Good Update for Bluefire Reader

[Micah]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I obviously can't say how many folks would want to save more than one custom theme. I would like it yes. The reading apps I use most on Android (Moon+ Pro, Mantano) have this feature and so it's missed when an app doesn't have it (I'm not as well versed in iOS apps yet). I can say I'd rather have the other things I mentioned than have this.

Thanks for the comments, appreciated. BTW, no intent at all to dismiss the request, it is honestly hard to get so many requests (I get hundreds) and try to prioritize.

[AnemicOak]

Understand completely.

[Micah]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

AnyFont works well. I've just reinstalled some fonts and they are working well with Bluefire.

Theres a free one called HiFont but I don't know how good it is. I'm happy with having paid for AnyFont.

Nice! So just to be clear I understand as I'd repeat it elsewhere: you can use an app called AnyFont to install fonts on your iOS device and then those font faces show up as options in Bluefire Reader?
-MIcah

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Micah

Nice! So just to be clear I understand as I'd repeat it elsewhere: you can use an app called AnyFont to install fonts on your iOS device and then those font faces show up as options in Bluefire Reader?
-MIcah

Exactly right The fonts must be installed to the system. They are not persistent, of course, so each time you do a full system update, or restore (as opposed to OTA) you'd need to reinstall the fonts.

The screenie is of the font I seem to prefer at the moment. Its called Delicious and I obtained it from one of the several bazillion free font websites which seem to be proliferating. Can't remember which one, though...

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

... once authorised with Adobe, we can also sync bookmarks, and not just between DRM protected books. I've just done a sync on an Agatha Christie with no DRM, between my iphone and ipad. Sadly, it didnt seem to sync back again. Perhaps thats not such a good deal.

I've been trying to get bookmarks in Bluefire Reader to sync, but haven't had any success. Am I missing something obvious, or does this feature not work?

(It will sync furthest point read, but that's not the same as syncing bookmarks, and I want to sync bookmarks.)

[kyteflyer]

Its failed for me in the last year also. Oh well, to be honest, I have never found the bookmark sync to work that well with anything except iBooks, which will sync anything, not just iBooks store purchases. If and when Apple gives us smaller margins, I'll switch permanently to it.

[odamizu]

Thanks kyteflyer! Was hoping I was missing something. And yes, what's up with those huge margins in iBooks?!

[kyteflyer]

I have NO idea what thats about. It works OK for iPad, but on iphone its a nightmare. And if you need to use large fonts, forget it. one or two words to a line is just ludicrous.

[Micah]

Yea, we have not yet added Bookmark Sync. Been spending a lot of time lately on the Readium project (Readium.org)

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Micah

Yea, we have not yet added Bookmark Sync.

Thanks for confirming that it isn't just me

Another question: I notice when choosing a font from the "second set" (after Verdana, the choices start again with Academy Engraved ... ), the italics render in what looks like a default font rather than the selected font. Is this something that will be addressed? Thanks!

Btw, Bluefire Reader is my preferred ereading app for iPhone, even without bookmark syncing

[Micah]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Thanks for confirming that it isn't just me

Another question: I notice when choosing a font from the "second set" (after Verdana, the choices start again with Academy Engraved ... ), the italics render in what looks like a default font rather than the selected font. Is this something that will be addressed? Thanks!

Btw, Bluefire Reader is my preferred ereading app for iPhone, even without bookmark syncing

hmmm, Italics should normally render in the font you've selected. Some fonts don't include italic glyphs, so a substitute is used (but that is fairly rare). More often what I see is that the "publisher's" markup of an epub might specifically define a font to use just for italics, or it might utilize a custom CSS selector for italics. In that case, the font/style defined in the markup is used, as Bluefire only over-rides the "body" font face with the user's selected font (helps retain "special" formatting for things like pull quotes, poetry snippets, code snippets, figures etc). That said, if you are seeing the same thing on multiple ebooks from different sources, then that could be a bug. If you see that on multiple different books, It would be helpful if you mentioned that here so I could look into it further.
Thanks!
-Micah

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Micah

hmmm, Italics should normally render in the font you've selected. Some fonts don't include italic glyphs, so a substitute is used (but that is fairly rare) .... That said, if you are seeing the same thing on multiple ebooks from different sources, then that could be a bug. If you see that on multiple different books, It would be helpful if you mentioned that here so I could look into it further.
Thanks!
-Micah

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant the first thing you mentioned: some fonts appear not to have italic glyphs, so a substitute is used. (I thought it was all the fonts in the "second set" after Verdana, but I see now I was mistaken.)

My difficulty is with Arial Rounded MT Bold, which doesn't have italic glyphs in Bluefire Reader, and the substitute italic is jarring.

However, Marvin, EPUB Reader, and Kybook all offer Arial Rounded MT Bold with italic glyphs, not a substitute, so maybe it's a bug in Bluefire?

Except for this italic problem, I like Bluefire Reader better than the other apps. Thanks!

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Micah

Yea, we have not yet added Bookmark Sync.

Btw, I'd also be happy simply to have "most recently read position" ("last read position").

My problem with "furthest point read" is that if I skip ahead (by accident or on purpose), then go back, the syncing becomes useless because I can't find my currently read position. If it synced "most recently read position" instead of "furthest point read" I wouldn't need bookmarks. Thanks!

[Micah]

Thanks for that feedback. It was a tough call, e.g. pros and cons of both approaches (furthest vs most recent). Might have made the wrong choice. In any case, only feedback can help on that front, and we get so very little. e.g. we have over a million active users, but most times all we get are bad reviews when someone is trying to read a screwed up file. Really, really appreciate helpful comments like yours.
Thanks.
Micah

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Micah

Thanks for that feedback. It was a tough call, e.g. pros and cons of both approaches (furthest vs most recent). Might have made the wrong choice. In any case, only feedback can help on that front, and we get so very little. e.g. we have over a million active users, but most times all we get are bad reviews when someone is trying to read a screwed up file. Really, really appreciate helpful comments like yours.
Thanks.
Micah

Its probably a mistake to rely on those app store reviews, some people seem to give bad reviews just because they can. I think I've asked before, but I will, again, have you considered setting up a forum/feedback section on the website? I understand that the "thrust" of the site is more commercial but it probably wouldnt hurt to have something there, or even a link to a feedback email address, contained somewhere in the About inside the app.