[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[kguil]

Experimenting with Pfennig in Marvin. I quite like it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kguil

Ok. I'll make sure the update is released as soon as humanly possible. I've added lots of new stuff over the holidays including some deep "under the hood" changes to the layout engine. I'll have to make sure to test it properly before getting it out.

Well, I'm sure you could find a lot of beta testers to help you do some beta testing right here on MR. That might help either cut down the time it takes to beta testing or help find bugs/issues/gotchas.

[kguil]

I'm already in touch with some people at MR. Anyone else interested to beta test?

I've got about 10 "slots" left (Apple give me a finite amount of 'tokens'). The more fastidious and picky you are, the better

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kguil

I'm already in touch with some people at MR. Anyone else interested to beta test?

I've got about 10 "slots" left (Apple give me a finite amount of 'tokens'). The more fastidious and picky you are, the better

I'd be happy to help beta test. I have an iPad 1.

[kguil]

Cool. Can you send me your iPad's UUID by email (don't post it here). If you don't know how to find it let me know.

[JSWolf]

Charis SIL has smallcaps built in. But you can separate out the smallcaps (to create a smallcaps version of the fonts) as most apps/programs don't know how to handle this. I've made the separate smallcaps fonts.

When I modify an ePub and fix the smallcaps to be real smallcaps and not simulated, I use "font-family: smallcaps" to give the name of smallcaps the the font(s). I also use a backup of sans-serif in case I ever was to load this ePub into Bluefire. I would not get the smallcaps, but I would see where they are supposed to be when I see the sans-serif font.

On my Sony Reader, I can specify fonts to be used that are not in the ePub, but sitting in a directory on the Reader. That is why I use a backup of sans-serif just in case.

So if say I was to pick Charis SIL as the serif font, there could be a decided upon style to then be used to show the smallcaps. So say you decided to use smallcaps to represent smallcaps, then you'd show smallcaps whenever the code says to use "font-family: smallcaps". Yes, I know that people would have to modify the epUb for this, but given that the ePub would already be DRM free and Sigil is very easy to use, it's a win-win.

[kguil]

Got it.

[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.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

As it is now, no ePub is readable using Marvin because of the paragraph spacing.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

8. Show how many pages are left in the entire ePub instead of just 4 pages left in chapter.

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.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

10. Savable options. Save the options so they can be recalled later. Be able to save multiple option sets.

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?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

And as for a Stanza successor, Bluefire blew it away and still does.

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.

Originally Posted by kguil

I don't want to alienate non-advanced users with too many options.

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.

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.

Fantastic! Now all we need is unlimited Themes... or perhaps 3 Themes for basic users, unlimited Themes hidden under Advanced Settings.

[kguil]

So:

1) For the very next version, I increased the range of the margin settings. Now, left/right margins should go all the way to the edges.
2) Regarding the top/bottom space, there is already an option (general settings) to hide the page titles and footers. Right now, Marvin just hides them. In a new update, that space will be used.
3) No textures in 1.2 sorry. Will try and fit them in the next one.
4) I'm not rejecting the ideas per se. I actually think they're brilliant. What I really mean is that I need to sit down and think hard how to design the UI in such a way to be appealing to power users and casual ones. The "advanced" button makes sense.

Before working on the version after 1.2, I'll publish my proposed feature list here to ask if there any show-stoppers. I'd like that version to be as complete as possible so that I can start working on the iPhone version afterwards.

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by kguil

I'm already in touch with some people at MR. Anyone else interested to beta test?

I've got about 10 "slots" left (Apple give me a finite amount of 'tokens'). The more fastidious and picky you are, the better

I'll like to beta test, if you still have a slot pen.


Art

[sglinert]

Happy to beta-test! I'll send the UUID if you need another tester.

[kguil]

Please send me your UUIDs by email or PM. I'll distribute betas this weekend.

[orion2001]

Kris, I just wanted to say I agree with your approach. You need to be careful not to make your app a mess of user settings that confuses a casual reader. I know that the folks here at mobileread are fantastic and very supportive, but they also each have many wishlists and some of them are highly custom that 99.9% of readers would never have even thought of as being necessary as an option.

Not to say that such features shouldn't be considered or included, but I agree that the UI needs to be considered carefully and whether it makes sense to include all options or as suggested by others, have an advanced mode that gives you more flexibility if you truly desire it, without confusing the majority of folks who will use your app (default to the noob friendly UI). Obviously not something to introduce right away, but going forward, this is certainly something that you might perhaps want to figure out first before introducing a raft of additional features. I'd hate for you to get negative feedback on your app from first time users if you added all these options without being careful enough about how it impacts the user experience.

Thanks for being so awesome about taking in feedback and responding to people. These forums are great for getting lots of good ideas and feedback from some very passionate and well read users

[kguil]

Thanks Orion. So far the only feature request that needs some careful UI planning, is the "Sets of settings". I've got some good ideas.

Without sounding cheesy, I'm very grateful to the Mobileread community in return. I learnt to love ebooks here (since my first Sony 505) and some of the best feedback and ideas are coming from MR.