Quote:
Originally Posted by torbich
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Many thanks - this firmware is superb!! Keep up the outstanding work! And outstanding is barely adequate to describe this reader, especially when compared to corporate jokes like ADE.
As an FB2 reader I love the new CoolReader v3.0.16 - lots of extra features and even more user options and tools to really enhance your readinh experience. Truly, the providers of corporate crap readers like ADE and Mobi should take a serious look at open source tools like CoolReader - far superior to anything else on offer.
How can I say that? Well, let's take a look:
Font type:
With FB2 files I can choose from 3 standard system fonts (lBook, Times and Arial) or from as many as I wish to install in my /fonts folder.
With ePub? No choice!! I know the Sony seems to offer a convoluted way of adding user fonts for ePub usage, but others readers don't seem to have that option yet.
Font sizes:
With FB2 I can now choose from 10 different sizes (up from 5) - that's right 10!! Helpfully designated by increasing piint sizes ranging from 18 to 56, with 18 and 20 being a little too small to read comfortably (for me) and 48 and 56 a little too large for me (but good for reading impaired users who desire large text).
With ePub I not only get a crappy fixed font with absolutely no choice, I get only 5 size choices - these are rather misleadingly listed as:
1. Little
2. Normal
3. Middle
4. Big
5. Large
Half the choice of FB2? And since 2-4 FB2 sizes are not really useful for most readers (either too small or too large) then there's really only 6, right?
Wrong!!! The 6 "remaining" FB2 font sizes are all eminently "usable," depending on personal reading preferences for smaller or larger text (not forgetting, in the font of your choice, which will also influence the choice of size for comfortable display). The ePub's 5 sizes should more accurately be labelled as:
1. Microscopic
2. Barely Usable (usually too big)
3. Definitely Too Big
4. Whoa! Way Too Big - Often less than 1 sentence per screen!
5. Even More Ludicrously Large - 1 to 2 words per line!!
What idiot came up with these font scalings?!? There are basically two barely usable choices: 3-5 are crazily oversized unless you're legally blind; 1 is a real strain and will make you legally blind after excessive use (although I admit some seem to like it); and 2 is usuable but really already oversized.
How hard can it be to actually have some more choices and better gradual increase in the scale of sizes from small to large? Obviously very hard, since a mega-corp like Adobe can't manage it with their software development resources and $$$. Oh, wait, but CoolReader is free, right?
