What would you like to see in a firmware update?

[Snowman]

1. implement the html hyperlink function "link-to-a-different-file" (<a href="/path/to/file">My name for book</a>).

2. recognise the presence of the file at the library level ("index.html" seems like a catchy name !) and then simply display two options - open index.html or open main library.

3. save the current list of files, and add an option "rescan all books yes/no".

4. When in reader mode, overload the volume keys function, one to add/remove a bookmark, and possibly the other to go to "goto" or something.

With the first three options, we get rid of the long delay on bootup, and we can also roll our own indexes to our own preferences. Lets face it, what I happen to like, you may loathe. Supply a couple of sample index.html templates as well, for the newby.

I'm also sure that very quickly some of the geniuses on this site will have written programs or scripts in perl or python to make building and maintaining such an index file even easier.

As for mobi itself. Its all been said before. Being (very) generous the various implementations are idiosyncratic at best, and what documentation there is is 10 years out of date, incomplete, and positively user-mendacious at times. I would love to see the cybook implementation match the desktop one - {divs} supporting border and background colour on the cybook would be nice, for example. Such a change I assume is under mobipocket control, so I don't see it happening any time soon.

However, lets be pragmatic about it. To the end user who simply wants to read ordinary books (serially, without paging all over the place within the book) on the cybook, on the whole it does a good job.

Of course, to the programmer or formatter preparing the book, it can be a frustrating nightmare at times.

And finally, an off-topic suggestion for a hardware upgrade. Who on earth thought using an incredibly tiny *non-captive* screw for the battery cover was a good idea? When seated at your desk at home it is a real pain, when travelling it is impossible. And somebody has walked off with my micro screwdriver set AGAIN. ARRRRGH. Surely a small slider that catches under the main part of the case wouldn't have been impossible?

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Actually, if I was going to choose navigation for my reader I would choose tags over folders. Tags are much more flexible since you can have an ebook with more than one tag, but with folders the file is only in one place... unless you want to copy it into several folders.

Yes, I agree. Mobipocket on the desktop and PDA versions implements this via "reading lists," and it would be nice to have access to this on the Cybook.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ortep

Which one you use? My Creative Zen isn't even capable of that

I have used iRiver iHP120 and iAudio D2 and both can browse using directories.

Tag searching is extremely flexible

Depending on what I want I can choose the genre: Rock or Audio Book and then the Author/Artist and Book/song. But I also can choose to start with the Autor, or with the name of a song

With directory trees that is completely impossible. If you store something under Romance, then Author and then Book Title, you will have a problem if the same writer also wrote Horror and Non Fiction. Try finding all the books of a specific writer. Or even worse: If you have books from the same author in different translations. They'll end up all over the place.

I always remember the author so I would optimize the directory structure after how I remember and access books. If I want to read book number four in Glen Cook's Garret series I would just go to the Garret-series sub directory for Glen Cook and the books would be in order in that director. I really do not se how I would find that book fast using tags. Especially since I do not want to tag all books by myself.

Restricting your search to a tree structure will give faster access to the price of some limitations. But if the tree structure fits how you think about books then this is optimal.

And the access method should work on all platforms (like my N810) and since I need to store the books somewere I have to do the work of placing in the correct directory but I do not want to do more work for a book that I might read sometimes in the future.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by tompe

Restricting your search to a tree structure will give faster access to the price of some limitations. But if the tree structure fits how you think about books then this is optimal.

The advantage of using tags is that it does not stop you from using your system. Simply select it in that way. Sort it on authors, titles, genres or whatever way you think about books. But easy browsing is also possible for the people that like to do that. Or 'home in' for people that like that way of navigating.

For me a fixed tree structure is much to restricting. It remembers me of Henri Ford: "You can get the car in any color that you like. As long as it is black"

[tompe]

Originally Posted by Ortep

The advantage of using tags is that it does not stop you from using your system. Simply select it in that way. Sort it on authors, titles, genres or whatever way you think about books. But easy browsing is also possible for the people that like to do that. Or 'home in' for people that like that way of navigating.

Yes, I realize you can do that. The problem is more how to add the tags. I will not remember the tag I set for a specific series. So there is much more work to set tags. Also all tags have to be shown on all levels so it can be very cluttered.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by tompe

Yes, I realize you can do that. The problem is more how to add the tags. I will not remember the tag I set for a specific series. So there is much more work to set tags. Also all tags have to be shown on all levels so it can be very cluttered.

How is remembering a tag different than remembering the folder name? If you use the same tags as you would folders then you have to remember the exact same thing. That argument just doesn't make any sense to me.

BOb

[brudigia]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

Hmm.. Lets See...

* Resume from last position - Being able to resume from where you were when you shutoff the Gen 3 as opposed to landing back in the library.

* Folder support - So I can actually organise my books and documents properly

* List View - The ability to just see a plain list of books as opposed to covers and icons, so you can quickly see what you have.

