Glo Quick method to access TOC ?.

[leftright]

Is there a shorter way to access the Table of Contents other than the current 3 steps via the bottom menu bar ?.

[davidfor]

No. But, when you open the navigation bar, it will open when the menus are displayed.

[cybmole]

that 3 or 4 step route to TOC seems awful design.
surely there has been much discussion on this -
what have Kobo said about it already ? - do they have any plans to ever change that , or are we stuck with it ?
it is also stupidly easy to activate a TOC entry by mistake, when all I actually wanted to do was turn to next page of toc listings. Instead I find myself in the wrong chapter with no obvious way back to where I was ( assuming I've not previously memorized what chapter I was reading )
( it is much better in the Kobo android app, it's just one swipe! )

[leftright]

I read the manual, kobo have succinctly stated that "Not all books have a Table Of contents", could this be the reason that kobo have not made the TOC menu more accessible ?.
The fact that some books don't have a TOC is to me poor eBook creation, if a pBook (paper book) has a TOC so should a eBook, especially academic books. e.g. The king James Bible has a beautiful TOC layout, try and cross reference that quickly with Isaac Asimov's dissertation of the Old and New Testaments...and no I'm no fish lover :-)

Surely a eReader should mimic the ease of browsing a pBook and enhance that experience, not detract from it ?.

It's such a pain not being able to cross reference quickly with another chapter which isn't "next" or "previous", It's also a pain not being able to jump quickly to a chapter of choice by title.
Even a Mp3 players "now playing" screen has a context menu to quickly let one skip to a track of choice, besides previous or next.

Yet they have seen fit to make a menu for "facebook" easily accessible in a eReader.....

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by leftright

I read the manual, kobo have succinctly stated that "Not all books have a Table Of contents", could this be the reason that kobo have not made the TOC menu more accessible ?.
The fact that some books don't have a TOC is to me poor eBook creation, if a pBook (paper book) has a TOC so should a eBook, especially academic books. e.g. The king James Bible has a beautiful TOC layout, try and cross reference that quickly with Isaac Asimov's dissertation of the Old and New Testaments...and no I'm no fish lover :-)

Surely a eReader should mimic the ease of browsing a pBook and enhance that experience, not detract from it ?.

There are a lot of paper books without a ToC. Most novels I have don't have them. And I have several novels that have no chapters, so any ToC would be invented.

Now, I haven't seen any non-fiction in either paper or electronic form that didn't have a ToC.

It's such a pain not being able to cross reference quickly with another chapter which isn't "next" or "previous", It's also a pain not being able to jump quickly to a chapter of choice by title.
Even a Mp3 players "now playing" screen has a context menu to quickly let one skip to a track of choice, besides previous or next.

I don't think I have seen an MP3 player that didn't make me go to the current playlist to select other than the next or previous track. I can skip to the next and keep skipping, but that is exactly the same as using the navigation bar to skip to the next chapter. And I don't think I have seen an MP3 player that would let me skip to another track other than the list and select. Choosing a track that is not on the playlist is different. They do tend to allow a search to find other tracks. But, the Kobo does allow me to search for another book quite easily.

Yet they have seen fit to make a menu for "facebook" easily accessible in a eReader.....

Every now and then someone makes this claim. But to get to it while reading, I have to do a long press on a word, wait for the menu to display, tap the link icon on the menu, tap "Facebook". I count three taps. That's the same as getting to the ToC. But it isn't because the first action is not a tap but a long press, so it is actually harder to display. And of course, most of the times I access the ToC it is actually only two taps. The navigation is what usually displays for me when I tap to display the bottom bar.

For my enlightenment, how do you propose that Kobo should reduce the number of taps to get to the ToC? While making the suggestion, remember that people don't want the reading area reduced, the interface cluttered to much or accidentally displaying it while trying to turn the page.

[cybmole]

it is often the case that an epic novel will have a list of characters / some maps/ a glossary of terms if it is fantasy genre....

the prospect of trying to get to any of those, & then resume my reading page, on a Kobo reader , is so daunting that I muddle blindly on instead. There should be a better way

( & don't get em started how how useless the maps are because you can't zoom )

As to how it can'should be done. On a Sony reader you just pressed a button ( IIRC) ; in the Kobo tablet app you just swipe down. Not sure how Kindle do it nowadays but I bet its simpler than what Kobo do !

& how are supposed to turn a page within a densely packed TOC, without activating a link, ?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cybmole

& how are supposed to turn a page within a densely packed TOC, without activating a link, ?

Personally, I use a swipe to change pages in the TOC and a tap to select an entry in the TOC. Much the same as changing pages or selecting a book in the library view.

