ebook-viewer has lost its borders and much of its functionality

[BetterRed]

What makes you think users ran the old viewer with default settings

This is 3.48 viewer with control bars hidden,



This is 3.48 viewer with control bars shown,



I pressed the default shortcut key to toggle show/hide controls.

BR

[theducks]

Originally Posted by arturox

Well, how about that...

Portable version on a desktop... That had not crossed my mind, even though I do have a number of portable apps on a small USB SSD I take with me when I'm away.

Installed a portable version of Calibre 3.48 on the desktop computer. Joy! now have a suitable Ebook viewer available.

The only thing K... needs to do now it return the old style (aesthetically superior) viewer to the 4.nn version then I'll be totally happy.

But I guess that ain't gonna happen.

Ax

Nb: Thanks to all who offered thoughts... Appreciated.

Footnote:

FWIW. I'm not the only one here (Home) who is lost as to why such a downgrade of the Ebook viewer was even considered...

SWMBO was most annoyed (I'm being polite) when her Calibre 3.nn updated to 4.nn before we were aware of the change.

Ax

You still don't 'get it': The choice was NOT all Kovids.

Calibre is built on a foundation of Open Source tools. Some of those TOOLS are no longer safe/maintained/compatible with newer OS. (and it would be insane to try and maintain multiple streams: old OS and New OS )

[theducks]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

What makes you think users ran the old viewer with default settings



BR

↑ ↑ ↑ ✔

My viewer had the toolbar on the RIGHT SIDE (because that is where I move the mouse to be OFF the text). I used Paged Mode, 1 up view, NO custom styles as I wanted to SEE what it would look like and a bunch of other settings.
I File-to-fit to MY style of things, just like BR does it his way.

This is LIFE. My shop toolbox is loaded with the tools I find work for ME.
FWIW Calibre and Sigil) fit into MY way of doing things.

If a tool does not fit, find another tool.
Is the new viewer perfect ? No, but give Kovid time. There ARE real, broken issues he is stomping into submission

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by theducks

You still don't 'get it': The choice was NOT all Kovids.

Calibre is built on a foundation of Open Source tools. Some of those TOOLS are no longer safe/maintained/compatible with newer OS. (and it would be insane to try and maintain multiple streams: old OS and New OS )

But the emphasis in the release notes, was:

A completely re-written E-book viewer with an emphasis on presenting the book text, distraction free

As my two screen shots demonstrate the old viewer was already capable of presenting book text distraction free… except for the scroll bar. I don't know if anyone ever requested it be made optional, but I find it difficult to imagine it that couldn't have been given a show/hide toggle as is provided for many other things.

Being a minimalist when I first saw the viewers toobar I looked for a way to get rid of it… et voila, uncheck Preferences->Miscellaneous->Show controls in the viewer window… then oh look… now I can toggle it as and when I want it…

BR

[JSWolf]

@porphyry5, the calibre 4.x browser did not lose much of it's functionality. It just changed how something worked. But the functionality is still there. Besides, you'll never be able to move on from 3.48 unless you learn to use the new viewer.

hat means newer Readers will never be supported. New features will never be supported. New plugins might not be supported. It just means you may be SOL going forward if you stay with 3.48.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

@porphyry5, the calibre 4.x browser did not lose much of it's functionality. It just changed how something worked. But the functionality is still there. Besides, you'll never be able to move on from 3.48 unless you learn to use the new viewer.

hat means newer Readers will never be supported. New features will never be supported. New plugins might not be supported. It just means you may be SOL going forward if you stay with 3.48.

As has been said many times, you can easily use the old viewer with the newest Calibre version.

And yes, the viewer lost one important functionality: it opens new books slower than the old viewer. But that's an important functionality for those who use the viewer for quickly checking something and/or overviewing.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As has been said many times, you can easily use the old viewer with the newest Calibre version.

And yes, the viewer lost one important functionality: it opens new books slower than the old viewer. But that's an important functionality for those who use the viewer for quickly checking something and/or overviewing.

Version 4.2 is a lot faster then 4.0 or 4.1. I've been testing it and it takes from 2 seconds all the way to 7 seconds. That to me is not too slow.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Version 4.2 is a lot faster then 4.0 or 4.1. I've been testing it and it takes from 2 seconds all the way to 7 seconds. That to me is not too slow.