* Name based navigation - The ability to just to a name or atleast the first letter. I'm sick of having to click through page after page to get to S or X from A or B, especially when I have a couple of hundred books in it.

* Dictionary search - Be able to look up a word directly in the dictionary as opposed to just selecting one in a book.

* Better support for HTML - The current support is basic, and doesn't treat complex pages well. And ass the ability to link to files outside the document itself.

* Battery status inside books

* When in the go to page option, show the current page number so you have an idea as to where you are.

* Unified Bookmarks menue like the sony, so you can jump directly to any of you current ongoing books without having to navigate directly to the book.

* allow the side buttons to be user configurable. I dont use the Music option and want to be able to map another function like say, dictionary lookup to it.

* Make lookup the first option in the menue FOR GOODNESS SAKE.

* Allow landscape mode outside PDF's like the sony

* The ability to add notes and export them back to the computer. They could easily use a virtual keyboard lik the one the numberpad they already use. (not that important but would be nice)

* support for zip archives, so I can keep files and images zipped to save space and organised.


A Few others, but these are the ones that come to mind immediately.

I would subscribe to these requirements. First and foremost certainly the folder view. I do not see it as so difficult; resume from last position I would put as second requirement, but not so distant from the folder view.

Not being a native English speaking person I do not understand the need for dictionary lookup, personally I've never needed it when I read a book, but since it is not the first time I see it so strongly emphasized, there must be some reason.

What about lit support ? I see that bebook has it. Is it so difficult to implement ?

Last but not least, metadata support. I am not very happy when I change the metadata in the desktop mobipocket and nothing happens in the Cybook.

With metadata support I would strongly encourage (it should only be a small step) search and sort by author.

Bruno

[Pulp]

Along with my previous wishes (folders and adjustable-buttons where I'm happy not to be the only one) iI would also like to have one tiny change that would increase usability a lot:

The lookup-selector should always go back to the last selected word of a page.
It does that when the previous word was not found but whenever you successfully looked up a word it is reset to the beginning of a page.

I usually read a page from top to bottom and whenever I looked-up a word the next word I need to lookup is below that previous word, it does not make any sense to reset the marker until the page was turned.

[Gaurnim]

Originally Posted by Ortep

Worst case I'll have to pus 60 times on a button (5 books on a screen, 10 won't help because then I'll have to push twice to go to the next screen)

EDIT : post no longer not relevant :
I was going to propose the 20-book page layout and exiting on the side, but you can exit on the side no matter the layout and I'm sure Ortep already knows this.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

What enhancements would you like to see in a future firmware update for the Gen3?

It might be useful to split enhancements into two categories. Those that look like they might be easily added to the existing firmware/interface, and those that would require large changes to the code and/or interface.

[EDIT]
list moved to first message in the thread.

[brudigia]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It might be useful to split enhancements into two categories. Those that look like they might be easily added to the existing firmware/interface, and those that would require large changes to the code and/or interface.

In the first category we have:
....
In the second we have:
* Folder display in library
.....

Good job, I sincerely applaud you for the effort in resming and categorizing.

Just a question though, due to my ignorance. Why do you feel that folder could be difficult to implement. I understand that the Cybook has a Linux internally, which is able to read devices (the SD for system upgrade) therefore it has some rough device / directory support embedded. Why should it be difficult to make it explicit ?

[DDHarriman]

Great work pdurrant!

If Bookeen will be able to do all this one day ( - sorry about this I could not control myself...) the Cybook would have the head in the readers market for some time indeed.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by brudigia

Not being a native English speaking person I do not understand the need for dictionary lookup, personally I've never needed it when I read a book, but since it is not the first time I see it so strongly emphasized, there must be some reason.

I'm not a native English speaker and that is exactly why I do use the dictionary lookup. While I am reading I sometimes run into words that I'm not familiar with. Most of the time I can guess the meaning from the context and read on. I almost never pick up a p-dictionary to check it. To much of a hassle. But on the Cybook it is very easy and relatively fast so I check words I'm not sure of.

Guesssing often helps, but you can make big mistakes this way. I know, for example, the meaning of the word 'looming' but that has absolutely nothing to do with 'a loom' ( I know the meaning now )

Or I know a similar sounding word in Dutch or German and assume it has about the same meaning. But that can also lead to serious mistakes

The word 'meet' in English is pronounced the same as the German word 'miet' . But don't say to a German woman you want to 'miet' her. Unless you want to be slapped in the face. In German it means: to rent. And In Dutch 'rent' means (he) runs

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It might be useful to split enhancements into two categories. Those that look like they might be easily added to the existing firmware/interface, and those that would require large changes to the code and/or interface.

Good summary

Might it be worth it to add all the suggestions to the first post so that there is a easy reference of suggestions already made as opposed to starting a new post for every new suggestion

[pthwaite]

With the existing Library view, extend it so that when it gets to the end, it loops back to the start rather than have to go all teh way back again.