ebook-viewer has lost its borders and much of its functionality - Page 3

kovidgoyal · 10-24-2019, 03:57 AM

Yeah generally speaking if the displayed text is non-reflowable within column width, bad things will happen. You can see it at normal font size with <pre> or a table. Not much I can do about that as the rendering is done by webengine.

deback · 10-26-2019, 10:32 AM

I'm experimenting with using the Calibre Viewer (3.48 64-bit) to read books, instead of using ADE (on my laptop). I've figured out everything, I think, except I can't find the hotkey to open the Viewer Preferences (the one with the wheel that I currently have to hit ctrl-F11 and then click the arrow at the bottom to open the rest of the menu choices and then click on the wheel). In an old message on this forum, Kovid said to hit ctrl-P, but that now opens the Print Menu. Thanks for any help with this.

BetterRed · 10-26-2019, 05:10 PM

Yes, it was Ctrl+P, but for me Ctrl/P is dead, and I can't see where they're kept, there's a few in viewer-webengine.json, but I can't find the rest, I think they're the ones I have customised… using the mouse.

BR

TropicCat · 10-27-2019, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

If you had read many of the posts,
you would find these answers

I suggest you roll back to 3.48

Why?

I love 3.48 and refuse to use any later version, but I ask again ... why? Everything that made this reader the best on the market is now gone. I'm now shopping for a replacement.

What a shame. I've been using Calibre since day 1 and there was absolutely no reason to disable the functionality. In the version 4 viewer, I can't even see what page I'm on!! Why is that important you ask? I have tablets, desktops and laptops. When I move between them, I read the same book. I have to know what page I'm on.

Why the hell did they change the damn viewer. Put it back the way it was.

theducks · 10-27-2019, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

Why?
was.

READ THE POSTS BY KOVID

Quoth · 10-27-2019, 08:55 AM

I just looked again at Calibre 4.2 and the new viewer on my spare 32 bit Linux laptop.
The viewer defaults are not what I 'd use, however configuring to have two panes with TOC in left like the 3.48 viewer and a scroll bar on the right and font size I wanted was simple. So the new Viewer now seems to work fine and can be used just like the old one. Fast enough on ancient HP530 with 4G RAM, Linux Mint 32 bit 18.3 and Mate desktop.
I'll test some more docx to epub2 and dual mobi on it before upgrading the main 64 bit linux laptop.

Sirtel · 10-27-2019, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

Why?

I love 3.48 and refuse to use any later version, but I ask again ... why? Everything that made this reader the best on the market is now gone. I'm now shopping for a replacement.

What a shame. I've been using Calibre since day 1 and there was absolutely no reason to disable the functionality. In the version 4 viewer, I can't even see what page I'm on!! Why is that important you ask? I have tablets, desktops and laptops. When I move between them, I read the same book. I have to know what page I'm on.

Why the hell did they change the damn viewer. Put it back the way it was.

Have you looked at the preferences of the new viewer? Most of what isn't there by default, can be customized to be there. Including page numbers (header & footer options).

Sirtel · 10-27-2019, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

So the new Viewer now seems to work fine and can be used just like the old one.

I agree. I use the new viewer now as the default again. That constant wheel-spinning when scrolling in a book has totally gone.

Many thanks for the great job, Kovid. You really are the best.

kovidgoyal · 10-27-2019, 12:51 PM

You're welcome

Slipkid · 10-27-2019, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Have you looked at the preferences of the new viewer? Most of what isn't there by default, can be customized to be there. Including page numbers (header & footer options).

100% agree. Some of the things I was used to weren't there initially, and took a little time to get right, but it works great now. Personally, the borderless look is growing on me. Also, there is no delay now when opening kfx files. (Except for the first time opening a book). In version 3 a kfx file took about 7-10 seconds to open.

DNSB · 10-27-2019, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

What a shame. I've been using Calibre since day 1 and there was absolutely no reason to disable the functionality. In the version 4 viewer, I can't even see what page I'm on!! Why is that important you ask? I have tablets, desktops and laptops. When I move between them, I read the same book. I have to know what page I'm on.

Why the hell did they change the damn viewer. Put it back the way it was.

Perhaps a few minutes spent customizing the viewer might have helped? Hit Esc or right click, look through the preferences and set them. I seem to have progress in terms of page being read/total pages, clock and time remaining on the bottom of the window in calibre's viewer. See the attached image. Freaking Luddites.

Kovid has been very responsive in making changes to the viewer to correct issues.

DoctorOhh · 10-28-2019, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

Everything that made this reader the best on the market is now gone. I'm now shopping for a replacement.

Nothing is "gone" as others have said go to viewer preferences, configure the viewer and continue reading as before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

there was absolutely no reason to disable the functionality.

Functionality has not been disabled. While in the viewer, hit escape or right click on the viewer text then configure the preferences as you see fit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

In the version 4 viewer, I can't even see what page I'm on!!

Then configure pages / progress to show in headers / footers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

Why the hell did they change the damn viewer. Put it back the way it was.

In reviewing recent threads it seems that the entire viewer had to be rewritten since the underlying screen renderer had been completely changed and the old one was no longer being supported.

If you have ideas to improve the viewer then ask Kovid and see if they can be implemented. Whining is counter-productive.

