Kobalt: an alternative reader app for Kobo devices - Page 16

jackie_w · Yesterday, 06:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Personally I prefer much gentler overrides, i.e. at body level only, for all of font-family, line-height and text-align properties.

That's where the custom `userstyle.css` file would work really well, too.

I've had a chance to test out beta4's new userstyle.css global override CSS file. No problems at all. It works very well to add personal styling whims (e.g. globally changing the appearance of links).

What I'm not clear about is how it can be used to do what you appeared to suggest above. You've said you intend to replicate Kobo's aggressive builtin default CSS overrides in Kobalt. So how might userstyle.css be used to "soften" those overrides? e.g.
builtin default div, p {text-align: %1 !important;} ... softened to body {text-align: %1 !important;}

Sirtel · Today, 02:29 AM

I found that if I disable Smart Styling and use Publisher Default (having set the default serif font to my preferred font ), then embedded fonts will work the same way as in patched Nickel. Embedded fonts in chapter headings and elsewhere are visible, while the body font is my favorite sideloaded font.

(Of course my books never have an embedded body font, because I edit them).

MrSilverstrike · Today, 06:04 AM

I'm currently in the process of changing Smart Styling so it can become a different preference that's a little bit more transparent and lets you disable the default "normalization" and individual rules.

Normalized will be the default, but if you prefer publisher styling you will have the option to disable any of the normalization which should give you an experience that renders exactly what the CSS says.

Sirtel · Today, 06:29 AM

Those customizations are just piling up, aren't they?

That's the curse of any software writer - everyone has different preferences and even if you do try to please everyone, there will always be whining, wailing and complaining (not excluding myself from the whiners, of course). There already was a comment about Kobalt having too many settings...

As for me personally, more settings is always better than fewer.

rantanplan · Today, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Those customizations are just piling up, aren't they?

That's the curse of any software writer - everyone has different preferences and even if you do try to please everyone, there will always be whining, wailing and complaining (not excluding myself from the whiners, of course).

This is why you employ Product Managers - if you're not self-employed

MrSilverstrike · Today, 06:49 AM

Yes, that's the curse of software. It tends to grow. But I think none of the requests so far have been unreasonable -- I was always going to add e.g. paragraph spacing as a setting, and stuff like that.

It just needs to be more user friendly than it is in KOReader. I may eventually add a "Simple Mode" which hides everything but the fundamentals, for those of us who tend to tinker too much when there's too many options available for tinkering.

That being said: I don't mind having options in settings, it just needs to be coherent and it can't feel too overwhelming at first glance.

I also want new users to not need to touch the Settings page unless they want to specifically change how things look, so the defaults should be sensible, and new users should be fine to just use the bottom tab bar for the majority of the common adjustments people want.

The next beta will be much better than what's currently in Settings. The main controls in the primary tab bar at the bottom of Kobalt will remain as simple as it is today -- that's the only thing I'm unwilling to compromise on. (Well, that and Kobalt needs to remain fast.)

rantanplan · Today, 07:48 AM

Out of curiosity: Did the Tolino update that was released this week also mess up your ability to get Nickel opening up the correct page after you saved the current position in Kobalt? I think they did something to the way that Tolino caches the reading position...

MrSilverstrike · Today, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Out of curiosity: Did the Tolino update that was released this week also mess up your ability to get Nickel opening up the correct page after you saved the current position in Kobalt? I think they did something to the way that Tolino caches the reading position...

I haven't checked. You're saying something broke? What's the latest version on your device?

rantanplan · Today, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

I haven't checked. You're saying something broke? What's the latest version on your device?

I haven't checked on Kobalt yet, but my sync position to a koreader sync server project broke after the update. And what's even stranger, it broke on Tolino 5.18.279364 as well as on Kobo 6.0.279255.

Give me 15 minutes for testing Kobalt.

rantanplan · Today, 08:23 AM

Testing on Kobo Clara BW.

This test round is with EPUBs:

I have a test-book. In Kobalt went to chapter 2, moved about 10 pages ahead. Waited 20 seconds. Closed book.
In Nickel, the book opens at the start of the chapter.

In Kobalt, the book is back to chapter 2. In Kobalt, I went about 15 pages ahead. I waited about 30 seconds. Closed the book. Open in Kobalt. Kobalt finds correct position. In Nickel I'm back at the beginning of chapter 2.

In Kobalt, I move to chapter 3, go about 10 pages ahead. Nickel opens at the beginning of chapter 3.

rantanplan · Today, 08:26 AM

Testing on Kobo Clara BW again.

This test round is with a kepub:

Chapter 2 in Kobalt, about 10 pages ahead. Wait 30 seconds. Nickel opens at the correct position.
Chapter 3 in Kobalt, about 15 pages ahead. Wait 30 seconds. Nickel opens at the correct position.

It seems to only affect EPUBs.

rantanplan · Today, 08:32 AM

This is the book I used for testing. It's 100 % synthetic to I can properly track reading positions.

book-r.epub

book-r.kepub.epub

MrSilverstrike · Today, 08:40 AM

What version of Kobalt are you running? I'd need to know the full version you can find in about with the git hash.

rantanplan · Today, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

What version of Kobalt are you running? I'd need to know the full version you can find in about with the git hash.

