Version 4 viewer makes me sad

GarryB123 · 10-04-2019, 06:44 PM

I LOVE calibre so much that in the reading sphere of life it feels almost like one of my arms or hands. It's a gorgeous work of technology and art. It operates so well and is feature rich and complete. I can hardly express my praise for it. It's only been of late (in my not insignificant length of time using calibre) that I have fully committed myself to it to and tried to learn more of its features and spent a lot of time adding and cataloging my books. The switch from paper didn't happen overnight for me, nor was it without hesitation. In calibre I had found a wonderful thing.

The above is to temper my dismay at the new viewer. Despite obvious improvements and fixes the new format without controls is a huge disappointment for me. Those controls are what made calibre unique and special, and eminently useful. I won't go into all the reasons why I love the old version with 'always there' controls (there are too many) and dislike the new except to say I feel something whole has been truncated; much like losing fingers from a hand.

If the changes to the viewer were required by the update to the new programming engine I will take this grudging. If it was a choice I can't understand the reasoning behind stripping the controls. The viewer was absolutely impressive and superior to others. I will now be stuck using version 3 (an absolutely splendid piece of software and not lacking in anything) for as long as it remains viable and when the day comes it is too old and can't keep up with outside progress I will be forced to update and adapt. This is the way of the world, but sometimes best things are lost.

But maybe not all is lost? Could the viewer be altered so the old controls style could be an option?

Kovid, I am a huge fan and will continue to donate in the future but I long for the old viewer :-(.

Sorry for this negative feedback; I have none bad but this.

BetterRed · 10-04-2019, 06:50 PM

@GarryB123 - for a couple of workarounds, see posts 47 & 49 in Calibre Viewer problem

BR

GarryB123 · 10-04-2019, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

@GarryB123 - for a couple of workarounds, see posts 47 & 49 in Calibre Viewer problem

BR

Thank you.

kovidgoyal · 10-04-2019, 08:47 PM

It's funny, the biggest complaint I ever had about the v3 viewer was the visible controls. As I have said, elsewhere, I will be adding an optional scrollbar at some point. For the rest of the controls, I'm afraid not so much.

GarryB123 · 10-04-2019, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It's funny, the biggest complaint I ever had about the v3 viewer was the visible controls. As I have said, elsewhere, I will be adding an optional scrollbar at some point. For the rest of the controls, I'm afraid not so much.

Then I shall install 4 and learn a new a workflow (and show old dogs can learn new tricks

). Thank you and best regards ...

BetterRed · 10-04-2019, 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It's funny, the biggest complaint I ever had about the v3 viewer was the visible controls. As I have said, elsewhere, I will be adding an optional scrollbar at some point. For the rest of the controls, I'm afraid not so much.

But they could be hidden, permanently or temporarily - via a configurable keyboard shortcut, a right click option, or a preference setting. I had it set to ctrl+alt+C

BR

kultured_yobbo · 10-05-2019, 05:02 AM

I absolutely agree with you. I love Calibre, and have used it for over three years, but the latest version 4.0 has been stripped so many essential features, it is like having an arm or two tied behind your back. Like, you, to do my work, I had to downgrade to version 3.48 and will keep using for as long as possible.

The biggest thing for me is, in using ebooks for my research, and quoting texts from them, I used the "Position number" box at the top left hand corner in my sources list to quote exactly where in the ebook I found the quoted text. Now this, among so many other useful (seemingly so-called distracting but certainly not for me) features has been stripped. The only reference I see to possibly quoting the position of text, is what I see as the all too inaccurate percentage. The thing is, in a typical ebook, to progress by just one percent, usually takes several pages. In short, this is nowhere near as precise the excellent old "Position number" box at the top left corner.

Also, when I searched for text in the ebook, the wonderful old "Position number" box, would, as I scrolled through the instances of that text, display the exact position of that text.

Don't get me wrong. I love Calibre, but the good old "Position number" box was absolutely indispensable to me. Maybe, like other features now, it could be hidden, but really, I would much prefer the option for it to be permanently there. As I said, I found nothing about the old interface distracting, but the new interface to me strikes me as one that is, unnecessarily minimalist. That is why I had to downgrade.

One more thing, I found at times, that version 4.0 was hogging the CPU -- like up to 70%, which I never had with versions 3.

