Libra KOReader merits compared to stock reader

[the.Mtn.Man]

The linked thread reminded me of my own experiences with KOReader that I had posted about: it is a chore to use for very large books. They take an excessive amount of time to open, and any change to the rendering -- font size, margins, line spacing, etc. -- also take an excessive amount of time. So if you happen to open a very large book, and it is not formatted to your liking, you could easily spend 30 minutes or more making changes and waiting for the renderer to update. I don't remember if there is a way to simply tweak one book to your satisfaction and have those settings applied globally so that every subsequent book looks exactly the same.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

The linked thread reminded me of my own experiences with KOReader that I had posted about: it is a chore to use for very large books. They take an excessive amount of time to open, and any change to the rendering -- font size, margins, line spacing, etc. -- also take an excessive amount of time. So if you happen to open a very large book, and it is not formatted to your liking, you could easily spend 30 minutes or more making changes and waiting for the renderer to update.

I don't know what you consider "very large", but I've read a couple of compendiums of over 3500 pages in KOReader, and in neither of them did the several adjustments I made take anywhere near 30 minutes. More like 5-7 minutes.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I don't know what you consider "very large", but I've read a couple of compendiums of over 3500 pages in KOReader, and in neither of them did the several adjustments I made take anywhere near 30 minutes. More like 5-7 minutes.

It is likely that my memory is playing tricks on me, but I do remember that adjusting settings in large volumes was a bit of a chore, especially compared the stock reader. It wouldn't be so bad, I suppose, if KOReader could override the internal formatting of book files and render every book exactly the same so that you only had to tweak things once and be done with it, but I don't know if that's an option.

Now I'm tempted to install KOReader again to see what it can do.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

It wouldn't be so bad, I suppose, if KOReader could override the internal formatting of book files and render every book exactly the same so that you only had to tweak things once and be done with it, but I don't know if that's an option.

It is, and once I discovered how to set those default overrides to my preferences, the amount of time I spend fiddling with the controls fell away to nearly nothing

[trekk]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

It is, and once I discovered how to set those default overrides to my preferences, the amount of time I spend fiddling with the controls fell away to nearly nothing

This is one of the best features. You can turn the embedded styles and fonts on and off with just one click.

I also like the profiles, where you can customize presets for nearly everything. Depending on the book I use different profiles for fast changing of fonts, margins, line-height, status bar etc. This is similar to Kindle's Themes.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

It is, and once I discovered how to set those default overrides to my preferences, the amount of time I spend fiddling with the controls fell away to nearly nothing

Hmmm... sounds like there's more to it than just setting up one book and then tapping "Apply To All".

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

Hmmm... sounds like there's more to it than just setting up one book and then tapping "Apply To All".

Not really. when making a document setting change - line spacing, font, margin, etc - a long press brings up the option to "set as default". Hardly rocket science

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

The linked thread reminded me of my own experiences with KOReader that I had posted about: it is a chore to use for very large books. They take an excessive amount of time to open, and any change to the rendering -- font size, margins, line spacing, etc. -- also take an excessive amount of time. So if you happen to open a very large book, and it is not formatted to your liking, you could easily spend 30 minutes or more making changes and waiting for the renderer to update. I don't remember if there is a way to simply tweak one book to your satisfaction and have those settings applied globally so that every subsequent book looks exactly the same.

As someone who loves to read omnibus editions with thousands of pages, that's one of the reasons I didn't like KOReader. I just have no patience for this kind of waiting. The stock reader has no issues whatsoever with the 17,000 pages of my Wheel of Time omnibus, which KOReader was not able to open at all.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Not really. when making a document setting change - line spacing, font, margin, etc - a long press brings up the option to "set as default". Hardly rocket science

Maybe not rocket science, but not obvious, either.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

Maybe no rocket science, but not obvious, either.

Seriously? How is "set as default" any more obscure or complicated than "apply to all"? The process is LITERALLY as you described, except for different terminology.

[the.Mtn.Man]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Seriously? How is "set as default" any more obscure or complicated than "apply to all"? The process is LITERALLY as you described, except for different terminology.

It's the having to long press on a setting to get the "set as default" button that is not obvious. Most people wouldn't think to do that.

[Lykke]

KOreader was essential for me on my "old" Pocketbook, because the PB's formatting options were rather limited. On Kobo I have most of what I want to fine-tune there already in the interface, except for some patches I apply (such as reducing word spacing for KePubs). And I now read more books with DRM, which KOreader can't handle anyway.

Edit: I don't read PDFs though.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by trekk

The 80s were not that bad And with some configuration the file manager actually looks quite nice.



I don't know, if you find this useful, but you could create a folder named PDF and another folder named epub. Put the corresponding files into each folder, you can also use subfolders. On the Elipsa long press on the PDF folder and then set as HOME folder, on the Mars do the same with the epub folder.

I thought of that. But I'd need to figure out how to do that automatically in Calibre with Send to Device.

I only have a tiny number of technical PDFs in Calibre, so the bulk of Technical PDFs are not on Mars / Kobo, only on the Tablet with the 256 G SD card, so they are in separate folders for Xodo than Calibre uses.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by carmik

Hello everybody!

My first post in this forum and a newbie one at that: I was wondering whether KOreader would be better compared to the native reader.

I'm mainly reading from epubs transferred from calibre (most likely kepub format). Which advantages / disadvantages does it have compared to the stock reader? Is battery life the same? Scrolling speed? Stability?

Thanks for any information you might be able to provide.

I see two advantages for using it with epubs.
1) You can organize your books via normal system folders rather than having to mess around with calibre collections.
2) reverse note mode. Though I think is also available in Nickel (Kobo UI), but may need a patch.

So, maybe not that much of an advantage.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by the.Mtn.Man

It is likely that my memory is playing tricks on me, but I do remember that adjusting settings in large volumes was a bit of a chore, especially compared the stock reader. It wouldn't be so bad, I suppose, if KOReader could override the internal formatting of book files and render every book exactly the same so that you only had to tweak things once and be done with it, but I don't know if that's an option.

Now I'm tempted to install KOReader again to see what it can do.

IIRC Koreader can apply formatting across all books very easily. You simply press and hold the option, and it becomes the default. This was a big attraction for me. I like one single format across all books (Boldish Caecilia). A negative is that Koreader does not allow ceacilia. I had to frig with the font file to change its internal name so koreader let me use it.