Thread: New ePub addon for Firefox
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Old 10-27-2009, 11:39 AM   #12
mikelv
Developer of EPUBReader
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Posts: 271
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Join Date: Oct 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kenmark View Post
This add-on is working for me now. I opened an existing ePub file on my PC: the left panel shows the TOC; the right panel shows the text/images with proper justification and all.

Some questions.

1. I can already view ePub files via ADE or the eBook Library. Therefore, other than being able to view an ePub from my Firefox browser, can you explain why I would need to use this add-on?

2. The chapters seem to be all one page and are read by using the scroll bar or wheel to advance through the entire chapter. Was this your intention?

3. To continue to the next chapter, I must click the TOC in the left panel to continue reading. Is this how the reader is supposed to work?

Nicely done, I just have to figure out a need for it.

Ken
Great that's it's working now for you! Which one of the workarounds did you use?

Here are the answers to your questions:

ad 1.)
Of course there is free software out there to read ePub-files on your PC. The difference is that you have to install and start a new software, in case of my addon you can just use a program you probably use anyway.

The main reason why I thought it would be a good idea to create the ePub-reader as an Firefox addon is, that an ePub-file is basically an archive of HTML-files. So why not use a program which is specialized in displaying HTML-files and many people have already installed? The great benefit is, that in that way you don't have to bother with rendering and display of the HTML-files because Firefox does this for you. So the limit of what is possible to display is set by Firefox and not by a special ePub-software. And I think Firefox is always at the cutting edge .

ad 2 + 3.)
Yes, that's the way the reader is supposed to work. This is of course the main difference between my addon and other reader-software. My addon just displays the ePub-file as it is: there are several HTML-pages with the content and a TOC which links the HTML-pages, that's it. Other reader-software simulates pages which don't exist in reality to give you the feeling you read a real book. To reach this goal they have to do calculations which decreases performance.

My decision was to keep it as simple as possible which also means as fast as possible. This resulted in the navigation you described. For me this is no problem, let's see what other users think .
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