Questions about Sideload mode

[ZodWallop]

So my elderly mom's first ever reader, a Nook Glowlight 3 is acting wacky. I picked up a Kobo Libra H2O from eBay to send her as a replacement. I'll be updating and patching the firmware along with sideloading her books. Once I mail it, the Libra should never go online again.

One benefit about Nook's firmware is that it is so basic and simple, my 76 year old mom was able to pick it up right away. I was thinking about using sideload mode on the Libra to make it just that much easier for her to use.

I've had a hard time finding in depth reviews of sideload mode and am wondering how you get back to your current reads without a home screen? Like if you decided to go explore your library or collections?

[Aleron Ives]

My Books becomes your home screen, so you can either set the filtering to show all books sorted by most recent first, or you can filter the list to only show books that you're currently reading. I usually use the former, and when I want to pick my next book, I go to the author tab to find the book I want to read, rather than trying to scroll through my entire library. When I'm reading multiple books at once, I use the swipe down menu to switch between books without leaving the reader at all.

[ZodWallop]

That sounds like a headache. I guess no sideload mode for mom.

She didn't understand the arrow at the bottom of the Nook library indicated there were more books on the device until I explained it to her. I'm a little worried about that with the Kobo in fact. (She's 76 and never used a cell phone until I sent her one along with the Nook. I bought the Libra because of the page turn buttons.)

On the Nook, in the icons on the bottom there's an open book. Tapping that takes you back to the most recent book you have opened. I was kinda hoping that with sideload mode losing Home and Discover, it would replace one of those with something like the Nook's open book icon.

[Aleron Ives]

She will have to learn to use My Books even if you don't use sideload mode, since once she finishes her current book, she'll have to use My Books to pick the next one. You can switch My Books from list mode to cover mode if you think that would help her, but she's still going to have to use those menus eventually.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

She will have to learn to use My Books even if you don't use sideload mode, since once she finishes her current book, she'll have to use My Books to pick the next one. You can switch My Books from list mode to cover mode if you think that would help her, but she's still going to have to use those menus eventually.

True. I'm mostly thinking of her ability to look through the library and then easily get back to the book she is currently reading. I do think Kobo ought to come up with an easy way for sideload mode users to do that. Copy from Nook and stick a current read button in place of discover or home.

[Aleron Ives]

Yes, it is a bit of an oversight. I keep My Books set to sort by recently opened, so my current read is always at the top of the list. The swipe down menu doesn't work unless you're in a book, so you can't access your current read (s) that way from My Books.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've had a hard time finding in depth reviews of sideload mode and am wondering how you get back to your current reads without a home screen? Like if you decided to go explore your library or collections?

The Mybooks can show any of
Only books being read.
Only books finished.
Only books unread.

On Books Tab
There is sort by recent, date added, title, author, collection and series.

There are also Authors, Series, Collections Tabs.
Search works well as it finds the word(s) in Titles, Authors, and Series. You can put a space to find a whole word.

The regular home screen Current Reading has only four books. "My Books" can have ALL the books you've opened, in Recent Sort, so top four is regular home screen.

With SideLoadedMode=True the nearly useless "Home" and "Discover" are gone.

The bottom has
My Books ---- Activity ---- More

(The ---- are not there)

Once you figure "My Books" setting you'd never ever miss the home page
It has
Top Row: Last four most recently opened (My Books has that as top four)
Two tiles: "My Books" and either last author or last collection
Bottom row: Kobo Shop and rotating tips.

So the ONLY things on regular "Home" not in "My Books" are the Shop (computer + web browser better) and random tips.

Also you can't Sync with other Kobos on your account or direct WiFi download bought books from Kobo with SideLoadedMode=True
Obviously the nearly pointless Web Browser and SketchPad still work under More -> Beta.

Everyone in my family uses their Kobos in "SideLoadedMode=True" mode.
They don't use the WiFi.

I have only one Kobo (a Libra 2) in regular mode for testing.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

True. I'm mostly thinking of her ability to look through the library and then easily get back to the book she is currently reading.

You can with "My Books" and it works better than "Home"

Select Unread, browse library in My Books in any sort, or search or Authors, Series or Collections.

When done browsing: Select Books, Filter Reading, Sort Recent. The top four are the same as on the "Home" screen, but now you are not limited to four. The top book will be the last opened. If she opened five books while browsing the current read would be lost from the "Home" screen, but is now sixth on Select Books, Filter Reading, Sort Recent.
You can then hold finger on any browsed book and mark it Unread or Finished and it vanishes from the Reading list.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Yes, it is a bit of an oversight. I keep My Books set to sort by recently opened, so my current read is always at the top of the list. The swipe down menu doesn't work unless you're in a book, so you can't access your current read (s) that way from My Books.

