iPad iPad as a comic viewer

[theLiterator]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

I have been using comiczeal, but I got majorly annoyed by the fact the programmer only added features which IMO are only gimmicky. Issues concerning the task of the app have been ignored for years.
Until now, there are no double page reading mode, pan mode does not work correctly, You can't side load comics from web/FTP/smb/Dropbox
All it added was some filemanagement thing. The bookshelf mode has been requested ages ago, but just went through.

I've jumped ship through comicglass, and while it's not so flashy as comiczeal, it is made with the reader in mind.

One extra point for comicglass is the fact that it doesn't need to extract all files li,e cz does. Cz's way is creating millions of files as the comic archives are extracted. This causes a major slowdown in sync&backups. Cg just extract on the fly.

That's interesting; I don't know if it's the fact that my first computer was slow as heck and ran slackware linux (I built it myself! Dad didn't even have to help me put the GPU in! I bled for that computer. *reminiscent sigh*) but I'd rather have a program that does what it says on the tin and does it well than a program that looks good and crashes a lot.

Thanks! It's really looking like ComicGlass is the way to go, with Bookman as a second. This will save me the $3, I hope.

[FlorenceArt]

Can't help you about comic books since I use one with a DRMed proprietary format (I think) by Comixology.

For notes, I tried a lot of apps, and I ended up using Notebooks for typed notes, and Noteshelf for handwritten ones.

I gave a review of Noteshelf in this post.

Regarding Notebooks, I don't know if it would answer your requirements. I use it to write notes and manage small projects with to-do items and checklists. It's simple but, in my opinion, rather powerful in its simplicity. The idea is you create books, and notes inside of books (you can nest books inside books). A note is either a simple .txt file or an attachment that you can import from other apps: images, pdf files, MS Office files... If your book is defined as a check-list, each note also has a status (not started, in progress, done, cancelled) and an optional due date. You can save your books and notes in Dropbox as folders and .txt documents, which means they are readable without using the app, I like that, it means if for some reason I can't use the app I will still have access to my notes. Anyway, I like this app and use it every day.

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by marcusfond171

I don’t use ipad for reading comics as it doesn’t give the same effects or feeling which comes from reading books. So whenever I wanted to read comics or books than I just bought it.

I find it amusing that this reason has been brought up in an e-reading communicty
The same thing can and is being said about deadtree-books and bitsbytesbooks too.

But for comics, the quality of the images on a perfect retina iPad screen is so much sharper, saturated and immune for aging compared to dead-tree comics. I'd expect more people to appreciate that.

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by athlonkmf

I find it amusing that this reason has been brought up in an e-reading communicty
The same thing can and is being said about deadtree-books and bitsbytesbooks too.

But for comics, the quality of the images on a perfect retina iPad screen is so much sharper, saturated and immune for aging compared to dead-tree comics. I'd expect more people to appreciate that.

I find this argument (it's not the same experience) more valid for comic books. Most books are just words, and for me the paper doesn't bring any added value, though I know opinions may differ.

On the other hand, comic books are pictures, and a comic book page is conceived as a whole, not just as a succession of individual frames. When reading a comic book, the eye and brain keep switching between whole-page view and detailed frame view. This experience cannot be replicated on a screen that is smaller than the page, although I'm sure the iPad 3 Retina screen does improve the experience.

The Comixology app, for example (it's the only one I really know) allows you to view the whole page, then move from one frame to the next, then view the whole page again before you move to the next page. It works, but it's only an approximation of the real experience, and it forces you to go through a specific frame order. And while you are reading the individual frames, you can't see the whole page.

So I agree that the experience is different, and you do lose something in the translation to screen. It's even worse with European comics, which have a larger format than the American ones.

I don't read a lot of comics and I am reluctant to buy paper books, so I'm happy with the iPad experience, but I can understand people who prefer paper in this case.

[sabredog]

I use Comic Zeal for reading comics on my iPad. An excellent program.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by david_e

Regarding writing apps, first ask yourself if you will want or need to import the written docs from your iPad to a word processing app on a computer / notebook. That may help you narrow down your options, as it seems there are so many from which to choose.

Personally, I use Pages. I have it installed on all my Macs, so it was a simple decision.

I love Pages. It is also a universal app, so you can download a version for your iPhone or iPod for free if you purchase it for your iPad.

As for comics, I use CloudReaders most of the time. It's free, so you can try it with no risk.

