[Android] Wish List

[chaley]

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

Request: option to make it so that the sidebar doesn't animate when opening/closing. This makes it better for e-ink readers. Even better if this option keeps the "show sidebar" button but disables swiping right altogether (because swiping is a pretty lousy user experience on screens with low refresh rates).

I am not sure what animation you are talking about. Is the opening and closing of the grouping drawer? If so then I know of no way to control the animation. Certainly the underlying Android widget does not offer any semi-obvious way to do it. If your device is large enough then you could go to landscape so that the grouping drawer locks open.

I don't see the point of disabling a swipe. If you don't want to swipe then don't. Am I misunderstanding something? In any event, dragging to open the grouping drawer is another one of those things buried in the Android widget, and in this case a swipe is just a fast drag. I don't see a way to disable it.

Are the "show sidebar" buttons the open/close grouping drawer buttons above the book list? Or are you talking about the "affordance" button on the left side of the action bar?

Fantastic product, by the way!

Thanks.

[kaufman]

I don't think I would use this, but others might like it (especially on an e-ink device):

What about an option to use the volume buttons like paging buttons.

My book reader does this, as well as a couple of other apps.

[drmadhupk]

Originally Posted by chaley

This is one that won't happen for the reason you gave. As soon as we start moving CC toward a standalone app we will be required to support editing metadata. We would be pressured to be compatible with calibre, including things like the template language, saved searches, multi-format, and so on; to download metadata; and to update metadata in books. Calibre does all these things very well.

From time to time Kovid has talked about making a client/server calibre. If that happens then we would certainly provide a client. A desktop client/server implementation would need to come first so that we know that the protocol is complete and so we have a stable test bed. That is calibre-side work I would almost certainly help with if/when the idea percolates up to the top of Kovid's infinitely deep stack.

Sorry to trouble you about something which you said is never going to happen.

Is it possible to just have a option only to add books to cc directly on device but leave out ability to download metadata. And have these books under something like "books without metadata". This way I can add books to cc and read them when needed. When I get the next opportunity to access calibre with wireless router, I can sync these books with calibre - download metadata for these books on calibre and sync the metadata back to cc. This way cc wont be standalone and all metadata features are handled by calibre. I am wishing this because I get access to wireless router only occasionally.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by drmadhupk

Sorry to trouble you about something which you said is never going to happen.

Is it possible to just have a option only to add books to cc directly on device but leave out ability to download metadata. And have these books under something like "books without metadata". This way I can add books to cc and read them when needed. When I get the next opportunity to access calibre with wireless router, I can sync these books with calibre - download metadata for these books on calibre and sync the metadata back to cc. This way cc wont be standalone and all metadata features are handled by calibre. I am wishing this because I get access to wireless router only occasionally.

Sorry, but to do this would require metadata editing, something that is not going to happen. Why? When you add a book to CC in the fashion you suggest, where would CC get the title, author, etc? The only reliable way to get it would be for the user to enter it, which is metadata editing. In some cases alternates exist such as downloading metadata like calibre does (again, not something we will do) or getting metadata from inside the file (hard and unreliable, especially for PDFs).

Perhaps you could do something with calibre's content server. Add the book to calibre (I assume you have access to calibre), then fetch the book from its content server. The content server connection supports connecting to external computers, meaning that although you need a network connection it doesn't have to be one that can connect to the calibre machine. Instead you could come in over a 3G connection, as long as the calibre machine is visible on the 'net.

[pickyaxe]

Request: Connect -> As Wireless Device... / To Content Server... will turns on WiFi if it is off (maybe make it optional?)

Very useful for the T68, since due to design turning on WiFi is an annoying 4-click procedure.

[kaufman]

Right now the Show icon changes to show what it is gong to do.

Would it be possible to have the Sort Icon do the same thing?

Note that there are two possibilities for this request:

1) Simple: Don't change the Icon for different sorts, but show Z on top of A for reverse sorts.

2) More work: Show a different little icon for each sort. Perhaps instead of the arrow, show a T,A,S,P,D. This might be harder for date sorts, because how would you know which one you had done, but perhaps people who use date sorts concentrate on just one of them.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by pickyaxe

Request: Connect -> As Wireless Device... / To Content Server... will turns on WiFi if it is off (maybe make it optional?)

