Scrolling - incredibly awful

[dso371]

In the thread on desirable firmware updates, only one user found it worth mentioning the following:

"One feature that would make it easier is if the software were changed so that more then one item were scrolled when a button pressed continuously. It would have been best if it accelerated."

I have only just discovered how terrible it is. I bought a Mobipocket book with many sections in its contents. To get to section 105, I had to hit the button 105 times!!! I couldn't hold the button down to scroll (let alone accelerate!).

Moreover, the endless tapping takes the cursor only from left to right. You can't hit the down button when you're on the left hand side and make the cursor move down the left hand side, for example.

This defect has made using this particular ebook all but impossible. I am not going to give myself repetitive strain injury just to read a book!

In short, the next firmware update must make navigation more like the experience of using the arrow buttons on a PC. This is not an option - it's a necessity.

Bookeen, are you listening???

[Nate the great]

I know a trick that works on my Kindle as well as having worked in the Mobipocket Reader on my PDA. Use the Next Page and Previous Page buttons to jump through the TOC if it's not all on the sceen at the same time.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dso371

In the thread on desirable firmware updates, only one user found it worth mentioning the following:

"One feature that would make it easier is if the software were changed so that more then one item were scrolled when a button pressed continuously. It would have been best if it accelerated."

I have only just discovered how terrible it is. I bought a Mobipocket book with many sections in its contents. To get to section 105, I had to hit the button 105 times!!! I couldn't hold the button down to scroll (let alone accelerate!).

Moreover, the endless tapping takes the cursor only from left to right. You can't hit the down button when you're on the left hand side and make the cursor move down the left hand side, for example.

This defect has made using this particular ebook all but impossible. I am not going to give myself repetitive strain injury just to read a book!

In short, the next firmware update must make navigation more like the experience of using the arrow buttons on a PC. This is not an option - it's a necessity.

Bookeen, are you listening???

This sounds more like a defect with the design of this particular book than with the Gen3. Anyone who puts 105 links on a single page should seriously re-think their user interface! Were all these links really on the same page?

[dso371]

Errr, it was the BIBLE. The Book of Psalms has 150 psalms. I wanted to read Psalm 105. Hence over 100 taps to get to it.

And yes, as with all the books of the Bible, you get all the chapter headings on one page, usually.

Not exactly a niche product, and certainly not poor book design!

Originally Posted by HarryT

This sounds more like a defect with the design of this particular book than with the Gen3. Anyone who puts 105 links on a single page should seriously re-think their user interface! Were all these links really on the same page?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dso371

Errr, it was the BIBLE. The Book of Psalms has 150 psalms. I wanted to read Psalm 105. Hence over 100 taps to get to it.

Not exactly a niche product, and certainly not poor book design!

Are all the links on the same page? THAT is what sounds like poor design to me. Had they been, say, 20 links to a page then it would have taken a maximum of 25 and an average of 12 clicks (2 to select the correct page, 10 to select the link) to go to any particular item.

[dso371]

Of course the links are all on the same page - 150 psalms, 150 numbers. In my Mobi version, 1-150 appears in half a page. That's pretty much what you would expect!

Originally Posted by HarryT

Are all the links on the same page? THAT is what sounds like poor design to me. Had they been, say, 20 links to a page then it would have taken a maximum of 25 and an average of 12 clicks (2 to select the correct page, 10 to select the link) to go to any particular item.

[HarryT]

My point is, however, that on any device without a touch screen, the only way to navigate between hyperlinks is to scroll through them one at a time. That makes having 150 hyperlinks on a page poor eBook design, regardless of whether or not they will physically "fit" onto the page. Splitting them into smaller groups across several pages would allow for much more efficient navigation.

This is the kind of thing you have to consider when designing navigation links within an eBook.

[dso371]

But you mean to say that Bookeen can't design their firmware so the buttons act more like the arrow buttons on a PC, so you can move around freely? Surely it's not rocket science? Surely other e-readers can do this? (Not that I've checked.)

Originally Posted by dso371

Of course the links are all on the same page - 150 psalms, 150 numbers. In my Mobi version, 1-150 appears in half a page. That's pretty much what you would expect!

[ProfJulie]

I bought an electronic bible recently, and I don't think it works well on electronic readers unless you're just planning to read it in some kind of sequential order. There's just no way to quickly jump to book, to chapter, to verse. Even if all chapters were hyperlinked (which they are not in the Bible I purchased) it would still take way too much time to get to a desired location. In that regard, the paper version is vastly superior.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dso371

But you mean to say that Bookeen can't design their firmware so the buttons act more like the arrow buttons on a PC, so you can move around freely? Surely it's not rocket science? Surely other e-readers can do this? (Not that I've checked.)

All the eInk readers I'm aware of behave in the same way (except the iLiad, which has a touch screen).

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by dso371

Of course the links are all on the same page - 150 psalms, 150 numbers. In my Mobi version, 1-150 appears in half a page. That's pretty much what you would expect!

It sounds like you have links set up like text, which as you was a stupid for the publisher to do. I haven't heard of this happening before. Well, actually, I've done it on accident. But I've never released an ebook with this problem.

The expected way to do a TOC is one link to a line. If this ebook had a TOC made properly, you wouldn't have this problem. You should complain to whoever made this ebook so this problem can be fixed.

[dso371]

But even with one link to a line, I'd still have to make over 100 taps to get to Psalm 105! Unless the arrows enable freer navigation, I can't see how book design is going to make things any easier. The firmware needs improving.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

It sounds like you have links set up like text, which as you was a stupid for the publisher to do. I haven't heard of this happening before. Well, actually, I've done it on accident. But I've never released an ebook with this problem.

The expected way to do a TOC is one link to a line. If this ebook had a TOC made properly, you wouldn't have this problem. You should complain to whoever made this ebook so this problem can be fixed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by dso371

But even with one link to a line, I'd still have to make over 100 taps to get to Psalm 105! Unless the arrows enable freer navigation, I can't see how book design is going to make things any easier. The firmware needs improving.

As I explained in my earlier post, the way that book design can help is by having different groups of links on different pages. That effectively makes navigation "two dimensional" by allowing you to first select a page, and then select a link on that page.

Eg, a linear list of 150 links will require, on average, 75 cursor movements to find a particular link. If, on the other hand, you split those 150 links onto 8 pages with 20 links per page (15 on the final page), then on average you'll need 4 clicks to select the correct page, then 10 clicks to select the correct link on that page - ie an average of 14 clicks compared to 75. That's a considerable improvement!

[dso371]

OK, I see what you mean. Still far too many taps, mind you. Bookeen, just fix the problem in the firmware upgrade, will you?

Originally Posted by HarryT

As I explained in my earlier post, the way that book design can help is by having different groups of links on different pages. That effectively makes navigation "two dimensional" by allowing you to first select a page, and then select a link on that page.

Eg, a linear list of 150 links will require, on average, 75 cursor movements to find a particular link. If, on the other hand, you split those 150 links onto 8 pages with 20 links per page (15 on the final page), then on average you'll need 4 clicks to select the correct page, then 10 clicks to select the correct link on that page - ie an average of 14 clicks compared to 75. That's a considerable improvement!

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by HarryT

All the eInk readers I'm aware of behave in the same way (except the iLiad, which has a touch screen).

The Kindle is different, as well. They don't do the up/down button thing. They have the scroll wheel with the indicator in a separate LCD to the side. I think they did that just to get around this sort of problem.