Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[Faterson]

Using the volume rocker for scrolling/page turns sounds very Windows-ish -- reminds me of the old PDA days with Windows Mobile on it. While Windows Mobile was awful, Mobipocket Reader was great, and I think it allowed the user to employ volume controls in exactly this way, which I found very useful. It's often a lot handier to flip pages in this way than having to touch the screen every time. Given Apple's dislike of hardware buttons, however, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple blocked this type of functionality on iOS devices.

[kguil]

I've been reading around and it is not clear to me whether Apple will be happy if I do this. In fact, I get the impression that they won't (I'll get rejected). Even camera apps are on thin ice. I think this is only acceptable in camera apps where it's used judiciously.

I'll phone Apple dev support and ask but I'm not expecting to get an answer. In the past, the people on the other side of the phone seemed to be uncomfortable committing and giving a straight yes/no answer.

[Turtle91]

If I remember correctly, the old mobipocket reader let you assign different functions to different buttons - "Key-mapping" as well as auto-scroll.

That's one of the nice things about an OS that doesn't stifle the user just for the sake of "making everything work"!! lol

But I agree with Kris - I don't think Apple will allow it. They like swiping, it's worked so far, and there's no reason for them to change......

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

If I remember correctly, the old mobipocket reader let you assign different functions to different buttons - "Key-mapping" as well as auto-scroll.

That's correct.

Originally Posted by Turtle91

That's one of the nice things about an OS that doesn't stifle the user just for the sake of "making everything work"!! lol

On the other hand, Windows Mobile in many situations turned out to be the OS where "nothing really works the way it's supposed to work". From among the 2 extremes, I'd choose Apple's restrictive way any day. Using (rather, trying to use) Microsoft's ActiveSync was a perpetual nightmare that will stay with me as long as I live. That ugly sound telling you that the sync failed (and it almost always failed), without giving you any hint as to why it failed, or what could be done to resolve the situation... pure inferno!

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by kguil

I'm not sure Apple let me do this. I'll check.

I'm pretty sure I've read of at least one app being blocked for 'mis-using' the volume rocker.

[kguil]

Legend has it that Camera+ was blocked and consequently tap tap tap (the guys who build it) were banned for about 3 months from the App Store. Later, when Apple themselves added the volume button to snap pictures in iOS 5 they relaxed on camera apps. Now it seems that some camera app developers are receiving removal notices again. I don't have any hard evidence but this is what I found after a look around.

I'd rather not risk it.

[MeSue]

Moon+ Reader on android uses the volume buttons for page turns an auto-scroll speed. It's a nice feature that would be great in Marvin, but I would not be surprised if Apple disallows it.

I'm itching for Marvin to get autoscroll so I can go back to reading on my iPad, but it's going to make me want an iPad mini!

[kguil]

Start saving I'm working on vertical and autoscroll now.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by kguil

Start saving I'm working on vertical and autoscroll now.

Yipee skippie!

[artbatista]

On layout in the beta:

Books made of only image files, (mostly comics converted to ePub), do not use as much of the screen as they should.

See attached image.

Could you put on your list to expand the image display to use more of the screen?

Just started using the beta, do you want reports here or by email to the support address?

Art

[artbatista]

When selecting book info from the library view, if the description contains HTML, the result are ugly. See attached image.

I think Calibre pretty much imports HTML descriptions by default.

Looks ok though, when the book info is seen from within the book by tapping the top bar.

Cheers

Art

[artbatista]

Love, I said I love! the pinch to change themes.

Just brilliant!


Cheers

Art

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by artbatista

When selecting book info from the library view, if the description contains HTML, the result are ugly. See attached image.

I think Calibre pretty much imports HTML descriptions by default.

Looks ok though, when the book info is seen from within the book by tapping the top bar.

Cheers

Art

Forgot the second pic, attached...

[Trauma Doll]

We're still a few weeks out on a version without superfluous paragraph linebreaks, right? (I want to switch so badly, but apparently not badly enough to figure out how to copy/paste my UUID out of itunes and beg for a beta slot. Yes, I have no one to blame but myself.)

[artbatista]

After downloading a couple of dozen books from my OPDS server, I am wishing Marvin had some kind of download que system, so I don't have to wait for each book to download before moving back to the catalog.

Some of my books are in 20-30 mb range, so the wait can be long.

I don't actually like the multiple, parallel downloads in Stanza, always found them too unreliable, but my idea is that when I tap to download a book, it actually goes on a list, and Marvin then has a worker thread that gets them and imports them one at a time.

Should be allowed by Apple, a number of apps, including Stanza already do this.


Cheers

Art