kobopatch request thread

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by geek1011

That's theoretically possible. I'll have to look into where the bar is drawn when I get a chance.

I also need to get around to updating the first post (I forgot to add a few recent requests).

Thanks for investigating this, when you get the chance!

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I cannot find any reference to this specific progress bar in the nickel CSS, hence no nickel.yaml patch.

The progress bars I did find details for in nickel appear elsewhere in the GUI, e.g. the in-book kepub chapters barchart and the Activity>Reading Stats page.

ETA: There is one long shot I can try. More later.

ETA2: No, I'm afraid that didn't work.

Yeah, I can imagine if the main progress bar was referenced in the CSS, you would have hacked it by now. Thanks for double-checking!

But now I'm wondering what the "long shot" was!

And perhaps Geek1011 has an unexpected trick up his sleeve. Here's hoping! Thanks to both of you for taking my request seriously. I really appreciate it!

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by johnnydarko

Yeah, I can imagine if the main progress bar was referenced in the CSS, you would have hacked it by now. Thanks for double-checking!

Not necessarily a valid assumption. I only add new nickel patches to the standard pack if enough people ask for something (hence this thread). I don't want to spend time maintaining lots of patches that nobody ever uses.

Originally Posted by johnnydarko

But now I'm wondering what the "long shot" was!

Well, just remember you did ask...

Many of the newer parts of the firmware have their own dedicated nickel CSS file(s), but there's also one huge CSS file which provides some basic generic GUI widgets. There were a couple of progressbar-related things in there. I was able to patch them easily enough but they had no effect on the reading footer progressbar.

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Well, just remember you did ask...

Many of the newer parts of the firmware have their own dedicated nickel CSS file(s), but there's also one huge CSS file which provides some basic generic GUI widgets. There were a couple of progressbar-related things in there. I was able to patch them easily enough but they had no effect on the reading footer progressbar.

Interesting. I wonder where the magic code is hiding.

Thanks for looking into it as much as you have so far.

[johnnydarko]

Just in case anyone wants to see what the various alternate progress bars might look like within the frame of a ClaraHD, here you go. Maybe I can drum up some community support for this tweak if I can convey how elegant this would look. Easy to read, more refined, AND it would actually take up less space! Win win win!

And just to be clear, I understand that Kobo may have locked us out from tweaking this, but I can dream!

And thank you to jackie_w and geek1011 (and all the rest of you geniuses) for all of the time you've put into making our Kobos the coolest e-readers on the planet.

[Uncle Robin]

Thanks for the series of screenshots. They confirmed that I DEFINITELY do not want the progress bar to be flush. Of them all, the thick grey ones were best, but I find the flush option much less easy to process than the raised one. Perhaps a pixel of two lower, but some whitespace between the progress bar and the bottom is very much better for me than flush.

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Thanks for the series of screenshots. They confirmed that I DEFINITELY do not want the progress bar to be flush. Of them all, the thick grey ones were best, but I find the flush option much less easy to process than the raised one. Perhaps a pixel of two lower, but some whitespace between the progress bar and the bottom is very much better for me than flush.

Thanks for your feedback.

Yes, I agree that the thick grey bar versions are my favorites in terms of the alternates.

I think my preference is based upon wanting a subtle cue as to where I am in a book, without it being distracting or looking like a clunky add-on (which is how i feel about the stock bar). I think the flush look, with the thicker bars, hits the sweet spot for me.

It really does get down to personal preference, which is why it would be great to have the option to tweak such things.

Peace out, Uncle Robin!

[geek1011]

Personally, I'd prefer a small dot as the progress marker. Out of the options you posted, though, I like the black one flush against the bottom.

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Personally, I'd prefer a small dot as the progress marker. Out of the options you posted, though, I like the black one flush against the bottom.

Ah yes, the flush black bar is the most minimal. Good choice!

And yes, the "dot" idea is intriguing. I think I was trying to limit my ideas to the things that MIGHT be more easily tweaked (eg. line thickness and vertical placement).

