Showing book cover upon opening ebook? - Page 2

DiapDealer · 08-05-2011, 02:48 PM

You can almost predict the exact threads that JSWolf will take notice of... and like clock-work... here he is. Do you get an email or something when mobi and epub are mentioned in the same post?

alansplace · 08-05-2011, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think sucks just about sums it up. That why we had MS Reader and now ePub.

There's no way to have a graphic to the right of the text. I have an ePub that has the graphics set to the right and the text on the left. Looks quite nice in ePub. Mobipocket just has the graphic between lines of text and looks not so nice.

sigh....when i wrote that post i was thinking of you and wondering how long it would take for you to chime in.

pidgeon92 · 08-05-2011, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You can almost predict the exact threads that JSWolf will take notice of... and like clock-work... here he is. Do you get an email or something when mobi and epub are mentioned in the same post?

He needs a new avatar. I vote for this one.

alansplace · 08-05-2011, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

He needs a new avatar. I vote for this one.

marimorimo · 08-06-2011, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alansplace

mobipocket has certain inadequacies, but 'sucks' is a bit harsh just because it won't behave in the pretty much inconsequential way you wish it to.

While it may be inconsequential to you, it's a big deal to ME.

With paper books I savor the cover and title page, read the copyright, dedication, and table of contents BEFORE reading the first word of Chapter 1. Call me anal or whatever, but I consider it part of the reading experience.

I just wish mobipocket/Kindle/the Powers that Be gave users the option to choose where to open their books.

HarryT · 08-06-2011, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marimorimo

While it may be inconsequential to you, it's a big deal to ME.

With paper books I savor the cover and title page, read the copyright, dedication, and table of contents BEFORE reading the first word of Chapter 1. Call me anal or whatever, but I consider it part of the reading experience.

I just wish mobipocket/Kindle/the Powers that Be gave users the option to choose where to open their books.

I'm afraid you'd be facing the same issue with pretty much any reading device. With ePub files too, it's the creator of the book who decides where it should initially open, not the reader.

It's only 4 key presses to get to the cover when you open a book:

MENU (which comes up with "Goto" already highlighted).
ENTER
DOWN (to select "Cover")
ENTER

Bookworm_Girl · 08-06-2011, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marimorimo

While it may be inconsequential to you, it's a big deal to ME.

With paper books I savor the cover and title page, read the copyright, dedication, and table of contents BEFORE reading the first word of Chapter 1. Call me anal or whatever, but I consider it part of the reading experience.

I just wish mobipocket/Kindle/the Powers that Be gave users the option to choose where to open their books.

I understand your frustrations, marimorimo. That's exactly how I like to start a book too. Every time I open a book on my Kindle, I get a momentary twinge of annoyance knowing that I now have to make extra clicks to start from the true beginning. I have also noticed that by this method you sometimes miss items critical to the book before the first page of text. I recently opened a Kindle ebook that skipped a timeline, maps and a page of quotes relevant to the plot.

JSWolf · 08-06-2011, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm afraid you'd be facing the same issue with pretty much any reading device. With ePub files too, it's the creator of the book who decides where it should initially open, not the reader.

It's only 4 key presses to get to the cover when you open a book:

MENU (which comes up with "Goto" already highlighted).
ENTER
DOWN (to select "Cover")
ENTER

An ePub opens to the first page which is usually the cover. Unfortunately, too many publishers have decided to bless us with a generic cover graphic that looks awful.

lestatar · 08-06-2011, 01:01 PM

Yeah, nothing's ever perfect, is it?

I hold an optimistic belief that stuff like this will get better over time and fairly quickly IMO. This whole ebook thing is relatively new in terms of widespread popularity and general consumer acceptance and for sure, the current lack of certain de facto standards certainly doesn't help matters. But the ebook format war seem to be narrowing down from what little I know so I gotta believe that stuff will get more uniform and "better".

Do I get annoyed about the cover art stuff mentioned? Yes, I admit, on occasion, it does bother me a wee bit, though I do try not to let it ruin my enjoyment of actually reading the book, which really, is the whole point for me. Maps, artwork, forewords, pictures, etc...all important and I want that stuff in my ebooks for sure. An ebook must represent and contain exactly the contents that the physical version does IMO. [Well, as much as possible. I remember waaaaaay back where certain publishers would include value-added stuff like tear-off bookmarks with their pbooks - I still have a few laying around, most personally memorable being a few Clive Barker bookmarks that were included on some of his mass market paperbacks back in the day.]

Still, I don't find it so horrible to flip back using a couple of keystrokes/whatever. Meantime, I will simply be patient and wait [probably not too much longer] until epublishers get their act together once and for all. And as the smart folks mentioned, there may indeed be ways for people to roll-up there sleeves and fix stuff on their own if they are so inclined.

dwig · 08-06-2011, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marimorimo

...
With paper books I savor the cover and title page, read the copyright, dedication, and table of contents BEFORE reading the first word of Chapter 1. Call me anal or whatever, but I consider it part of the reading experience.
...

I disagree and agree...

I don't find that I have a strong desire for the book to open to the cover. I can view the cover by using the 5way from the Home screen.

