Report on new firmware?

[Barcey]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I disagree... good layout/font is just as important in a novel as anywhere else. And alot of the types of books I read, fantasy/sf, have illustrations which I want to look at good an crisp. How else will I find my way to Mordor without a map? Map question says "invalid address".

BOb

http://www.arda-online.com/map/

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Idoine

GPS not updated ? What a pity !
... Ok, I know the way to the door...

I'm too cheap. Perhaps it is time to do a map update. I see that Garmin now has a lifetime map update price.

BOb

[gerraldo]

Originally Posted by Jellby

ePUB has embedded fonts, SVG and PNG support, better control of spacings and borders, wrapped text around images, table of contents...

...and NO dictionary support.

[emellaich]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I disagree... good layout/font is just as important in a novel as anywhere else. And alot of the types of books I read, fantasy/sf, have illustrations which I want to look at good an crisp. How else will I find my way to Mordor without a map? MapQuest says "invalid address".

One thing I find interesting about reading these forums is what it teaches me about myself. Unlike others, I have no need for a dictionary. And, maps are unimportant to me. Its not because I know all of the words, or understand the 'maps'. Its more because I plow through without worrying about the details.

I wonder how much I miss because I skip over the stuff I don't understand .

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by gerraldo

...and NO dictionary support.

That's not an issue with the format... that is an issue of the reader software. There is no reason that dictionary support can work for ePub files.

BOb

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

That's not an issue with the format... that is an issue of the reader software. There is no reason that dictionary support can work for ePub files.

BOb

I agree it should be possible. But as long as it isn't I'm not using ePub. No dictionary support is a deal breaker. I can live without the fancy formatting I hardly ever run into a book with even one picture in it. I do have a TOC in my books and I almost never use it. It is the part in the beginning of the book that I skip as fast as possible. And even if ePub should be able to do all the nice tricks with the formatting, it isn't doing it today. Perhaps in five years I'll reconsider.

[Ortep]

Originally Posted by emellaich

Its not because I know all of the words, or understand the 'maps'. Its more because I plow through without worrying about the details.

I wonder how much I miss because I skip over the stuff I don't understand .

It depends on how many words you know
A long long time ago when I was still reading pBooks I never used a dictionary. It was too much of a hassle.
But on my Cybook it is so convenient to look up a word that I do it much more often. It really does add something to my reading experience.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by emellaich

One thing I find interesting about reading these forums is what it teaches me about myself. Unlike others, I have no need for a dictionary. And, maps are unimportant to me. Its not because I know all of the words, or understand the 'maps'. Its more because I plow through without worrying about the details.

I wonder how much I miss because I skip over the stuff I don't understand .

Yeah, we're two (I haven't added any font to my Cybook, so I think it's enough for me )

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ortep

It depends on how many words you know
A long long time ago when I was still reading pBooks I never used a dictionary. It was too much of a hassle.
But on my Cybook it is so convenient to look up a word that I do it much more often. It really does add something to my reading experience.

Same here. I read a lot of 19th century books and you come across a lot of words in those which are no longer in common use. It enhances the reading experience for me to be able to look those words up and find their exact meaning.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

That's not an issue with the format... that is an issue of the reader software. There is no reason that dictionary support can work for ePub files.

BOb

No, it is an issue with the format, Bob. Mobi defines a dictionary format, and a mechanism for looking up words; ePub does not. There needs to be a specified dictionary format in order for dictionaries to be published in that format.

[Snuffi]

Originally Posted by Ortep

I agree it should be possible. But as long as it isn't I'm not using ePub. No dictionary support is a deal breaker. I can live without the fancy formatting I hardly ever run into a book with even one picture in it. I do have a TOC in my books and I almost never use it. It is the part in the beginning of the book that I skip as fast as possible. And even if ePub should be able to do all the nice tricks with the formatting, it isn't doing it today. Perhaps in five years I'll reconsider.

Formatting doesn't have to be fancy. On a screen with as little real estate as the Cybook I want every possibility to tweak formatting to make the book fit better on the screen. And readability is much improved by proper formatting. I read txt files on the Cybook and the experience wasn't exciting...

About the pictures: I also read novels with occasional maps and it does make a difference if you have a clear picture in your mind of the area where the story unfolds. Distances, landscape, routes and special points which might be referenced in the story are much easier related to when you have a rough understanding of what is where...
I also read technical books and here there are some parts you cannot understand without the corresponding illustration.

It very much depends on what you read but although most of my ebooks contain very few pictures they would be sorely missed...

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Ortep

It depends on how many words you know
A long long time ago when I was still reading pBooks I never used a dictionary. It was too much of a hassle.
But on my Cybook it is so convenient to look up a word that I do it much more often. It really does add something to my reading experience.

ditto.....

[etherspin]

i wonder if the epub firmware will mean that there is more screen real estate when converting manga with calibre, in mobi it was ok but every little big closer to full screen makes the text more legible..

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, it is an issue with the format, Bob. Mobi defines a dictionary format, and a mechanism for looking up words; ePub does not. There needs to be a specified dictionary format in order for dictionaries to be published in that format.

Ok, but just because it isn't there now, doesn't preclude it from happening. Perhaps some of the smarties here can get together and define a dictionary layout for the ePub format. Maybe FBReader or one of the open source readers will do it first.

BOb

[HarryT]

Very true, of course, but that still does not change the fact that lack of dictionary support is a very real problem with the ePub format as it currently stands.

If you want to see the big commercial dictionary publishers go "on-board" with dictionaries for ePub, you'd need to have DRM-support, so I very much doubt that FBReader would be the medium through which to tackle it.