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Originally Posted by Turtle91
Ah, I found it. Honestly it wasn't the easiest (most intuitive) to find. Now that you pointed it out though I will be able to find it later. It may be that I'm used to referring to 'libraries' when referencing collections of books as that is what all the other software programs I've used over the previous 10+ years has called them...and even your webpage talks about the personal digital libraries one can access... so please excuse the confusion.
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Got it. We don't get this feedback often but we can add a walk through or onboarding process that introduces readers to the features.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtle91
That is a little confusing. Why would you support Calibre with a plugin, but not a standardized Open Publication Distribution System (OPDS) which Calibre uses to serve all the books an individual has in their library??
I long ago gave up plugging a wire into a computer to transfer my books. I needed to access my books from literally all over the world and Calibre's OPDS server provided that capability for me to download, upload, and edit my library from anywhere with an internet connection.
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The reason is that it was easier to get started by creating a plugin which allows quick access to all platforms instead of writing native Swift, Android and Web code to support the OPDS protocol at the start.
So we created a plugin that integrates directly with Calibre.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtle91
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I don't mind the ability to send a book to another app. As a matter of fact, that was the only way I could figure out how to open a couple of my books in Bookfusion. I used Marvin to download the books from my OPDS server, then I used Marvin to send the books to Bookfusion.
What I was concerned about was what Bookfusion's primary function was aimed at: a book management app, a book reading app, or an annotations syncing app. The description provided on the apple store gave me the impression that Bookfusion was trying to be a 'jack of all trades' rather than an awesome reading experience. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you can't have an awesome reading experience while doing all those other things. It's just much more difficult to do if your focus is spread...and that's the impression I got from your description. (notice the ?? at the end of the paragraph)
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OK. We are focused on the reading experience but based on our feedback the reading experience spans the following areas:
- Bookshelf - Being able to easily organize your ebook collection and find the book you want to read
- Reader - Being able to seamless read the way you want your eBooks.
- Annotation & Highlights - Readers that read non-fiction eBooks require not just a great reading experience but also very powerful
We have been focused on the Bookshelf and the Reading experience while building out the other aspects of the platform. As you mentioned the surface area is large but as you can see it is being covered. We actively prioritize what readers say they need first.
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Originally Posted by Turtle91
I gave the app a chance as far as I could without being able to upload a book. It's kinda hard to give it a chance when I can't see it do its job 
Now that I was able to work out a way to get books uploaded I was able to take a look at it. In general it did a much better job than I've seen in other apps in following the publisher's CSS...although I did find some errors from both books. I'm happy to let you know about them offline... |
Haha understood. We will create onboarding screens to help with that.
Oh really? Can you share the EPUB and the errors? We can have this resolved in the next release. DM or reply in our thread works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtle91
The Marvin forum is probably not the correct venue for that. You say Bookfusion 'respects publisher styles' which is all well and good. However, it would be nice to know what you are respecting and what you are not. I noticed that Bookfusion was NOT respecting some of the publisher's CSS and since I was the publisher I want to see the results of my hard labor - not have an app disregard it because it thinks it knows better!
Marvin had a compromise which allowed the user to select "Publisher's Layout" if the user wanted the app to respect ALL of the publisher's CSS. Kris and I discussed the issues involved with presenting the vast majority of crap-formatted epubs on the market in as good a light as possible while still honoring the publishers formatting artistry. That settings switch was the result.
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The default we aim for is to use the publisher's layout and not disregard anything but then they get overridden when a reader toggles any of the settings. If possible could you share the EPUB and which styles we might have ignored?
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Originally Posted by Turtle91
It also seems you already made up your mind about what I like and don't like  But no, I haven't actually made up my mind. I have been a big fan of Marvin since it's inception because it is the best reading app out there. That does not mean I do not look at other options. When I find one that exceeds Marvin, or Marvin ceases to function on my devices (which hasn't happened yet), then I will, of course, switch to something else.
I totally get that you are continuing to build...and that is a BIG PLUS. I certainly don't expect a perfect app on the first iteration. But I also am not one to shy away from stating any deficiencies I see. OPDS support and honoring publisher artistic layout when the user desires it are two big issues.
Hopefully, you don't dismiss my criticism outright?? |
Oh ok. Thank you for replying. That is totally fine and I agree, I misinterpreted your response. The honoring publishers styles we can address immediately, we just need some examples of where we fall short with the sample EPUB. OPDS was on the backlog but deprioritized, I will post it to readers to vote with a few other features and then move it to a higher priority.
Thanks again for getting back and providing feedback. As mentioned the surface area that we are addressing is large but we are getting there.