Very useful for the T68, since due to design turning on WiFi is an annoying 4-click procedure.

Right now CC displays a "Toast", a message that floats over the screen for a few seconds. Instead of that we could display a dialog that says the same thing but offers a "turn on wifi" button and a "try again" button. Pushing the turn on wifi button would (gasp!) turn on wifi and leave the dialog showing. You would wait until your device connected to something and then tap the "try again" button. Does this work for you?

I am a bit leery of having an option that always turns wifi on, because in some situations that isn't appropriate behavior. It could also interact with content server 3g connections. Using the dialog seems to get the ease of use you are looking for while leaving the choice to the user.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

Right now the Show icon changes to show what it is gong to do.

Would it be possible to have the Sort Icon do the same thing?

Note that there are two possibilities for this request:

1) Simple: Don't change the Icon for different sorts, but how Z on top of A for reverse sorts.

2) More work: Show a different little icon for each sort. Perhaps instead of the arrow, show a T,A,S,P,D. This might be harder for date sorts, because how would you know which one you had done, but perhaps people who use date sorts concentrate on just one of them.

I don't understand the request. The show icons can change because there is only one option, switch to what isn't showing now. There is never a need to open a sub-menu. This isn't the case with sort, so tapping the icon will never do anything other than open the selections menu. And I thought you moved that icon off the action bar.

Perhaps you are looking for some indication about how the list is currently sorted? The TASPD idea seems to indicate that. If there is space on the action bar then the icon can be accompanied by text. Alternatively the current sort could be displayed somewhere such as at the top of the grouping drawer where the current group is displayed. Or (said somewhat tongue in cheek) there might be a way to pop up a "current status" display showing how many books in the library, how it is grouped, and how it is sorted. Perhaps a long-press on the affordance icon in the corner.

At any rate, I need to better understand what you are really asking for.

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by chaley

Perhaps you are looking for some indication about how the list is currently sorted? The TASPD idea seems to indicate that. If there is space on the action bar then the icon can be accompanied by text. Alternatively the current sort could be displayed somewhere such as at the top of the grouping drawer where the current group is displayed.

Exactly. Right now I have it hidden in the menu, but it might be acceptable to show it in order to see the current sort and sort direction.

Having said that, I think I like your idea a lot better. Show it in the top section of the grouping drawer under to the grouping information. Since that line can get long, I would leave the grouping information line alone and have the next line become

XXX books sorted by YYY Ascending (or descending as the case may be).

Originally Posted by chaley

Or (said somewhat tongue in cheek) there might be a way to pop up a "current status" display showing how many books in the library, how it is grouped, and how it is sorted. Perhaps a long-press on the affordance icon in the corner.

This might not be as terrible as you think. Still very terrible, just not as terrible.

[pickyaxe]

Originally Posted by chaley

we could display a dialog that says the same thing but offers a "turn on wifi" button and a "try again" button. Pushing the turn on wifi button would (gasp!) turn on wifi and leave the dialog showing. You would wait until your device connected to something and then tap the "try again" button. Does this work for you?

Perfect. This sounds like a nice implementation. Thanks.

[nebby]

The latest release appears to add a "Show FAQ in web browser" option in the connect menu dropdown. Can this be relocated to the settings menu or an option added to hide it from the connect menu?

[kaufman]

Originally Posted by nebby

The latest release appears to add a "Show FAQ in web browser" option in the connect menu dropdown. Can this be relocated to the settings menu or an option added to hide it from the connect menu?

If you are doing that, could you also add an option to have the connect automatically do a user specified type of connection. I only ever do a wireless connection and would prefer to skip the sub-menu completely.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by nebby

The latest release appears to add a "Show FAQ in web browser" option in the connect menu dropdown. Can this be relocated to the settings menu or an option added to hide it from the connect menu?

Why? The message takes no real estate from anything else, does nothing toxic if accidentally tapped, and is useful for new users.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by kaufman

If you are doing that, could you also add an option to have the connect automatically do a user specified type of connection. I only ever do a wireless connection and would prefer to skip the sub-menu completely.

Sorry, but no, I won't do this. It would dramatically change the behavior of the connect menu, turning it into something more like book/grid list. That creates a very different code path and menu structure that must be maintained. All this for something that one does perhaps once or twice per day max, more likely once or twice per week.

[kaufman]

No problem, just an idea.