Calibre difficult to use with touch screen?

[apricoto]

Anyone else find Calibre difficult to use with a touch screen? I had been converting all epubs into pdf through calibre and then using pdf software for reading. Recently i have been trying the beta of Calibre, to try out the new highlight/annotation feature. While i am finding that the new feature works pretty well, the experience of reading in Calibre is an exercise in frustration.

I am using an HP x360, win10, with touchscreen. in page view, there are many spots on screen that wind up taking me to places in book pages away from where I am reading. In scrolling (continuous) view, scrolling up or down leaves the page scrolling further just by removing my finger from the sceen. I am getting the idea that I simply can't go near the touch screen with Calibre. Too much time is spent recovering my place in the book.

I don't have these issues in other software, or in the pdf reader (foxit).

Anyone else having this experience with Calibre?

[Quoth]

I found ANY decent PDF reader terrible on Win10 touch tablet. So I got an Android tablet for PDFs. Foxit was one of the ones I tested on Win10.

Calibre is a proper WIMP GUI program. Despite what MS has tried to do since windows 8, you can design for keyboard & mouse or for touch. Trying to do both is a failure.

Similarly, a mouse and keyboard does work on Android, but it's ghastly.

Solution: Don't use a touch screen on MacOs, Windows or Linux. Touch screens are for iOS, Android, dedicated portals and gadgets. Not for desktop/laptop centric operating systems.

Similarly a setbox or TV with a big screen or not at normal more than one person viewing distance is controlled by a remote and needs bigger text. Android TV is almost designed for gaming, not people with broadcast TV, Satellite and Cable. It's a really bad port of Android.

[JSWolf]

The best tablet for PDF is an iPad because of the GoodReader app. It is the best app for PDF.

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I found ANY decent PDF reader terrible on Win10 touch tablet. So I got an Android tablet for PDFs. Foxit was one of the ones I tested on Win10.

Calibre is a proper WIMP GUI program. Despite what MS has tried to do since windows 8, you can design for keyboard & mouse or for touch. Trying to do both is a failure.

Similarly, a mouse and keyboard does work on Android, but it's ghastly.

Solution: Don't use a touch screen on MacOs, Windows or Linux. Touch screens are for iOS, Android, dedicated portals and gadgets. Not for desktop/laptop centric operating systems.

I had an Asus android tablet, tf300, previous to the x360. I had the keyboard with touchpad along with it. I all worked fine. Problem was, it would get slower and slower, needing repeated op sys reinstalls. Asus never updated the opsys. eventually I installed a hacked current (at the time) android system. same issue with slowing down. Others have told me about the same experience with their android tablets. No more android for me.

perhaps i wasn't clear. I use foxit pdf reader on the x360, I have no issues using the touchscreen, with foxit taking me to places in book that I didn't intend. It is well behaved. not my experience using calibre, which is too bad, since I was looking forward to using calibre to read epubs with the new highlight/annotation feature.

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best tablet for PDF is an iPad because of the GoodReader app. It is the best app for PDF.

thanks. Again, looks like i wasn't clear with my question. I am not looking for a pdf reader.

I am interested in other users' experiences using calibre with touchscreens.

[Sirtel]

I do use Calibre and its viewer on my Surface tablet, but the experience isn't all that great. And I don't highlight. Calibre just isn't designed for touchscreens, although it's possible to use it with the help of a stylus.

[Deskisamess]

My HP laptop is a touchscreen, but I can and do still use a mouse or keyboard for using Calibre.

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

My HP laptop is a touchscreen, but I can and do still use a mouse or keyboard for using Calibre.

i have switched to trying only the keyboard with calibre. Today i found something must have touched the keyboard, somewhere (totally guessing), resulting in font size reducing. so escape>preferences>font size>change, a couple of times around to get back where it was, and finding that coming out of preferences, moved me to a different page. bizarre behavior.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by apricoto

i have switched to trying only the keyboard with calibre. Today i found something must have touched the keyboard, somewhere (totally guessing), resulting in font size reducing. so escape>preferences>font size>change, a couple of times around to get back where it was, and finding that coming out of preferences, moved me to a different page. bizarre behavior.

Nothing bizarre about it. When you change font sizes the book has to be re-paginated, there are no longer the same pages to go back to. You will be at a different page. This will happen in *all* paged viewers.

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Nothing bizarre about it. When you change font sizes the book has to be re-paginated, there are no longer the same pages to go back to. You will be at a different page. This will happen in *all* paged viewers.

I can't comment about other paged viewers. it is that is was so easy to change font size, and without any intention on my part that is principally disturbing. why would simply touching the screen cause text to shrink? When if first changed, seemed like location in book didn't change, nor after the first change back, but after the second time that i changed font size back.

I would expect it to keep track of location in book and take me back there. Also, i have used other software that had a slider on main screen for changing content size. and 'reset' to take me back to where it started.

[kovidgoyal]

touching the screen does not change font size, pinching it does. And again there is no back to take you to in paged mode. Use flow mode if you want to be precisely back.

[Apache]

I use a Surface Pro and have no issues using Calibre on the touch screen.
Apache

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

touching the screen does not change font size, pinching it does. And again there is no back to take you to in paged mode. Use flow mode if you want to be precisely back.

I was in flow (continuous? not pages) mode. As for whether the screen was pinched or simply touched I can't advise, since I did not do it intentionally.

"use flow mode ...to be precisely back" ?? How?

[apricoto]

Originally Posted by Apache

I use a Surface Pro and have no issues using Calibre on the touch screen.
Apache

do you use pages or continuous?

do you move the text by dragging? I find that, often, after dragging text up or down, lifting finger off the screen causes more scrolling.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by apricoto

do you use pages or continuous?

do you move the text by dragging? I find that, often, after dragging text up or down, lifting finger off the screen causes more scrolling.

I use pages and swiping works great. I found with scrolling if your finger is still moving when you lift your finger, the book will continue to scroll.
Apache