Attached is the way I like it. If I wanted a scroll bar on the right I would enable it in preferences. If I wanted the Table of contents (TOC) I would press ctrl T or open it in preferences. The TOC will remain showing across books as long as you keep it open. Hard to see here, but I show the time of day in the top right header.

TropicCat · 11-02-2019, 07:21 AM

Whining is counter-productive?????

Let's be clear...

Up to version 3.48 there was a functional configuration bar on the left side of the viewer that took little room. Any user could quickly use a mouse click to:

Copy
increase or decrease font size
open TOC
toggle full screen
page forward or back
set of move to a bookmark
set preferences
load a theme

and more...

This is called FUNCTIONALITY. No one is arguing you can't search through Calipre and figure a way to do each of these things. The argument is that is used to be all in one convenient place.

You call this Whining? No ... it more like calling it what it is ... a giant step backward.

This app has gone from the gold standard in ebook management and reading to an 'also ran'. I suggest you stop cheering on this retrograde ... and guide the author to put it back on track.

JSWolf · 11-02-2019, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

Whining is counter-productive?????

Let's be clear...

Up to version 3.48 there was a functional configuration bar on the left side of the viewer that took little room. Any user could quickly use a mouse click to:

Copy
increase or decrease font size
open TOC
toggle full screen
page forward or back
set of move to a bookmark
set preferences
load a theme

and more...

This is called FUNCTIONALITY. No one is arguing you can't search through Calipre and figure a way to do each of these things. The argument is that is used to be all in one convenient place.

You call this Whining? No ... it more like calling it what it is ... a giant step backward.

This app has gone from the gold standard in ebook management and reading to an 'also ran'. I suggest you stop cheering on this retrograde ... and guide the author to put it back on track.

The underlying software used for Calibre has changed.

https://calibre-ebook.com/new-in/thirteen

Quote:

New in calibre 4.0

Welcome back, calibre users. It has been two years since calibre 3.0. This time has been spent mostly in making the calibre Content server ever more capable as well as migrating calibre itself from Qt WebKit to Qt WebEngine, because the former is no longer maintained.

DiapDealer · 11-02-2019, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TropicCat

I suggest you stop cheering on this retrograde ... and guide the author to put it back on track.

And I suggest you get real. Stick to the version that works for you (and hasn't been taken away away from you), or adjust to the new version. Those are the choices. "Put it back the way it was" isn't a productive improvement suggestion. It's an entitled whinge.

10-26-2019, 10:32 AM	#32
deback Book E d i t o r Posts: 432 Karma: 288184 Join Date: May 2015 Device: Laptop	I'm experimenting with using the Calibre Viewer (3.48 64-bit) to read books, instead of using ADE (on my laptop). I've figured out everything, I think, except I can't find the hotkey to open the Viewer Preferences (the one with the wheel that I currently have to hit ctrl-F11 and then click the arrow at the bottom to open the rest of the menu choices and then click on the wheel). In an old message on this forum, Kovid said to hit ctrl-P, but that now opens the Print Menu. Thanks for any help with this. Last edited by deback; 10-26-2019 at 11:03 AM.

10-26-2019, 05:10 PM	#33
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 21,740 Karma: 30237526 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Yes, it was Ctrl+P, but for me Ctrl/P is dead, and I can't see where they're kept, there's a few in viewer-webengine.json, but I can't find the rest, I think they're the ones I have customised… using the mouse. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 10-27-2019 at 05:03 AM. Reason: misleading typo

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10-24-2019, 03:57 AM	#31
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,370 Karma: 27230406 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Yeah generally speaking if the displayed text is non-reflowable within column width, bad things will happen. You can see it at normal font size with <pre> or a table. Not much I can do about that as the rendering is done by webengine.

10-27-2019, 08:55 AM	#36
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,111 Karma: 105211945 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I just looked again at Calibre 4.2 and the new viewer on my spare 32 bit Linux laptop. The viewer defaults are not what I 'd use, however configuring to have two panes with TOC in left like the 3.48 viewer and a scroll bar on the right and font size I wanted was simple. So the new Viewer now seems to work fine and can be used just like the old one. Fast enough on ancient HP530 with 4G RAM, Linux Mint 32 bit 18.3 and Mate desktop. I'll test some more docx to epub2 and dual mobi on it before upgrading the main 64 bit linux laptop.

10-27-2019, 12:51 PM	#39
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,370 Karma: 27230406 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	You're welcome

11-02-2019, 07:21 AM	#43
TropicCat Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2019 Device: PC-Windows 10	Whining is counter-productive????? Let's be clear... Up to version 3.48 there was a functional configuration bar on the left side of the viewer that took little room. Any user could quickly use a mouse click to: Copy increase or decrease font size open TOC toggle full screen page forward or back set of move to a bookmark set preferences load a theme and more... This is called FUNCTIONALITY. No one is arguing you can't search through Calipre and figure a way to do each of these things. The argument is that is used to be all in one convenient place. You call this Whining? No ... it more like calling it what it is ... a giant step backward. This app has gone from the gold standard in ebook management and reading to an 'also ran'. I suggest you stop cheering on this retrograde ... and guide the author to put it back on track.

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