Marvin 3.0 is out

[Mr. Goodbar]

One configuration option I would like to see is the ability to turn off the quick panel on the ipad which would give a display like on the iphone. One option would be to have an arrow that would slide it out of view and then another tap would slide it back in. Minor issue, but I find once I get everything configure I like a clean home screen with just the books.

[ekbell]

Having migrated my books, I'm happy to note that the app opens direct to my library and shows improved performance. I'm particularly happy to have a solution to the problem of quotes or notes in teeny-tiny font sizes. The settings menu is well set up and the in-book menus work well.

Things I will miss most from classic Marvin
1) the ability to make a 'lucky dip' by shuffling my books, particularly with my anthologies
2)being able to quickly pick out marked books (particularly new/unopened ones) -Picking out words at the the bottom of the info box takes longer and I *liked* being able to spot new unopened books in the cover view.

[evanbernstein]

Originally Posted by kguil

@Cloudmaker You can change viewing modes from Home > Main Menu, and what is shown in the 3rd 'info line' from general settings.

I'm probably being dense, but I can't find this. Can you show me a screen show of how I get to the old start up screen? I'm finding it harder to get to the previous book I was last reading (I have to long press on the top of my list of books). I'm also finding that it takes more clicks to switch between 'all books' and 'reading list'.

...praise and other comments coming soon. Thanks!

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Terisa de morgan

@rfog, is there a "Publisher layout" option? I don't find it.

I would advise everyone to stay away from the "Publisher layout" option. After all, why use an e-reader like Marvin, that allows you to customize your reading experience, when you then give up on it by selecting "Publisher layout"? "Publisher layout" is, as a rule, hopelessly ugly and inelegant.

Originally Posted by rfog

@Kris, for example be able to have the journal/annotations synced across devices.

That's the no. 1 missing feature of Marvin, and always has been. (As I mentioned here.)

By the way, a huge flaw in Marvin 3, to me, is that the Journal is "dead" – tapping an annotation in the Journal does not take you to the original location in the book. This makes the Journal all but useless for me.

Originally Posted by evanbernstein

Can you show me a screen show of how I get to the old start up screen?

It can't be done – it's no longer available in Marvin 3. I don't miss it particularly, but as a general rule, I don't think upgrading software should result in losing any functionality from the previous software version. Unfortunately, quite a few features or ease of functionality have been lost in Marvin 3, when compared to Marvin 2, so we can only hope that these things that were useful for us in Marvin 2 will be restored in Marvin 3 later on.

[bglassford]

Really enjoying the new release!!! Thanks!!!

But can I add another voice to ekbell's request for shuffle mode? With 3000 or so books loaded, it was really nice in 2.0 to hit shuffle and get random books showing up (some of which I forgot I have).

So far it looks like a fantastic upgrade - the migration from 2.x went quite well (other than a complaint from the phone that my storage was getting short -- wonder why? <grin>) Still digging around menus to find new features.

[Rachel]

I'm really struggling with M3. - is there some instruction in the app please?

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by rfog

After selecting the "A" letter in the ebook options.

Thank you, I was checking the ePub settings, where there's a Justify option too.

[democrite]

Been using 3.0 for a bit and it is wonderful. I like the more modern look very much; looks so much cleaner and I like the use of red a lot.

Some bugs or issues:

• spotlight - if a book is already open, selecting one from spotlight doesn't switch to it.
• font choice & size - seems to be set per book. Not sure if this is intentional but it is quite a bit of work to select one font & size and then switch to it for each.
• in book scroller - it shows Untitled section for sections where there is a TOC entry. If a section continues in a new file, not sure if like 2.x it shows Untitled or shows the section name. I can send a sample ePub.
• with margins at largest and toolbars shown, some text is cut off at the bottom.

