Software release 2.7 on the Horizon - Page 2

firekat · 09-12-2006, 10:38 AM

I am sure that the zoom function will be a help, though with refresh rates as they are it will probably be cumbersome at best. No fault here, just the nature of the device.

What I would rather see though is bookmark support.

BOOKMARKS, BOOKMARKS, BOOKMARKS!!!

Good Luck To Us All!

ali · 09-12-2006, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

But if you dont find that useful, what would you see as useful for panning across a page?

No idea, honestly. Possibly something like zooming into the box up to screen width, the using the flipbar to pan along the column, which might be longer than the screen.

But with high zoom levels I'm lost. Even with "real screens", panning takes some time to find the right position. But if you can't see what your doing? Nah.

vranghel · 09-12-2006, 12:19 PM

All the additional features are very useful. Seems that nobody mentioned about key lock: i was annoyed a few times when i was writing and accidentally pressed the books/docs/notes button(s) with my wrist.

Zoom and pan could be a great feature but if it doesnt have the dragable box then it will slow the readong even more

CommanderROR · 09-12-2006, 05:27 PM

Hmmm...I don't know if this is good news or bad news...

Whe I think about PDF-Zooming, I mainly mean Reflowable documents. In that case zooming makes sense, even on a slow eink display.
If it means we have to scroll...count me out.

Taking a reflowable PDF, opening it, seeing it's too small to read, zooming it, saving that state and then just reading...that's what i'm talking about...

rlauzon · 09-12-2006, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Whe I think about PDF-Zooming, I mainly mean Reflowable documents. In that case zooming makes sense, even on a slow eink display.
If it means we have to scroll...count me out.

Yup. That's why I think that the "Zoom and Pan" won't work out like people want.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

Taking a reflowable PDF, opening it, seeing it's too small to read, zooming it, saving that state and then just reading...that's what i'm talking about...

Well, that's the problem. There's no such thing as a "reflowable PDF" (at least I have yet to encounter such a thing). PDF is a page layout format. You define how you want the page to look and the reader will make the page look that way no matter what device you are viewing it on.

But that's the problem with using it as an eBook format. If the PDF is not formatted for the device you are trying to read it on (like a PDF formatted for an 8.5"x11" page with large margins), it's unreadable on a device like the iLiad (or any other eInk reader in the wings).

tribble · 09-12-2006, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlauzon

Well, that's the problem. There's no such thing as a "reflowable PDF" (at least I have yet to encounter such a thing).

Well, there is

Adobe has put in tagged format PDFs with version 5 i think. You can then hide a structure in the PDF, which allows you to render the contecnt in a reflowable way. Mainly as an accessibility issue for text readers. But the documents have to be prepared for a reflow.

rlauzon · 09-12-2006, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

Well, there is

Adobe has put in tagged format PDFs with version 5 i think. You can then hide a structure in the PDF, which allows you to render the contecnt in a reflowable way. Mainly as an accessibility issue for text readers. But the documents have to be prepared for a reflow.

That would solve the problem. Does anything other than Acrobat support this type of PDF?

tribble · 09-13-2006, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlauzon

That would solve the problem. Does anything other than Acrobat support this type of PDF?

As far as i know, there are a few mobile pdf readers, that allow to read reflowable PDFs, but there are only few PDFs, that i have seen, that really allow for reflowing. I would expect it from a DRMed PDF novel though.

rlauzon · 09-13-2006, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tribble

As far as i know, there are a few mobile pdf readers, that allow to read reflowable PDFs, but there are only few PDFs, that i have seen, that really allow for reflowing. I would expect it from a DRMed PDF novel though.

Reading them was only half the question. I'm also wondering what can create a reflowable PDF. If you need to pay for Acrobat to create one, then reflowable PDFs aren't that useful.

CommanderROR · 09-13-2006, 06:00 AM

creating is no problem at all, even Open Office has the option to create "tagged PDF" if I remember correctly...so that should work OK. I've also found that more recent PDF novels (I don't know about the DRM ones...) often already have a reflow option.
If you have the right to edit a file and own acrobat you can also add tags to just about any PDF file, so you could do it that way as well...

jæd · 09-13-2006, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranghel

Zoom and pan could be a great feature but if it doesnt have the dragable box then it will slow the readong even more

Well... When (and if

) the SDK comes out, if there isn't a dragable box, then we could damn well add on...!

VillageReader · 09-13-2006, 10:44 AM

I don't know anything about tagged novels, but Steve Jordan (stevejordan.com) says his are. He has one that is free - and that could be the test run once 2.7 is out.

