iPad Bookmaster - ePub and PDF reader for iOS

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

[SIZE="3"]
I'm very pleased to announce two pieces of good news
#1 Version 1.4 of our BookMaster (SE and CE) apps are now available on the App Store
#2 The re-designed website for BookMaster is now available at https://www.maplepop.com

Thanks for the great update! The new sync feature works smoothly. Besides using your cloud to sync between my two iPad's, I've also used it to "backup" the reading progress. For example, if I delete a book for whatever reason, and later I re-download it again, I can restore the progress easily. I've also discovered that I can "undo" the sync by using the "jump" button if I want to, which is nice. Keep up the good work!

BTW, much better website.

[Dr. Drib]

INFORMATION ONLY:

For new readers to this thread, please keep in mind that this application is not free.

Thank you.


Don
(Moderator)

[odamizu]

Sync is exciting news! It'll be really great once the iPhone version comes out. (Until then, not so useful as I only have one iPad.)

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by Cesca

I use Dropbox to store my books and themes. Haven't tried Airdrop for books yet. I like having the same books on both my iPad Air and Mini and I would find it really convenient if Bookmaster could synch my position in the book, so that if I'm reading on the mini, then come home and continue reading on the Air, my last read position would be saved in Bookmaster as it is in Marvin or iBooks. Any way to accomplish that would be great!

Cesca,

Now that BookMaster v1.4 is out with sync support, we would love to hear from you again.

[ritton69]

Hello,

I just bought «Bookmaster SE» and I am very satisfied.

But two issues for me are embarrassing:

1. The import of books from «Calibre» : series and volume are not imported.

2a. Sort books by author, missing in the display information of the series and volume.

2b. Sort books by series, missing in the display information the name of the author.

Sorry, but I speak English badly.
Ricky

Message en français :
Bonjour,

Je viens d'acheter «Bookmaster SE» et j'en suis très satisfait.

Mais deux problèmes sont pour moi plutôt gênant :

1. L'import des livres depuis «Calibre» : les séries et volume ne sont pas importés.

2a. Trie des livres par auteur, il manque dans l'affichage l'information de la série et du volume.

2b. Trie des livres par série, il manque dans l'affichage le nom de l'auteur.

Désolé, mais je parle mal l'anglais.

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by ritton69

Hello,

I just bought «Bookmaster SE» and I am very satisfied.

Great to hear that! Would be great if you write an App Store review too. That will really help!

Originally Posted by ritton69

But two issues for me are embarrassing:

1. The import of books from «Calibre» : series and volume are not imported.

I hope you mean "But two issues for me are rather inconvenient (plutôt gênant):", right?

1. A few users at this forum have previously reported the same calibre import problem with BookMaster v1.3. This issue has been resolved in v1.4 as advertised on our website (maplepop.com) as
- Enhanced support of calibre-specific extension to OPDS catalog for importing book series and volume

Today, we've tested this feature again with the latest version of calibre and can still import series and volume properly.

Please look under Book Info View of some books with series and volume info. If the problem still persists, perhaps you can email us with the screenshots and more details to help us reproduce the problem.

If there are other users experiencing with this same issue, please contact us too. Note that if you have imported the book from calibre before v1.4, you have to delete it and re-import it again to see its new metadata.

Originally Posted by ritton69

2a. Sort books by author, missing in the display information of the series and volume.

2b. Sort books by series, missing in the display information the name of the author.

...

These are excellent suggestions that can also be easily implemented. Thank you.
They will be implemented for Library's Flat List View and Hierarchical List View in the next version of BookMaster SE and CE.

[Cesca]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

Cesca,

Now that BookMaster v1.4 is out with sync support, we would love to hear from you again.

Synching works great for me. It was easy to set up an account and I'm now in the habit of uploading my last read position whenever I quit reading, so it's always ready to download to my other iPad. Worth that bit of effort for the convenience. Thanks!

[tbergman]

I've been using the new release for about a week now and I can't thank you enough for adding the ability to suppress the long press gesture. No more accidental highlights and selections! A huge improvement.

It's now far and away my preferred reading app.

[sbaylor]

Thank you for your feedback on v1.4 at this forum and on the App Store.

As some of you may have expected by now, the upcoming iPhone version will have the sync feature from day one. Therefore, we love to have as many users as possible to try out the current iPad version now on sync.

You might say, "Sorry, I can't help. I only have one iPad."

Actually, you can help even if you have only one iPad.

Here's how. Open a book, go to some page A, and do "Upload Reading Progress". Then go to another page B, and do "Download Reading Progress". See if it takes you back to page A.

