Thread: Astak Mentor eBook readers with WiFi and Touchscreen (read-only)
View Single Post
Old 12-08-2008, 05:55 PM   #1141
Robertb
Astak Director, Bus. Devl
Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.Robertb ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
Robertb's Avatar
 
Posts: 2,560
Karma: 2500000
Join Date: Apr 2008
Device: Astak Pocket PRO
Fabulous suggestions and Rhino Skin case
Quote:
Originally Posted by wallcraft View Post
A good short term goal would be to make the EZ Reader's MOBI support better than that provided by the Kindle (which started from exactly the same Java MobiPocket Reader as used by the Hanlin). Areas for improvement include:

a) The EZ Reader only has 3 font sizes, vs 6 on the Kindle and these are about font sizes 3,4,5 from the Kindle. So the smallest EZ Reader font may be a bit big for some readers. I suggest 5 font sizes, like the EZ Reader already has for FB2 ebooks.

b) The Kindle allows either full or left justification. The EZ Reader only has full justification, which can lead to large spaces between words with a large font size. I suggest adding left justification.

c) Both the Kindle and the EZ Reader have a very wide line spacing, which is much too large particularly at large font sizes. Either allow this to be set by the user (like with FB2 now), or reduce the fixed spacing.

d) The Windows version of MobiPocket also has an "always bold" option, which is helpful on EInk screens that favour heavier fonts. I suggest adding an always bold option, or a heavier font.

e) All other MobiPocket Readers support MOBI dictionary lookup. This would be a valuable addition to the EZ Reader. If you want to go the extra mile, add MOBI dictionary lookup to all ebook formats (this may be hard, but it has been done on the iLiad DR1000).

Another feature of the Kindle is support for making screenshots (a copy of the bitmap displayed on the screen). The Kindle does this with a key combination (<alt><shift>G), but a "good enough" approach would be to add it to the base system menu with a 30-second delay (to get back to the screen you want a shot of). For Kindle screenshots that illustrate the 6 Kindle font sizes (compare to the same ebook on your EZ Reader), see Font Sizes.
Dear Wallcraft:

I am taking your entire email exactly as written and sending it to Jinke for a full and itemized answer. As always, you surpass my knowledge on what needs to be done. I will TRY to rush these ideas into production in time for the EZ Reader Plus and EZ Reader Pro launches.

Also, I did check and Rhino Skin is still making titanium and aluminum crush-resistant cases. I have emailed them to start a dialoque.

Robert B
Robertb is offline