The Swipe Down will still have last Finished and gets overwritten by newly added books. I'd only find it good to swap between two related manuals/text books, or an ebook and a notebook I've created for it (only Sage/Elipsa).

Most people find "My Books" Books: Reading, Recent more use than the swipe down in a book.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Most people find "My Books" Books: Reading, Recent more use than the swipe down in a book.

Boy, I guess it's a good thing I'm me and not most people! I am well aware of its deficiencies and yet somehow still manage to find it useful for specific tasks that it actually does well.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The Mybooks can show any of
Only books being read.
Only books finished.
Only books unread.

My problem with relying on filters is my mom managed to poke around on the Nook and hide all the books that were sideloaded on it (which is all it had). She thought she deleted everything, though books still appeared when she searched. That was a twenty minute phone call getting her back on track.

There are also Authors, Series, Collections Tabs.

Nook has those too, but since collections (shelves) have to be done on device and series doesn't work for sideloaded content.

I was explaining collections to her and she was excited to be able to search by genre. So I think she will do well there.

With SideLoadedMode=True...
The bottom has
My Books ---- Activity ---- More

Yeah, Activity, what does that do? I was hoping that would be the shortcut back to currently open book.

Once I get the Libra, I'll experiment with sideload before I ship it out to mom.

Talking to her about her experience with the Glowlight 3, she does like to browse through the library, which is why I want to make sure it is as easy as possible for her to do that and easily get back to her current book.

As per the experience with many users here, an ereader has given reading back to my mom. She was a reader, but really hadn't read much in the past decade. I sent her my old Glowlight 3 when we replaced it with a Clara 2E. The Glowlight 3 would be perfect for her, but it's had a wonky database since I bought it years ago. Regardless, she loves the reader. She was able to read A Tree Grown in Brooklyn for the first time in decades.

I would have replaced it with a Glowlight 4. The Nook software really agrees with an elderly person who doesn't want to learn new technology. But I got a good deal on the Libra and figured being able to browse by collections and series would be a benefit for her. I just want to dumb down the software as much as possible (no, mom is not dumb).

I also want to see how large print works on it. I tried it on my Clara, but the six inch screen is too small for large print mode to be useful.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

series doesn't work for sideloaded content.

If I'm not mistaken, you can use NickelSeries to enable series parsing for sideloaded books. You must install it before sideloading the books you want to parse.

https://pgaskin.net/kepubify/ns/

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I also want to see how large print works on it. I tried it on my Clara, but the six inch screen is too small for large print mode to be useful.

If you're talking about the "beta" feature, I use it at 120% all the time. The UI text is much too small for me at the default setting.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

If I'm not mistaken, you can use NickelSeries to enable series parsing for sideloaded books. You must install it before sideloading the books you want to parse.

I meant 'series doesn't work for sideloaded content on Nook.' Series works great on Kobo.

If you're talking about the "beta" feature, I use it at 120% all the time. The UI text is much too small for me at the default setting.

Thank you for this. I'd never used Large Print Mode and in my brief experiment I missed the slider once the screen flashes to 'on', so I thought it was just an on/off deal.

[Cootey]

Bless her heart. Your Mum sounds like mine. I set her up to watch something on PBS the other night and she called me in alarm a moment later. Somehow she had ended up in Amazon Prime in the settings tab. I had only left the room and taken twenty steps! But kudos to them for trying new tech. They get it eventually.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

My problem with relying on filters is my mom managed to poke around on the Nook and hide all the books that were sideloaded on it (which is all it had). She thought she deleted everything, though books still appeared when she searched. That was a twenty minute phone call getting her back on track.



Nook has those too, but since collections (shelves) have to be done on device and series doesn't work for sideloaded content.

I was explaining collections to her and she was excited to be able to search by genre. So I think she will do well there.



Yeah, Activity, what does that do? I was hoping that would be the shortcut back to currently open book.

I had the the Nook Simple Touch for a while. Current Kindle seems worse GUI, Kobo better. I don't think there will be a problem. My dad was using his Kindle at age 90+ and Kobo is easier.

Avoid setting the PIN! If forgotten you need a factory reset, though at least that works to remove is unlike some Sony Digital Paper and some Setboxes.

Activity is just a summary of reading to date of all books and current book. My granddaughter likes it and was upset to lose it. Her school fiend set the Parental PIN. She was relieved that the reset unlocked it, though that wiped Activity.

Activity can be ignored or glanced at according to preference.