Those gray lines...

[ManDay]

Will this bug be fixed eventually, or has it been already without my noting it? I still don't understand how the M92 could have left factory without anyone noticing that there are gray, dashed lines running right through the documents, but they sure as hell are annoying (esp. if trying to read technical drawings)

[Booxtor]

Originally Posted by ManDay

Will this bug be fixed eventually, or has it been already without my noting it? I still don't understand how the M92 could have left factory without anyone noticing that there are gray, dashed lines running right through the documents, but they sure as hell are annoying (esp. if trying to read technical drawings)

Could you please show us a picture of that issue. Did you get it recently?
It is most likely a warranty case and we could repair it quickly.

[tuxor]

No, it's not a warranty case. It has been known for a long time. It came with the new pdf-reader's crop/zoom functionality. Afaik, the grey dashed lines are supposed to show the "view port" or something similar. I've been waiting for them to disappear since november 2012...

See also here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...ed#post2295017
direct link to a screenshot: http://www.abload.de/image.php?img=2012110700438upk.jpg

[slex]

I find them helpful. The show the last line of the previous zoomed page.

[ManDay]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

Could you please show us a picture of that issue. Did you get it recently?
It is most likely a warranty case and we could repair it quickly.

You already know the gray lines I'm talking about, no need for picture then, I assume. Yes. they appear (reproducibly) with the latest firmware. They (one at a time) sit anywhere in the document, middle, bottom, top.

One of countless operations which make them appear is open a PDF (one which I've never opened before, so I assume all preferences are default), choose "Zoom by two points" and choose an rectangle about 50% of the screen size in the middle of the document and the gray line goes right through the middle.

[Mono]

Those lines are there by intention, not by mistake/bug. Some people like them, some dislike. If I remember well, Booxtor wrote, it would be possible to switch them on/off in user settings in future.

[bleph]

I prefer the old PDF reader for its simplicity.

[Randy11]

The new one is better for his 'zoom' options.

[Ayla7]

I am one of those people who likes the grey lines, and other features of the new pdf reader. The lines are very useful when reading a multicolumn pdf in paper mode. I can find instantly the last line I read in the previous viewport

[Mono]

I like the viewport visualisation idea. But perhaps corner marks might do. And also direction displayed might help, if only one line is presented. In that case one is not sure if it is upper or lower one.

[ManDay]

That's all great, but there we have those peciliuar items like "Scrolling Mode", "Comic Mode", "Paper Mode", and - let alone - "Auto Crop", no one has ever figured out how to make them work sensibly, and you're telling me you approve of gray lines which run *right* through the text I want to read?

If, by whatever means, those lines do actually make sense when reading multi-column articles (although I fail to see how they do), you would really think that among those fancy, pointless "modes" there was a plain "simply show me that bloody pdf without any eff-ing gimmicks"-mode, now, wouldn't you?

I hope you can somewhat relate to my slight irritation about the fact that a EUR 340 e-reader is incapable of displaying a PDF without obscuring parts of it with gray lines...

[Mono]

I understand you. As I said, it looks like it will be possible to switch them off.

And also it might be good idea to replace them with smal marks on the edge of the display and also showing the direction (indicating if they are top or bottom mark). This way it would give indication of viewport (which is IMO handy) while obscuring the text only seldomly.

[slex]

Originally Posted by ManDay

That's all great, but there we have those peciliuar items like "Scrolling Mode", "Comic Mode", "Paper Mode", and - let alone - "Auto Crop", no one has ever figured out how to make them work sensibly, and you're telling me you approve of gray lines which run *right* through the text I want to read?

I use these modes often and finde them useful.

[ManDay]

Originally Posted by slex

I use these modes often and finde them useful.

Would you be so kind and illustrate in which situations you use them (and how)? Thanks!

[slex]

Well, I'd have to make a video to show you exactly how they are used, but I'll try to explain without the video.

As far as "Autocrop" goes, it is self-explanatory. When you choose it, it crops as much as possible of the white space from top, bottom, left and right, as long as it shows you the whole page with the text. If you choose higher values it could crop out some external elements to the main text (e.g. page numbers) and it zooms in more. Zoom level is not constant from page to page - if some pages have more text, the zoom in level will be smaller. If some have less text, the zoom in level will be higher.

"Scrolling mode" should be self-explanatory, too. When you are in "page mode", when you press "next" it goes to the next page. If it is zoomed in and only a part of the page is shown on the screen, it goes to the next page with the same zoom level and the same portion of the page as with the previous one.

So if you zoom into the page in a way that you see the first 2/3s of the page it will be something like

Page 5 (only section 1 and 2 are visible)
1
2
3

press "next" and you go to
Page 6 (only section 1 and 2 are visible)
1
2
3



If you are in a "scroll mode" it doesn't go from page to page (showing the same portion of the pages) but it scrolls like a webpage on a computer screen. If you have zoomed in and it shows the first 2/3s of page 5 (for example), in scrolling mode it won't go to the first 2/3s of page 6. Instead it will go to the last third of page 5 and the first third of page 6 (almost, because there are white spaces on the bottom of page 5 and the top of page 6, which become visible in "scroll mode" regardless of the zoom level). The advantages of "scroll mode" are that you can zoom (using "custom zoom" or "adjust margins" or "zoom by two points") the page so that you have no white space on left and right. When you do that on some documents M92 will not show the whole page vertically. If you are in "page mode" when you zoom like that, pressing "next" will take you at the next page showing you the same portion of the next page, but you will have missed some of the text from the bottom page from the previous one. In "scroll mode" it goes not on the next page, but on the next (visible) screen. There is only overlap of two or three rows of text with the previous screen. When you scroll down the dashed line shows you the row at which your previous screen ended.

In scrolling mode:

Page 5 (only section 1 and 2 are visible)
1
2
3

You press "next" and you get

section 3 of page 5
section 1 of page 6

You press "next" and you get
2
3
of page 6

Regarding "paper mode" - it's used when you have a multicolumn paper (as in some academic journals or some magazines). Then you zoom in on one secton of the paper in such a way, that the text of the column becomes big enough. Let's say that it is 1/6th of the page. That is, you view only 1/6th of the printed page on your M92 screen (section 1). Then the movement on the screen follows this pattern:

1 4
2 5
3 6

When you press "next" you go to section 2. You press "next" again and you go to section "3". You press "next" again and you go to section 4. Then come sections 5 and 6. How many sections you have depends on the zoom level. The higher the zoom level, the more sections there will be and more columns, too. Dashed lines show up here, too.

I don't read comics, so I can't tell you about the comic mode from experience. But I think it follows the same principle as "paper mode", only the movement follows the pattern:

1 2
3 4
5 6