New Reader with great pdf-support: Mantano Reader (like aldiko+ezpdf)

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

I didn't know ES File Explorer would do that - thanks, I'll look into it and if I ever get another stable Mantano, I'll make sure I back it up.

Yep using the App Manager in ESFE you can backup any app. I do this anytime I upgrade an app because sometimes newer isn't better for your device. You get all these apps updated for newer tablets and they suck the life out of your phone or tablet.

[dura]

Since editting night themes is no longer possible I decided to make a new theme; yellowwhite text on a nearly black background; the whole screen stayed black, even though the example text in the editting screen looked good; switching to night mode gave a white screen, in which suprisingly some numbers were seen, that probably occurred in the text but no further text.
Opening books through shortcuts is hit and miss; sometimes the screen hangs and I have to restart the app.
Seriously thinking about switching again, sometimes it feels I spent more time trying to get Mantano to function like I wat it too then enjoying reading.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by dura

Since editting night themes is no longer possible I decided to make a new theme; yellowwhite text on a nearly black background; the whole screen stayed black, even though the example text in the editting screen looked good; switching to night mode gave a white screen, in which suprisingly some numbers were seen, that probably occurred in the text but no further text.
Opening books through shortcuts is hit and miss; sometimes the screen hangs and I have to restart the app.
Seriously thinking about switching again, sometimes it feels I spent more time trying to get Mantano to function like I wat it too then enjoying reading.

This is all very odd, I'm not doubting what you're saying but I'm also using a Galaxy Note (ICS 4.0.4) with Mantano Premium and I haven't seen any of those problems so far.

As per your post, I tried creating a theme with pale yellow text and black background. If I select the 'nightmode' button it displays what looks like black text on white background. The hyperlink chapter headings show blue in day mode and pale grey in nightmode. Everything is visible.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by dura

in which suprisingly some numbers were seen, that probably occurred in the text but no further text

I've seen this kind of thing with specific ebooks sometimes--for whatever reason some EPUBs just don't play nice with Night Mode or themes, and you'll just get a blank page with only italicized text, or only numbers, or only chapter titles, or some combination of the above showing.

[jackie_w]

Ah, yes, of course. If the css file in a particular epub has its text physically hard-coded with color:black or background-color:white attributes then there are likely to be problems when switching to nightmode. With these epubs it's best to remove all references to colour in the css file and let the reading device handle the colours. You can remove the colour from the css file manually or alternatively there's an option in Calibre to remove colour references during the conversion to epub.

[dura]

Thanks for that, Jackie, I'll clean up my Calibre library.

Another strange problem; when I open a new book first page I get the cover or the Calibre inserted cover; then I hit next page and I either get to see the next page smaller, with a round rotate arrow underneath or the same cover in black and white; then I hit next page again and get to see the cover again.
The only way to get past this is to hit the options button and use to slider to go further in the book, then hit previous page untill I get to page 2.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by dura

Thanks for that, Jackie, I'll clean up my Calibre library.

Another strange problem; when I open a new book first page I get the cover or the Calibre inserted cover; then I hit next page and I either get to see the next page smaller, with a round rotate arrow underneath or the same cover in black and white; then I hit next page again and get to see the cover again.
The only way to get past this is to hit the options button and use to slider to go further in the book, then hit previous page untill I get to page 2.

Yes I've seen this with my own setup. I'll bet you're tapping rather than swiping to turn the page. Unfortunately, if you tap the cover image it assumes you're asking to expand or rotate with the new Mantano image feature. Because the cover probably fills the whole screen you'll need to swipe to get from page 1 to page 2. Then you can tap to your heart's content to turn text pages.

[dura]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Yes I've seen this with my own setup. I'll bet you're tapping rather than swiping to turn the page. Unfortunately, if you tap the cover image it assumes you're asking to expand or rotate with the new Mantano image feature. Because the cover probably fills the whole screen you'll need to swipe to get from page 1 to page 2. Then you can tap to your heart's content to turn text pages.

