Marvin 3.0

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by kguil

@atjnjk - I'm adding an "Export book to bundle" (annotations, notes, metadata, etc...) feature to my to do list. I like the idea so I'll prioritise it.

When you add it, Kris, could you, please, also add the reverse option "Import book from bundle"? That would be great. Thank you.

Originally Posted by democrite

Another thing I mentioned once: fonts. Not sure if the long list in 2.0 makes for user choice or a complicated UI. But that's less important. Wanted to mention there weren't many with good Unicode coverage. DejaVu and Gentium Plus are the only free ones from what I remember that have been decent. I'll sideload something else with 3.0 but including them, others may like.

I think Marvin's offering of fonts has been outstanding, and anything but confusing. I particularly like the Arvo font. (M3 adds Bitter, an excellent font.) As far as I'm aware, all fonts in Marvin except for Volkhov support Unicode. That's too bad, because I find Volkhov excellent for night-time reading. But its creator simply hasn't, so far, bothered to expand it to cover the entire Unicode range.

[svenlind]

@Chaotic . I can really follow you on the praise of Marvin.

I started with the free version V2 using my iPad 3. After I discovered the means to do user defined web searches with a word from the book I was sold.

The iPad 3 is IMO too large for most fiction reading. I therefore bought an iPad mini to the Marvin app.

[kguil]

@democrite In M3 there are some more fonts with pretty good coverage.

@Randyman Thanks!

[kguil]

@Faterson - Yes. The plan is to import too.

@Svelind - sometimes I find the iPad a bit too big too. I added 3 column reading mode on iPads to make it a bit better.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by kguil

@Faterson - Yes. The plan is to import too.

@Svelind - sometimes I find the iPad a bit too big too. I added 3 column reading mode on iPads to make it a bit better.

Different strokes for different folks. I like the size of the iPad since it means that I can still read without reading glasses.

[randyman]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I like the size of the iPad since it means that I can still read without reading glasses.

I’ve gone through four iterations of the iPad, and I’m quite happy with the overall size.

Still, I have to admit that it could be heavy for some people. Being a musician, I have strong hands… but younger readers or people with smaller hands might find it tiring.

And the larger iPad Pro (not the regular 9.7 inch size) is a non-starter for general reading, at least for me. A great graphic tool and presentation tablet, but I’ll stick with the 9.7" version for my ebooks.

I do know people who swear by the featherweight iPad Mini, but that screen is just too small for me. Since my first e-reader was one of the old RocketBooks – a true brick – even a regular iPad seems pretty lightweight in comparison.

How far we’ve come… the iPad + Marvin is a reader’s nirvana, and it’s about to get even better with v3.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by randyman

I’ve gone through four iterations of the iPad, and I’m quite happy with the overall size.

Still, I have to admit that it could be heavy for some people. Being a musician, I have strong hands… but younger readers or people with smaller hands might find it tiring.

And the larger iPad Pro (not the regular 9.7 inch size) is a non-starter for general reading, at least for me. A great graphic tool and presentation tablet, but I’ll stick with the 9.7" version for my ebooks.

I do know people who swear by the featherweight iPad Mini, but that screen is just too small for me. Since my first e-reader was one of the old RocketBooks – a true brick – even a regular iPad seems pretty lightweight in comparison.

How far we’ve come… the iPad + Marvin is a reader’s nirvana, and it’s about to get even better with v3.

Actually, I meant to say the iPad Pro, which is what I do most of my reading on these days. It's great for PDF and really is nice for regular books. I've never really had a problem with it being too heavy.

[Faterson]

I use Marvin on all 3 iPad-sizes – 8-inch, 10-inch and 13-inch – and I appreciate them all. (Not to mention the 5.5-inch iPhone 6S Plus.)

I agree that for linear fiction reading, the iPad mini seems ideal. However, especially for complex non-fiction books, where you often appreciate being able to see as much text at a single glance as possible, the 13-inch iPad Pro's screen suits me best.

Also (funnily enough), I prefer the 13-inch Marvin for reading boring books, even if they are fiction – you see, boring books annoy me, and I typically can't wait to get rid of them by finishing them as soon as possible: and the 13-inch screen creates the comforting illusion that there are fewer pages left to go through that particular ordeal.

[tomsem]

One thing I would like to see in Marvin 3 is support for (physical) keyboard navigation and hotkeys, at least equivalent to iBooks to start with. Holding command key shows the hotkeys etc.

When I have a keyboard paired, I don't like to have to interact directly with the screen for everything, at least not for turning pages, setting bookmarks, initiating Search, etc.

I would also like to see better support for Accessibility features (Speak Screen primarily, but VoiceOver more generally).

[Faterson]

Hardware keyboards are supported and can be configured in Marvin 3.

Speak Screen is there as well, but I'm not sure what exactly VoiceOver is and how it differs from Speak Screen. (I don't ever do audio-books so I'm clueless in that area.)

[kguil]

@tomsem Hardware keys for both Bluetooth keyboards and remote control dongles are fully supported in Marvin 3. You can also customise what each key does.

Text to speech also works quite nicely (and natively) in M3.

[Kumabjorn]

Can you use the volume rocker to move back and forth between pages? Like holding volume+ down will move ten pages at a time, very useful when going through an 800 pages tome on chemistry or something like that.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

[kguil]

@Kumabjorn - I recall that Apple forbid that kind of functionality (using hardware buttons for reasons other than intended, with the exception of camera apps).

[Kumabjorn]

Too bad, a fast method of moving through pages is a boon for reference works.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Hardware keyboards are supported and can be configured in Marvin 3.

Speak Screen is there as well, but I'm not sure what exactly VoiceOver is and how it differs from Speak Screen. (I don't ever do audio-books so I'm clueless in that area.)

VoiceOver is a screen reader, allowing navigation by touch and also enhancing navigation with a hardware keyboard. iBooks and Kindle implement it quite well. It makes apps accessible to people with visual issues.

Speak Screen just reads screen text and can be used independently of VoiceOver. It can provide TTS-like functionality for reading apps that implement it correctly.