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Old 12-06-2012, 04:45 PM   #31
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Originally Posted by DaleDe View Post
MOBI format is not publicly released. However, you are correct in that we have the definitive documentation in our wiki. If you look in the mobi forum of our site you will also see reverse engineered tools to take a mobi or a KF8 apart and convert it to ePub. These are also in the wiki. Using one of those freely available sources it should be relatively easy to support either format.

Dale
Have you thought about looking at the calibre plugins that convert between KF8/MOBI and other formats?

They are in Python I believe?

Cheers

Art
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Old 12-06-2012, 04:55 PM   #32
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Hi artbatista,

Unfortunately, there is little I can do about that limitation. I'll try to think of some ways to work around it. One thing that comes to mind is to detect whether the official Dropbox app is installed on your iPad and offer to open it for you as an alternative.
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Old 12-06-2012, 04:57 PM   #33
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Yes, the Calibre plugins are a good start. Was just hoping there was some good documentation I was missing.
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Old 12-06-2012, 05:02 PM   #34
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This looks great. Makes me wish I had an iPad. Can't wait for the iPhone/iPod version.

If it isn't already integrated, or hasn't already been mentioned above, I'd love to be able to export highlights and notes either as an email or to other iOS apps (such as Simplenote or Evernote). Being able to copy selected text would be great, too (didn't see Copy show up in the contextual menu during the video demo).

It's very exciting to be able to talk to a developer and present a wishlist of features. I wish you every success.
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Old 12-06-2012, 05:05 PM   #35
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Notes, highlights, names lists, and other annotations export to XHTML. I chose this format on purpose to make it compatible with most web browser, word processors and can be opened/copied/pasted into just about anything.
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Old 12-06-2012, 05:19 PM   #36
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I have to say that I have purchased a dozen different book readers in my fruitless search for a Stanza replacement.

The only app that I am ready to switch to right now is Marvin. Once you add OPDS support, this will be da bomb!

The rendering so far is flawless and very polished. I do believe that it is on a par with iBooks. I don't like iBooks because it simply has too many hard coded defaults and iTunes/single books safari downloads are a pain. Hence the OPDS need.

Some suggestions:

CSS toggle:
For those badly formatted books out there

OPDS support:
I haven't used iTunes in months. Enough said

Library series sorting support:
No one provides this that I know of. I do it somewhat manually using calibre plug boards, but still, a major pain when you have a couple of hundred books in the library.

Other than these I am ready to BUY NOW!

It's unfair that you are giving this away or free. I bought all that other crap. You make me feel guilty.

Perhaps you can provide a donate link for those of us that feel obligated to reward the good work, and got to download it for free.

Cheers


Art
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Old 12-06-2012, 05:29 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kguil View Post
Notes, highlights, names lists, and other annotations export to XHTML. I chose this format on purpose to make it compatible with most web browser, word processors and can be opened/copied/pasted into just about anything.
Sounds like a great solution, thanks.

I agree with the above. I hope we'll have the opportunity to reward you financially for your work.
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Old 12-06-2012, 05:49 PM   #38
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Many thanks for your support.

Calibre tag and series sorting is coming with the Calibre Server+OPDS update in January. I can't afford to submit this now due to the Apple shutdown - I won't have enough time to develop and test it properly and I don't want to risk releasing an unstable version when I can't issue any updates and fixes. Right now version 1.1 has a rare but nasty bug that corrupts Marvin's database when creating summaries (the fix has already shipped to Apple for review). I want to avoid something like this happening again - growing pains I suppose.

About the CSS toggle, I have to investigate how this will affect Marvin's rendering engine. I promise to look into it.

Finally, regarding financial compensation, at this point I'm more than happy with the enthusiastic emails I'm getting and hearing from you guys enjoying Marvin. Btw, what would you think is a fair price?

Kris
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Old 12-06-2012, 06:07 PM   #39
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I'm happy to say that I'm getting an iPad Mini for Christmas .

Currently I read ebooks on my iPhone and have been looking for an ebook reader that will be able to sync my ebooks as well as sort by date added. That last feature is super important to me!

You have many other features that look fantastic but the two listed above are biggies for me and you already have the sort by date added.

It does look like the status bar at the top will stay there. I'm one who likes to have my clock and amount of remaining battery readily visible.

For the pagination at the bottom of the page. You currently have it showing how many pages left in the chapter. I'm not sure if others like that format but one I would much prefer is the page number / number of pages left in the book so it would be something like 56/267 Page 56 of 267 total pages. Maybe have a toggle so people could choose the format they wish.

