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Eskarina · 06-26-2011, 06:44 PM

Hi all,

This is my first post at MR. I've been lurking here since February and finally got the courage to join and post something. Sorry to resurrect a nearly dead thread but I don't want to start a new one since this one was available...

I've spent quite a bit of time since getting my nook color trying to figure out the reading app that best suits me. I'm not a power-user by any means. I don't need to be able to mark up and export notes etc. I just want my reading experience to be as close to a paper book as possible. So what I value most in a reading app is the layout and formatting of the book. I want serif font, I want my chapters to appear on a new page with big letters and bolded, I want italics where the script calls for them, I want appropriate line-spacing between scene breaks and margins that don't take up half the screen space - you know, like a real book. ;-)

I know nothing about xml, css or any ebook formatting language. I just know what my eyes tell me and they tell me that the same book appears very differently between my reading apps. I have currently installed on my sdCM7 NC, the Kindle, Nook, Cool Reader, Aldiko, Moon+, EZPdf, Overdrive, Googlebooks, FBReader and Mantano (as of 2 days ago).

Here's the run down of my top 3 (the ones I use the most):

Cool Reader - Probably my current favorite reading app. I love the light paper background as well as the dark paper which I use for night mode. Also, I don't know why but the text appears much darker than in the other reading apps. Formatting issues include occasionally not starting a new chapter on a fresh page and extra spaces between paragraphs. This wouldn't be so bad except on pages where there's dialog. There's also no shelves view and it doesn't work with Calibre's content server (I've been using Calibre since Feb and just figured out how to use this - awesome!)

Aldiko - Nice publisher's defaults setting. Unfortunately, some books have very wide set margins which I can't get rid of. Also, there's no textured backgrounds to read on (I know, I'm spoiled by coolreader).

Moon+ - It took me the longest time and much tinkering to make sense out of moon reader. However, the default setting renders the text the same way as Aldiko with publisher's default switched off. This means that on some books, it'll lose formatting (some text that's supposed to be italics looks like normal body text). The newest update has a publisher's defaults setting which for some insane reason, once I turn it on, switches 9/10 books to some god-awful sans-serif text. No thanks. It has nice backgrounds (none as nice as coolreader's "paper"), a nice bookshelf view, works with Calibre's content server and is very customizable. For those who do extensive note-taking and highlighting, there's no better reading app. However, I don't use those things.

I know that these formatting issues I'm having, have to do with the individual books themselves and not the reading apps and I accept that being so irritated by them probably places me firmly in the minority. Still the search continues. Big sigh.

Sorry for such a long post but like I said, I've been lurking here for a while and this post has been three months in the making. I welcome any ideas y'all might have.

06-26-2011, 06:44 PM	#18
Eskarina Zealot Posts: 123 Karma: 62782 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kobo Clara, Kindle 4	Hi all, This is my first post at MR. I've been lurking here since February and finally got the courage to join and post something. Sorry to resurrect a nearly dead thread but I don't want to start a new one since this one was available... I've spent quite a bit of time since getting my nook color trying to figure out the reading app that best suits me. I'm not a power-user by any means. I don't need to be able to mark up and export notes etc. I just want my reading experience to be as close to a paper book as possible. So what I value most in a reading app is the layout and formatting of the book. I want serif font, I want my chapters to appear on a new page with big letters and bolded, I want italics where the script calls for them, I want appropriate line-spacing between scene breaks and margins that don't take up half the screen space - you know, like a real book. ;-) I know nothing about xml, css or any ebook formatting language. I just know what my eyes tell me and they tell me that the same book appears very differently between my reading apps. I have currently installed on my sdCM7 NC, the Kindle, Nook, Cool Reader, Aldiko, Moon+, EZPdf, Overdrive, Googlebooks, FBReader and Mantano (as of 2 days ago). Here's the run down of my top 3 (the ones I use the most): Cool Reader - Probably my current favorite reading app. I love the light paper background as well as the dark paper which I use for night mode. Also, I don't know why but the text appears much darker than in the other reading apps. Formatting issues include occasionally not starting a new chapter on a fresh page and extra spaces between paragraphs. This wouldn't be so bad except on pages where there's dialog. There's also no shelves view and it doesn't work with Calibre's content server (I've been using Calibre since Feb and just figured out how to use this - awesome!) Aldiko - Nice publisher's defaults setting. Unfortunately, some books have very wide set margins which I can't get rid of. Also, there's no textured backgrounds to read on (I know, I'm spoiled by coolreader). Moon+ - It took me the longest time and much tinkering to make sense out of moon reader. However, the default setting renders the text the same way as Aldiko with publisher's default switched off. This means that on some books, it'll lose formatting (some text that's supposed to be italics looks like normal body text). The newest update has a publisher's defaults setting which for some insane reason, once I turn it on, switches 9/10 books to some god-awful sans-serif text. No thanks. It has nice backgrounds (none as nice as coolreader's "paper"), a nice bookshelf view, works with Calibre's content server and is very customizable. For those who do extensive note-taking and highlighting, there's no better reading app. However, I don't use those things. I know that these formatting issues I'm having, have to do with the individual books themselves and not the reading apps and I accept that being so irritated by them probably places me firmly in the minority. Still the search continues. Big sigh. Sorry for such a long post but like I said, I've been lurking here for a while and this post has been three months in the making. I welcome any ideas y'all might have.