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by johnnydarko

Thanks for your feedback.

It really does get down to personal preference, which is why it would be great to have the option to tweak such things.

Indeed, choice is always a good thing, even though only mine is the right one.

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by johnnydarko

I asked this a year ago, when the progress bar was a new addition to the firmware, and there didn't seem to be any interest in working on a patch for this, BUT...

Is it possible to adjust anything to do with the progress bar? It appears that in the last year Kobo has expanded the bar to span the entire width of the screen, which I like, but I would LOVE to be able to move the bar to the very bottom of the screen. The white space gap just looks awkward to me. It would also be amazing to be able to change the thickness and color of the line.

So, wondering if these things can possibly be adjusted:
1) Progress bar vertical position. Moving it 12 pixels down would have it rest at the bottom of the screen.
2) Line thickness of "read" and "unread" bars.
3) Color of "read" and "unread" bars.

Adjusting these things could really refine the look of the progress bar, making it appear more sleek and less "clunky" (to my eyes). I have attached screenshots of various mockups to fit my Clara screen, and I when I view them on my device, I feel these would be amazing upgrades to the look of the progress bar.

If it's at all possible to tweak these things through a patch, let me know. And if no one is wanting to work on it, I would even consider getting into coding, JUST to figure this out!

Thank you to anyone who has any input regarding the feasibility of this.

Images:
Stock progress bar
Stock bar lowered 12 pixels
10px thick black and gray bar
12px thick black and gray bar
12px thick gray and white bar

Oh yes I would also really like this!

[johnnydarko]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

Oh yes I would also really like this!

Thank you for your support!

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I also would appreciate a Screenshot patch. When trying to decide which default menu option to hijack, I would think that suitable candidates would be any which:

• have only a simple ON/OFF setting
• any individual user is likely to set once to their chosen preference then never touch again - just like the Adobe Page Numbers hijacked for InvertScreen.

The patch description could also tell the user how to permanently enable the old standard option by editing their .conf file.

An example might be the Large Print Mode option under Settings > Beta Features with a patch note stating


Making a Patch Group with multiple choices would be even better.

Hmm, did this ever happen / ever be deemed impossible? I don't seem to be able to find any follow-up, nor the patch itself

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Mrs_Often

Hmm, did this ever happen / ever be deemed impossible? I don't seem to be able to find any follow-up, nor the patch itself

It did happen, but not as a kobopatch. It can be done using another @geek1011 brainchild, namely NickelMenu. It adds an extra button, next to the 'More' button, bottom right of Homescreen/MyBooks which accesses an extra list of menu items.

Although NickelMenu can be used to add some very complex technical menu items, don't be put off by that. There are also some much simpler menu items you can add. Enable/Disable Screenshots is in this "simple" category, as is Enable/Disable InvertScreen mode.

P.S. If you do decide to try it out don't be surprised if your first reaction is that the NickelMenu button label is in the way of your MiniClock display. Don't worry, there's also a simple menu item you can add to blank this label (leaving only the icon).

[Mrs_Often]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

It did happen, but not as a kobopatch. It can be done using another @geek1011 brainchild, namely NickelMenu. It adds an extra button, next to the 'More' button, bottom right of Homescreen/MyBooks which accesses an extra list of menu items.

Although NickelMenu can be used to add some very complex technical menu items, don't be put off by that. There are also some much simpler menu items you can add. Enable/Disable Screenshots is in this "simple" category, as is Enable/Disable InvertScreen mode.

Oooh very interesting, thank you! I had 'heard' of NickelMenu but always thought it was something really complicated that I didn't need. But it sounds like it's something really handy that I (still don't need but) just must have! Thank you for the explanation! I'm off to install it.

Originally Posted by jackie_w

P.S. If you do decide to try it out don't be surprised if your first reaction is that the NickelMenu button label is in the way of your MiniClock display. Don't worry, there's also a simple menu item you can add to blank this label (leaving only the icon).

Oh good! So considerate to add that info