last part of the book.  Perhaps what would have been a surprise to me (if I had read without xray) has now been spoiled.  So, the question I have for people that get to try this out is there a way that this xray feature can be useful to me while avoiding this little graph feature that could be a spoiler?

[Me and My Kindle]

So, the question I have for people that get to try this out is there a way that this xray feature can be useful to me while avoiding this little graph feature that could be a spoiler?

I've always wondered whether the X-Ray feature would be a good thing or a bad thing.  I'd assumed that I'd want to use it after I'd read a book, as a way to review how the plot progressed.  I agree that knowing when characters come and go could really spoil a surprise at the end of a book.  (For example, there's an Agatha Christie mystery where one of the murder victims actually faked their death, and then comes back at the end of a book.
(Can anybody think of some more good examples?)

But maybe a better question is: are people even using the X-Ray feature -- or are we just diving in blindly and enjoying our ebooks?

[JetJammer]

For example, there's an Agatha Christie mystery where one of the murder victims actually faked their death, and then comes back at the end of a book.

Ooh, good point!  So far I haven't used X-Ray for a book I'm going to read, only to review books I've read before.  I seem to read a lot of "series" books, but I rarely read them consecutively.  It's really nice to be able to pull up the previous book and review the characters right before I start a new one.

[Evenshade]

How can you tell if a book offers the x-ray feature?  I've read a couple of book since I got the Touch, but neither seems to have anything but the dictionary definition when I touch a place name, etc in the text.  Thanks!

[Sandpiper]

I don't think there are too many books as yet that have the x-ray feature.  If a book does, X-ray button shows up on the right end of the lower toolbar (?) where the Sync button is otherwise located.

[Cindy416]

I'm looking forward to using the X-ray feature. Of course, I often read with Google Earth and/or a search engine nearby in the even that I want to see an actual locale in a book or learn more about some of the characters and/or background.

[Susan J]

   So, the question I have for people that get to try this out is there a way that this xray feature can be useful to me while avoiding this little graph feature that could be a spoiler?

X-ray was the feature that I was most anticipating and I'm just sorry that it is not currently available in more books.  This morning as I'm 70% through a book, a minor character from an earlier chapter made an appearance and it was so cook to be able to use x-ray his name and refresh my memory. 

When one goes to x-ray, the characters on the page appear in a list.  Next to the list is a shaded horizontal bar with a vertical line bisecting it at the point current point of reading.  There are shorter vertical bars at each instance that the character appears.  When it's a major character, it just appears as a solid black block.   By pressing on the unread area of the horizontal bar, it takes one to those references.

 In my case, I was on page 219, so I didn't look at any of the references past that.  I don't think it is much of a spoiler since one does have to make an effort to page down to see all future references.

[zeppo]

I think being able to get a quick refresher about a character will be useful. I also think a quick wiki reference to something will be useful too since I already do as much using my iPod touch when I am with wifi. But if this feature makes this access any more immediate it might be cool. But I just don't want it revealing to me how the character makes his presence in the rest of the book. I'd rather let that unfold. I don't need an indication in advance that someone in a dire situation isn't going to make it for instance.  Of course for nonfiction this wouldn't be an issue.

I came across an app someone created that simulates the X-ray feature for any book by using the capabilities of the touch. Ironically he kind of mentions with some regret that he can't duplicate the bar graph feature i am addressing. I think this may be a good thing. His program accesses info using shelfari.  Ive never had a ereader so I don't know much about what this means. But I saw it on mobilereads.

Is the quick wiki reference feature on the touch tied to pulling up the X-ray feature or a seperate function?

[MichelleR]

Is there a list anywhere of books with this enabled?

[Hadou]

I really like what the x-ray feature can do, or what it's SUPPOSED to do.  Especially in some of those books where there's a metric crap-ton of characters that drop in and out frequently.

[Evenshade]

Thank you, Sandpiper.  And I agree with Susan J...X-ray was the main reason I bought the Touch and even though I like it and will keep it, I am disappointed that there are not more titles with the feature.

[zeppo]

X-ray was the feature that I was most anticipating and I'm just sorry that it is not currently available in more books.  This morning as I'm 70% through a book, a minor character from an earlier chapter made an appearance and it was so cook to be able to use x-ray his name and refresh my memory. 

When one goes to x-ray, the characters on the page appear in a list.  Next to the list is a shaded horizontal bar with a vertical line bisecting it at the point current point of reading.  There are shorter vertical bars at each instance that the character appears.  When it's a major character, it just appears as a solid black block.   By pressing on the unread area of the horizontal bar, it takes one to those references.

 In my case, I was on page 219, so I didn't look at any of the references past that.  I don't think it is much of a spoiler since one does have to make an effort to page down to see all future references.

The spoiler is in the graph itself, not just the references.  I don't necessarily want to know that a character is a major character ahead of how it is revealed to me by the author, or particularly that he is a minor character now, drops out of the story completely until the end, and then plays a major part at the end.  Things like that should just be allowed to unfold without you being aware of what is to come.  (Of course, this matters only in fiction, and it would be quite a different matter in non-fiction.)

So that said, I found mention of this feature in a review

http://eptiger.blogspot.com/2011/11/kindle-touch.html

which states:

"It also shows you a blueprint of where mentions of the character or term occur in the book and you can easily browse these selections. It's quite fast and quite accurate as far as figuring out what people and terms are relevant. You can show these lists for the current page, chapter, or whole book so it's easy to find what you're looking for. "

So perhaps in the future they could tweak this feature so you have the option of limiting what is reveal in that bar graphic (and search results) to just what you have read up to that point.  That would be a great improvement for when reading fiction I think.