Touch Kobo Touch future firmware feature request thread

[Akerbos]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The way I do this is to use the navigation bar to skip to the next chapter. The page number is displayed in the bar and then press the return button to go back to where I was.

Thanks, nice workaround. The feature request still stands, though.

The tiled home screen adapts and only shows what you use. The other options will disappear. You can prevent them from displaying with my Kobo Utilities plugin for calibre.

True, I see that now.

[John F]

I would like to see book options on the home screen that are available in the library: remove book, add to shelf, ...

[n3xtITA]

Number of annotation in ebook list, and not only in the home tiles.

[anguila]

Regarding annotations, I wish:
1) I could change the sort order. Right now the kobo touch sorts annotations by oldest first, which could be useful in the right context, but when you want to browse your annotations by page/chapter then it's going to be frustrating.
2) I could navigate annotation pages easily. If there's dozens of annotations made, there'll be many pages to browse and pressing the button each time is just too slow if you want to go, say, to the last page.

Maybe #2 could be solved by allowing to enter a page number to display (which in turn would be a useful UI addition all around). Just tap the page number and a dialog appears.

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by anguila

Regarding annotations, I wish:
1) I could change the sort order. Right now the kobo touch sorts annotations by oldest first, which could be useful in the right context, but when you want to browse your annotations by page/chapter then it's going to be frustrating.

Yes, this is really annoying. A way of changing the order to suit the user (Kobo is slowly coming to the idea that the user might want some choice!) would be great.

Originally Posted by anguila

Maybe #2 could be solved by allowing to enter a page number to display (which in turn would be a useful UI addition all around). Just tap the page number and a dialog appears.

I think the problem with this is that page numbers can change depending on settings.

[maddz]

The ability to order collections - alphabetically, by number of books. It's irritating when you have more than one page of collections to have the ones with the most books towards the end.

The ability to order by series and number within series within the library and within a collection.

Multiple sorts - so, sort by author, then by series, then by title etc. I don't want to have to fiddle around in Calibre to add series details to the titles and export it via a plugboard as that makes titles impossibly long and cluttered.

A back button - useful when you accidentally open a book and have to go to the home screen and navigate back to where you were (unless I'm missing something).

Some filters based on author name, collections - Authors A, Authors B or Historical, Fantasy etc. I know you can navigate to collections then scroll through the pages looking for that collection but I shouldn't have to do that; it should be available from the main library page.

Search by collection - if I use the Calibre automatic shelf management, I end up with 20+ pages of collections

Display series and collection data on the main library display - so you have author, title, series & number, collection. It would make library management so much easier!

The ability to edit the metadata on the device - so I can tweak it without fiddling in Calibre and deleting and reloading the book.

Customisable sorts at all levels of the collection which are saved in the device settings as defaults. Unless I'm missing something in the kobo.config file (is there a list of available configuration options somewhere? I've tried to find one but can't.)

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by maddz

The ability to order collections - alphabetically, by number of books. It's irritating when you have more than one page of collections to have the ones with the most books towards the end.

This was added to the firmware in 3.1.0.

The ability to order by series and number within series within the library and within a collection.

Multiple sorts - so, sort by author, then by series, then by title etc. I don't want to have to fiddle around in Calibre to add series details to the titles and export it via a plugboard as that makes titles impossibly long and cluttered.

All the sorts do multi-level sorts. "Title" is title and then series. "Author" is author, title then series.

A back button - useful when you accidentally open a book and have to go to the home screen and navigate back to where you were (unless I'm missing something).

Returned in firmware 2.9.0.

Some filters based on author name, collections - Authors A, Authors B or Historical, Fantasy etc. I know you can navigate to collections then scroll through the pages looking for that collection but I shouldn't have to do that; it should be available from the main library page.

Search by collection - if I use the Calibre automatic shelf management, I end up with 20+ pages of collections

Display series and collection data on the main library display - so you have author, title, series & number, collection. It would make library management so much easier!

From memory this was added in 2.4.0. Or maybe 2.3.1.

The ability to edit the metadata on the device - so I can tweak it without fiddling in Calibre and deleting and reloading the book.

Customisable sorts at all levels of the collection which are saved in the device settings as defaults. Unless I'm missing something in the kobo.config file (is there a list of available configuration options somewhere? I've tried to find one but can't.)

A collection can be sorted in six ways. The sort is stored for that collection.

As to options in the config file, there is discussion about various options here. There has been recent discussion on the collection sorting because of a bug in a recent firmware.

