I bought it

[thegasbag]

Just a word for the developers of Marvin: This reader is great, and has replaced my epub (iBooks) reader on my iPad and iPhone.
I have bought the themes for my iPad version, and have bought the full version for my iPhone.

Yesterday, whilst waiting 90 minutes for a later running medical appt., I used Marvin on my iPhone for the first time. It was great. I managed to read a couple of chapters of the book which I am reading on my iPad.

It is always a pleasure to support great software and the developers.

[Quexos]

Can you go full screen with this app ? I mean with Ibook (from what I have seen) you have those huge margins as well as top and bottom empty space.

[MeSue]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Can you go full screen with this app ? I mean with Ibook (from what I have seen) you have those huge margins as well as top and bottom empty space.

Yes! Marvin margins go very small and top and bottom are configurable (small, med, large).

[chilady1]

Originally Posted by thegasbag

Just a word for the developers of Marvin: This reader is great, and has replaced my epub (iBooks) reader on my iPad and iPhone.
I have bought the themes for my iPad version, and have bought the full version for my iPhone.

You will not regret purchasing Marvin - it has essentially replaced everything else I was using. I am a KINDLE fanatic - however, I recently decided to try reading on my iPad and I haven't looked back since. I love Marvin's features, the fact that you can talk to the developer, Kris right here on MobileRead and he really takes to heart all of the suggestions folks make on how to improve the app.

I have both the iPad version and the iPhone version. If you also want to support Marvin further - consider purchasing the themes for the iPhone. I have purchased one so far, but the Purple is screaming my name. Let us know how you like it once you really get into it.

[kguil]

@thegasbag - Thanks a lot for your support.

Horizontal margins are set on a per book basis and the setting can be found in the "AA" menu within the book.

Vertical margins are a global setting and can be configured from the settings menu (gear icon) on the home screen.

You can set the margins so that your page almost touches all four sides of the screen.

[Quexos]

I got Marvin too, not even considering Ibooks anymore. I love how you can shrink the margins, line spacing and background colors options.

Now If I may make a suggestion, there is one control I did not find which I would welcome in Marvin. having a choice in BOLDING text.
My problem with fonts is the ones I love are too thin, or too thick so it would be nice if one could have a scale between thick and thin so that once you have the font you love you can make it bolder or thinner.
And I don't just mean two options (thick or thin) I mean a scale between those two like you can do in Kobo readers)

[Quexos]

I can indeed configure the left right margins but you mention top bottom margins as being configurable in three positions: small, medium, large.
But where do you find that option, I have looked everywhere and couldn't find it.
In the "Format" page I have:
Text size, Margin width, Line spacing, Paragraph indent, Paragraph spacing, Justification and Hyphenation. But where would top bottom configuration be ?

Originally Posted by MeSue

Yes! Marvin margins go very small and top and bottom are configurable (small, med, large).

[Faterson]

Somewhat illogically, that second setting is among Marvin's General Settings on the home screen, "Vertical margin size".

[Quexos]

Yep, that's why I did not see it. But I should have looked there too.
In any case I found it so all is well with Marvin, a truly amazing app for reading.
Thanks

Originally Posted by Faterson

Somewhat illogically, that second setting is among Marvin's General Settings on the home screen, "Vertical margin size".

[Faterson]

As to "making the fonts bolder" without actually switching to bold, I'm afraid perhaps it's not technically possible in iOS. It might be a unique feature for e-ink devices and Kobo. I have a Kobo Mini and agree it's a very nice feature. Like you, I made my reading font there "as bold as possible" without actually turning it bold.

[kguil]

@faterson - the distinction is perfectly logical. Vertical margins are a global setting. Horizontal margins can be configured on a per book basis.

@Quexos - Have you tried Volkho? It's quite heavy.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by kguil

@faterson - the distinction is perfectly logical.

Only when you already know what you know as a developer (what you've just explained above). From the point if view of a user simply attempting to adjust page margins, it will be -- at least initially -- surprising to see horizontal and vertical margins configured in 2 completely different places of Marvin's user interface. I'm afraid many new Marvin users might initially reach the conclusion also made by Quexos: that Marvin only allows the adjustment of left & right margins. (What about a "Vertical margins setup" hyperlink on that in-book settings pane?)

Originally Posted by kguil

@Quexos - Have you tried Volkhov? It's quite heavy.

Volkhov is a fabulous, distinct font. Its only drawback is, it only works for Western European languages, so for all other languages, I need to use a different, less distinct font. Another distinct font resembling a bold font by default, is Futura -- but again, only for Western European languages. So, I often need to resort to fonts like Georgia or Verdana which, while very nice and perfectly readable, aren't very "thick".

PS: I've observed an interesting difference between how the Volkhov font behaves in Marvin on iOS and in Moon+ Reader Pro on Android. In iOS, if you display a non-Western European language text in Marvin using Volkhov (or Futura), the letters missing in that font are replaced with the appropriate letters in a default font (Palatino or Helvetica in Marvin, maybe?), so that the text, overall, is still readable in Marvin; it only looks "jagged". In contrast, in Moon+ on Android, the missing letters are replaced with little square empty boxes, so that the text is not readable at all. I'm not sure who's to blame for that -- Android or Moon+, or who deserves credit here: Marvin or iOS, for handling such "emergency situations" better.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Faterson

As to "making the fonts bolder" without actually switching to bold, I'm afraid perhaps it's not technically possible in iOS. It might be a unique feature for e-ink devices and Kobo. I have a Kobo Mini and agree it's a very nice feature. Like you, I made my reading font there "as bold as possible" without actually turning it bold.

some font families are darker and bolder than others without having to use bold. Experimenting might be called for here. I like Old Bookman.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

some font families are darker and bolder than others without having to use bold.

Yes... like Volkhov or Futura. I might check out Old Bookman if it's freely available; and I would hope for it to be supporting Unicode, instead of being restricted to Western European alphabets like the other two. I also very much like the distinctive Arvo font in Marvin, but again, it only supports Western European letters.

It would be interesting to find out if that sequential "thickening" of font faces is a unique feature of Kobo e-ink readers (I hazily remember having read something to that effect!) -- maybe the effect is impossible to achieve on LCD/IPS/Amoled screens? When I launch the lamentable Kobo app here on the iPad, no such font thickness adjustments are possible -- they might only be restricted to Kobo's e-ink screens?

[Quexos]

I have and it's a nice font. But my favorite one is Arial Rounded.
I just wish it was a tiny bit less bold while still being bold. Hence my posts about control over boldness of each individual font.

Originally Posted by kguil

@Quexos - Have you tried Volkho? It's quite heavy.