You can also do something else between the upload and download operations to make the test a bit more complicated if you want.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

[ibookworm]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

Hi, I am a member of the BookMaster project team. If you have any questions about BookMaster, I'll be glad to answer it in this forum. Love to hear your comments as well!

Hi sbaylor! Until recently, I used Marvin for reading on my iPad mini 2, but I moved on BookMaster CE because Marvin started to crash after the upgrade to iOS 9. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and possibilities of BookMaster, but there is one thing that I find quite annoying -- BookMaster do not center the text correctly.
Below is an example of the same part of the same ebook in Marvin, iBooks and BookMaster. There are many other examples both with text and images. Why does Bookmaster ignore centered text and images?

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by ibookworm

Hi sbaylor! Until recently, I used Marvin for reading on my iPad mini 2, but I moved on BookMaster CE because Marvin started to crash after the upgrade to iOS 9. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and possibilities of BookMaster,

It's nice to hear that from users like you!

but there is one thing that I find quite annoying -- BookMaster do not center the text correctly.
Below is an example of the same part of the same ebook in Marvin, iBooks and BookMaster. There are many other examples both with text and images. Why does Bookmaster ignore centered text and images?

Thank you very much for taking the effort to post the images illustrating the issue. Unfortunately, we can't resolve the problem by just looking at the result. Would you mind sending us the ePub file?

As you may have already observed with the bundled ePub "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", BookMaster can handle centered text among other things in general.

Let's take a look under the hood of that ePub file. Despite we are busy working on the iPhone version, we'll treat your case with high priority, once we receive the file.

Thanks!

[ibookworm]

Baylor, the fault was with me, not with BookMaster's layout. I made a mistake adjusting the settings in Text Layout. Paragraph Aligment was set on FULL, instead of P (Publisher's value). Everything is okay now, as shown below. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. BookMaster is a great product and I will continue to use it with pleasure.

I just have one more question/suggestion. If possible I would like to be able to see the time while reading (in the header or footer). I often read during the breaks and it's important to me to know the exact time without additional movements.

Thanks!

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

... As some of you may have expected by now, the upcoming iPhone version will have the sync feature from day one. Therefore, we love to have as many users as possible to try out the current iPad version now on sync.

You might say, "Sorry, I can't help. I only have one iPad."

Actually, you can help even if you have only one iPad.

Here's how. Open a book, go to some page A, and do "Upload Reading Progress". Then go to another page B, and do "Download Reading Progress". See if it takes you back to page A.

You can also do something else between the upload and download operations to make the test a bit more complicated if you want.

Your help would be greatly appreciated!

I ran a few tests per your request. I only have one iPad, but everything worked fine. My test included syncing two different books at the same time:

Spoiler:

Open Book 1: Go to page A, upload reading progress. Skip ahead a few chapters to page B. Close Book 1.

Open Book 2: Go to page E, upload reading progress. Skip ahead a few chapters to page F. Close Book 2.

Return to Book 1: Opens on page B. Download reading progress. It takes me right back to page A.

Return to Book 2: Opens on page F. Download reading progress. It takes me right back to page E.

Do you have a time-frame for when the iPhone app might be available? Weeks? Months? Next year? Thanks!

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by ibookworm

Baylor, the fault was with me, not with BookMaster's layout. I made a mistake adjusting the settings in Text Layout. Paragraph Aligment was set on FULL, instead of P (Publisher's value). Everything is okay now, as shown below. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. BookMaster is a great product and I will continue to use it with pleasure.

Thank you very much for your timely follow-up clarification of the issue!

I just have one more question/suggestion. If possible I would like to be able to see the time while reading (in the header or footer). I often read during the breaks and it's important to me to know the exact time without additional movements.

Thanks!

Thank you for your suggestion and describing the usage scenario. Anyone else seconded?

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by odamizu

...
Do you have a time-frame for when the iPhone app might be available? Weeks? Months? Next year? Thanks!

The iPhone version is still on schedule as announced two months ago. It is coming soon by the end of this quarter (i.e., before June 30, 2016).

Originally Posted by sbaylor

We're now working on the next release of BookMaster (SE and CE). One of the new features to be introduced is basic sync support. It should be available on the App Store in March.

After that release, we'll focus on an iPhone version, as the demand seems to be strong. Note that there are a lot of features to be ported, and perhaps UI elements to be redesigned to better fit the iPhone (vs. iPad) form factor.

There is a possibility that we won't do the whole port in one shot, but choose to do it in a piecemeal fashion, with each release adding to a high quality earlier release. We expect to basically get it done in the second quarter this year.