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Quoth · 02-18-2021, 03:56 PM

Text search works well on some eReaders. It's not intended as a core function of Calibre. Which brings up a thought.

You might use a computer for your job and use a Spreadsheet, Wordprocessor, Photoediting, magazine layout (InDesign), CAD/CAE (Schematics, PCBs, 2D drawings, 3D models etc) ALL DAY.

The purpose of Calibre is to manage transfer of ebooks from the PC to an ereader, or an ereader app. Several minutes of use will provide days or even weeks of reading. Thus the aspects of use related to all day use programs are not the same.

Also ebooks can have poor formatting or be the wrong kind. So there are a huge variety of plug-in utilities or tools written by diverse people over many years.

It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac. Unlike Mac and Win10, Linux can use radically different desktops. Then there are user configurable themes. Calibre uses QT. There is even a utility for QT to adjust the desktop application look and feel.

Additionally Calibre has different layout options, one or multiple tool bars, A menu strip option and all can be configured as to the content. Content can be set to change depending on if a device is connected or not.

So I think Calibre UX greatly depends on:

Which OS you use.
Which Linux Desktop and QT settings.
Calibre configuration.
Which plug-ins and utilities you need. Some people edit the CSS of every ebook to their own flavour.
What device or devices are connected for transfer, if they are Mass Storage, MTP direct or via a directory, if the App imports or uses directly.
If you merely transfer books to the device, or use annotations to a 3rd party program, or rotate which books are on a device with limited Flash.
If you buy a lot of ebooks with DRM
If you also use PDFs.
If you use Calibre to catalogue stuff not for an ereader.

Kobo, Adobe and Amazon, and in the past Sony, provide crippled walled garden desktop programs that only work with specific brands or formats of ebook and are mostly desktop shop or DRM management for people without WiFi. I've not used any of those for years.

So I think Calibre is a very hard choice for a UX study in that it works with so many diverse architectures of ereaders and gadgets, so many ebook formats and has so many important diverse 3rd party plug-ins.

You'd want a Mac, Win 10, Linux with multiple desktops, multiple kinds of ereaders, using both PD ebooks and ones from Amazon, Kobo, Google and Smashwords stores.

02-18-2021, 03:56 PM	#18
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,440 Karma: 107078855 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Text search works well on some eReaders. It's not intended as a core function of Calibre. Which brings up a thought. You might use a computer for your job and use a Spreadsheet, Wordprocessor, Photoediting, magazine layout (InDesign), CAD/CAE (Schematics, PCBs, 2D drawings, 3D models etc) ALL DAY. The purpose of Calibre is to manage transfer of ebooks from the PC to an ereader, or an ereader app. Several minutes of use will provide days or even weeks of reading. Thus the aspects of use related to all day use programs are not the same. Also ebooks can have poor formatting or be the wrong kind. So there are a huge variety of plug-in utilities or tools written by diverse people over many years. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac. Unlike Mac and Win10, Linux can use radically different desktops. Then there are user configurable themes. Calibre uses QT. There is even a utility for QT to adjust the desktop application look and feel. Additionally Calibre has different layout options, one or multiple tool bars, A menu strip option and all can be configured as to the content. Content can be set to change depending on if a device is connected or not. So I think Calibre UX greatly depends on: Which OS you use. Which Linux Desktop and QT settings. Calibre configuration. Which plug-ins and utilities you need. Some people edit the CSS of every ebook to their own flavour. What device or devices are connected for transfer, if they are Mass Storage, MTP direct or via a directory, if the App imports or uses directly. If you merely transfer books to the device, or use annotations to a 3rd party program, or rotate which books are on a device with limited Flash. If you buy a lot of ebooks with DRM If you also use PDFs. If you use Calibre to catalogue stuff not for an ereader. Kobo, Adobe and Amazon, and in the past Sony, provide crippled walled garden desktop programs that only work with specific brands or formats of ebook and are mostly desktop shop or DRM management for people without WiFi. I've not used any of those for years. So I think Calibre is a very hard choice for a UX study in that it works with so many diverse architectures of ereaders and gadgets, so many ebook formats and has so many important diverse 3rd party plug-ins. You'd want a Mac, Win 10, Linux with multiple desktops, multiple kinds of ereaders, using both PD ebooks and ones from Amazon, Kobo, Google and Smashwords stores.