[maddz]

My firmware is up-to-date with 3.2.0 and I certainly don't see any of the features listed. Granted, 99.9% of my collection is sideloaded which may be the issue (I have only 2 books purchased from Kobo), but there is no option to order my collections at all, the sort order within a collection does not take into account the series order, and I don't see a back button within a book.

My config file has the following:

[ApplicationPreferences]
CurrentLocale=en_US
DictionaryOpenCount=-1
EarliestChangeLog=3.2.0
LastFTEStep=LOGIN
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_books_filterByMine% 28%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Alternate%20History%29=removeReadingStatusF ilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Classics%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Historical%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Humourous%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Literature%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Other%20Fiction%29=removeReadingStatusFilte r()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Paranormal%20Romance%29=removeReadingStatus Filter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Sagas%29=removeReadingStatusFilter()
LastLibraryReadingStatusFilter_shelf_filterByBooks helf%28Weird%20Fiction%29=removeReadingStatusFilte r()
LastLibrarySorter_Recommendations_=sortByNull()
LastLibrarySorter_books_=sortByNewest()
LastLibrarySorter_books_filterByBundled%28%29=sort ByNewest()
LastLibrarySorter_books_filterByMine%28%29=sortByA uthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Altern ate%20History%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Classi cs%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Histor ical%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Humour ous%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Litera ture%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Other% 20Fiction%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Parano rmal%20Romance%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Sagas% 29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibrarySorter_shelf_filterByBookshelf%28Weird% 20Fiction%29=sortByAuthor()
LastLibraryViewType_books=viewBy5List()
LastLibraryViewType_news=viewBy5List()
LastLibraryViewType_shelf=viewBy5Shelf()
LastSyncTime=@Variant(\0\0\0\x10\0%|\xad\0\x32O\x8 b\x2)
WelcomeGuidesRemoved=true
hasSyncedExistingRelatedItems=true
pocketFteTileShown=true
showFirstTimeExperience=0

The list of bookshelves is not the full list for some reason. If there is a summary of the config options stickied somewhere, that would be extremely helpful as I really don't have the time to trawl through 87 pages of forum posts in this one thread alone! I have come across mention of some of the options but I can't find a basic config guide anywhere - just editing the file to tweak specific things.

[davidfor]

maddz: What Kobo device do you have? Your profile only lists a Hanlin. There are some differences between the devices. They share firmware, but there are some UI differences. The Glo, Aura and Aura HD are very similar except that the Aura has some multi-touch gestures. The Touch is different for the library lists and the menus when reading. The Touch doesn't have the collection list sorting and the back button when reading.

In general, the config file only has entries for settings that have been changed. And in some cases, if you set it back the the default, it removes the entry and sometimes it doesn't. For the collection sorting, there is only an entry if the collection has been opened and the sorting changed. I haven't been able to find a way to change the default collection sorting.

As to a list of config entries, there isn't one that I know of. They get discussed as needed or someone finds a hidden entry they think is useful. There is a thread discussing some of the hidden options.

[maddz]

The Hanlin got sat on 3 years ago and went crack... It still works as a storage device - but you can't read anything!

It's a Kobo Touch which I got because I have ebooks from a variety of sources so I needed something that was easy to upload books to. In the intervening period I used (briefly) an Aluratek Libre, followed by my Google Nexus 7. I reverted to a dedicated e-reader because of problems with the work guest wi-fi connection and I got tired of charging it daily.

So the basic Touch doesn't have these features - that's really annoying.

[Corpsegoddess]

This has probably been mentioned before, but I haven't seen it recently, so I'll bring it up.

I would love the ability to see if there are any (and if so, how many) annotations for each book in my list. Right now, only the ones that appear on the main page show annotation information, but once they're bumped, that's it. There's no way for me to know which books in my library list have them.

Just a simple icon (the pencil would do) could appear under the percentage read, on the right-hand side of the book information. Touching that would bring up the annotations for each book.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Corpsegoddess

I would love the ability to see if there are any (and if so, how many) annotations for each book in my list.

Ditto. Plus a way to go to the next annotation from within the book (useful if you use annotations to mark things to fix).

[Jellby]

Another feature, another post. I'd like to have an option to enable dithering for images (stand-alone and inside books). Illustrations often look much better in my Orizon, and that's probably because of dithering.

[Peakcrew]

Originally Posted by Jellby

Ditto. Plus a way to go to the next annotation from within the book (useful if you use annotations to mark things to fix).

I agree with both Corpsegoddess and Jelby - both of these would be great additions.

[davidfor]

Yes, an indication of which books in the list had annotations would be good. But, with the recent firmware, you can get to them without opening the book. Long press on the book and the menu will have "Annotations" if the book has annotations.