[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Philantrop

I disagree. Chrome is a good choice (if any). I'd not invest even one minute in supporting *any* alternative browser, though. :-)

I like Chrome, but have added a bazillion plugins on my desktop version to stop tracking. Not possible in iOS. I like having the bookmarks autosynced from the desktop but am on the brink of reverting to iCab Browser or Atomic. That said, I'm using Safari more and more simply because its the default, and I dont have endless space

[oooclll]

I have to say, and this is raining on the parade here, but, I'm growing less fond of Marvin. The new changes are not working our for me. The library management solves a problem, but not well. It could be so much better.

1. Non-existent visualization of library collections. I can choose to see only only collection at a time. There should be a group by collection, and there should be a good visual demarcation between the collections. This carries over to other sort-by's as well. Its so hard to see where the "A"s end and the "B"s begin in any kind of sorting.

2. Marvin will not work for me if it thinks I will reorganize my books inside of Marvin using its own notion of collections. I'm not going to sit around and categorize my books again inside of marvin when I spent all this time doing it Calibre. And god-forbid I want to change a category and have to manually match Calibre and Marvin. So Collections in Marvin is dead on arrival for me. But that is not a disaster... I can use subjects instead. But look at how hard it is to set the subject consistently between my computer and marvin. I have to change it in Calibre, reconvert to ePUB to save the metadata inside, and redownload it to Marvin. If I do this for 10 books in calibre when my iPad is not around, I better remember which 10 I did it to so I can redownload in Marvin. This is aggravating.

3. Marvin is starting to lose consistency. So now we can get pdf's in Marvin, but for some reason not if I use the dropbox browser that does not search for pdf's. So now I have to use 2 separate mechanisms to get books to Marvin.

Sorry if this seems harsh. I can understand that some of these problems are hard to solve (especially problem 2). But that does not change that fact they are serious problems that need solving. It's just saying that you can't get a good product without solving some hard problems.

[institute]

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[maxjens]

Originally Posted by oooclll

2. Marvin will not work for me if it thinks I will reorganize my books inside of Marvin using its own notion of collections. I'm not going to sit around and categorize my books again inside of marvin when I spent all this time doing it Calibre. And god-forbid I want to change a category and have to manually match Calibre and Marvin. So Collections in Marvin is dead on arrival for me. But that is not a disaster... I can use subjects instead. But look at how hard it is to set the subject consistently between my computer and marvin. I have to change it in Calibre, reconvert to ePUB to save the metadata inside, and redownload it to Marvin. If I do this for 10 books in calibre when my iPad is not around, I better remember which 10 I did it to so I can redownload in Marvin. This is aggravating.

I had this same problem, then I found the solution in a combination of Calibre, Cops and Marvin. In Calibre i set the metadata to reflect the right information. I do not convert my epubs. Then I use Cops on an Apache server to give me access to the Calibre libraries as OPDS or webpage. In Cops i can set an option to add the latest metadata to the epub. So now when i use Marvin i get the lastest metadata added to mmy book and this is what is shown in Marvin.

As an added benefit, COPS will support multiple libraries in one OPDs feed in the next release.

For Cops see https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=170903

[Philantrop]

calibre-server updates metadata on-the-fly, too. No need to re-convert in that case either.

[Turtle91]

Originally Posted by oooclll

3. Marvin is starting to lose consistency. So now we can get pdf's in Marvin, but for some reason not if I use the dropbox browser that does not search for pdf's. So now I have to use 2 separate mechanisms to get books to Marvin.

That would seem to be a Dropbox issue, wouldn't it? I think that it is really cool that you can do ANYTHING with PDF's in Marvin, which is an ePub reader...

But then I am not a "half empty" kind of guy....

[maxjens]

Originally Posted by Philantrop

calibre-server updates metadata on-the-fly, too. No need to re-convert in that case either.

Which setting should i then use, in my setup it doesn't update matadata

Sorry checked the Calibre forum and got this:

#kovidgoyal: Actually, I was wrong, all non-cover metadata is updated, not the cover, Something I have fixed for the next release. http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~kovid/c...revision/14543

[maxjens]

Originally Posted by Jessica Lares

How would we summarize all the feature requests/and things that Kris has addressed so far that haven't been finalized yet? I could add it to the first page if that helps since it's a pretty big thread now.

An overview of what has been requested and an indication if and when it will be added to Marvin would be great.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Philantrop

Chrome is a good choice (if any).

