Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
As it is now, no ePub is readable using Marvin because of the paragraph spacing.
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Erm, exaggerating much?
You forgot to insert the words "for me" into your sentence. I hate that empty line between paragraphs, too, and the feature I'm looking forward to most in the upcoming Marvin Version 1.2, is the customizable paragraph spacing. But to call EPUBs "unreadable" because of that is way over the top.
Incidentally, I prefer a space of a half-line or a quarter-line between paragraphs; not zero space as in paper books. I find it makes the paragraphs stand out better if there is a
little space between them. I agree that a full empty line is too much (
for me).
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
4. Use more of the screen. When in full screen mode, get rid of the book's title at the top.
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Erm, this is again just a personal preference of yours. I like the alternating author name / book title / book progress at the top of each screen in Marvin on the iPad. They would be very wrong on the iPhone, but I do like them on the iPad. So, I think Kris could include this among Marvin settings: extend text all the way to the top? Or show author name / book title / book progress as now? The current behaviour could be the default, but you'd be able to change it to suit your personal preference.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
There is room for at least one more line of text at the bottom of the screen when the progress bar is not showing.
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I agree. Again, this will be crucial especially on the iPhone. On the iPhone, the text in Marvin should behave as it does in Stanza now: extending from screen edge to screen edge, both left and right & top and bottom, with only the mini-progress bar showing at the bottom. (Of course, users would be able to insert margins if they expressly wished to do that, via Marvin settings.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Also, the left/right margins are too large and will be even worse on an iPhone. Please go out to the edges.
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I agree, although I'm fine with the current margin limits in Marvin on the iPad. It will be different on the iPhone -- we'll really need to be able to go all the way to all 4 screen edges, if that's what the reader prefers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
8. Show how many pages are left in the entire ePub instead of just 4 pages left in chapter.
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I think Kris has already explained several times that this cannot be done, except at the expense of Marvin's overall performance. I think we should learn to expect some disagreeable software limits as necessities of life. I'm similarly frustrated by the highlighting bugs in UIWebView, but there seems to be nothing we can currently do about it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
10. Savable options. Save the options so they can be recalled later. Be able to save multiple option sets.
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Yes, definitely.
As many as possible, because there are countless of them in Marvin, all very attractive. Currently, you can save only 3 Themes, but that's nothing. I'd appreciate if the number of Themes to be saved were unlimited. Also, Themes currently only means text colour and background colour, but it could include all the other available settings in Marvin (such as font type and size, and even screen brightness).
By the way, Kris, you mentioned a few weeks ago you'd be adding some textured backgrounds into Marvin, or make it possible for users to upload their own textured backgrounds. There are some really nice ones in Stanza, whereas I find nothing but solid-colour backgrounds in Marvin slightly boring. Will the textured backgrounds be included in the upcoming 1.2 release?
Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
And as for a Stanza successor, Bluefire blew it away and still does.
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I strongly disagree. Stanza is still my preferred e-reader on the iPhone right now, and I've kept the iPhone on iOS 5 because of that. I've had basic usability issues with Bluefire Reader, such as tapping & holding a word and dragging the selection markers to their desired positions. This happens to me even on iPad 3 that has lots of RAM, and it's a show-stopper for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kguil
I don't want to alienate non-advanced users with too many options.
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Here I must disagree, Kris.
I subscribe to what Jon said: there could be a
single button in Marvin, titled
Advanced Settings. Novice users obviously would never go there, so there's no danger of confusing them. The "too many options" thing is typically a cop-out for those software developers who don't give a damn about user feedback and implementing user suggestions. I know that you're the exact opposite, Kris, so it would be too bad to use that phrase to reject user-proposed advanced features.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kguil
Following many requests, I added a small (but hopefully) useful feature for the next version. You can now use a gesture to quickly cycle through themes without going into the menu.
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Fantastic!
Now all we need is unlimited Themes... or perhaps 3 Themes for basic users, unlimited Themes hidden under
Advanced Settings.