Firmware 4.17.13694

[rashkae]

It's funny how few people seem to realize what the "Back" button used to do

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by PeterT

It does. It ensures those who have official beta access can pass info quickly to the devs.

Which is handy but those same people have also said going to Kobo directly is a better step. Something about the squeaky wheel getting the oil. So I’ll stand by it not doing much, it does something, but it’s still not much.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Which is handy but those same people have also said going to Kobo directly is a better step. Something about the squeaky wheel getting the oil. So I’ll stand by it not doing much, it does something, but it’s still not much.

It depends on what you want to report. And when. I can report a bug, but, then it will have to get into their bug tracking and planning system. There's a fair chance it will look like an internally reported bug. Bugs reported through official channels by customers will probably get a higher priority. And get more visibility in whatever tracking system they use. Or at least they would in any place I have worked. Getting a bug that we noticed fixed was always harder than if a customer had noticed it.

And it is even more important for a behaviour change. Frequently, if a customer asks for something, it won't matter how important other things are, or how bad the idea is, the developers will be told to do it.

[djazz]

Yay, epub renderer shows chapter page progress in header and it can remember position in files not in ToC (but in spine)! Guess I made that video yesterday all for nothing heh.

No fixes to the Swedish translation though. What is the best way to send feedback to Kobo?

[disconnected]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It depends on what you want to report. And when. I can report a bug, but, then it will have to get into their bug tracking and planning system. There's a fair chance it will look like an internally reported bug. Bugs reported through official channels by customers will probably get a higher priority. And get more visibility in whatever tracking system they use. Or at least they would in any place I have worked. Getting a bug that we noticed fixed was always harder than if a customer had noticed it.

And it is even more important for a behaviour change. Frequently, if a customer asks for something, it won't matter how important other things are, or how bad the idea is, the developers will be told to do it.

Somewhat OT but one bug I really wish Kobo would fix is not on their ereaders or apps but on their website (and I've reported it several times). I like to pre-order books but I've mostly stopped because I occasionally decide to cancel a pre-order and am unable to do so because I get an error message whenever I try to get to my purchase history screen. CS reps can't do the cancellations either so they just tell me they'll escalate the problem and if the order isn't cancelled before the release date (which it never is) I need to report it again, referencing my original request number, to get a refund.

They tell me the problem is that my library is too large. I remember reading several years ago on the old Amazon Kindle forums that people with large Kindle libraries had a similar but worse problem in that they were unable to even navigate the process of downloading their books! It was quite a while before it was fixed and meanwhile Amazon refused to issue refunds for the inaccessible books.

It all seems to be a remarkable lack of foresight. The programmers must all have been too young to remember y2k.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I suspect it's all about actually getting the message to them. I've mentioned it several times now, but when the Forma was introduced there were some pretty glaring bugs which when given to Kobo via their chat and feedback were promptly resolved.

Posting here doesn't do much.

One thing posting here does is that it lets others know of the problem(s) you've found.

[John F]

Originally Posted by davidfor

It depends on what you want to report. And when. I can report a bug, but, then it will have to get into their bug tracking and planning system. There's a fair chance it will look like an internally reported bug. Bugs reported through official channels by customers will probably get a higher priority. And get more visibility in whatever tracking system they use. Or at least they would in any place I have worked. Getting a bug that we noticed fixed was always harder than if a customer had noticed it.

And it is even more important for a behaviour change. Frequently, if a customer asks for something, it won't matter how important other things are, or how bad the idea is, the developers will be told to do it.

The bolded part surprises me. For example, the hidden . folders that was supposedly reported and changed. Yet the previous behavior was there for the past 8? years, and someone reported it since the last firmware, so it got changed? What made customers start reporting this all of a sudden?

For the companies I've worked for, customer's bad ideas requests usually were at the bottom of the list, unless there was a compelling marketing reason.

[celticchrys]

Originally Posted by rashkae

The epub navigation issues have been resolved. I am... impressed at the speed of response to the various issues we brought up. Kobo most have some new hires

You're correct! The progress is now remembered after closing and re-opening my problem epubs! Small caveat: after closing and re-opening a book, on the "Annotations" screen, all bookmarks say 0% of chapter, no matter where they are actually located. They all still work and take me to the correct place, though, so I'm a happy camper with this update!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by John F

The bolded part surprises me. For example, the hidden . folders that was supposedly reported and changed. Yet the previous behavior was there for the past 8? years, and someone reported it since the last firmware, so it got changed? What made customers start reporting this all of a sudden?