Cheers

thiago.eec · 10-05-2019, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kultured_yobbo

Maybe, like other features now, it could be hidden, but really, I would much prefer the option for it to be permanently there.

Kovid added an option to display it in header/footer. Will be available in the next release.

https://github.com/kovidgoyal/calibr...10794acd449a23

kovidgoyal · 10-05-2019, 10:09 AM

Not to mention that the position number is basically the same as a percentage and absolutely inaccurate for referenceing positions. In fact the new viewr has a way to precisely quote location which you can get by Goto->Location and which references content down to exact tag and character offset.

10-04-2019, 06:44 PM	#1
GarryB123 Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2017 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	Version 4 viewer makes me sad I LOVE calibre so much that in the reading sphere of life it feels almost like one of my arms or hands. It's a gorgeous work of technology and art. It operates so well and is feature rich and complete. I can hardly express my praise for it. It's only been of late (in my not insignificant length of time using calibre) that I have fully committed myself to it to and tried to learn more of its features and spent a lot of time adding and cataloging my books. The switch from paper didn't happen overnight for me, nor was it without hesitation. In calibre I had found a wonderful thing. The above is to temper my dismay at the new viewer. Despite obvious improvements and fixes the new format without controls is a huge disappointment for me. Those controls are what made calibre unique and special, and eminently useful. I won't go into all the reasons why I love the old version with 'always there' controls (there are too many) and dislike the new except to say I feel something whole has been truncated; much like losing fingers from a hand. If the changes to the viewer were required by the update to the new programming engine I will take this grudging. If it was a choice I can't understand the reasoning behind stripping the controls. The viewer was absolutely impressive and superior to others. I will now be stuck using version 3 (an absolutely splendid piece of software and not lacking in anything) for as long as it remains viable and when the day comes it is too old and can't keep up with outside progress I will be forced to update and adapt. This is the way of the world, but sometimes best things are lost. But maybe not all is lost? Could the viewer be altered so the old controls style could be an option? Kovid, I am a huge fan and will continue to donate in the future but I long for the old viewer :-(. Sorry for this negative feedback; I have none bad but this.

10-05-2019, 05:02 AM	#7
kultured_yobbo Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2019 Device: hp ProBook 450 G4 Z3Y46PA	Essential Features stripped in Calibre 4 I absolutely agree with you. I love Calibre, and have used it for over three years, but the latest version 4.0 has been stripped so many essential features, it is like having an arm or two tied behind your back. Like, you, to do my work, I had to downgrade to version 3.48 and will keep using for as long as possible. The biggest thing for me is, in using ebooks for my research, and quoting texts from them, I used the "Position number" box at the top left hand corner in my sources list to quote exactly where in the ebook I found the quoted text. Now this, among so many other useful (seemingly so-called distracting but certainly not for me) features has been stripped. The only reference I see to possibly quoting the position of text, is what I see as the all too inaccurate percentage. The thing is, in a typical ebook, to progress by just one percent, usually takes several pages. In short, this is nowhere near as precise the excellent old "Position number" box at the top left corner. Also, when I searched for text in the ebook, the wonderful old "Position number" box, would, as I scrolled through the instances of that text, display the exact position of that text. Don't get me wrong. I love Calibre, but the good old "Position number" box was absolutely indispensable to me. Maybe, like other features now, it could be hidden, but really, I would much prefer the option for it to be permanently there. As I said, I found nothing about the old interface distracting, but the new interface to me strikes me as one that is, unnecessarily minimalist. That is why I had to downgrade. One more thing, I found at times, that version 4.0 was hogging the CPU -- like up to 70%, which I never had with versions 3. Cheers Last edited by kultured_yobbo; 10-05-2019 at 05:04 AM.

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10-04-2019, 06:50 PM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,725 Karma: 29711016 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	@GarryB123 - for a couple of workarounds, see posts 47 & 49 in Calibre Viewer problem BR

10-04-2019, 08:47 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,349 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	It's funny, the biggest complaint I ever had about the v3 viewer was the visible controls. As I have said, elsewhere, I will be adding an optional scrollbar at some point. For the rest of the controls, I'm afraid not so much.

10-05-2019, 10:09 AM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,349 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Not to mention that the position number is basically the same as a percentage and absolutely inaccurate for referenceing positions. In fact the new viewr has a way to precisely quote location which you can get by Goto->Location and which references content down to exact tag and character offset.

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