Moon+ reader pro idiot guide please

[Faterson]

I've received a reply from Shauny in most cases, but not always. Most of the bugs I reported were fixed, but some were only acknowledged and still are not fixed today. A public bug-tracker would really help bring transparency into Moon's development.

[sparklemotion]

Is there a way to make the android bar (with the home button etc) at the bottom hidden when reading on the Nexus 7.2? Without rooting, that is.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Is there a way to make the android bar (with the home button etc) at the bottom hidden when reading on the Nexus 7.2? Without rooting, that is.

Yep! In misc settings check the full screen mode box.

[sparklemotion]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Yep! In misc settings check the full screen mode box.

Thank you for the reply! Guess what? I have it checked? What the heck? I think it's some sort of glitch or something as I'm almost certain it was working in full screen mode before. I just noticed when I was reading tonight it was there and it bothered me and I was confused because I didn't recall it being like that before.

ok update - It somehow resolved when I turned wifi on. The second I turned it on, the bar disappeared like it was supposed to. How odd! Glad to have it gone! haha.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

Thank you for the reply! Guess what? I have it checked? What the heck? I think it's some sort of glitch or something as I'm almost certain it was working in full screen mode before. I just noticed when I was reading tonight it was there and it bothered me and I was confused because I didn't recall it being like that before.

ok update - It somehow resolved when I turned wifi on. The second I turned it on, the bar disappeared like it was supposed to. How odd! Glad to have it gone! haha.

That does sound like a glitch! Happy it fixed itself.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by sparklemotion

I think it's some sort of glitch or something as I'm almost certain it was working in full screen mode before.

This happens to me often enough, simply swiping the app out of existence and relaunching the app corrects it.

[svda]

Originally Posted by Faterson

I've received a reply from Shauny in most cases, but not always. Most of the bugs I reported were fixed, but some were only acknowledged and still are not fixed today. A public bug-tracker would really help bring transparency into Moon's development.

I wrote earlier this week about a bug, something that has been bugging me a lot since quite some time, has to do about the autosensing orientation, but this time still waiting for a reply.

Indeed, public bug-tracking would be nice ... that way you can see what has already been reported and what not. Or what can't be fixed and why.

Still prefer Moon+ to any other reader. I don't like Mantano at all. It's too commercial with that Mantano-cloud stuff, and pretty expensive also, compared to Moon+

[Faterson]

I agree, Moon+ is the best e-reader on Android, in my experience. However, Marvin on iOS is even better than Moon+, although far from perfect, too. Marvin is supposed to arrive on Android some time in future -- competition will only be a good thing for both Marvin and Moon+.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Faterson

I agree, Moon+ is the best e-reader on Android, in my experience. However, Marvin on iOS is even better than Moon+, although far from perfect, too. Marvin is supposed to arrive on Android some time in future -- competition will only be a good thing for both Marvin and Moon+.

For me it to even compete it would have to have Time Left To read, Full screen, ability to use backgrounds textures, full font control: custom fonts, ability to increase font by 1pt and same with margins, paragraph spacing....etc It would also have to have a brightness settings that shows percentages. Sure Moon isn't pretty to look at but the control it gives has spoiled me for any other eReader app.

I have to ask how Marvin is superior other than it's UI?

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Blossom

For me it to even compete it would have to have Time Left To read

It's on Marvin's roadmap.

Originally Posted by Blossom

Full screen

Already there.

Originally Posted by Blossom

ability to use backgrounds textures

Marvin offers around 90 pre-installed background textures for now. I agree that custom background textures are essential, so I hope they will be added later on.

Originally Posted by Blossom

full font control: custom fonts

On Marvin's roadmap.

Originally Posted by Blossom

ability to increase font by 1pt and same with margins, paragraph spacing....

Already there in Marvin.

Originally Posted by Blossom

It would also have to have a brightness settings that shows percentages.

Yes, Marvin has that, and its brightness control works far better than in Moon+ (seems very glitchy in Moon+ -- I often need to bring up the brightness button in Moon because the swipes up/down do not register reliably on my Nexus 7.2).

Originally Posted by Blossom

I have to ask how Marvin is superior other than it's UI?

It's not about UI for me at all -- it's all about functionality. Marvin's rendering of e-books is far superior over Moon+'s. Marvin is far more precise in terms of respecting the original CSS, while still giving the option to the user to customise its display almost at will. Moon seems to be refusing to display small caps, for example, or it ignores CSS properties such as margin-top and margin-bottom. Simply put: the same e-books look much better in Marvin to me than in Moon. (Apart from my custom background textures in Moon, which I like a lot more than Marvin's selection of default textures.)