Great, thanks!
I got all my taps set as 'next page', and both swype left and right as previous page.
Works great btw, I can hold my Note in either hand in different ways and turn pages by a thumb tap, or whatever finger is suitable.
In fact that is the main reason I use Manatano; it is the only app afaik that allows this level of total gesture adaption.

No big thing though, I'll assign a swype to the right to next page, and problem solved.

Thanks again.

[peaceridge]

Originally Posted by peaceridge

What's up? I have Premium. Have uninstalled and installed. The books are taking up to 3 minutes to load, then after I read a few pages, it says to wait and then up to a minute to get the next few pages.

Lyn

Sony S Tablet

Ok, problem solved - the 2 books I was having problems with were the problem! I downloaded fresh copies, reconverted through Calibre, and all is well.

Lyn

Sony S Tablet
trying out Archos G9 tablet

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Ah, yes, of course. If the css file in a particular epub has its text physically hard-coded with color:black or background-color:white attributes then there are likely to be problems when switching to nightmode. With these epubs it's best to remove all references to colour in the css file and let the reading device handle the colours. You can remove the colour from the css file manually or alternatively there's an option in Calibre to remove colour references during the conversion to epub.

That's handy to know. I don't imagine there's any way to scan for problem books and convert them en masse, is there? Are we pretty much stuck converting them as we come across them? (usually on my tablet, on a train, with my PC miles away :P )

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by taosaur

That's handy to know. I don't imagine there's any way to scan for problem books and convert them en masse, is there?

If only it were that simple For instance, some color statements may be in there to make hyperlinks blue. I'm not an advocate of mass conversions myself. It may well create more problems than it fixes. Unfortunately some epub creators have a very strange idea about what constitutes sensible css code. I have to wonder whether they've ever read a css manual.

Originally Posted by taosaur

Are we pretty much stuck converting them as we come across them? (usually on my tablet, on a train, with my PC miles away :P )

Well the colour will probably be OK until you enter a tunnel

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by taosaur

That's handy to know. I don't imagine there's any way to scan for problem books and convert them en masse, is there? Are we pretty much stuck converting them as we come across them? (usually on my tablet, on a train, with my PC miles away :P )

This is why I leave color box checked in Calibre. In the Look N Feel conversion Tab under Filter Style Information tab. I keep the fonts and color boxes checked.

This will remove colors and custom font references. I was so happy when Kovid added these before I had to do it all by hand but now every epub I run through Calibre is Mantano compatible. I also check the margin box because I also read on a little 3.2" screen.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by Blossom

This will remove colors and custom font references. I was so happy when Kovid added these before I had to do it all by hand but now every epub I run through Calibre is Mantano compatible. I also check the margin box because I also read on a little 3.2" screen.

Well, I generally just drag and drop new files into Calibre--it's what gets me the least garbled metadata the most often, without pursuing an Associate's Degree in Calibre Studies.

[pixiestyx]

Installed the 1.1.2 update for Essentials as soon as I saw it was available yesterday. Fixed night mode & the bar at the top with the day/night toggle. Fingers crossed - have not found anything bad about 1.1.2!

[citac]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

If only it were that simple For instance, some color statements may be in there to make hyperlinks blue. I'm not an advocate of mass conversions myself. It may well create more problems than it fixes. Unfortunately some epub creators have a very strange idea about what constitutes sensible css code. I have to wonder whether they've ever read a css manual.

Well the colour will probably be OK until you enter a tunnel

Speaking of sensible css code, I've always wondered why calibre needs to style each and every paragraph? I exploded (is that the right term?) a couple of epub files converted by calibre, and found that there was inline css for every paragraph.

Now, I am not an expert in html and css, but I did have a semester long course at the university that covered sensible css practices, and one of the things that our professor often mentioned was that css should be kept in a separate file to avoid any future issues with web page display. I imagine the same can be applied to epub design, and I believe I even asked about that somewhere on the calibre forum, but I'm not sure where and whether it was answered.