Firmware 4.18.13737 released

[John F]

Originally Posted by ratinox

If you apply what I wrote to Kobo's habits?
'nuff said, I think.

That's what we are talking about:Kobo adding options. So your argument about "core UI tenant" doesn't seem to apply.

Nuff said, I'm sure.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by haydnfan

No matter how you like your page numbers, I think that there is a problem here. The problem is that by changing the ADE page number algorithm to the Kobo page number algorithm they took away something that some people were used to and wanted to have.

Yet that same page count method confused other readers or made them unhappy.

In both cases having the ability to choose what you want is preferable to the company deciding for you. I think that Kobo should restore the old page #s as an option for people that want it. I don't see why we can't have both ways and make everyone happy.

You can always use ePub.

[yur]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You can side load a previous firmware. Before you updated to 4.18, did you make a backup of all the files in the user partition? If you did, restore it and do a manual update of the firmware you want ot downgrade to.

But remember, that you won't get any bug fixes or new features if you stick with the firmware you are downgrading to.

To downgrade, all of the files in the firmware ZIP in the .kobo directory. Eject the Kobo and it will install.

I did make an update of the .kobo folder. Should I just replace the new .kobo folder with the old one just like that or do I need to make a factory reset first?

Nothing ever happens when I just sideload the firmware folder.

[JSWolf]

I think KePub should have an option for ADE style page numbers or per screen page numbers with the default being per screen page numbers. This way, those that want the per screen page numbers (and I think a lot do) would have them. Those that don't can have ADE page numbers. The thing to do is don't take away what a lot are used to. Just add an option to have it the old way or the new way.

I can see why a lot would want one screen = one page. And I can see why others would want ADE style page numbers. So give us the choice.

[yur]

* I meant that I made a backup, not update. Sorry, I can’t find the button for editing posts.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by yur

I did make an update of the .kobo folder. Should I just replace the new .kobo folder with the old one just like that or do I need to make a factory reset first?

Nothing ever happens when I just sideload the firmware folder.

A factory reset will wipe everything. So there's no need to restore until after you've gotten the firmware you want. You can do a factory reset and then update to the firmware of your choice.

When you did a backup, did you backup the entire contents of the user partition? If you didn't, plug in your Kobo and copy everything. So when you restore, restore everything you copied and put the previous backup of the database in .kobo. If you have put other eBooks on since the firmware update, don't worry, they will be imported into the database and once you plug into Calibre, the collections will be sorted for those eBooks.

The only thing to note is that if you sync, you could end up updating the firmware again. Check the patches for the firmware you want ot install and see if there's any patches to prevent a firmware update when you sync.So if you do sync and there's no way to stop the firmware you want from updating, then stick with 4.18 as you'd end up with it.

[ZodWallop]

The header/footer swap convinced me to update. Unfortuantely, there's a bug (reported in the patch thread already).

Anyway, I was under the impression that the slider that pops up showed the pages per chapter. But mine shows the entire book. Was I mistaken? Or am I missing some setting?

[mathil]

It now shows the pages per book, yeah (probably because of the new page preview feature). The only ways to check chapter progress now are in the header and in the Reading Progress submenu.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by mathil

It now shows the pages per book, yeah (probably because of the new page preview feature). The only ways to check chapter progress now are in the header and in the Reading Progress submenu.

The reading progress bar and the footer already show you the same info.

Man, I might roll back to 4.15 until the header/footer swap bugs are ironed out.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It could be that enough people complained about page numbers and wanted them for KePub to be one page = one screen. Just like iBooks and other programs that don't do page numbers correctly. ADe page numbers are quite good and you do get used to them based on your settings.

FSVO "correctly".

As I noted previously a few times, ebooks don't have pages which means that the technically most correct way to paginate ebooks is not to paginate them at all.

Adobe page numbers is just another misguided attempt at applying physical book skeuomorphism to things that don't behave like physical books. And they have no correspondance with actual pages anyway. They're just counts of 1000 characters (IIRC) which makes them a lousy way to display percentages because you have to divide by the total "page" count to get something meaningful.

The progress bar shows you useful information in an unobtrusive and more accurate fashion, and percentage displays provide increased accuracy if you really need it.

While I generally dislike change for the sake of change, and I really don't like it when things I come to rely on disappear, I think the new UI is a significant improvement. Remove the faux page numbers entirely and it'll be close to perfect.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by John F

That's what we are talking about:Kobo adding options. So your argument about "core UI tenant" doesn't seem to apply.

Nuff said, I'm sure.

Unnecessary options is bad UI design. If your "feature" is purely cosmetic then it is unnecessary. See previous statement. Also, see my post previous to this one for my opinion about the whole thing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ratinox

FSVO "correctly".

As I noted previously a few times, ebooks don't have pages which means that the technically most correct way to paginate ebooks is not to paginate them at all.

Adobe page numbers is just another misguided attempt at applying physical book skeuomorphism to things that don't behave like physical books. And they have no correspondance with actual pages anyway. They're just counts of 1000 characters (IIRC) which makes them a lousy way to display percentages because you have to divide by the total "page" count to get something meaningful.

The progress bar shows you useful information in an unobtrusive and more accurate fashion, and percentage displays provide increased accuracy if you really need it.

While I generally dislike change for the sake of change, and I really don't like it when things I come to rely on disappear, I think the new UI is a significant improvement. Remove the faux page numbers entirely and it'll be close to perfect.

Page numbers in a pBook are based on the number of pages. But that's based on how the book is layed out and the size of the pages. The problem is that the same eBook can have a different layout based on the font size, the font, line height, margins, and the size of the screen (or program/app windows). So in order to have page numbers that work across different screen sizes and different layouts for the same eBook, Adobe came up with a solution.

I think Adobe's solution works rather well. Do you have a better idea that works?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Unnecessary options is bad UI design. If your "feature" is purely cosmetic then it is unnecessary. See previous statement. Also, see my post previous to this one for my opinion about the whole thing.

That all depends what what the feature is and what the options are.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think Adobe's solution works rather well. Do you have a better idea that works?

Yes, I do.

[ratinox]

Originally Posted by ratinox

Yes, I do.

To elaborate:

A user interface should be simple and consistent. And almost as important: it should hide itself when it's not needed.

Do you need to see page numbers when actually reading a book? Do you need to see the title of the book, the chapter title or the author's name? No, you do not. Most likely you don't even look at these things when reading unless you're at the start or end of a page. So the best way to show these things is not to show them at all. They're a waste of screen real estate.

Maybe you want to see your progress. Maybe you want to note the position of a particularly pithy quote. Maybe you're recommending a book to a friend and they want to take a photograph so they can find it easily later. These are all things you would do when not reading that book. Tap the screen to bring up a panel with a summary of the books metadata. Tap it again to make it go away.

So you want to find a particular spot in a book. Page numbers are actually semi-useless in print books for this unless your reference includes the specific edition. Page numbers are even less useful in ebooks because, as I repeat myself, they don't have pages. Even the much-praised ADE pages are simply an arbitrary number of characters which is meaningless unless they're used to reference the same edition elsewhere and, as I repeat myself again, they don't mean anything useful to the human unless you divide by the total number of "pages" and multiply by 100 to get a percentage. Just display the percentage in the metadata summary.

On the other hand, ebooks are (usually) serarchable. If you're looking for a specific passage and know a few words (which are easier for humans to remember than numbers, by the way) then search, type, wait a few seconds if that much, and you have it.

To summarize: Don't display metadata unless the user specifically requests it. Throw out faux page numbers; use percentages from start of book and start of chapter. Maybe use graphical (progress bar) representations as well as numerical representations of this information. Implement a good search function.