Freda - ebook reader program for Windows Mobile

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Sent.

I've sent you a link to a new version of the program , to test and see whether it produces any better result with the bookshelf.

Jim

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

I've sent you a link to a new version of the program , to test and see whether it produces any better result with the bookshelf.

Jim

Thanks. I've installed it. No change on the bookshelf. Should I have to clear the bookshelf and reload it to test the new version?

I've emailed you a screenshot of what I see. Hm, I guess I could attach it here, also. I have (I think) done that.

[magicmonster]

I was the one that requested the windows mobile support but no luck....

[sabredog]

Just installed Freda and very nice it is as well. I have yet to make a full jump to EPUB, merely converting to MOBI. But I will certainly try and read an EPUB book next using your software.

One thing though...Is there any way to move the text more to the right? It seems hard justified to the left and looks too far over for my unused eye.

Cheers

SD

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by magicmonster

I was the one that requested the windows mobile support but no luck....

Thinking about it, it may be possible to write a program that automates the steps necessary to:
1) Figure out what folder on the PC is being used to store Calibre's library
2) Get the name of Freda's library folder from the mobile device's registry
3) Do the necessary registry changes (on the PC and the mobile device) so that Activesync will synch those two folders.

It wouldn't be simple (certainly, doing it in a safe and user-friendly way would be a challenge).

I might build this at some stage - but it may not be a top priority if (as I think is the case) Microsoft are moving away from the ActiveSync concept. We'll know more about that once details of the Windows Phone development environment emerge ...

Jim

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by sabredog

One thing though...Is there any way to move the text more to the right? It seems hard justified to the left and looks too far over for my unused eye.

There are a couple of settings that might help you:
- to leave blank space all round the border of the page (top, bottom, left and right): Options>Application Settings/Appearance, set Screen Border to the number of pixels of border you want. 10 will give a reasonable amount of space.
- to force text in the book to appear justified across the full width of the page: Options>Book Properties, set Para Layout = Justify

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by starrigger

I've emailed you a screenshot of what I see. Hm, I guess I could attach it here, also. I have (I think) done that.

Very odd. That definitely looks like corruption of the video DLL's memory - so I would tend to blame your ROM for it. That said, to build the 'Bookshelf' view (and also the 'Shortcuts' view) Freda does make rather heavy use of some video features that could be problematic (in short: it puts several large bitmaps into ImageList controls); I will add an 'advanced' setting to let you turn that off. That should mean that anyone getting this kind of weird behaviour can make it go away (at the cost of having a less lovely display of bookshelf details and shortcut icons).
Jim

[junkyardwillie]

Cool program, I was just looking for a windows mobile epub reader and this fits the bill nicely. Thanks

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

Very odd. That definitely looks like corruption of the video DLL's memory - so I would tend to blame your ROM for it. That said, to build the 'Bookshelf' view (and also the 'Shortcuts' view) Freda does make rather heavy use of some video features that could be problematic (in short: it puts several large bitmaps into ImageList controls); I will add an 'advanced' setting to let you turn that off. That should mean that anyone getting this kind of weird behaviour can make it go away (at the cost of having a less lovely display of bookshelf details and shortcut icons).
Jim

That would be great. Thanks.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by Jim Chapman

There are a couple of settings that might help you:
- to leave blank space all round the border of the page (top, bottom, left and right): Options>Application Settings/Appearance, set Screen Border to the number of pixels of border you want. 10 will give a reasonable amount of space.
- to force text in the book to appear justified across the full width of the page: Options>Book Properties, set Para Layout = Justify

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

Jim

Thanks for that, works a treat! Most impressed with the reader.

[jjm6383]

Jim,

Thanks for Freda. I was looking for an epub reader for my Dell Axim, and it works great. One thing I miss when using it, that Stanza has, is when you tap the screen in Stanza, you get the title and details (page, etc) of the current book you're reading.

Would it be possible to add this to Freda? I read several books at once, and sometimes forget which one I was last reading. I've got Freda set to automatically open the last book read.

Thanks again,

Joyslin

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by jjm6383

Jtitle and details (page, etc) of the current book you're reading.
...

You can get this to display permanently (i.e. not just when you tap the page) by:
- putting the display into windowed mode (Screen>Window Mode)
- telling it to include book name in the header (Options>Application Settings/Appearance, tick 'Show book name in window title')

I agree that doesn't do quite what you want; for the next version I will be reorganising the display, and I will include the current book & position in the controls/navigation screen.

Thanks for using Freda,

Jim

[jasoraso]

Just wanted to chime and say that I converted my latest book that I wanted to read into Epub and used Freda - what a great reader. I love the animated pages turns - adds to the experience, without unnecessary slowing things. love the multiple options for page turning - swipe or tapping.

Have you thought about being able to swipe up/down AND left/right, rather than just either/or?

Thanks for working on this!

PS: Just clicked on your Paypal link on the download page!

[Jim Chapman]

Originally Posted by jasoraso

Have you thought about being able to swipe up/down AND left/right, rather than just either/or?

I did try that approach, but it produced a really ugly result - as, if you moved your finger a short distance diagonally, the display would flicker between vertical and horizontal movement. And a lot of finger-swipes turn out to be more or less diagonal. There probably is a way to sort it out, and I will be giving it some thought over the coming weeks (I'm doing a pretty major re-engineering of the GUI and the book-loader, to improve its general 'slickness', and that will provide a good opportunity to reexamine that part of the code).

Originally Posted by jasoraso

PS: Just clicked on your Paypal link on the download page!

Thankyou kindly!

Jim

[volwrath]

Hi Jim,

I just tried the 1.1 version of Freda. I find that it is a nice jump over the 1.0 version in speed and functionality. One interesting possible bug is that if I am running Freda in full screen I am not able to minimize it using the home key on my HTC Touch Pro. It does minimize, but pops right back. If I put it in windows mode it operates properly.

Not that big a deal, and I think Freda will be by go to reader on my phone. Thanks