What I do prefer is for the ebook to open more like a pbook. That is, I want it to open to the title page rather than skipping over all of the font matter. I've seen some that skip over introductions that are meant to be read before reading chapter 1.

MOBI doesn't place the cover image in the data blocks that comprise the "text" of the book so its not in the range of "locations" that would allow the publisher to have the book open to the actual cover image. The publisher can, rather easily, have it open to the title page where the cover can be displayed with a single key press (page back).

marimorimo · 08-07-2011, 07:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwig

What I do prefer is for the ebook to open more like a pbook. That is, I want it to open to the title page rather than skipping over all of the font matter. I've seen some that skip over introductions that are meant to be read before reading chapter 1.

Yes, skipping over essential areas like Introductions and Quotes is one of the things that annoys me about this 'skipping the cover' business.

I'm a visual person and book covers help me identify a title. It gets annoying when I have to do an extra 4 button presses each time I open a book. It's worse when I try browsing my collections (all those button presses!)

I wish the Kindle had an option to show book covers in lists, like in the Kindle Store. (The Nook has that feature, if I'm not mistaken). I would certainly look for this kind of feature on my next ereader purchase.

karunaji · 08-08-2011, 05:58 AM

I am also very annoyed that Kindle opens the first page that sometimes very far from the beginning of the book. It is not a mobipocket format fault. It is just the quirk of the Kindle software because the original Mobipocket reader on PC opens the cover pictures by default. Amazon should fix this asap.

HarryT · 08-08-2011, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karunaji

I am also very annoyed that Kindle opens the first page that sometimes very far from the beginning of the book. It is not a mobipocket format fault. It is just the quirk of the Kindle software because the original Mobipocket reader on PC opens the cover pictures by default. Amazon should fix this asap.

If the book opens in the "wrong" place it's the fault of the book creator, not Amazon. The creator of a Mobipocket book specifies where it will open.

OtterBooks · 08-08-2011, 07:13 AM

Count me in with the Kindle users who are sad that a book can't start on its cover when opened. It's just a nice thing imo. I do hope that someday mobi is either upgraded to mobi2 or whatever, or something else happens to allow some of the visual niceties mobi is missing. I'm not losing sleep over it, though.

karunaji · 08-08-2011, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If the book opens in the "wrong" place it's the fault of the book creator, not Amazon. The creator of a Mobipocket book specifies where it will open.

No, there is no way to open it at cover, only at the beginning of the text which is not good enough.

The reader should be able to override the settings of the book creator in any case.

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08-05-2011, 02:48 PM	#16
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,509 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	You can almost predict the exact threads that JSWolf will take notice of... and like clock-work... here he is. Do you get an email or something when mobi and epub are mentioned in the same post?

08-06-2011, 01:01 PM	#24
lestatar LB's lolz Mutt Minion Posts: 2,902 Karma: 5700001 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Hong Kong now but NYC forever Device: Kindle3, GalaxyTab, BB Bold9700, BB 8300, Sony Clie, Palm Vx, Palm III	Yeah, nothing's ever perfect, is it? I hold an optimistic belief that stuff like this will get better over time and fairly quickly IMO. This whole ebook thing is relatively new in terms of widespread popularity and general consumer acceptance and for sure, the current lack of certain de facto standards certainly doesn't help matters. But the ebook format war seem to be narrowing down from what little I know so I gotta believe that stuff will get more uniform and "better". Do I get annoyed about the cover art stuff mentioned? Yes, I admit, on occasion, it does bother me a wee bit, though I do try not to let it ruin my enjoyment of actually reading the book, which really, is the whole point for me. Maps, artwork, forewords, pictures, etc...all important and I want that stuff in my ebooks for sure. An ebook must represent and contain exactly the contents that the physical version does IMO. [Well, as much as possible. I remember waaaaaay back where certain publishers would include value-added stuff like tear-off bookmarks with their pbooks - I still have a few laying around, most personally memorable being a few Clive Barker bookmarks that were included on some of his mass market paperbacks back in the day.] Still, I don't find it so horrible to flip back using a couple of keystrokes/whatever. Meantime, I will simply be patient and wait [probably not too much longer] until epublishers get their act together once and for all. And as the smart folks mentioned, there may indeed be ways for people to roll-up there sleeves and fix stuff on their own if they are so inclined.

08-08-2011, 05:58 AM	#27
karunaji Evangelist Posts: 421 Karma: 1033566 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Latvia Device: Kindle 3 Wifi, Bookeen Opus	I am also very annoyed that Kindle opens the first page that sometimes very far from the beginning of the book. It is not a mobipocket format fault. It is just the quirk of the Kindle software because the original Mobipocket reader on PC opens the cover pictures by default. Amazon should fix this asap.

08-08-2011, 07:13 AM	#29
OtterBooks Wizard Posts: 1,262 Karma: 2979086 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 4, iPad Mini/Retina	Count me in with the Kindle users who are sad that a book can't start on its cover when opened. It's just a nice thing imo. I do hope that someday mobi is either upgraded to mobi2 or whatever, or something else happens to allow some of the visual niceties mobi is missing. I'm not losing sleep over it, though.

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