It really is a shame that my e-reader doesn't have an SD slot

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

So... the solution is to load all 45,000 books onto your reader and wait 17 minutes whle it tries to perform a global search on 256 MB of RAM?

I guess I cannot really speak to the issue -- I can remember the subject-title correlations of all the thousands of books I have read, AFAIR.


That is a solution looking for a problem, and the better solution is to just use google. Vague keyword searches work a lot better there.

No. The solution is to insert software with decent filing capabilities.
The Aztak readers organized content in standard file trees. Now I will grant you that Amazon and Kobo don't hire programmers with that minimal competency level, but they are still around.

Perhaps a professional software developer can answer this question: the notion of good and poor programming practices have existed for decades. While there is some disagreement as to what those practices are, they are typically emphasize maintainability and are among the first things that people learn when they learn how to program. Modern languages and libraries facilitate these programming practices. When we are talking about ereaders, there are typically sufficient resources to use those languages and libraries. Given all of that, how is it possible to make code so obtuse that it is difficult to add an extra font size?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Phogg

No. The solution is to insert software with decent filing capabilities.
The Aztak readers organized content in standard file trees. Now I will grant you that Amazon and Kobo don't hire programmers with that minimal competency level, but they are still around.

And standard file trees do what exactly (besides nothing)?

How exactly will that help me search for characters/plot details/etc. ???

But sure, keep on going with the red herrings.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Perhaps a professional software developer can answer this question: the notion of good and poor programming practices have existed for decades. While there is some disagreement as to what those practices are, they are typically emphasize maintainability and are among the first things that people learn when they learn how to program. Modern languages and libraries facilitate these programming practices. When we are talking about ereaders, there are typically sufficient resources to use those languages and libraries. Given all of that, how is it possible to make code so obtuse that it is difficult to add an extra font size?

Because most employees of most companies don't give a darn, and those that do are not given sufficient time to fix the pile of dung they inherit from the last overworked person.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Perhaps a professional software developer can answer this question: the notion of good and poor programming practices have existed for decades. While there is some disagreement as to what those practices are, they are typically emphasize maintainability and are among the first things that people learn when they learn how to program. Modern languages and libraries facilitate these programming practices. When we are talking about ereaders, there are typically sufficient resources to use those languages and libraries. Given all of that, how is it possible to make code so obtuse that it is difficult to add an extra font size?

Assumptions, assumptions, and more assumptions. And you know what they say about assumptions.

As twowheels said, people don't give a darn. There are standards for everything, computer-related or not, and no one has ever cared. Look at language.

The main objective of commercial programming is to ship a finished product. Those weirdos who do stuff for the fun of it are the only ones who can afford to waste valuable time nitpicking over the code. And even then, not so much.

[murg]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Perhaps a professional software developer can answer this question: the notion of good and poor programming practices have existed for decades.

Yes. And the notions change every decade or so.

Originally Posted by BWinmill

While there is some disagreement as to what those practices are, they are typically emphasize maintainability and are among the first things that people learn when they learn how to program.

Nope. On both counts.

Programming practices are about programming. Rarely do they take into account actual production support. They are usually some idea that percolates out of academia (you know, the people who don't program for a living).

Rarely do you learn programming practices when learning to program. Usually you're just trying to get the damn thing to work, and the instructors are more interested in whether your program works than how maintainable it is.

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Modern languages and libraries facilitate these programming practices.

Modern languages are usually the cause of bad coding practices.

Originally Posted by BWinmill

When we are talking about ereaders, there are typically sufficient resources to use those languages and libraries.

Actually, modern languages are generally not used in eReaders. eReaders are embedded devices, and there aren't enough resources to use modern languages. Generally the devices will be coded in C or C++, neither of which is currently a modern language.

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Given all of that, how is it possible to make code so obtuse that it is difficult to add an extra font size?

Very easily.

[jbjb]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Perhaps a professional software developer can answer this question: the notion of good and poor programming practices have existed for decades. While there is some disagreement as to what those practices are, they are typically emphasize maintainability and are among the first things that people learn when they learn how to program. Modern languages and libraries facilitate these programming practices. When we are talking about ereaders, there are typically sufficient resources to use those languages and libraries. Given all of that, how is it possible to make code so obtuse that it is difficult to add an extra font size?