CommanderROR · 09-13-2006, 11:14 AM

good to know...i've got loads of tagged-and-ready PDF files lying around and can create one in a few minutes if need be, so I can probably do without, but it's good to know that people out there are using them for commercial ebooks as well.

pdam · 09-13-2006, 11:28 AM

Just to be clear - adding tags to a PDF doc means that it can be reflowed by an application (yes Openoffice 2.x can add tags to PDF's) -
Note that you don't have to tag documents to reflow them, Acrobat reader (v7) will add temporary virtual tags to a document and reflow it for you ... it is the application that does the reflowing by either reading existing tags or creating virtual tags. How the current PDF reader on the Iliad would handle this would be interesting ... how would it handle page numbering (when you scale down a doc the page numbers are the same, when you reflow it, you have more pages)? It'd have to have a separate manifest file for the reflowed document/save the virtual tags so you could go back to the same place? Also - would it handle PDF's with mixed portrait and landscape pages ...?
My guess is they are not talking about reflow but actual zoom, which will be OK to view the odd embedded graphic - but pretty pointless for ease of reading ...

pdam · 09-13-2006, 11:30 AM

Book marks, annotation and powersaving are what I want ...

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09-12-2006, 10:38 AM	#16
firekat Groupie Posts: 157 Karma: 314 Join Date: May 2006	I am sure that the zoom function will be a help, though with refresh rates as they are it will probably be cumbersome at best. No fault here, just the nature of the device. What I would rather see though is bookmark support. BOOKMARKS, BOOKMARKS, BOOKMARKS!!! Good Luck To Us All!

09-12-2006, 12:19 PM	#18
vranghel Addict Posts: 285 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Vancouver, Canada Device: Proud Iliad owner	All the additional features are very useful. Seems that nobody mentioned about key lock: i was annoyed a few times when i was writing and accidentally pressed the books/docs/notes button(s) with my wrist. Zoom and pan could be a great feature but if it doesnt have the dragable box then it will slow the readong even more

09-12-2006, 05:27 PM	#19
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	Hmmm...I don't know if this is good news or bad news... Whe I think about PDF-Zooming, I mainly mean Reflowable documents. In that case zooming makes sense, even on a slow eink display. If it means we have to scroll...count me out. Taking a reflowable PDF, opening it, seeing it's too small to read, zooming it, saving that state and then just reading...that's what i'm talking about...

09-13-2006, 06:00 AM	#25
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	creating is no problem at all, even Open Office has the option to create "tagged PDF" if I remember correctly...so that should work OK. I've also found that more recent PDF novels (I don't know about the DRM ones...) often already have a reflow option. If you have the right to edit a file and own acrobat you can also add tags to just about any PDF file, so you could do it that way as well...

09-13-2006, 10:44 AM	#27
VillageReader Evangelist Posts: 430 Karma: 2718 Join Date: May 2006 Device: Iliad	I don't know anything about tagged novels, but Steve Jordan (stevejordan.com) says his are. He has one that is free - and that could be the test run once 2.7 is out.

09-13-2006, 11:14 AM	#28
CommanderROR eink fanatic Posts: 2,022 Karma: 4924 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Germany Device: STAReBOOK, iRex Iliad, Sony 505, Kindle 2	good to know...i've got loads of tagged-and-ready PDF files lying around and can create one in a few minutes if need be, so I can probably do without, but it's good to know that people out there are using them for commercial ebooks as well.

09-13-2006, 11:28 AM	#29
pdam Groupie Posts: 199 Karma: 100 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: iLiad, iPaq, Psion5&7, Blackberry	Just to be clear - adding tags to a PDF doc means that it can be reflowed by an application (yes Openoffice 2.x can add tags to PDF's) - Note that you don't have to tag documents to reflow them, Acrobat reader (v7) will add temporary virtual tags to a document and reflow it for you ... it is the application that does the reflowing by either reading existing tags or creating virtual tags. How the current PDF reader on the Iliad would handle this would be interesting ... how would it handle page numbering (when you scale down a doc the page numbers are the same, when you reflow it, you have more pages)? It'd have to have a separate manifest file for the reflowed document/save the virtual tags so you could go back to the same place? Also - would it handle PDF's with mixed portrait and landscape pages ...? My guess is they are not talking about reflow but actual zoom, which will be OK to view the odd embedded graphic - but pretty pointless for ease of reading ...

09-13-2006, 11:30 AM	#30
pdam Groupie Posts: 199 Karma: 100 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: iLiad, iPaq, Psion5&7, Blackberry	Book marks, annotation and powersaving are what I want ...

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