[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[crashnburn]

Possible BUG: Marvin was not showing the last 1-2 lines of the pages (48 laws of power - robert greene - was reading a chapter on Tesla vs Edison).
- Hidden behind bottom scroller and some part may not be rendered at all
- Going next page would mean skipping these lines

To read these lines I'd have to increase or decrease SIZE of text for it to REFLOW. This would cause other lines to be made 'not visible'

[kguil]

Are you on iOS 5?

[crashnburn]

Originally Posted by crashnburn

Possible BUG: Marvin was not showing the last 1-2 lines of the pages (48 laws of power - robert greene - was reading a chapter on Tesla vs Edison).
- Hidden behind bottom scroller and some part may not be rendered at all
- Going next page would mean skipping these lines

To read these lines I'd have to increase or decrease SIZE of text for it to REFLOW. This would cause other lines to be made 'not visible'

Originally Posted by kguil

Are you on iOS 5?

iPad 1 iOS 5.1.1 - Any issues?

Any fix on newer App versions?

[MeSue]

Reunited and it feels so good! iPad screen replacement went pretty well. Time consuming. And there is a small dead zone in the touchscreen with the new digitizer. It affects the slide to unlock motion when in portrait, but hasn't been a major problem so far. Back to reading in Marvin...

[kguil]

crashnburn... Right now I'm working on an update that specifically addresses layout improvements. The issue you describe is rare and seems only to affect iOS 5. Given that other eBook readers (based on the same technologies that Marvin does) have exactly the same problem, I'm lead to believe that it's related to a defect in one of the frameworks. I'll do my very best.

[Barty]

Originally Posted by kguil

crashnburn... Right now I'm working on an update that specifically addresses layout improvements. The issue you describe is rare and seems only to affect iOS 5. Given that other eBook readers (based on the same technologies that Marvin does) have exactly the same problem, I'm lead to believe that it's related to a defect in one of the frameworks. I'll do my very best.

Kris, this sounds like a bug I saw in Stanza (I too am still on iOS 5). It seems to happen when the first visible element (either image or text) in the (x)html has a computed marginTop > 0 or is contained within an element whose computed marginTop > 0.

Fortunately, Stanza performs pagination in an editable javascript file (epub-function.js). I was able to fix the problem by adding a function to change marginTop in such elements to 0 and set paddingTop to original computed marginTop + computed paddingTop (usually zerp). This changes the intended page layout somewhat, since margin-top and padding-top are not equivalent; however, in most cases they functionally are. At any rate, this fixes the problem in Stanza of text falling off the bottom in all problematic books I've come across.

I don't know if this is the same problem that we're seeing in Marvin, but thought I'd throw it out there in case it is helpful.

[kguil]

@Barty That's *exactly* the problem and what you describe is more or less what Marvin does to minimise this issue. Unfortunately, there are some books that paginate incorrectly even after this "fix". It is also the reason why Marvin's layout is not 100% faithful to the CSS. I've seen this problem in other readers too.

Would you send me your epub-function.js for inspiration (kris @ marvinapp .com)?

[crashnburn]

Originally Posted by kguil

crashnburn... Right now I'm working on an update that specifically addresses layout improvements. The issue you describe is rare and seems only to affect iOS 5. Given that other eBook readers (based on the same technologies that Marvin does) have exactly the same problem, I'm lead to believe that it's related to a defect in one of the frameworks. I'll do my very best.

Works fine on iBooks. Would you like to test with the ePub?

[jessifanfic]

I love the Marvin app. I told my friend it was like the lovechild of Stanza and Kobo and getting better all the time. Thank you so much for all you do!! I bought the theme pack to support you in the small way it can. As I've been using it I've come up with a few things that I would really like to see if possible. Some are easier to implement than others I am sure.

1. I often have ePubs that are Work in Progress stories. So after I put them on Marvin the number of chapters, the cover and metadata may change. When I try to download the changed ePub into Marvin it tells me it is already there. Can we have one of the following two items (or perhaps another idea altogether)?

a. Have Marvin recognize that the file changed and allow you to replace the existing file
b. If it is determined to be a duplicate, prompt the user to verify that yes they want to replace the existing file

This feature might be one that is turned on/off in the advanced options - I know it could annoy people to get prompted many times when downloading multiple books.

2. I know you do have the option to queue multiple downloads from the OPDS catalog, but unless I am missing something you still have to click each file to select it. It would be great to have a button to say I want to download all the ones that are currently listed. Stanza had/has this.

3. In the library view, it would be great if the search icon moved (or an additional one was added) to the border of the application (top, bottom, wherever) so it doesn't disappear as you scroll through your library. I've noticed when I read a story and then go back to my library I am often in the middle of the library (which is convenient in many circumstances) however if I want to search for something entirely different in my library of over 1000 ePubs it is time-consuming to scroll back up to the top to search for a new story.

[kguil]

@crashnburn: That would be great. Could you send me a PM?

@jessifanfic:

1) Yes. You just have to make sure that the filename is different.
a) The only time Marvin will complain is if the filename is the same or if the file is bit-for-bit identical (i.e. if the metadata is different, then it's no problem).

2) I'm looking into that.

3) You're right. Marvin remembers your (vertical) position in the library. Quick tip: if you tap your iPad's status bar (the black bar with the time) you'll be taken on top. This is true for most iOS apps.

[crashnburn]

Originally Posted by kguil

@crashnburn: That would be great. Could you send me a PM?

@jessifanfic:

1) Yes. You just have to make sure that the filename is different.
a) The only time Marvin will complain is if the filename is the same or if the file is bit-for-bit identical (i.e. if the metadata is different, then it's no problem).

2) I'm looking into that.

3) You're right. Marvin remembers your (vertical) position in the library. Quick tip: if you tap your iPad's status bar (the black bar with the time) you'll be taken on top. This is true for most iOS apps.

PMed - Let me know if you get it. Do check it out.

[kguil]

Of course.

[jessifanfic]

Originally Posted by kguil

@jessifanfic:

1) Yes. You just have to make sure that the filename is different.
a) The only time Marvin will complain is if the filename is the same or if the file is bit-for-bit identical (i.e. if the metadata is different, then it's no problem).

I am sorry I am not sure how this solves my issue. Wouldn't changing the filename (which I'm not even sure how I would do in Calibre) just cause me to end up with multiple copies of the story? I just want to replace the copy I have with the newer one. I know when I did some shuffling around of my Calibre library I wound up with a few stories changing names and wound up with two copies on Marvin.

Thanks for looking into the multiple download!

I will test out what you said for auto scrolling to the top, I never knew that.

Thanks again for all you do! This app is great!

[Iznogood]

This has probably been asked (and answered) before, but I don't have the time to read through the entire thread, and a forum search didnæt turn up anything interesting, so I take the chance of asking it again.

I have an epub-file with an embedded font. The font shows up in bluefire and other reading apps when I choose to use the publisher font, but somehow I can't seem to get Marvin to use the embedded font. I have reset all the settings to default (fonts included), and now the layout is as specified in the original css file, but it uses a different font, not the embedded one. Is Marvin able to read and use embedded fonts?

[Turtle91]

Iznogood, I'm pretty sure embedded fonts is on Kris' list of thing to do, but it is not supported yet.