Hmm yes, I installed 4.2 and you're right, it's much faster. Thank you, Kovid.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Hmm yes, I installed 4.2 and you're right, it's much faster. Thank you, Kovid.

You're welcome and the next version will be even faster as I am working on parallelizing the prepare books for first read step.

[arturox]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

As has been said many times, you can easily use the old viewer with the newest Calibre version. .

Please... How does that work?

I've tried it but it couldn't find some particular .dll and failed.

In the end I installed a 3.nn portable version and use the Viewer from that to actually read a book, but put up with the other thing when I just want to check a book converted through Calibre.

This way I can still keep Calibre itself up-to-date but not suffer the viewer.

Why the toolbar couldn't have been made switchable is... [Self censor].

Ax

Just to make it clear, I like Calibre very much and donate every year, it's just the viewer that offends me.


Ax

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by arturox

Please... How does that work?

I've tried it but it couldn't find some particular .dll and failed.

In the end I installed a 3.nn portable version and use the Viewer from that to actually read a book, but put up with the other thing when I just want to check a book converted through Calibre.

This way I can still keep Calibre itself up-to-date but not suffer the viewer.

Why the toolbar couldn't have been made switchable is... [Self censor].

Ax

Just to make it clear, I like Calibre very much and donate every year, it's just the viewer that offends me.


Ax

Here's how I've done it

* items reflect my hatred of ambiguity, not strictly necessary.

Installed 3.48 portable at D:\_Sandpit\Calibre Portable

*Copied ebook-viewer.exe to oldviewer_original.exe for safety
*Renamed ebook-viewer.exe to oldviewer.exe
*Used Resource Hacker to change oldviewer.exe's icon (blue book)

Then from calibre 4.n went into View Specific Format(Alt+V/Cmd+V)



Selected Add another application for EPUB files, which popped



Clicked Browse computer for program, browsed to D:\_Sandpit\Calibre Portable and selected oldviewer.exe



*Closed calibre, and edited Config windows_open_with.json to change name



Restarted calibre and gave it a keyboard shortcut



And ended up with



* items reflect my hatred of ambiguity, not strictly necessary.

I don't use the viewer for other formats, only epub

BR

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You're welcome and the next version will be even faster as I am working on parallelizing the prepare books for first read step.

As someone who authors ebooks and repeatedly reopens new versions in the viewer during the process, this is fantastic news. Thanks!

[robincher]

I too noticed that the viewer had changed. using the right mouse click I was able to find the tool buttons. but, I am unable to make the print large enough to read. i changed the font to maximum listed of 22, but it is still unreadable. I cannot find an easy way to zoom in. As it is, it is completely useless to me. If i were trying to use it to read using my computer as a tablet, i cannot use the touch screen to access those tools. I really do not understand the reason for the change. And i cannot find information on how to use this new viewer. I love the calibre program, but sometimes features change & i cannot figure out how to make use of the new features. For example, with the new change to the viewer, i went to the calibre page: https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/vie...ound-an-e-book and the instructions did not match the viewer. How do i get information on how to use the viewer? If it weren't for someone's comment here about right clicking, I wouldn't have found the few tool buttons there are.

[kovidgoyal]

The first two times you open a book the viewer tells you how to access controls and turn pages. And you can turn pages on a touchscreen by simply tapping on the text, or swiping. And I just haven't got around to updating the user manual, its on my ToDO list. As for your font problem, you can type in any number you like for the custom font size including, 120 if you want.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

The first two times you open a book the viewer tells you how to access controls and turn pages. And you can turn pages on a touchscreen by simply tapping on the text, or swiping. And I just haven't got around to updating the user manual, its on my ToDO list. As for your font problem, you can type in any number you like for the custom font size including, 120 if you want.

Not sure if this is a bug or simply pushing the envelope until it breaks. Using overly large font sizes gives some rather interesting results as the viewer tries to keep using multiple columns and the text starts overlapping.

I've attached two sample of text, one at 120, the other at 240.

As a side request, is it possible to use a simple enter instead of having to click on OK?