When you have your library in the condensed format, is there a way to show that you have read the book? I know you would be able to see 100% when in the expanded view but is there a completed/read indicator for the condensed format?

When using Sort by Date Added and I'm reading a book, does it automatically stay in its position in the library listing or does it get moved to the top of the list. My preference is to keep it in its location in the library listing of the books.

I'm definitely going to download your program as soon as I have my Mini in hand and it sure looks like it has many features that will come in very handy.

I'm absolutely looking forward to a way to sync my books as I read them and admit that, since you already have sort by date added... Syncing my books with an iPhone version of this program is at the very top of my want list.

Okay... Santa... how many more days do I have to wait????

Jan

Last edited by Shykat; 12-06-2012 at 06:10 PM. Reason: corrected a pesky typo
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Old 12-06-2012, 06:22 PM   #40
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Hi Shykat,

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new mini. Marvin has a special feature to "protect from accidental page turns", I made especially for it.

If you slide the book (swipe it to the left), you'll see a blue row menu. From there you can mark your book as read. The book will be removed from that view and will go in the "Books Already Read" shelf. You can access these read books by tapping the "book" icon at the top right of the screen.

Your current book will not necessarily be on top of the list if you're sorting by date added (it might not be the most recent book). There is a sort by date last opened for this.

Now for the hard (and technical) one... computing the total pages for the book is computationally expensive and that is why iBooks does it as a background process. Unfortunately, iOS developers are disallowed from rendering the book as a background process (UIWebView) under the penalty of app rejection. I need to think about this harder. As a consolation, if you tap the name of the book or the author on top of the page you'll see your approximate percentage into the book.
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Old 12-06-2012, 06:26 PM   #41
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Coming to think of it, I can add a setting to toggle between the page numbers at the bottom with the "percentage into the book" value.
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Old 12-06-2012, 06:38 PM   #42
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As a consolation, if you tap the name of the book or the author on top of the page you'll see your approximate percentage into the book.
Thanks, I wondered if progress was tracked somewhere.

I'm a Kindle user and mostly download mobi, but I still would suggest that you should keep it simple and stick to DRM-free epub only, confusion will ensue if you offer mobi support. There are very few DRM-free mobi sources and it's easy enough to convert those to epub.

I see your app as an alternative to iBooks, Amazon's iOS app works very well for Kindlers already with sync, emailing, x-ray, and other goodies, no point reinventing that wheel.
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Old 12-06-2012, 07:06 PM   #43
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Another feature that I just thought of for you to add..... crazy since I don't even have my Mini yet but it's a feature in the ebook reader I currently use and I really like it:

Have an INFO icon show up while reading the book where you can touch it and the cover image will show up along with the book's description. I think it's in the meta data of the books... at least that's where I see it when I'm converting ebooks with Calibre.

Jan
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Old 12-06-2012, 07:19 PM   #44
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Many thanks for your support.

Calibre tag and series sorting is coming with the Calibre Server+OPDS update in January. I can't afford to submit this now due to the Apple shutdown - I won't have enough time to develop and test it properly and I don't want to risk releasing an unstable version when I can't issue any updates and fixes. Right now version 1.1 has a rare but nasty bug that corrupts Marvin's database when creating summaries (the fix has already shipped to Apple for review). I want to avoid something like this happening again - growing pains I suppose.

About the CSS toggle, I have to investigate how this will affect Marvin's rendering engine. I promise to look into it.

Finally, regarding financial compensation, at this point I'm more than happy with the enthusiastic emails I'm getting and hearing from you guys enjoying Marvin. Btw, what would you think is a fair price?

Kris
I am willing to pay up to $10 for it, as a good reader app is where I spend most of my iPad time, but realistically I am thinking somewhere in the 2-4.99 range. Some of the reader apps I bought cost a little more, but most are in that range.

The only one I think come close to this app, as unfinished as it is, is Bluereader, but your rendering is far superior I believe, and all the must have features are already there, save the OPDS stuff, which you have made clear is coming.

Keep up the good work.

Cheers.

Art
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Old 12-06-2012, 07:24 PM   #45
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Thanks, I wondered if progress was tracked somewhere.

I'm a Kindle user and mostly download mobi, but I still would suggest that you should keep it simple and stick to DRM-free epub only, confusion will ensue if you offer mobi support. There are very few DRM-free mobi sources and it's easy enough to convert those to epub.

I see your app as an alternative to iBooks, Amazon's iOS app works very well for Kindlers already with sync, emailing, x-ray, and other goodies, no point reinventing that wheel.
I agree 100%

I would prefer to see ePub 3.0 work, rather than formats that are proprietary and at the end of their life anyway (MOBI)

Cheers

Art
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