[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[evanbernstein]

Quick suggestion:

In landscape mode on an iPad (especially in two column mode) I'd love to see the author, title, and percentage all at the same time instead of one at a time per page flip. It seems you could do this like a printed book; have the title on the left column and the author on the right column; then have the percentage either in the center or have it on the right (to counter the clock if you have it selected).

Also, the new settings for publisher formatting is great, but any chance you could have two versions: one that keeps colors and one that doesn't? I never want to read with a whichever background and black text, but I could see wanting to use and embedded font or something like that. (Then again, I'd still want to adjust the margins)

Thanks again for a great app and a great 1.7 update. I can't wait for the iPhone release!

[kguil]

@evanbernstein The problem is that all corners are assigned.

Top-left = optional clock (you can set this from iPad [not Marvin] settings).
Top-middle = what you see now
Top Right = the bookmark
Bottom is similar.

For publisher settings - eventually a setting will be available to use embedded fonts only rather than 'full' publisher settings.

[ChristopherTD]

The Marvin plugin for Calibre worked very nicely - note that I had to connect from Marvin itself to get it to show up in Calibre, but that's fine by me. Fine work by Greg & Kris!

[kguil]

@ChristopherTD - Glad you like it. Yes, you need to enter driver mode in Marvin before the driver can "see" Marvin.

[JTravers]

Would it be possible to have formatting options remembered independently for portrait vs. landscape modes? In 2 column landscape, I tend to set much smaller margins, line spacing, and text size than I do in portrait mode. It would be great if Margin kept them separate and remembered them.

Thanks!

[Mike76]

Thanks for the update! The native Calibre driver works like a charm under Ubuntu Linux.

[Shykat]

I just updated Marvin and when I touch the top center, where the book title/author/ book % is at the top of the screen, I used to get the drop down that showed the cover of the book and the blerb as well as the % I had read, what date I started reading the book, the date it was published... basically, I guess, the metadata. Now, that doesn't happen. Is there a way to turn that back on or have you hidden it somewhere else?

It was so handy to have and was an important feature for me and I used if often!

Late edit... AARRGGHH, it's still there. I was clicking on the top of the page when the full menu bar was showing. Once the menu bar switched to just the time and title, and didn't have the icons showing, I was able to get to the Metadata stuff.

I just had to play around more with the new version to find where it was. Thanks.

[Shykat]

Hope I'm not goofing up with this like above ... but.... when the In-book tool bar is hidden, I no longer see the % battery. I rather like having that show as I do read a lot and having that show at all times keeps me apprised of when the battery is getting low and I need to plug in... instead of having a bit of a surprise when the low battery (10 %) popup shows up to interrupt my reading.

I know you have the right upper corner assigned to bookmarks but could it possibly shop up somewhere on the upper info bar? Maybe next to the time? Or, is there a way to leave the In-Book tool bar ON?

[kguil]

@JTravers - Yes. It's something I have to work on.

@Mike76 - Great! Glad you like it.

@Shykat - The reason for the hidden status bar is that Marvin's book screen has been redesigned to be shared with the iPhone version where space is an issue. At some point I'll be implementing 'sticky toolbars' for the iPad version. In the meantime, the status bar is a tap away.

[chilady1]

The Calibre Connector functionality is probably hands down one of the BEST enhancements to Marvin EVA!!!!! I am doing a major HAPPY DANCE right now and GRiker got me all straight!

Thanks Kris - Marvin has become my #1 Reader app.

[Gurvan]

I am finishing the complete upload of my Calibre library to my iPad 1st Gen using that new plugin for interfacing Marvin and Calibre. For a bit over 1.000 ebooks, it took me around 40mns but it worked quite fine !

The tutorial there : http://blog.marvinapp.com/post/53438...-native-driver really made the cut for me and I am quite happy with the whole process !

Thank you very much top both of you ! Now, I can truly say that I found a replacement for iBooks ! Thanks...

It seems that I still have a few problems after that transfer but I need to work on it to see what is the issue...

[kguil]

@chilady1, Gurvan - You're welcome.

[evanbernstein]

Originally Posted by kguil

@evanbernstein The problem is that all corners are assigned.

Top-left = optional clock (you can set this from iPad [not Marvin] settings).
Top-middle = what you see now
Top Right = the bookmark
Bottom is similar.

For publisher settings - eventually a setting will be available to use embedded fonts only rather than 'full' publisher settings.

That is great for the publisher settings/font.

I wasn't thinking of corners when I was asking for more information in the title section, and I don't think that any of this has to be clickable. When I have my iPad in marvin in landscape, ther is a lot of empty space across the top, even with the clock and a bookmark showing. I was thinking to fill in this space with more information.

For instance with mock-up HTML:
<div right>clock</div>
<div spacer></div>
<div center>
<div right>title</div>
<div center>percent</div>
<div left>author</div>
</div>
<div spacer></div>
<div left>bookmark</div>

Although, I'd really try to align the author/title over their respective columns in two column mode.

Does that make sense?

[Gurvan]

One quick problem...

When using the Calibre plugin, the iPad doesn't go to sleep... I mean that the screen of the iPad stays on and displays whatever is happening in-between the iPad and the computer. Is there a way to shut off the screen using the normal system delay ?

Apart from that and the fact that the plugin or Calibre is a bit slow in dealing with Marvin, the progress is nonetheless HUGE !

Thank you again...

[GRiker]

Originally Posted by Gurvan

One quick problem...

When using the Calibre plugin, the iPad doesn't go to sleep... I mean that the screen of the iPad stays on and displays whatever is happening in-between the iPad and the computer. Is there a way to shut off the screen using the normal system delay ?

Apart from that and the fact that the plugin or Calibre is a bit slow in dealing with Marvin, the progress is nonetheless HUGE !

Thank you again...

That's by design - calibre is constantly checking to make sure there's something out there. You can switch away from Marvin, or shut off your iPad, and calibre will disconnect until you turn the iDevice back on or return to Marvin as the currently active app. Try it.

If the app is not active, or the iDevice is sleeping, communication is not possible.

G