For the companies I've worked for, customer's bad ideas requests usually were at the bottom of the list, unless there was a compelling marketing reason.

The problem could be that because there's not a Books (or some other named directory) to put content in, people were putting things in .kobo and finding that they didn't get picked up. That would make sense. But what Kobo could have done was create a Books directory and made that where content now gets stored. But instead, they made this really stupid change.

[rashkae]

I can just imagine the conversation when a Windows Power User who knows everything about computers called Customer Service for this issue and someone told to them that . folders were hidden and ignored by the scan.

"What do you mean . folders are hidden? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It says right here on Properties, the hidden check mark is off.. Don't you know anything about how computers work?"

Note: I have, at various times in my life been an indignant know it all. Still happens from time to time despite my best efforts, so I can't really throw rocks here.. But yeah, I can see how this has repeatedly been an awkward conversation.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by John F

The bolded part surprises me. For example, the hidden . folders that was supposedly reported and changed. Yet the previous behavior was there for the past 8? years, and someone reported it since the last firmware, so it got changed? What made customers start reporting this all of a sudden?

For the companies I've worked for, customer's bad ideas requests usually were at the bottom of the list, unless there was a compelling marketing reason.

If you read the previous thread, I posted a link that Windows 10 had been changed earlier in the year to make it easier to create these directories through Explorer. It might be this that triggered the acceptance of the request.

Also, "compelling marketing reason" can be "marketing idiot who thinks it is a good idea".

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by celticchrys

You're correct! The progress is now remembered after closing and re-opening my problem epubs! Small caveat: after closing and re-opening a book, on the "Annotations" screen, all bookmarks say 0% of chapter, no matter where they are actually located. They all still work and take me to the correct place, though, so I'm a happy camper with this update!

This is a long-term bug with annotations in epubs and PDFs. The annotations are stored in the database and a file. The latter is done by the Adobe RMSDK that is used to read epub. When you reopen the epub, the file and database are merged somehow and some of the location detail is lost. A workaround is to prevent the creation of these files. They are in the "Annotations" directory within "Digital Editions". Remove the directory and replace it with a file of the same name to avoid the problem.

The bug doesn't affect kepub. Sideloading as kepubs is another way to avoid it.

[Semwize]

Originally Posted by davidfor

"compelling marketing reason" can be "marketing idiot who thinks it is a good idea".

[celticchrys]

Originally Posted by davidfor

This is a long-term bug with annotations in epubs and PDFs. The annotations are stored in the database and a file. The latter is done by the Adobe RMSDK that is used to read epub. When you reopen the epub, the file and database are merged somehow and some of the location detail is lost. A workaround is to prevent the creation of these files. They are in the "Annotations" directory within "Digital Editions". Remove the directory and replace it with a file of the same name to avoid the problem.

The bug doesn't affect kepub. Sideloading as kepubs is another way to avoid it.

Thank you, davidfor! I appreciate the info. I'll look at doing this.

[Quoth]

Changes since last version (tested on Touch N905C):
The progress (on epubs) on Header, which is Chapter name if there are chapter names is now Chapter Progress rather than Book Progress (kepubs may have always been correct). I've not checked what this does to Annotations progress on epubs.

Deficiencies still in new Reader GUI not not in earlier FW such as 4.15.x:
1) No WiFi Icon, a search on Wikipedia or Google will turn on WiFi (if you accept), but you can't turn it off until you are at Home screen, at which points it "Syncs" to Kobo, even if Automatic is disabled (likely to update recommendations rather than a complete Sync)
2) No Main menu/Home, only the Back button, so several taps may be needed to reach Home screen on ereaders with no physical Home button (physical Home button still works).

Bugs still on Reader screen in previous versions:
1) you can still "Crash" touch by selecting diagonally left down angle. Putting it to sleep for more than about 20s recovers it. Left on same line works. Right & diagonal works.
2) A deleted Annotation is still highlighted till you exit the book.