There are many reasons why most commercial software ends up with a less-than-perfect design.

Among them:

• Most programmers aren't as competent and conscientious as you might like.
• Doing things "the right way" often involves taking a short term hit (in terms of time-to-market etc.) for a longer term benefit of code quality/maintainability etc. Commercial pressures often mean that this short term cost is not paid.
• Management misunderstanding often leads to the long term benefit above to be underestimated, making it even less likely that the short term cost will be accepted.
• Moving goalposts, crisis bugfixes, and other deviations from the ideal design flow all add their own special chaos.

/JB

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by murg

Modern languages are usually the cause of bad coding practices.

WHA?!?

Originally Posted by murg

Actually, modern languages are generally not used in eReaders. eReaders are embedded devices, and there aren't enough resources to use modern languages. Generally the devices will be coded in C or C++, neither of which is currently a modern language.

C++14 and the draft C++17 is very much a modern language.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Once our lounge is finished (will take a few years more ) I'll probably buy some more paper books again, just to fill it. It's just not as sexy to put 4 ereaders on a shelf and call it a library But I doubt I'll ever really read a full book again in paper form (my hands already ache with the thought of it...)

Just buy half a dozen of identical [cheap] wall clocks, put them on wall and label them: New York, Paris, Moscow, Tokyo, GMT, Zulu ... with the time set for each time-zone.
Much more impressive.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Shades

Please do link to some of these eink tablets. No, not the no name Chinese models, but actual tablets made by known manufacturers. I haven't seen one... Ever.

Well, there are a few, such as Onyx Boox ... oh wait ... that one is also made in China. Just like any other e-ink reader out there, including Kindle, Kobo and even non-e-ink stuff, such as iPads and other fringe models of no-name electronics.

[latepaul]

OK I'm going to stand up for programmers. IME whilst there are a few that really don't care, most programmers want to do a good job. Or they at least start out that way. Where they don't care it's often because they've had it beaten out of them by the system.

Thing is if your going to judge them as incompetent or not caring about quality etc. you not only have to know what the code looks like, but you have to know what they were asked to do. I can easily see someone making a decision that the choice of font sizes should be limited for purposes of useability. Whether you agree or not there is a school of thought that says that the more options you expose the more complicated it appears and the less user-friendly it appears. This might be called the Apple ethos. If someone at Amazon wanted people to think that the Kindle "just works" I can see why they might ask the programmers to limit the font size choices.

You and I might disagree. So might the programmer but if the boss says that's what they want...

And spending time on something you've not been asked to do, even where it's good design is at best a (literally) thankless task and at worst a waste of time that will be frowned on.

[Rizla]

I find it very hard to believe that Amazon have coded the Kindle in such a way that font-size cannot be expanded beyond a fixed and very low number. This is programming 101.

I find it much more likely that Amazon simply can't be bothered to update the UI. This goes in line with their unwillingness to allow users to install custom fonts (without having to recompile the whole e-book and including the font).

What we're seeing is Amazon's design strategy for the Kindle. It's procrustean. They are almost entirely only interested in the main part of the herd who do not question or even know about such things.

With the greatest of respect to the other posters here who disagree, all this talk of the font sizes being fixed in the back-end is IMO self-delusional hooey. Amazon is simply not interested in offering greater options and choices within their devices. But to each to their own.

I hope Kindle users enjoy their devices, but I hope more that for those of us who desire a more customizable experience, that such customizable devices continue to be available.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=189717

I managed to find the thread and yes, it is numbers that get passed to the system to get the font size. So yes, it works as I said it by passing a number to the system to change the font size.

Good catch, JS. It is as we said. Case closed, I think.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Good catch, JS. It is as we said. Case closed, I think.

Case closed? It remains hard coded. Replacing existing options does not add any more variety.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=189717

I managed to find the thread and yes, it is numbers that get passed to the system to get the font size. So yes, it works as I said it by passing a number to the system to change the font size.

The above thread underscores that Amazon truly are not interested in offering or improving their UI and user options. If a guy on MB can knock this up so simply, well, it speaks volumes about Amazon's attitude and design strategy. Shame. Very poor.

Hopefully Kindles will continue to be jail-broken, otherwise they will become IMO sub-standard devices.