full-screen cover browse

[saxondawg]

I love basically everything about Calibre. Whenever I've found a small bug, I've been able to devise a workaround, or it's been fixed on a revision.

One feature I would very much love, as my book collection keeps growing, is to have a full screen cover browse capability--something like what iPad is showing on its iBooks page, and what Mobipocket Reader does. The problem with Mobipocket Reader is that it's very picky about the size of the cover. It has to be just so or it won't show up, or in some cases (in MP Creator) even USE the cover while constructing your ebook.

Calibre, of course, is more robust. The Browse feature works great, but you have to move through a whole library one book at a time. How great would it be to look at a whole section of a bookshelf at one time?

As I try to decide what to read, this would be helpful. Hope it's considered.

[kovidgoyal]

you can have the cover nrowser opena in a separate window via Preferences.

[saxondawg]

Separate window looks very nice--the feature is a gorgeous, iPod inspired design--but I would just love to see more books at once. Still, this is a very minor thing that I can live without. Calibre is terrific as is.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by saxondawg

I would just love to see more books at once. Still, this is a very minor thing that I can live without.

Have you increased the number of books shown? It's an option in Preferences under Interface. That's the same page you went to to make the covers show up in a separate window.

[saxondawg]

Originally Posted by Starson17

Have you increased the number of books shown? It's an option in Preferences under Interface. That's the same page you went to to make the covers show up in a separate window.

Starson, I have changed that setting to higher numbers. Browse still shows one cover facing forward, with others turned at an angle on each side.

Which is fine. It looks very nice in its own, enlarged window. It's probably enough. If I want to browse, say, thrillers, I can sort them by tag in the main window and move through my thrillers one by one. Fullscreen bookshelf would be a cool feature to add sometime in the future--not a priority for now I'm sure.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by saxondawg

Fullscreen bookshelf would be a cool feature to add sometime in the future--not a priority for now I'm sure.

When I think "bookshelf" I think of seeing the spines of the books. As I'm sure you know, there aren't any spine images, and they are not widely available. Are you thinking of thumbnails for the book covers (like Google Images)?

[saxondawg]

Originally Posted by Starson17

When I think "bookshelf" I think of seeing the spines of the books. As I'm sure you know, there aren't any spine images, and they are not widely available. Are you thinking of thumbnails for the book covers (like Google Images)?

Not spines, but more of a bookshelf such as what you see here: http://www.mobipocket.com/en/Downloa...ailsReader.asp

Scroll down a bit and you'll see there is even a wooden-looking background to the book covers. Apple's iBook store has copied this look, showing several rows of covers sitting side by side. On my screen, I can see four rows of seven books each in Mobipocket Reader, and it's a pleasant way to browse for a book, particularly when you can re-sort how you want them grouped with a click.

[sybarite]

1- I think the browser of books by their covers isnt usefull at all.it seems is for fun.look at "Alfa Ebooks Manager Demo" , the cover browsing is very usefull for reading , show a bit details .
2- when i fetch metadata for a book , the tag part isnt very nice . e.g for some CCNP books , the tag part contains certification , cisco ,.... ; but no "CCNP" tag.
does the tag part dependent to fetching data from server ? or it is full manually inputing?

[rollercoaster]

sign.. I have wanted this bookshelf feature since the day I started using Calibre. even have a ticket open. hopefully it will be built soon..

You can try this if you have Windows 7 or similar on other OSes

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by saxondawg

Not spines, but more of a bookshelf such as what you see here:

That doesn't look like a "bookshelf" to me. That's a thumbnail-based image browser that browses front cover images. I just wanted to make sure I understood what you were talking about.

[rollercoaster]

maybe call it a 'Book Showcase' instead of a 'Book Shelf'

Showcase = all book fronts facing viewer
Shelf = all book spines facing viewer

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by rollercoaster

maybe call it a 'Book Showcase' instead of a 'Book Shelf'

Showcase = all book fronts facing viewer
Shelf = all book spines facing viewer

Yes, and I agree with you, it's a feature that would be nice. It shouldn't be too hard to add. Someone just needs to tackle it. The necessary code is almost all there.

[rollercoaster]

the book spines can be generated on the fly with the book meta.that would be cool

and clicking on a book front in the showcase or a spine in the self opens a large view with a lot more meta.

The more i think about it the more i love this idea

Wish wish wish.. very hard wisssssh!

[theducks]

I always think of Spine out vs Face out as a "Selling tool". (yes I used to sell books)
Face out sells more books.

The only time I use the Cover Browser, is when I am looking for a book that I can't remember the title, but remember a cover element.
It is actually faster to scroll through the Library list and see the cover face in the comments pane.

[rollercoaster]

it is also very important when browsing without having something in mind to look for!

and cover art is a good way to remember stuff one wanted to read or discover new stuff. I know I know.. never judge a book by its cover... But they are so pretty!