Nope, it's a bad choice if it's the only alternative option offered. (Unless there are technical reasons for this.) I don't see why, exactly, from among the many alternative iOS browsers, Chrome and only Chrome should be supported (and thus promoted) by Marvin. Like I say, Chrome seems extremely lame compared to, say, Atomic Web Browser.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by oooclll

But that does not change that fact they are serious problems that need solving.

It's not a "fact" by any means. Yes, for you personally, the things you talked about are serious problems, and I respect that.

But, please realize that not everyone is like you. For example, I have extremely high demands on e-reader software, but those do not really apply to the internal Library organization features. In fact, I find any and all issues related to that area, more or less trifling (= the opposite of "serious").

Why? Because I spend around 99.99% of my time in Marvin by reading and annotating a book, and only about 0.01% of my time accessing a book, or selecting it from the Library.

You know, I couldn't really care very much about any issue that only pertains to something over which I only spend 0.01% of my time of Marvin usage.

[Philantrop]

[Chrome]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Nope, it's a bad choice if it's the only alternative option offered. (Unless there are technical reasons for this.) I don't see why, exactly, from among the many alternative iOS browsers, Chrome and only Chrome should be supported (and thus promoted) by Marvin. Like I say, Chrome seems extremely lame compared to, say, Atomic Web Browser.

Simple: Chrome has a market share of about 37%. Anything else, say, Atomic Web Browser, has a market share of atomic size. :-)

[Jessica Lares]

Keyword being as well:

inside the book as well as in Chrome.

So two options. Mostly because it's the only browser you can take advantage of as a developer since it has APIs:
https://developers.google.com/chrome...docs/ios-links

Atomic Browser, Dolphin, and the other don't have anything like that on the iOS front.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Philantrop

Simple: Chrome has a market share of about 37%. Anything else, say, Atomic Web Browser, has a market share of atomic size. :-)

What nonsense argument, Wulf. It's often the worst, lamest software that has the largest market share. I'm sure the crappy iBooks and Kindle apps have ninety times as much market share as Marvin -- and I don't really expect this to change in years to come. (Unless Amazon or Apple buy Marvin from Kris, whereupon Marvin's quality would start sinking rapidly, as usual with corporate products. Or, Amazon would just kill off Marvin after buying it -- they have lots of practice in doing just that: Stanza, Mobipocket Reader.)

Or are you saying, Wulf, that you've been an Internet Explorer user for all these decades? Not me -- Opera has been my default browser since the 1990s, and Atomic Web Browser is the iOS browser that I believe most approaches Opera's qualities on the mobile platform. (Ironically, Opera for iOS is worthless.)

Sorry, Wulf, I just can't believe you read the Bild-Zeitung every morning, or watch infantile RTL and SAT1 soap operas every afternoon. Largest market share, you know? As to me, I'm kinda perverse in preferring the SZ, FAZ, Arte, 3sat... and Atomic Web Browser.

PS: Like I said, if there are technical reasons for Kris's preference (as suggested by Jessica), that would be a different matter.

[Rhialto]

Originally Posted by Faterson

What nonsense argument, Wulf. It's often the worst, lamest software that has the largest market share.

Oh please. The quality of the browser software is unlikely to be Kris's main criteria. What is important to a developer like him is how many people will use his product. If people are using Chrome, Explorer and Safari then he should optimize for them. Atomic's market share is so small it is not even measured; its in the 2% "other browser" category. Why should Kris waste his valuable time optimizing Marvin for a browser that only Faterson and a few others use?

[kguil]

So... The reason I like Chrome is that when you launch a URL from Marvin to it, there will be a button in Chrome called "Marvin" that will take you back to Marvin when you tap it - no multitasking gestures and stuff. This is very cool to switch to and from Marvin/Chrome.

Now... in the next update you'll be able to create *custom* in-book menu buttons that can be "programmed" to do anything you like - Google Translate, Wikipedia (any language), Wiktionary (any language), open Nebulous Notes, search in the IMDB app, launch any app you like (assuming it has a URL scheme) and, say, post using Tweetbot or whatever. It is very powerful.

Assuming that the web browser of you choice supports URL schemes, you'll be able to launch it straight from within the book.

Say, you're proof reading and you use a task list manager to keep track of mistakes. If the app has a URL scheme to create tasks, you can select text in Marvin and tap a button to create a task in that app with that text.

If you're not familiar with URL schemes here's a run down. Certain apps may choose to expose URLs they'll react to. For instance the official IMDB app 'listens' to a url with the format "imdb://". If you call "imdb://find?q=eraserhead", the app will launch and look for "eraserhead". Unfortunately, some apps don't expose or support URL schemes (this might be a great opportunity to nag their developers).