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bossanova808 · 10-08-2017, 12:59 AM

I'm not making any demands, I was asking why it was done the way it was, i.e. with an embedded server approach...basing it on the numerous questions on this forum where you yourself have answered the content server interface can not be replaced and that people should look to the alternatives that reach into the DB like calibre-web etc.

But if there's a JSON api that's great in theory - is there documentation for this somewhere (I can't see any with some googling)? It might be no-one is offering to build something on it because it's not clear it's even there.... Is the only documentation looking through this - https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...re/srv/ajax.py ?

..because for a typical web dev, that's not really going to work for them as documentation.

Perhaps you or someone could take me through very quickly what is there & how it currently works, where to look etc. For the content server parts that are outside of the python area, that is.

(I'm afraid, though, it is actually possible & consistent for it to both look visually unappealing and dated (as I believe it does), and in functional terms be touch optimised to the extent that it's unfriendly to use on the desktop (as I think it is)). Watching users use it has shown me it's now not doing the job it wants to do very well (assuming that is to present a library and allow for the discovery of books in that library)...whereas previously it was quite decent at it.

Even quite computer savvy people seem to find the new implementation on desktop clunky, and I personally agree with them. I apologise for the web criticism but I wouldn't be typing all this if I didn't care - and generally think Calibre is great and very useful. But I do think for the web interface side of things, the recent changes are quite a step back for the browsing a library. (I don't personally read in browsers or know anyone who does, so this is just about the library browsing side of things).

And of course, I may be wrong - certainly have been before. Do folks genuinely think the new interface is, for library purposes, better than the old one?

10-08-2017, 12:59 AM	#20
bossanova808 Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: Many	I'm not making any demands, I was asking why it was done the way it was, i.e. with an embedded server approach...basing it on the numerous questions on this forum where you yourself have answered the content server interface can not be replaced and that people should look to the alternatives that reach into the DB like calibre-web etc. But if there's a JSON api that's great in theory - is there documentation for this somewhere (I can't see any with some googling)? It might be no-one is offering to build something on it because it's not clear it's even there.... Is the only documentation looking through this - https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...re/srv/ajax.py ? ..because for a typical web dev, that's not really going to work for them as documentation. Perhaps you or someone could take me through very quickly what is there & how it currently works, where to look etc. For the content server parts that are outside of the python area, that is. (I'm afraid, though, it is actually possible & consistent for it to both look visually unappealing and dated (as I believe it does), and in functional terms be touch optimised to the extent that it's unfriendly to use on the desktop (as I think it is)). Watching users use it has shown me it's now not doing the job it wants to do very well (assuming that is to present a library and allow for the discovery of books in that library)...whereas previously it was quite decent at it. Even quite computer savvy people seem to find the new implementation on desktop clunky, and I personally agree with them. I apologise for the web criticism but I wouldn't be typing all this if I didn't care - and generally think Calibre is great and very useful. But I do think for the web interface side of things, the recent changes are quite a step back for the browsing a library. (I don't personally read in browsers or know anyone who does, so this is just about the library browsing side of things). And of course, I may be wrong - certainly have been before. Do folks genuinely think the new interface is, for library purposes, better than the old one?