Regards,
David

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by cybmole

it is often the case that an epic novel will have a list of characters / some maps/ a glossary of terms if it is fantasy genre....

the prospect of trying to get to any of those, & then resume my reading page, on a Kobo reader , is so daunting that I muddle blindly on instead. There should be a better way

That is one place that a paper book is easier. The last time I needed to do this, I read on the Glo and used the Touch for the character list

( & don't get em started how how useless the maps are because you can't zoom )

As to how it can'should be done. On a Sony reader you just pressed a button ( IIRC) ; in the Kobo tablet app you just swipe down. Not sure how Kindle do it nowadays but I bet its simpler than what Kobo do !

Gestures are probably the way to do it. A vertical swipes aren't used for anything when reading, so yes, it could be used.

& how are supposed to turn a page within a densely packed TOC, without activating a link, ?

For all the lists, I usually drag my finger along the bottom edge of the screen.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Personally, I use a swipe to change pages in the TOC and a tap to select an entry in the TOC. Much the same as changing pages or selecting a book in the library view.

Regards,
David

but that is illogical design - throughout a book it is tap for next/previous page but when you re in the TOC, you must remember to do something different.... unless the TOC happens to be a HTML-page toc in which case you tap after all.....
Harping back again to the Sony readers I used to have, they had a back button ( back = history) so if you jumped to glossary or to a character list you could then go BACK to the story, to the exact point you left off... Can that be done in the Kobo UI ?

[filmo]

I believe all Kobo touch screens can sense multi touch gestures but firmware doesn't recognise multi touch gestures. My Sony T1 has pinch zoom that works for epubs, pdf, and pictures or drawings. Can't turn epub page while zoomed in but back button quickly returns to full page view. Double tap would be good gesture to return Kobo to full page view when zoomed in.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cybmole

but that is illogical design - throughout a book it is tap for next/previous page but when you re in the TOC, you must remember to do something different.... unless the TOC happens to be a HTML-page toc in which case you tap after all.....
Harping back again to the Sony readers I used to have, they had a back button ( back = history) so if you jumped to glossary or to a character list you could then go BACK to the story, to the exact point you left off... Can that be done in the Kobo UI ?

How did you distinguish a tap to change to the next page and a tap to select a chapter? Special area on the page? Personally, I never bother with HTML TOCs since you need to return to the page to use them which is a PITA.

Yeah, some ereaders have nice features that you wish your current ereader would implement. Unfortunately the only Sony ereader I owned wanted LRF format ebooks so it didn't last long though a few years later a firmware update would have allowed it to read epub books.

Regards,
David

[leftright]

The centre of the screen (Glo) as depicted in the manual has no functions designated to it, although if I tap in the centre it turns one page forward, each tap a new page, but it shouldn't do this according to the page browse settings.

why not activate the ToC in the centre of the screen with a vertical swipe ?.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by leftright

The centre of the screen (Glo) as depicted in the manual has no functions designated to it, although if I tap in the centre it turns one page forward, each tap a new page, but it shouldn't do this according to the page browse settings.

why not activate the ToC in the centre of the screen with a vertical swipe ?.

The default is that tapping the centre of the screen brings up the menu. But, you can change that. The reading settings has three layouts for tap locations. With the other two, only the centre at the bottom brings up the menu.

[leftright]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The default is that tapping the centre of the screen brings up the menu. But, you can change that. The reading settings has three layouts for tap locations. With the other two, only the centre at the bottom brings up the menu.

With the Middle or Right "Page Turning" option enabled;
Tapping the centre of my Glo screen on a page does not bring up a menu, it merely pages forward. If the Nav menu has been activated then it can be cleared by a tap anywhere vertical/centre.
The Navigation menu is activated by tapping near the bottom/centre of the screen.

If the left "Page Turning" option is enabled then the Nav menu can be selected by a vertical/centre tap.

The manuals three Page Turning diagrams to me depicts that ONLY the area allocated to page turning is selectable, the Nav menu is only activated by a centre bottom tap, that's how I interpret those diagrams, Seems that it's valid for the Middle and Right Options only.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by leftright

Tapping the centre of my Glo screen on a page does not bring up a menu, it merely pages forward. If the Nav menu has been activated then it can be cleared by tapping anywhere vertical/centre.

The Navigation menu is activated by tapping near the bottom of the screen as per the diagram in the manual, not the text.

As I said, the tap zones are configurable. The option is in the "Reading settings" page of the settings. That shows three layouts for the zones at the top. As you are tapping and paging forward, that means you have the middle option selected. And you must have changed this as the first option, where the middle of the screen displays the menu bars, is the default option.