[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Kretzer

But I would not always want a screen break, only when the heading is low down on the screen, rather like some kind of orphan control.

I've been wondering about this same thing, too. Perhaps an expert can answer our question. This "orphan control" definitely exists, for example, in Microsoft Word. Among paragraph properties, you can click the option "Tie with next paragraph", which ensures that that particular paragraph will never occur at the bottom of a (virtual paper) page.

I wonder whether there's an HTML/EPUB equivalent for that Microsoft Word paragraph setting. The trouble is, of course, that HTML is originally a concept for which "pages" are meaningless. Now that we're reading books in EPUB files, which are basically processed HTML files, this raises new questions not known in the days when no handheld reading devices existed.

Originally Posted by Kretzer

Maybe there was some technical issue and you need to try again?

The same thing happened with my Marvin 1.1 review and rating -- they never showed up. Sorry, I'm just too tired trying to get around Apple's stupidity all the time. Especially because of that inexcusable geographical isolation of App Stores -- my review would not be seen by anyone outside my micro-country, anyway.

Originally Posted by Kretzer

there is no reason to keep the ratings and reviews separate (other than maybe language).

Review languages could easily be filtered automatically.

Especially, there is no excuse for isolating app ratings. If a Chinese Marvin user rates Marvin 5 stars, that's just as understandable to me, as when a user from my own micro-country rates Marvin 5 stars. There is no excuse! Why not let me see how all the apps are rated globally? Why deprive Apple customers in my micro-country from that essential help in searching for quality apps?

Because Apple is extremely dumb, that's why. As dumb as can be. Apple is just completely clueless, whenever it comes to the international/multi-lingual aspect of things.

Originally Posted by Kretzer

Did you know you can change the country tag in the links and always get to the same app? Like "at" to "de" here: https://itunes.apple.com/at/app/marvin-ebooks-+-intelligence/id577374971?mt=8 ?

You can't do that in the App Store directly on the iPad or iPhone, which is where users typically search for new apps. So that this particular workaround is useless there.

Originally Posted by Kretzer

Re "trolls" and "jerks": I think people are entitled to freely express their opinion, even if it differs from ours, and even if indeed many reviews are stupid.

Yes, but in no way is that 2-star rating for Marvin serious. Someone was just trolling, and that's it. If it was accompanied by a review explaining the low rating, it might be acceptable, but as it is, it's not.

Originally Posted by Philantrop

Alex, the most likely explanation is that your review somehow violated their guidelines. If you swore ("the fucking greatest app!"), added a link (even a "disguised" one; e. g. marvinapp.com/whatsnew) or something like that, your review will simply be rejected without any notice.

But that's exactly what's unacceptable, Wulf. Even if my review got rejected because of violating their guidelines, there is no excuse (no excuse) for throwing away my 5-star rating also.

If a customer takes the time to submit a review to your darn App Store, and unintentionally violates your guidelines, common decency would command for Apple to notify the customer of the fact. There is no excuse for rejecting the review and failing to notify the review writer.

Besides, when I was submitting my review for Marvin 1.2, after I pushed the "Submit review" link, my original review for Marvin 1.1 popped up. If it's true that that review got rejected for violating review guidelines, why was it still stored there? If it did not get rejected, why has it never appeared in the App Store?

Looking for potential rejection reasons, they could perhaps be that I clearly said Marvin was now better than Stanza, iBooks and Kindle. If that is forbidden to say, sorry -- I don't buy that! It's an essential part of any review, to compare a reviewed product with its direct competitors. Only then can a review become truly useful for the reader of a review.

For what it's worth, here is my review of Marvin 1.2 as I submitted it to my micro-country's App Store many days ago -- and it's still not showing up (nor is the 5-star rating):

Stanza Replacement Finally Here!

I must have needlessly tested or bought about two dozen e-reader apps, searching for the future Stanza replacement after Stanza got stifled by Amazon. iBooks and the Kindle app have been improving at a snail's pace, and the range of customization options offered by them is still woefully minimal compared to Stanza. Now here comes Marvin at long last: Marvin will give you (almost) everything you loved so much about Stanza, and throws in lots of delightful extras, too. It's blazingly fast, too; has a very solid feel to it right fom the first moment you start using it. Fantastic option to export all your notes and bookmarks with a single tap, in an XHTML file -- not even Stanza can do that! The Marvin developer is releasing frequent updates and is actively communicating with the users on the Mobileread forum, listening to and implementing their feedback. (Good luck with reaching most other e-reader developers! I tried, and there was typically no response.) Looking forward to future Marvin improvements, and now I can finally upgrade to iOS 6, after I've held on to iOS 5 mainly for the fear of hurting Stanza. Version 1.2 of Marvin adds an amazing amount of new features and improvements, such as paragraph spacing; ability to export/import/restore/share your bookmarks, highlights and annotations with a single tap of your finger; metadata editor; OPDS catalogs; or 2-column reading in both screen orientations. This app is a triumph in software creation; an iOS landmark and a definite perennial candidate for "Best App Ever", regardless of app category.