Cool Reader on Android

[anamardoll]

I'm still trying to find the perfect reader for me... this is a really pretty reader, but I have a few questions. I apologize if this has already been asked.

1. Is there an option for a "home library page" gui like in Aldiko or Moon+? I know the shelf with covers isn't for everyone, but I like it quite a bit. I'm a much more "visual" person and it's easier for me to browse my library by picture than by title, and I do like the 3-covers-per-row gui that Aldiko/Moon+ has.

2. Is there a way to fine tune a highlighted selection like in Moon+? I really like how that app has the "highlight sliders" that you can move as needed to make the selection shorter/longer. With the "one shot" highlighting, it often takes me 4-5 tries to get my highlighting selection precisely where I want it.

3. Is there persistent highlighting, as in actual color laid over the text? Moon+ does this and I do like it a lot.

4. Is there a way to set "long press" on the screen to be text selection / highlighting, like in Moon+? Having to do a short press to bring up the menu, and then select "text selection" seems unnatural to me. The double press for selection option would be alright, but it only seems to select one word, and there's no highlighting sliders, so.......

5. Is there Calibre2opds support for accessing an HTML or XML file online and browsing one's library catalog (Aldiko, Moon+, Stanza)? This is what I'm using: http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/03/er...-in-cloud.html

I really like the look of this reader and the "reading experience" it offers. If it had a shelf gui, catalog support, and stronger highlighting options, this would be PERFECT for me.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

I really like the look of this reader and the "reading experience" it offers. If it had a shelf gui, catalog support, and stronger highlighting options, this would be PERFECT for me.

Of those, OPDS Catalog support looks to be the most likely. (I'm waiting for it myself so I can get rid of Aldiko, which I'm using as a downloader for Coolreader.)
The Shelf-metaphor GUI looks to be the least likely as it involves a complete reworking of the Reader's front end.
One offers tangible instant productivity gains and the other is mostly eye-candy and since Coolreader has its roots in the Linux world, where aesthetics are not usually a high priority, I wouldn't hold my breath.

[anamardoll]

Well, I wouldn't say it's mostly eye candy. I'm a hobbyist reviewer and a very visual person. 90% of my ebooks are sent as "review requests" by new authors. I *do* recognize the covers by sight, but I guarantee I don't remember the author names when I'm digging through my library. I'm lucky to remember the title names. But pictures? I can remember those.

I know shelf view gets a lot of grief as being "pwetty" but for me it's an essential library management tool.

[CharlieBird]

Originally Posted by Westlyn

If it works OK then that will allow me to uninstall eReader so definitely a win now that I'm tight on memspace. (I have Android 2.1 so no app2sd capability).

Off Topic
Have you tried Link2SD*? Supposedly works w/Android 1.6 and up—good reviews.

I have wasted many luckless hours using every possible configuration, contacting the developer (who rapidly responded but had no solution), screwing up a SD card and ultimately have to reinstall the OS. & weeping bitter tears!

I can't figure why I am so enamoured of this goofy device, wasting so many sleeping/reading hours with it, counting the days until I can get a device running Honeycomb.

* https://market.android.com/details?id=com.buak.Link2SD

OnTopic
I so much appreciate CoolReader that I was pleased to just discover on the Apps Market the possibility of donating to Buggins. It's probably been noted elsewhere in the thread but, if so, I missed it.
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[Lourie]

I am certain I downloaded Coolreader and it said it would also open mobi files. Now I cannot find one ebook and I do not know how to open it. Please help me with advice. I don't like the Kindle interface, but at least I can read the books!

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by Lourie

I am certain I downloaded Coolreader and it said it would also open mobi files.

According to it's description on Market CoolReader supports non-DRM EPUB, MOBI, PRC, PDB, FB2, TXT, RTF, HTML, CHM, and PML. So it seems that you are correct that CoolReader should be able to read non-DRM MOBI.

Originally Posted by Lourie

Now I cannot find one ebook

Where are you looking for your ebooks? When you press the MENU button while CoolReader is running, one of the menu items is OPEN FILE. When you press OPEN FILE, CoolReader lets you explore your entire filesystem for books. I simplify things for myself by putting all my books in a folder called Books on the SD card.

Originally Posted by Lourie

I do not know how to open it.

Once you find where you put your book just tap the book's name in the CoolReader file manager and CoolReader will open the book.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Lourie

I am certain I downloaded Coolreader and it said it would also open mobi files. Now I cannot find one ebook and I do not know how to open it. Please help me with advice. I don't like the Kindle interface, but at least I can read the books!

Try changing the extension to prc.

[Lourie]

Thanks, it worked!

I'm running CM7 from the SD Card and Cool reader only scans the SD Card. I have lots of books in the Nook emmc (internal) - how can I get Cool reader to scan internal memory?

[voy78]

Great reader! I especially like the bookmark functionality. Exporting it to a file in conjunction with a SugarSync allows me to keep track of where I finished reading between different devices (Nook/cm7, Dinc, and work computer).
To find the page though I have to open the exported bookmark first, select the text, copy the text, open the book, search for the text - quite a few steps.
I was wondering if it would be possible to set it up so that by default the bookmarks are directly written to, and read from the text file residing in the folder that the book does. Right now it seems like the bookmark list is kept somewhere else, and you only get the option to export to a accessible file, but not to import from it. Having it behave the way I described would make export / import / search for text steps unnecessary.
Keeping the book / bookmark file in a synced folder would keep the book synced between all the devices - feature missing from all the other readers. And I don't think it would require too many changes, since all the functionality is basically already there.

What do you think?

[goldberry]

Can someone who has added some other fonts give me a heads up on how this is done?

Also can someone suggest some good alternative fonts to the default used in Coolreader?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by goldberry

Can someone who has added some other fonts give me a heads up on how this is done?

It is just about as easy as it sounds in the CoolReader User's Guide.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...oid_user_guide

You just make a fonts folder in the root of your SD card, and put the ttf font files that you want to use in that folder. I usually have four files for each font I want. A normal , an italic, a bold normal, and a bold italic. I do not know if it still matters, but it used to be necessary to have the font file names all in lower case letters.

Originally Posted by goldberry

Also can someone suggest some good alternative fonts to the default used in Coolreader?

I think that there probably is a lot of variation in tastes as far as font faces go, but some examples that are sitting in my fonts folder are; dejavusans.ttf, droidsans.ttf, fontin.ttf, ibookn.ttf, liberationsans.ttf, and verdana.ttf

[goldberry]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

It is just about as easy as it sounds in the CoolReader User's Guide.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawik...oid_user_guide

You just make a fonts folder in the root of your SD card, and put the ttf font files that you want to use in that folder. I usually have four files for each font I want. A normal , an italic, a bold normal, and a bold italic. I do not know if it still matters, but it used to be necessary to have the font file names all in lower case letters.


I think that there probably is a lot of variation in tastes as far as font faces go, but some examples that are sitting in my fonts folder are; dejavusans.ttf, droidsans.ttf, fontin.ttf, ibookn.ttf, liberationsans.ttf, and verdana.ttf

Thanks for that info.

[CharlieBird]

Goldberry, there's a poll and discussion on fonts, serif vs. sans-serif, going on right now over in the Discussions Forums that you might find interesting/helpful.
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[goldberry]

Originally Posted by CharlieBird

Goldberry, there's a poll and discussion on fonts, serif vs. sans-serif, going on right now over in the Discussions Forums that you might find interesting/helpful.
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