I built a desktop bookshelf for my ebooks — would you use this?

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The next question is how capable is the ebook renderer? Can it handle ePub or Amazon format fixed layout books? Line height, margins, switching between flush left and justified without causing issues with centering or right aligning text?

That is exactly the part of the project I’m still actively refining. I’m trying to make the reader capable enough for everyday reading, rather than treating it as just a visual bookshelf. I’ve been working on support for the common ebook formats.
The controls you mentioned—line height, margins, and alignment—are all things I’m currently tuning. I’m trying to offer as many useful customization options as possible.
I’ve been testing it based on my own experience with other readers, as well as feedback from friends with different reading habits. My goal is to make it capable enough for everyday reading. Thank you very much for bringing up these important points.

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by JBaby

It’s a no for me. I would never use this. I don’t even use this in Calibre. Ebooks don’t have spines so this doesn’t make sense to me.

Thank you for sharing your view. I have used Calibre’s spine view myself; it generates spines from cover images and uses a fixed text layout, and that was one of the things that made me think more about this kind of presentation.
You’re right that ebooks do not naturally have spines, so this is certainly not a need that will appeal to everyone. I appreciate the perspective.I’m also trying out Goodreads now—thank you for recommending it.

[Quoth]

The easiest to read spine view is stacked vertically as the text is horizontal. It's not done with physical books as it's not practical for access.

A regular List view does that and you can re-order, add or hide columns.

I've no interest in replicating physical shelves that work the way they do for physical reasons. I prefer plainer easier to read title & author on physical spines.

There was an experimental PC GUI that mimicked a real office. It was a failure.

In a file manager I only use a cover view (icon x4 size) for photo or image directories as the filenames are not useful. Otherwise mostly a compact list view unless I need to see date, size etc. Windows default of hiding file endings in practice is a well intentioned mistake.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Chai_King

That is exactly the part of the project I’m still actively refining. I’m trying to make the reader capable enough for everyday reading, rather than treating it as just a visual bookshelf. I’ve been working on support for the common ebook formats.
The controls you mentioned—line height, margins, and alignment—are all things I’m currently tuning. I’m trying to offer as many useful customization options as possible.
I’ve been testing it based on my own experience with other readers, as well as feedback from friends with different reading habits. My goal is to make it capable enough for everyday reading. Thank you very much for bringing up these important points.

You might find your task easier if you actually owned an ebook reader.

And if you do own one, you might take the time now to complete your user information on DEVICE. You list NONE.

Device: None

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by haertig

You asked for our thoughts, so please don't take mine as insulting, even though they are negative regarding what you a planning to do.

Book covers are much more interesting than spines. The only reason we have spine images/text, IMHO, is because it is not space efficient to put books on a bookshelf with the covers facing out. Spine images are a compromise to utilize bookshelf space more efficiently. Spines are rarely a thing of beauty, they are an attempt to add functionality. Any appeal that a spine might have had - and many have no appeal to start with - is gone once it becomes a fake spine generated by A.I. or otherwise by a computer. "Electronic" spines not only will tend towards ugly, they will also create a large hit against functionality. Who wants to flop their head over to read sideways letters bottom to top or top to bottom? Or even worse - top to bottom stacked vertically over each other? Humans - most of them anyway - are used to reading horizontally, not vertically. Electronic fake spines kill two birds with one stone - you get both ugly, and non-functional.

There is probably a niche group of readers who would enjoy fake spines, but I'm not in that group. But don't give up. You never know. Once upon a time I was in the group that wouldn't even consider reading an eBook, because those were all "fake books". But time has changed my mind on that, so maybe I could be turned to like fake spines in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to explain your view so thoroughly. I don’t find it insulting at all—I asked for honest thoughts, and I appreciate yours.
Your point that spines are mainly a space-efficient compromise for physical shelves is a very good one. I had not really thought about them in that way before.
The issue of “fake” spines is also one of the most important challenges I’m aware of and have been trying to work through. I’ve been studying strong examples of spine typography and book design, with the hope of making the automatically generated ones feel more considered and visually pleasing.
I will definitely keep the concerns you raised in mind, especially around readability and whether the result has any real value beyond decoration. Thank you again for the thoughtful feedback, and for the encouragement as well.

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

Spine view does nothing for me either. I mean, I’m fine with seeing the spines of printed books on my physical shelves, but I’ve never felt any particular desire to replicate that view digitally.

I do use cover view in Calibre - tried list view, didn’t like it. Then again, I don’t ever use cover view on any of my e-readers; it’s list view only there (list view with a small cover thumbnail if offered, but the main thing is to have a list of titles with authors that I can actually read as cover view doesn’t always guarantee that).

So I guess the Calibre cover view is sort of a compromise for me - and I find it more helpful when choosing the next bunch of unread books to transfer to an e-reader, as then the cover image sort of matters, in helping me decide if the book “looks” like it’ll be something I might be in the mood for (with over 2700 e-books accumulated over the last 18+ years, a lot of them unread, I don’t remember what they all are, why I ever bought them etc, so the cover images often offer some immediate idea at least re: genre). Spines wouldn’t be helpful at all in that sense.

But .. I mean, enjoyment is subjective, and people love to browse and view their collections in various ways - whatever makes the most sense for their workflow, whatever they find most comfortable and convenient, whatever makes them happy, and spine view might well be filling a niche for more than a handful of people. And it’s always great to have more options.

Thanks, this is really useful context. I hadn’t thought much about the difference between browsing a large library on a computer and choosing books on an e-reader. The way you use cover view to reconnect with older unread books makes a lot of sense.
It gives me something to think about: a visual view should help someone make a choice or rediscover a book, rather than simply look different. Thank you for taking the time to explain your experience so patiently—it is genuinely helpful to me. I also very much agree with your final point that different readers benefit from different ways of browsing their collections.

[Chai_King]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Calibre has a book shelf view which shows synthetic spines. I tested it, it works and went back to list view as soon as it was out of beta. That was one of the reasons I looked for spine images and found they rank with hens' teeth for commoness.

That’s exactly how I felt. Calibre’s generated spines never really satisfied me, so I started looking for real spine images instead—but they are very difficult to find. At the moment, the most practical option online seems to be photographing the spines of physical books you own and uploading those images yourself.
That is why I began exploring a compromise: an automatic spine-generation system that aims to feel more visually considered and a little closer to a real book spine.