[murraypaul]

[QUOTE=FlorenceArt;2081687On the other hand, comic books are pictures, and a comic book page is conceived as a whole, not just as a succession of individual frames. When reading a comic book, the eye and brain keep switching between whole-page view and detailed frame view. This experience cannot be replicated on a screen that is smaller than the page, although I'm sure the iPad 3 Retina screen does improve the experience.[/QUOTE]

There is no need to zoom in to individual panels on the iPad3, you read the entire page at once, just like a paper comic.
Matching the exact physical size is a red herring. Move something further away, it looks smaller, move it closer it looks bigger. A 9-10 inch screen is close enough to replicate the experience of reading a comic. Heck you can read a full-width broadsheet newspaper on it!

[FlorenceArt]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

There is no need to zoom in to individual panels on the iPad3, you read the entire page at once, just like a paper comic.
Matching the exact physical size is a red herring. Move something further away, it looks smaller, move it closer it looks bigger. A 9-10 inch screen is close enough to replicate the experience of reading a comic. Heck you can read a full-width broadsheet newspaper on it!

Let me guess, you're under 40?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

Let me guess, you're under 40?

I've worn glasses since before I went to school, so I hardly have perfect eyesight!

[athlonkmf]

Originally Posted by FlorenceArt

I find this argument (it's not the same experience) more valid for comic books. Most books are just words, and for me the paper doesn't bring any added value, though I know opinions may differ.

On the other hand, comic books are pictures, and a comic book page is conceived as a whole, not just as a succession of individual frames. When reading a comic book, the eye and brain keep switching between whole-page view and detailed frame view. This experience cannot be replicated on a screen that is smaller than the page, although I'm sure the iPad 3 Retina screen does improve the experience.

The Comixology app, for example (it's the only one I really know) allows you to view the whole page, then move from one frame to the next, then view the whole page again before you move to the next page. It works, but it's only an approximation of the real experience, and it forces you to go through a specific frame order. And while you are reading the individual frames, you can't see the whole page.

So I agree that the experience is different, and you do lose something in the translation to screen. It's even worse with European comics, which have a larger format than the American ones.

I don't read a lot of comics and I am reluctant to buy paper books, so I'm happy with the iPad experience, but I can understand people who prefer paper in this case.

Why would you read frame by frame? That's not the way you'd read a deadtree comic, why would you do so with digital ones?

There are apps would let you read the comics as they were intended too.


Double page spread. (this is a compressed and resized screenshot from the new ipad from the app ComicGlass. Compressed and resized, because there's no affordable monitor which could reflect the sharpness of the new iPad anyway. )

And with the new iPad, the artwork and letters are sharper than the print version. It's a great experience.

(and really, if someone can't read from an iPad screen due to bad vision, he'd have a hard time reading from a print version too...)

[owly]

Originally Posted by theLiterator

I live in the arctic, in a building built in the early fifties, so fingerless gloves and wrist warmers are a fixture of my indoor attire and I'm not so worried about palm-protection, but I was wondering-- what is writable zoom?

snip

Here are some warm-looking, full-fingered gloves for you http://www.fivepointgloves.com/

[Rob_E]

The reason to read a digital comic frame-by-frame is because you can. I don't like when frame-by-frame prevents you from seeing the whole page because there are some aspects that get lost when you never see the whole page of panels, but frame-by-frame is great if you're using a device that's smaller than the iPad, and it also makes it easier to focus on individual panels. When I use frame-by-frame mode, I notice the art in general more and pick up more of the details.

But that's something you only get with new comics, bought through the app, like ComiXology. The OP wants something to read the files they have, and those can be read a page at a time or not just by using the zoom function and an appropriate reader.

If the OP has a Mac, then another program to look at is ComicBook Lover, which is both a cataloging program for your digital comics and a reader for iOS. The thing I like about it is that you can put all kinds of data into the desktop program, and some of that data will still be available in the iOS reader. Unlike ComiXology, which uses file names to guess at series and numbering, ComicBook Lover takes that info right from the desktop application, so it doesn't have to guess. You can also browse your collection other ways, like by genre.

In spite of this, I've migrated to Comic Zeal. It was a little prettier, and to get the full benefit of ComicBook Lover, you had to use their wifi import program, whereas Comic Zeal can get the comics through iTunes. Also Comic Zeal lets you organize your files on the device in a number of ways. Unlike one of the previous posters, I have no problem getting .cbz/.cbr files from my Dropbox and selecting, "Open in Comic Zeal" as a way to import comics on the go, but usually I do it through iTunes. I like what I'm hearing here about Comic Glass, and I may have to check that out, too.

I think the iPad pretty close to perfect for reading comics. The screen size is close enough to page size that I can usually read comics a page at a time, but sometime the type is small and/or the resolution isn't quite high enough, and I have to zoom. Fortunately it's easy enough to do, and probably not even necessary with the newer iPads. For Manga, which seems to usually use a smaller page, the iPad will probably be even better.

[athlonkmf]

http://i.imgur.com/FxXCg.jpg

with the new ipad, zooming is not needed. The text is sharper than the print version