The no. 1 selling point of Marvin for me are its annotation capabilities -- an essential feature of an e-reader for me. They are far superior over Moon's annotation capabilities, although not yet ideal in Marvin, either.

Last not least, Marvin does have a public bug tracker, so that it's easy to request new features/report bugs to Marvin's developer, and monitor the resolution of all those requests/issues on an ongoing basis.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Faterson

It's on Marvin's roadmap.


Already there.


Marvin offers around 90 pre-installed background textures for now. I agree that custom background textures are essential, so I hope they will be added later on.


On Marvin's roadmap.


Already there in Marvin.


Yes, Marvin has that, and its brightness control works far better than in Moon+ (seems very glitchy in Moon+ -- I often need to bring up the brightness button in Moon because the swipes up/down do not register reliably on my Nexus 7.2).


It's not about UI for me at all -- it's all about functionality. Marvin's rendering of e-books is far superior over Moon+'s. Marvin is far more precise in terms of respecting the original CSS, while still giving the option to the user to customise its display almost at will. Moon seems to be refusing to display small caps, for example, or it ignores CSS properties such as margin-top and margin-bottom. Simply put: the same e-books look much better in Marvin to me than in Moon. (Apart from my custom background textures in Moon, which I like a lot more than Marvin's selection of default textures.)

The no. 1 selling point of Marvin for me are its annotation capabilities -- an essential feature of an e-reader for me. They are far superior over Moon's annotation capabilities, although not yet ideal in Marvin, either.

Last not least, Marvin does have a public bug tracker, so that it's easy to request new features/report bugs to Marvin's developer, and monitor the resolution of all those requests/issues on an ongoing basis.

Sounds like it still has some time before it can compete. I know Moon does not do CSS correctly most of the time but all I read are Fiction novels so it's not a issue with me. As long as it displays the italics and bold text I'm good.

[Piper_]

How is Marvin with accessibility features?

Particularly TTS?
Can I pick my TTS engine or control with earbud buttons?

I'd like that on my iPhone.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Sounds like it still has some time before it can compete.

I'd call that a humourous statement, because in my expierience, Marvin is already clearly better than Moon today. I would rate Marvin 4 out of 5 stars at this point, Moon+ 3.5 stars, and all other e-readers below the two.

Originally Posted by Blossom

I know Moon does not do CSS correctly most of the time but all I read are Fiction novels so it's not a issue with me.

Well, it bugs me when section breaks in fiction aren't displayed properly (as they would be in printed books) in Moon. No such problems in Marvin.

Originally Posted by Blossom

As long as it displays the italics and bold text I'm good.

Sure, it depends on one's demands. For most people, even mediocre e-readers like Kindle or iBooks, which I consider unusable for me, would do. Because they do display italics, and bold...

Most of all, as I said, it's the annotations functionality that got me to switch to Marvin as my primary e-reader within 24 hours of discovering it back in 2012.

Originally Posted by Piper_

How is Marvin with accessibility features?

Particularly TTS?
Can I pick my TTS engine or control with earbud buttons?

I'd like that on my iPhone.

Not familiar with TTS functionality myself. Just give it a try, there's a Marvin Free version in the App Store.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Faterson

I'd call that a humourous statement, because in my expierience, Marvin is already clearly better than Moon today. I would rate Marvin 4 out of 5 stars at this point, Moon+ 3.5 stars, and all other e-readers below the two.


Well, it bugs me when section breaks in fiction aren't displayed properly (as they would be in printed books) in Moon. No such problems in Marvin.


Sure, it depends on one's demands. For most people, even mediocre e-readers like Kindle or iBooks, which I consider unusable for me, would do. Because they do display italics, and bold...

Most of all, as I said, it's the annotations functionality that got me to switch to Marvin as my primary e-reader within 24 hours of discovering it back in 2012.

I don't take notes I read for enjoyment. For Section breaks just add in your own I use *** for this. Calibre will add them if you use their Heuristics option when converting. If it doesn't have custom fonts that is a no sale for me.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I don't take notes I read for enjoyment.

So do I. Bad or non-existent annotations functionality totally ruins any enjoyment of reading books for me.

Originally Posted by Blossom

For Section breaks just add in your own

Come again? I thought you said you were reading for enjoyment, not for manually fixing the faulty display of e-books by e-reader software. I totally refuse to engage in any such manual fixes and activities, although (or perhaps because) I also create e-books professionally.

The sub-par rendering and low CSS fidelity is not a big deficiency for me in Moon+ Reader, but it's there -- and it's one thing that makes Moon+ inferior compared to Marvin. Overall, though, both Marvin and Moon+ are excellent pieces of software -- but both still have a long way to go before I could call either of them "5-star software". We're still in the infant era of e-books, and it shows in the (lack of) quality of available e-readers, regardless of platform.