Some new features arriving in 0.7.3

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Interesting, would you use calibre maximized on a widescreen monitor?

Yes, I would. I already use it maximized on my 19" monitor and sometimes feel like I'm out of space, despite hiding some columns.

Aside from the ostensible business use (more room the innumerable Photoshop tools that seem to breed when I'm not looking) and the, um, after-hours use (games, of course) one of my main reasons for getting the wide monitor is spreadsheets. Calibre's main interface is much the same thing, and the more width the better, especially now that user-defined columns are here.

[eboyhan]

I would like to suggest a GUI UI change. Move the list of filters at the left side of the screen to pulldown selection boxes placed above the top of each display column. When pulled down what you get is a list of all the unique values present in the column. Use of ctrl and shift can be used to select multiple filters. There should be an 'advanced' selection in each pulldown that will bring up a dialog to specify more complex filters. This will save quite a bit of screen real estate. This is the scheme used in Excel for filtering which can be looked at to see how this suggestion might be implemented in detail.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Interesting, would you use calibre maximized on a widescreen monitor?

Yes and I use it with my old 4:3 Primary Monitor set Portrait, so I can Drag and Drop from the Primary to Calibre on the Secondary (20")

[kovidgoyal]

@eboyhan: The Tag browser does a lot more than just filter

[eboyhan]

Even so I didn't see anything that couldn't be done by placing the tags above the column headings -- whenever the tag browser does anything complex, you pop up a dialog anyway -- I think you could eliminate that whole column on the left.

Totally different UI suggestion: yesterday I spent a couple of hours looking for custom columns -- I knew you talked about it in the video, but it sure wasn't obvious -- putting it in preferences is not intuitive. I would suggest that instead when you right click on a column heading, one of the popup menu items should be "add custom column" which would add the custom column to the left of the column you clicked with perhaps a dialog to specify what goes in the custom column, etc.

As I think about my difficulties with the GUI UI, I realize that to me the calibre display is reminiscent of a spreadsheet, and I expect the Excel conventions to apply -- some do (like sorting columns by clicking on the heading), some don't -- it can be very frustrating. I don't imagine that I am alone in this "excel-itus" ).

[FizzyWater]

Color the icons? Huh?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Color the icons? Huh?

Since this is a thread on 0.7.3 I guess we'll have to wait until it is released to see this.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Worldwalker

With the growing popularity of wide-screen monitors, "unless the calibre window is very wide" might not be so unlikely.

Please (!) do not over-optimize calibre for wide-screen monitors.

I have tried hard to use one and given up. My problem is that I need trifocals. I wear progressive lenses to avoid all the lines and rapid vertical vision shifts. The middle-distance focus width on all progressive lenses I have seen (and I have looked hard) is very narrow, just a few degrees off of straight-on. When I look at the center of a wide screen, the edges are out of focus. Bringing them into focus requires moving my head to the side, making the other side even worse. The result: my head is popping back and forth like I am controlled by a drugged puppeteer, I get headaches, and generally grouchy.

I can't even use a 4/3 monitor bigger than 19", and a 19" one must be at least 2.5 feet from my eyes.

I am certain that I am not the only one in this situation, as it comes with age.

[Starson17]

Originally Posted by chaley

Please (!) do not over-optimize calibre for wide-screen monitors.

I agree. Even though I have a wide-screen, I prefer to use a smaller width portion for Calibre. It helps with the issues raised by Charles, plus, I often like to have several adjacent windows open - particularly when searching for covers in an adjacent browser, or when adding ebooks with an adjacent file explorer window open.

[Worldwalker]

I don't think anyone's talking about making it exclusive to -- or even over-optimized for -- wide screens. Just having the options available if someone has, and wants to use, all that screen real estate.

(oh, and spreadsheet programs predated Excel by about ten years)

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by chaley

Please (!) do not over-optimize calibre for wide-screen monitors.

Not too worry, if I do do this, it will be optional (I for one certainly wouldn't want the main toolbar cluttered up with view mode icons).

I am now in the middle of a redesign of the preferences dialog. Once that's complete there should be more scope for adding tiny UI customization options like this.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by chaley

Please (!) do not over-optimize calibre for wide-screen monitors.

I have tried hard to use one and given up. My problem is that I need trifocals. I wear progressive lenses to avoid all the lines and rapid vertical vision shifts. The middle-distance focus width on all progressive lenses I have seen (and I have looked hard) is very narrow, just a few degrees off of straight-on. When I look at the center of a wide screen, the edges are out of focus. Bringing them into focus requires moving my head to the side, making the other side even worse. The result: my head is popping back and forth like I am controlled by a drugged puppeteer, I get headaches, and generally grouchy.

I can't even use a 4/3 monitor bigger than 19", and a 19" one must be at least 2.5 feet from my eyes.

I am certain that I am not the only one in this situation, as it comes with age.

Welcome to my world! I do wear trifocals. I tried the progressives when I "outgrew" (?) bifocals about ten or so years ago and hated the stupid things. I didn't mind the head bobbing bit so much but the way straight lines suddenly looked curved drove me nutz and almost caused me to have accidents when driving forklifts at work. I switched to trifocals and love them but they aren't perfect. At the movies, I have to hold my head rigid to keep the correct lens in place and it looks like I'm watching through a window so I just don't wear them then. My distance vision is fairly good so I can get away with it.

At home, I have a pair of glasses just for watching TV when laying in bed since I would be looking through the wrong lens if I wore my trifocals. I don't have enough astigmatism to be noticeable (I'm lucky, my Daddy had it bad) so I can get away with inexpensive drug store readers.

When I worked at my computer, I found I was killing my neck to look through the correct lens and having to move in close or back off, depending on the lens I used. I got some drugstore readers that allow me to sit 15-20" from the screen and still be able to read copy on the desk (I can't move it too close without going blurry). They have worked out great. My neck is much happier.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Bob Butler

Fantastic! Any plans for the opposite (an easy way to add to library for items on the device but not in the library)?

Done and in 0.7.3. Select books in the device view, right-click, and choose 'Add books to library'.

If a book is already in the library, you will get asked if you wish to create a duplicate. If you want to merge instead of creating duplicates, you might consider checking Preferences -> Add/Save -> If books with similar titles ...

[eboyhan]

(oh, and spreadsheet programs predated Excel by about ten years)

I knew that -- in fact it was about 10 years before I even started using Excel -- I used many of the early ones, and still miss some of their UI innovations. But today Excel and Excel look-alikes are pervasive. Why force users to learn new UI interface metaphors when there is one available (not perfect I grant you) which many are familiar with. I would like to see Calibre be as intuitive and easy to use as possible.

[eboyhan]

Originally Posted by chaley

Done and in 0.7.3. Select books in the device view, right-click, and choose 'Add books to library'.

If a book is already in the library, you will get asked if you wish to create a duplicate. If you want to merge instead of creating duplicates, you might consider checking Preferences -> Add/Save -> If books with similar titles ...

Terrific!! -- I only wish that this had been available earlier -- it would have saved me many rebuilds of my calibredb as I learned the vagaries of the add books process.