[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[Richard Moody]

And I've just updated!

Above thread has made clear why there was only 1 review on iTunes before I added mine recently. Even now there are only 3 reviews showing (all of course now for the old version therefore not showing in current!), but that is because I live in the UK. There should definitely be a local/universal type option in App Store so you can read reviews from around the world if you so desire. I have been using the App Store since day 1 - and only just realised this!?!

[Richard Moody]

Kris - the reason you are getting the responses you are is that you are genuinely showing interest in the opinions of your customers, and are responsive to those views.

Actually quite simple: excellent product + excellent customer service responsive to customer comment =excellent reviews.

Keep it up Kris!

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Richard Moody

I have been using the App Store since day 1 - and only just realised this!?!

Because you live in a fairly large country/market... Those of us residing in small countries have grown accustomed to seeing next to no reviews in the App Store. The way the reviews are set up now is so dumb it hurts. I'm afraid, though, that it's impossible to get through the thick skull of a mega-corporation like Apple to improve things. When they say that some banks are "too big to fail", then some software companies are apparently too big... to listen to their customers.

What a delightful contrast, indeed, then it is to have someone like Kris to talk to about our wishes/concerns regarding the app he's developing! Apple's revenue is in billions, but they apparently can't afford to hire someone like Kris to whom we might directly address our concerns regarding, say, iBooks. And so, iBooks remains mediocre, giving opportunity to independents like Marvin to excel.

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Apple's revenue is in billions, but they apparently can't afford to hire someone like Kris to whom we might directly address our concerns regarding, say, iBooks. And so, iBooks remains mediocre, giving opportunity to independents like Marvin to excel.

Oh god, please don't give them ideas!

To paraphrase, soon, a couple of shysters, with fine curly black hair and wearing double breasted suits, will make Kris and offer he can't refuse, to go work for Apple......

What a nightmare......


Art

[Faterson]

Something similar has hapened before with Stanza, as we all know, except that the double-breasted suits were made-by-Amazon, not Apple, but what's the difference? Look at the Kindle app today, still a pale shadow of Stanza in terms of features and customizability. Therefore, I very much subscribe to the idea expressed several times by Wulf the Philanthrop, that a provision be made to avoid a similar outcome for Marvin. That is, if the original developer can't work on a project any longer, at least make it possible for volunteers to take over, instead of forcing the project to die. I'm afraid, though, that the forceful death was likely part of the deal proposed by the guys in double-breasted suits.

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by Faterson

the guys in double-breasted suits.

You forgot the fine, curly black hair.....

[SharonK]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Thank, I'll check it out. Does it have dictionary look up? A lot of the iPad reading apps leave that out for some reason.

EDIT: It does have dictionary look up. But no two column landscape mode, which on a tablet is a deal breaker for me. Otherwise it does have some really good features and formatting capability.

Landscape mode is coming in the next version. By then you might have to pay for this app. It already has a lot of great features.


Oops, in my reading I found this was already discussed. Sorry for taking up the space.

[SharonK]

Originally Posted by kguil

No need to feel dumb... could have been more obvious, and in the update it will be.

Just a small note... at the bottom of the home screen there is a small "light bulb" icon. If you tap it you'll see Marvin's tutorial that explains many of the more "hidden" features.

At the bottom of most screens, you'll also see a "?" icon that will show extra details and most of what you can do on that screen.

This may have been mentioned here, but I've just downloading the app and it looks great. Now I'm trying to read through the 19 pages of comments. One thing I would like to see is the ability to sort by author. Are you considering that, and if not, could you add it? It makes it so much easier to find a group of books.

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by SharonK

One thing I would like to see is the ability to sort by author.

That's in the current 1.1.6 version, at least. Click on the button in the middle at the bottom of the library page to select the sorting criteria.

[kguil]

Hello SharonK. As Gwyn points out, you can sort by author by tapping the sort button at the bottom of the library screen. In the version after the holidays you'll also be able to sort by Author Sort, Calibre Series+Number and group by author sort.

[pvs]

I tried this reading app on my ipad mini. Epub pages load pretty quick, not like the deathly slow kobo app. Pretty well all my ebooks are non-drm epubs so I could load my ebooks with no problem.
One pet peeve I have is the forced indent of all paragraphs. I have ebooks that have the first paragraph of each chapter non-indented and then after that they are indented. Scene breaks in each chapter are also not indented and with a line space to break the flow. But this app "seems" to either force you to have all paragraphs indented (with variable depth), or the option to have all paragraphs in a chapter non-indented. Thus wrecking the CSS styling that I have added to my epubs to make them look like the paper books.
I'm sorry if I'm being too picky, well maybe I am. Anyway I'll keep using your app and I'll even pay for it if you actually put in a way to view the calibre meta-data I add to ebooks, like book description, publisher, genre etc.

[kguil]

Hi PVS. Thanks for your feedback. You are right about the indentation problem. It is already fixed and will be available in the January update.

[kguil]

PVS, I forgot to mention... in the next version you'll also be able to look up, search and sort by many calibre meta data elements. There will also be a built in meta data editor as well as an image picker to change covers.

[pvs]

Super news, thanks for such a quick answer. I've deleted the kobo app from my ipad, can't stand those pop-up flags saying page loading . . . Great news about the metadata info, I'll download the next version even if it costs money.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by kguil

Hello SharonK. As Gwyn points out, you can sort by author by tapping the sort button at the bottom of the library screen. In the version after the holidays you'll also be able to sort by Author Sort, Calibre Series+Number and group by author sort.

Kris, when all this sorting happens (currently) it places the books in a long list. will the grouping in the new edition give each author his/her own page? for example, If I have 35 books by Terry Pratchett, and 7 by Orson Scott Card, and 20 by Poul Anderson, instead of those being in a single list along with everything else, can sort/group by author create a new page for each author, with the books on secondary pages (and the series on further pages)? Is that what you mean by "group by" as opposed to "sort by"?

I no longer carry multiple books by the same author all at once but I know lots who do, and this would be wonderful for them (as well as getting you more new users)

I could see something like this
Author-->book titles
...."....-->Series-->book titles