New Firmware: First Impressions

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by sein

Thanks for this advice! I tried it and it works very well. Now I have changed the text alignment of all book formats from 'justify' (which I hate ) to 'left' (which I love )! I'm making more adjustments—like using the bold font so texts are more readable—and they work really fine. Thanks again.

You are welcome!
I do not know a lot about what can be done with CoolReader CSS files, so I am also experimenting. So far, I have just got the first line indent on new paragraphs set the way I want and set the default font to sans-serif, since I am not a big fan of serif fonts. I wish that I could find documentation on what CSS styles that CoolReader works with, but so far I have not found anything.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

You are welcome!
I do not know a lot about what can be done with CoolReader CSS files, so I am also experimenting. So far, I have just got the first line indent on new paragraphs set the way I want and set the default font to sans-serif, since I am not a big fan of serif fonts.

But can't you just choose a sans font front the settings menu inside coolreader?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by jusmee

But can't you just choose a sans font front the settings menu inside coolreader?

Yes, IF you do not have the CSS file corresponding to the format that you are reading in the /crengine folder.
The format specific CSS file in /crengine seems to override the corresponding item in the user interface menu.
The priority seems to be: the CSS in the book itself (if it has one), format specific CSS file in /crengine, and lastly the user interface menu setting.

[ThomasMcKean]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

Yes, IF you do not have the CSS file corresponding to the format that you are reading in the /crengine folder.
The format specific CSS file in /crengine seems to override the corresponding item in the user interface menu.
The priority seems to be: the CSS in the book itself (if it has one), format specific CSS file in /crengine, and lastly the user interface menu setting.

But then couldn't yew leave out the font altogether in the CSS so the reader doesn't know the font is there? Then yew could override the font with the user settings.

Or is that just wishful thinking?

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

But then couldn't yew leave out the font altogether in the CSS so the reader doesn't know the font is there? Then yew could override the font with the user settings.

Or is that just wishful thinking?

That should work the way that you suggest.
If you want to get into the software technicalities, my *guess* is that what happens is this. On application start up, the configuration is set up with the user interface settings, then if a CSS corresponding to the book format is found in /crengine whatever settings that duplicate user interface settings are overwritten by the settings in /crengine. Finally, any corresponding CSS settings in a book format that has CSS will overwrite once again. I did not get this from documentation, but simply from experimentation, so I may be wrong.
FWIW, I experimented with an EPUB that I configured for CoolReader to read instead of letting ADE read it. When I initially loaded the EPUB, it's CSS settings took over CoolReader's user interface settings and it was displayed according to the EPUB's CSS. Then I opened the EPUB on my PC and deleted it's CSS file. I reloaded the EPUB on the reader and again reopened it in CoolReader, and all my user interface settings were used for that EPUB. I am describing all this from memory of doing it yesterday, so I hope I described it correctly.

[ThomasMcKean]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

That should work the way that you suggest.

So yew could take out or comment out all the options that are available in the user settings, and then set the remaining ones with the CSS.

Kewl.

Now if only these files were better documented!

[ThomasMcKean]

Do I put these files in the "crengine" folder on the SD card, or do I have to put them somewhere else?

[Marlenas]

I have updated my PocketPro with the new firmware - no problems doing so.

I gather Coolreader is some type of ereader viewer but don't seem to be able to access the Russian? Ukrainian? website to investigate further.

All of your talk is definitely too technical for my understanding or inclination but I wouldn't want to think I'm missing out on something fabulous.

I'm very happy so far with calibre, epub and pdf. What can Coolreader do that these can't?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can enlighten me.

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

You are welcome!
I do not know a lot about what can be done with CoolReader CSS files, so I am also experimenting. So far, I have just got the first line indent on new paragraphs set the way I want and set the default font to sans-serif, since I am not a big fan of serif fonts. I wish that I could find documentation on what CSS styles that CoolReader works with, but so far I have not found anything.

I think it is worth as we all start to figure more about fb2 and css we should have a sticky dedicated to it. Seems to be fb2 is a rather powerful and flexible book format. I know myself I prefer it over the others, but I am still only scratching the surface of creating my own functional css file.

[hidari]

Agreed: A sticky for FB2 with some information on how to make it work better or by adding .fb2 to your epub file which I did not know about till yesterday.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Marlenas

I gather Coolreader is some type of ereader viewer but don't seem to be able to access the Russian? Ukrainian? website to investigate further.

All of your talk is definitely too technical for my understanding or inclination but I wouldn't want to think I'm missing out on something fabulous.

I'm very happy so far with calibre, epub and pdf. What can Coolreader do that these can't.

As you suggest, CoolReader is yet another ebook viewer. It was already used on the EZ Reader's for the FB2 ebook format, but now it has been updated to a newer version. If you are happy with ePub and PDF (which use the Adobe Digital Editions, ADE, viewer) there is no particular reason to switch, but FB2 is a viable alternative for DRM-free ebooks with the advantage that CoolReader is more customizable than ADE. CoolReader actually reads many ebook formats, including ePub, and by adding .fb2 to the end of the existing filename you can trick the EZ Reader into using CoolReader for those formats if you want. The CoolReader ePub implementation is less capable than ADE in some respects, but it may be "good enough" and it has the advantage of being more customizable. If you really hate the page numbers than ADE adds to the screen then CoolReader may be for you.

[Marlenas]

I'll play around with it a bit and see what I think.

I appreciate your taking the time to explain Coolreader to me. Boy, when I got my PocketPro (first ereader, lifetime big reader), I didn't know what I was getting into.

I've worked with computers since the late 70's - endless swapping of floppy disks - but didn't realize how technical ereaders would be too.

Thank goodness I can still revert to paper when the going gets too tough. Or, when I want to see some pretty colours, other than my purple PP - which I love by the way. And yes, it is really more of a mauve than purple. Ha, ha, I'm sure you tech guys love that.

Thanks again.

[ThomasMcKean]

Originally Posted by Marlenas

I have updated my PocketPro with the new firmware - no problems doing so.

I gather Coolreader is some type of ereader viewer but don't seem to be able to access the Russian? Ukrainian? website to investigate further.

All of your talk is definitely too technical for my understanding or inclination but I wouldn't want to think I'm missing out on something fabulous.

I'm very happy so far with calibre, epub and pdf. What can Coolreader do that these can't?

Thank you in advance to anyone who can enlighten me.

Take one of the .epub files and put a .fb2 at the end. Like this:

.epub.fb2

Then run it in the reader.

[Laura81]

Originally Posted by ThomasMcKean

Take one of the .epub files and put a .fb2 at the end. Like this:

.epub.fb2

Then run it in the reader.

Would this make the page numbering accurate, which I find it never is on the current firmware.

[jusmee]

Originally Posted by Laura81

Would this make the page numbering accurate, which I find it never is on the current firmware.

To be clear, doing this means you are using an entirely different piece of software, Coolreader, to read the ePub. You can't compare the old firmware, because you would have been using the Adobe software.