Quote:
Originally Posted by idle
I'm just trying the new version too and it seems to me that there is no CoolReader there - all books allow only opening in FBReader.
Also, navigating with "go to page" function is terribly slow, at least in the one file I've tried so far. I'll try it more when I'm back from work.
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I tried it, with the full understanding that it is essentially pre-beta code.
Found a few things to like.
Found a few things that *appear* to step away from the strengths of the may snapshot.
Not panicking; I know its unofficial and all that.
First boot was absurdly slow--had me thinking I had a corrupt install. Just as I was about to give up waiting, it came up. At that point I remembered the question about using onboard storage for OI and the mystery of the slow boot was clear; it had partitioned and formatted the storage space. Nothing lost there I cared about--all backed up--but that's what curiosity buys you.
The lack of numbers on the menu bars is disconcerting; hadn't realized how much I depended on those in the "classic" UI. Also disconcerting was seeing more than 8 bars. Took a bit to realize that, "Hey, we have ten number buttons! And its okay to navigate the UI solely with the side arrow buttons." As long as the 9-0 buttons still page inside the books its a good design decision to maximize resources; I like.
The home screen is... interesting... It suggests OI developers have ambitions into the webpad space. (A CrunchPad type device with an SD card slot would be killer. Too bad the real CrunchPad apparently won't have any local user storage.)
Only FBReader available; hopefully not a final design decision. I've grown mildly fond of the coolreader two page landscape mode.
FBReader itself?
The good: more font sizes, a full spread from 6 to 24 points. Yay! An 18point cap was a tad low on the may release. I was sorta hoping for a 20 point option for my mother's future Hanlin.
The...not-so-good: I rather liked the compact dialog-box and fine-grained typographical controls in FBReader in the may snapshot. The new list-based approach feels... spawled... I felt my eyeballs drawn all over the place. And the fine-grain settings for the Indicator are gone? No margin settings? I know, work-in-progress. Just... a worrisome direction...
I'm hoping the new UI is merely experimental; there are some good ideas there but one that just isn't quite to my liking. I *liked* the compactness of the older UI. Just because you have a six-inch screen to play with doesn't mean you have to use *all* of it.
There is a lot to be said compact, understated UI design.
But that is a matter of taste, I suppose.
It *was* an interesting experiment.
I'm back to the May snapshot.
Oh, on my way back to the May OI snapshot I stopped by the current Hanlin firmware to confirm that ADE on Hanlin *still* sucks rivets. (But I was curious and I needed to reformat the onboard storage to FAT, which took forever.)
I'm going to make sure I have copies of the May snapshot safely stashed all over. Just in case.
An educational experience, all-in-all.