[Tips & Tricks] Customising page headers and footers

[kguil]

I've just posted a new tutorial on Marvin's blog about customising header and footer text in a book. For instance, in Marvin for iPhone, you can get rid of any headers and footers to maximise reading space and, in all versions of Marvin, you can customise the page numbering format in the footer.

Check it out here.

[Loosheesh]

Is the header configurable? I would like it to show only the percentage progress, if possible. Thanks!

[vigrom]

Originally Posted by kguil

... you can customise the page numbering format in the footer.

Check it out here.

Hello, Kris!

I've read your tutorial but still seem to be missing the setting which would show "... pages left in the book" (i. e., until the end of the book). Is there a way to do this?

Thank you!

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

Is the header configurable?

No, and neither is the footer (beyond 3 to 4 extremely basic options, 2 of which are not even viable options to me). Just like you, I would like to see the percentage permanently displayed -- ideally in the footer -- but this is currently not possible.

I find this to be one of Marvin's weaknesses at the present stage. If you can, please find (you and anyone else who would like to fully customise their headers and footers) a minute to support the related GitHub feature request:

https://github.com/kguil/Marvin-Roadmap/issues/17

Originally Posted by vigrom

the setting which would show "... pages left in the book" (i. e., until the end of the book). Is there a way to do this

This currently isn't possible, but it's planned for a future Marvin release.

[kguil]

@Loosheesh - Nope. Not yet.
@vigrom - Not yet either.

[ParadiseLost]

Kris is there anyway to make a sticky posting with all your tutorials in one place? Very informative; however, i think they will get lost as posts go on.

[kguil]

They are indexed under "Tutorials" on Marvin's blog. I plan to write many more tutorials and having them all appear on top as stickies might be too much.

[Faterson]

What about one sticky, continuously updated topic, Marvin Tutorials, with all the tutorial links in there? Not all MobileRead users will readily notice the existence of a Marvin blog, or be willing to go there. (Sounds intimidating and/or "unofficial", blogs being perceived more as informal journals than tech support resources.)

[kguil]

Good idea. Thanks.

[Loosheesh]

Originally Posted by kguil

@Loosheesh - Nope. Not yet.
@vigrom - Not yet either.

Thanks for the reply.

Originally Posted by Faterson

I find this to be one of Marvin's weaknesses at the present stage. If you can, please find (you and anyone else who would like to fully customise their headers and footers) a minute to support the related GitHub feature request.

I saw Kris's response there and I wouldn't want to support anything that would 'over complicate' Marvin. Besides, he said "not yet", so there's hope he'll get to it one day.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Loosheesh

I wouldn't want to support anything that would 'over complicate' Marvin.

Meh! I don't buy that. There is no "over-complication", at least not from the user's point if view. And please don't tell me that from the software developer's point of view, there is a limit as to how smart and user-friendly an app is permitted to be. The smarter and user-friendlier, the better! The interface can always be efficiently organised so that it remains simple and straightforward, regardless of the underlying advanced functionality.

The real question is: would it make sense to allow users to fully customise the headers and footers in their e-reader software? Kindle, iBooks and other dumb e-readers say, "No way!", just like they say "No way!" to most other feature requests one might have. It's up to Marvin to decide if it wishes to join iBooks, Kindle, and the like in this particular regard. It has already moved away from them somewhat in terms of headers and footers, which is great, but it's currently not nearly enough, as I see it.

Even perfectly rigid, inflexible software like Microsoft Excel allows users to set up headers and footers in any way they please, so I think it would make sense if Marvin gave us at least that much flexibility, considering you're not staring at the headers and footers of your Excel sheets the whole time, but you are doing that while reading books in Marvin.

[ParadiseLost]

Thats exactly what I meant. Thanks Faterson. Thanks Kris for hearing me out.

[kguil]

@ParadiseLost - You're welcome.