[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[Josieb1]

Sorry posted twice.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Josieb, why read PDFs in apps that aren't really intended for handling them? I assure you that if you insist on finding a single, universal app to handle all those different formats, you're only punishing yourself. You will get a diminished reading experience from all formats, instead of the best possible reading experience for every format.

For MOBI files, just convert them to EPUB using (for example) Calibre, which only takes a few seconds, and then read them in Marvin along with original EPUB files. I assure you that the Marvin reading experience is worth the few seconds needed to convert from MOBI to EPUB!

For PDFs, the world agrees that GoodReader is the finest app to serve all your PDF needs, and it would be senseless for Kris to want to compete with it. I can also heartily recommend the neu.Annotate app to you for reading, and especially marking up PDF files.

Thank you, I read mobi's on a Kindle Paperwhite, I tend to convert ePubs to mobi's so they aren't an issue, it is PDFs that are my problem, I used to read them on a Sony ereader but I want to get an iPad mini next year (once the retina screen one comes out) so looking for a PDF app with collections and reflow. Its hard as I can't seem to find one. I'll take a look at Annotate.

I read fan fiction and have 100s of PDFs, conversion in Calibre is not very good unfortunatly.

[Faterson]

Don't miss out on GoodReader, although it's a paid app, but not too expensive. It's been the general consensus that GoodReader is likely the no. 1 app for PDFs in iOS.

I agree that converting PDFs to EPUB often produces horrible results and isn't worth it. I only advocate converting between MOBI and EPUB, because those two formats are somewhat related.

As to fan fiction writers, it's their mistake to be publishing their creations in the PDF format at all. At any rate, they shouldn't be publishing them exclusively in PDFs -- these are no longer the 1990s or even 2000s. PDFs are best suited for printing, not reading, and definitely not reading on small-screen mobile devices.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Don't miss out on GoodReader, although it's a paid app, but not too expensive. It's been the general consensus that GoodReader is likely the no. 1 app for PDFs in iOS.

I agree that converting PDFs to EPUB often produces horrible results and isn't worth it. I only advocate converting between MOBI and EPUB, because those two formats are somewhat related.

As to fan fiction writers, it's their mistake to be publishing their creations in the PDF format at all. At any rate, they shouldn't be publishing them exclusively in PDFs -- these are no longer the 1990s or even 2000s. PDFs are best suited for printing, not reading, and definitely not reading on small-screen mobile devices.

Thanks, I have picked up Goodreader, its a toss up between that an PDF Expert I think.

I agree about PDFs but for most fan fiction writers its the only format they understand.

[Faterson]

Gotta spread education.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Gotta spread education.

I try......sighs.......its the historical stuff that's the problem, so much of it isn't on the net anymore so the PDF is all there is.

[Faterson]

Yes... My best results with fan fiction authors have been: none of them create their stories in PDF software, naturally. So, get the writer's original rich-text file, if possible (typically a Word document); open in Word; re-save in filtered (minimalistic) HTML; feed into Calibre; convert into EPUB, and out comes a file that can be enjoyed in Marvin without any of the hindrances of the unwieldy PDF format.

All the Marvin screenshots I've posted to this thread so far are fan-fiction originally published by the writers in non-ebook formats. I think the stories look beautiful when converted to EPUB by the above method and displayed in Marvin.

[kguil]

Josieb, I agree with Faterson that you can't go wrong with Goodreader for PDFs. I haven't tried it myself, but eBookMobi seems to be able to open ePub, mobi and PDF. At 1.99 it may be worth the shot.

[Richard Moody]

Jodie's I second all that (or third it?) re Marvin, calibre (I have all files in mobi and ePub format as legacy from my Ipad Kindle app days), and Goodreader - which is excellent for PDFs. Goodreader is also good for file management for all those legacy historic PDFs from the90s!!

[Richard Moody]

Hmm sorry Josieb1 my spellchecker let me down there....

[Josieb1]

Thanks for the advice everyone. What I really need to do with the PDFs is convert them to RTF in Calibre, then manually edit, and convert to either ePub or mobi, its just I don't have the time..........

Right now they are on hold until I get an iPad mini, with a retina screen (I have an iPhone 5 so no way could I live with the current mini screen).

Kris, any idea when or if you might have an iPhone version available?

[kguil]

Hi Jack,

The situation about the iPhone version is this. First, I'd like to stabilise the iPad version and make it as feature complete as possible. This means adding 2-column reading and Calibre support at least. I expect these to be out of the way by early January.

After that, I'll start working on the iPhone version. Whilst there is a lot of reusable stuff, Marvin has a completely custom UI so it isn't that straight forward. To answer your question, it will be some time in February or early March. I hope my answer isn't too disappointing.

[artbatista]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Thanks for the advice everyone. What I really need to do with the PDFs is convert them to RTF in Calibre, then manually edit, and convert to either ePub or mobi, its just I don't have the time..........

Right now they are on hold until I get an iPad mini, with a retina screen (I have an iPhone 5 so no way could I live with the current mini screen).

You may find this hard to believe, but I found from personal experience, that for text PDF files, Mobipocket creator is the best PDF to other format converter I have seen.

Much superior to Calibre.

Try it, and you can then convert the MOBI files to ePub if you wish.

Nothing to be done for image PDF files....

You can find it here:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Downloa...sp?Language=EN

Cheers

Art

[Valkrider]

Originally Posted by kguil

You can hide them by tapping in the middle of the page.

In fact, in the version coming this week, there is an option to hide the headers too if you want.

DOH , thanks for the response, I look forward to the new version.