435e922.
Can you make this number a little bigger in the next release? My Eyesight isn't the best

MrSilverstrike · Today, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rantanplan

435e922.
Can you make this number a little bigger in the next release? My Eyesight isn't the best

Thanks. So if I'm understanding this correctly... the position that's saved to Nickel is not correct, right? Kobalt likely uses a fallback mechanism when it writes its progress update to Nickel, so this may not have anything to do with KOSync. Can you disable it and see if you can reproduce the same issue without KOSync? (i.e. discrepancy between Nickel & Kobalt).

KOSync doesn't apply when you open a book with Nickel btw, so I don't recommend mixed usage of Nickel/Kobalt generally either way.

Today, 02:29 AM	#227
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 15,882 Karma: 251102463 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	I found that if I disable Smart Styling and use Publisher Default (having set the default serif font to my preferred font ), then embedded fonts will work the same way as in patched Nickel. Embedded fonts in chapter headings and elsewhere are visible, while the body font is my favorite sideloaded font. (Of course my books never have an embedded body font, because I edit them). Last edited by Sirtel; Today at 02:33 AM.

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Today, 06:04 AM	#228
MrSilverstrike Kobo Mod Maker Posts: 201 Karma: 2526874 Join Date: Apr 2024 Location: Belgium Device: Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color	I'm currently in the process of changing Smart Styling so it can become a different preference that's a little bit more transparent and lets you disable the default "normalization" and individual rules. Normalized will be the default, but if you prefer publisher styling you will have the option to disable any of the normalization which should give you an experience that renders exactly what the CSS says.

Today, 06:29 AM	#229
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 15,882 Karma: 251102463 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Those customizations are just piling up, aren't they? That's the curse of any software writer - everyone has different preferences and even if you do try to please everyone, there will always be whining, wailing and complaining (not excluding myself from the whiners, of course). There already was a comment about Kobalt having too many settings... As for me personally, more settings is always better than fewer.

Today, 06:49 AM	#231
MrSilverstrike Kobo Mod Maker Posts: 201 Karma: 2526874 Join Date: Apr 2024 Location: Belgium Device: Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color	Yes, that's the curse of software. It tends to grow. But I think none of the requests so far have been unreasonable -- I was always going to add e.g. paragraph spacing as a setting, and stuff like that. It just needs to be more user friendly than it is in KOReader. I may eventually add a "Simple Mode" which hides everything but the fundamentals, for those of us who tend to tinker too much when there's too many options available for tinkering. That being said: I don't mind having options in settings, it just needs to be coherent and it can't feel too overwhelming at first glance. I also want new users to not need to touch the Settings page unless they want to specifically change how things look, so the defaults should be sensible, and new users should be fine to just use the bottom tab bar for the majority of the common adjustments people want. The next beta will be much better than what's currently in Settings. The main controls in the primary tab bar at the bottom of Kobalt will remain as simple as it is today -- that's the only thing I'm unwilling to compromise on. (Well, that and Kobalt needs to remain fast.)

Today, 07:48 AM	#232
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,410 Karma: 13580082 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Clara BW, Tolino Shine Color, Kindle 2026, reMarkable PaperPro	Out of curiosity: Did the Tolino update that was released this week also mess up your ability to get Nickel opening up the correct page after you saved the current position in Kobalt? I think they did something to the way that Tolino caches the reading position...

Today, 08:23 AM	#235
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,410 Karma: 13580082 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Clara BW, Tolino Shine Color, Kindle 2026, reMarkable PaperPro	Testing on Kobo Clara BW. This test round is with EPUBs: I have a test-book. In Kobalt went to chapter 2, moved about 10 pages ahead. Waited 20 seconds. Closed book. In Nickel, the book opens at the start of the chapter. In Kobalt, the book is back to chapter 2. In Kobalt, I went about 15 pages ahead. I waited about 30 seconds. Closed the book. Open in Kobalt. Kobalt finds correct position. In Nickel I'm back at the beginning of chapter 2. In Kobalt, I move to chapter 3, go about 10 pages ahead. Nickel opens at the beginning of chapter 3.

Today, 08:26 AM	#236
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,410 Karma: 13580082 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Clara BW, Tolino Shine Color, Kindle 2026, reMarkable PaperPro	Testing on Kobo Clara BW again. This test round is with a kepub: Chapter 2 in Kobalt, about 10 pages ahead. Wait 30 seconds. Nickel opens at the correct position. Chapter 3 in Kobalt, about 15 pages ahead. Wait 30 seconds. Nickel opens at the correct position. It seems to only affect EPUBs.

Today, 08:32 AM	#237
rantanplan Weirdo Posts: 1,410 Karma: 13580082 Join Date: Nov 2019 Location: Wuppertal, Germany Device: Kobo Clara BW, Tolino Shine Color, Kindle 2026, reMarkable PaperPro	This is the book I used for testing. It's 100 % synthetic to I can properly track reading positions. book-r.epub book-r.kepub.epub

Today, 08:40 AM	#238
MrSilverstrike Kobo Mod Maker Posts: 201 Karma: 2526874 Join Date: Apr 2024 Location: Belgium Device: Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color	What version of Kobalt are you running? I'd need to know the full version you can find in about with the git hash.