Some suggestions:
• menus remember scroll position. Not sure if this is a good idea.
• search - for a larger library, I use search a lot. Having it on the toolbar + by scrolling up from the top like many apps would help a lot. A search icon in the toolbar in book I think is a good idea too. For nonfiction, it'd make returning to search results much quicker if the toolbar is shown.
• settings - back might make more sense to go back one screen, and then from the main screen close
• Deep View - detect language and hide from context menu if not English.
• thanks for setting to not auto-hide toolbars. Very useful for non-fiction where I might often use the controls. still hides after selecting item from TOC or using other menus.
• in book toolbars - if they could match the background color + not have a border, keeping them always open I think would look nicer. If the bottom scroller didn't show section and was smaller like iBooks, that'd help too. It'd also allow the large margins to show a bit more text.
• in book scroller - could it show page number?
• index scroller in library? helpful for larger libraries. If using date last opened for example, perhaps a quick scroller w/status overlay of month.
• the x in the toolbar, in most places, looks to go back to the library. Maybe a library icon? It'd be a bit less distracting in book.
• top right button - maybe a menu? Since I might use that often, perhaps the most used in a menu, the less used in a submenu, and some bring up a screen. A menu would make it easier to tap elsewhere to close. Reaching the top left to close is more effort now on larger iPhones.
• wikipedia - perhaps there could be an option to use book language for lookup
• agree an option to hide the quick panel would be nice, perhaps even as default. If it could be accessed from swipe left from the edge, that'd be terrific. Recent books seems like it’d be more logically listed under continue reading.
• dictionaries - Seems like I can set only one custom. Presets per language, maybe with an option to show always for a particular language? In some languages, I might only use one, in others, more.
• swipe left/right in library (not from edge) seems like it'd be cool for switching sort by recent, title, author, etc.

I think that's about it for now. Much of the above is so far what I can think of to make navigation more quick, sometimes particularly for a large library. Overall, 3.x great.

[kguil]

@Terisa de morgan - Publisher layout: In book AA menu, scroll down the layout panel and you'll see the switch there.

@icemudder - Settings > General > Backup and Restore > Restore from Marvin Classic

@ShellShock - That's probably because the book was typeset like that.

@dandelioncottage - If you're not interested in side-by-side reading on iPad or keeping separate libraries, you don't need SxS.

@Mr. Goodbar - Feedback re quick launch panel noted. Keep in mind you can make it smaller: Settings > General > Quick Launch Panel

@ekbell - Shuffle coming in an update. Book status badges are coming too.

@bglassford - Thanks a lot.

@Rachel - There are help buttons in every settings page. There are help items under the main menu (top right button) inside a book. All screens are designed to have a main menu button in the top right corner where you'll find a lot of tools settings and options. I'll be posting several tutorials over the coming weeks.

@democrite - An "apply formatting to all books" tool is coming in the next update. "Untitled section" that depends on more than the ToC entry existing, it is probably the EPUB. If you email me we can go over it. Thanks for your other suggestions.

[quiris]

I am unable to get books from Google Drive with Cloud Picker. After selecting and downloading a book the message appears:

"Oops. Your book couldn't be imported because it is damaged or encrypted."

The same book downloaded and opened in Marvin with Safari is added to Marvin's Library without problem.

[Rachel]

Thank you - but there are still things difficult to find. My biggest difficulty is with themes amd paper colours - I did find the control but didn't understand what to change - I would like to use the paper colours I'm used to. Now I have lost the control again so although I have now found how to move from theme to theme, I can't change what they are.
I now see e is a small number attached to the app (ipad). With other apps this usually means there are messages, updats etc. However, what do I open to address these so the number disappears again?

[kguil]

@quiris - Hmm... it is working for me here. Could you try deleting the file from Google Drive and uploading it again just in case it really is corrupt?

@Rachel - In the book AA menu, there are tabs at the bottom. One of them lets you choose one of five in-book colour presets. Next to each preset there is a "picker" button that lets you choose your colours.

Regarding the badge: You probably accidentally turned on the app icon badge. To remove it or change it, go Home > Settings > General > App Badge.

[Faterson]

Regarding theme colors, another loss in Marvin 3 (hopefully, only temporary), compared to Marvin 2, is that none of the colors in Marvin 3 display their names like they used to in Marvin 2. This means it's more difficult and time-consuming now to replicate a theme setting from one device on another, and it generally makes it more difficult to browse through all the various colours and backgrounds.

Among what I perceive as shared deficiences of all Marvin versions so far, in terms of themes, are:

• the inability to upload custom backgrounds/pictures
• the inability to set up an unlimited amount of themes
• the inability to associate a specific font type and font size with a theme

[quiris]

Originally Posted by kguil

@quiris - Hmm... it is working for me here. Could you try deleting the file from Google Drive and uploading it again just in case it really is corrupt?

I have several dozen of EPUBs stored on Google Drive. All of the EPUBs show the reported error.

[Faterson]

fwiw, quiris, I use Google Drive as my cloud picker in Marvin 3 (and Marvin 2), and it's been working fine for me, no errors generated.