Calibre's viewer scrolling problem on laptop

Icewarden · 11-22-2019, 07:50 AM

Hello, I have scrolling problem with calibre's viewer in laptop with trackpad. Its a Dell laptop with Windows 10. I use flow mode and when scrolling downwards with two fingers, it always jumps to next chapter instead of going continuously like a webpage which makes reading not possible with scrolling which is my preferred method. I tried changing setting in scrolling behaviour by trying "mouse wheel scrolls by screen fulls instead of pages" setting both on and off but nothing changed. Please do tell if I have missed some settings.
The version 3 did not have this issue. Version 3 only jumped at the end of a chapter in book but version 4 jumps every time. If possible I request to provide option in flow mode to not jump at all even after chapter ends and continuously scroll from beginning to end of book without jumping when chapter ends. Like how pdf readers like foxit and pdf x change editor behaves.
I have another small request and I apologize if its off topic. But if possible, can an option of dark mode to turn the toolbar at the side and the box which appears above when right clicked be made available in future versions? The boxes shown in this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/G8pcPHe.png
Regards

kovidgoyal · 11-22-2019, 08:57 AM

Using two fingers on the touchpad in the viewer works for me exactly as before in flow mode, it scrolls continuously. Is your touchpad not generating wheel events??

Icewarden · 11-22-2019, 10:37 AM

Sorry I don't know what wheel events is.
But another thing I should mention, scrolling upward has no jumping issues and it works fine. Its only jumps when scrolling downwards.
I also just downloaded version 3.48 portable of calibre to check and it has no jumping issues I mentioned above

democrite · 11-22-2019, 07:13 PM

I don't recall how the old viewer differs in this, though what's hinted at in the message is something I've been meaning to ask. As we are used to viewing documents in some sense like flow mode, word processing documents, PDFs, some mobile EPUB readers act as such, etc., is it possible to offer some smoother transition between files? At the limit of a file/chapter, calibre loads the previous or next file with scroll position at the top of the file. As such, scrolling at the limit such as to view the end of one file or beginning of another is a bit finicky. If it were possible to have the viewer use multiple WebFrames (?) such that at the limit of a chapter, it would smoothly scroll between them, such that one could simultaneously view the beginning/end of one file and such of another, like how some email apps show a threaded conversation using multiple HTML controls, how a word processor smoothly transitions between pages, and too many PDF viewers, I think that'd significantly enhance flow mode viewing.

Icewarden · 11-22-2019, 08:57 PM

Here's a gif screenshot of my problem: https://imgur.com/IzbY41V

kovidgoyal · 11-22-2019, 09:04 PM

@Icewarden: Wheel events are the events sent by a mouse wheel which is what two fingers on a touchpad are meant to emulate. Make sure you are on the latest calibre version.

@democrite: Sure at the cost of greatly complicating the code, increasing resource usage and tanking performance. Another webframe as you call it is a whole new sandboxed process in web engine. That process would therefore need to laod all the resources used by the book in copies. And all this for somethingthat is not even the primary usecase of the viewer. If the transition between files bothers you so much, merge the files before reading, which you can do with a couple ofclicks in the editor or by converting to htmlz.

Icewarden · 01-02-2020, 04:59 AM

This problem no longer exist in the newest version I tried and the table of contents is dark mode now too. Thanks for these good changes.

entodoays · 07-04-2020, 03:40 AM

I'm posting here, because my query is quite similar. I would like the viewer to not scroll past the end of internal borders.
There's a setting in viewer "Stop at internal file boundaries when smooth scrolling by holding down the scroll key". I tried enabling this setting, but what is the scroll key? I'm using the trackpad to scroll and there's no scroll lock on my laptop.

kovidgoyal · 07-04-2020, 03:48 AM

The scroll key is down or page down or spacebar. Mouse wheel/trackpad based scrolling is not applicable to that setting.

entodoays · 07-04-2020, 04:00 AM

Is there a way to stop the viewer scrolling past internal file boundaries while scrolling with the trackpad?

kovidgoyal · 07-04-2020, 04:31 AM

No that would make it impossible to scroll through the entire book using the touchpad.

entodoays · 07-04-2020, 04:45 AM

I'm using Reasily app on my Android and the way it works is this: Scroll takes you up to, but not beyond internal boundaries, then to go to the next section you swipe sideways.
I can imagine a similar behaviour with the trackpad. Scrolling takes you to the end of section. Then you can either press the right arrow key or scroll sideways to move to the next section.
Another possibility that I've seen in another app is that there is a sort of "resistance" when you scroll to the end of a section when you scroll to the end. You have to scroll "harder" to pass beyond the end of chapter.
Either one of these behaviours would make flow mode much more pleasant in my opinion. I tend to keep the line I'm reading at the top of the screen. This implies that when I get to the end of the chapter, at one point it skips the last page and move on to the next chapter. This is what I'm trying to avoid.
I'm ready to test development versions of the viewer if this helps. I'm using Ubuntu.

kovidgoyal · 07-04-2020, 05:01 AM

Using another key to turn pages is precisely what I want to avoid when I said "it makes it impossible to scroll through the entire book with the touchpad".

As for resistance, that's just annoying when fast scrolling through a book, which is what I tend to use the touchpad for. That said this is not something I would refuse a patch that adds an option for.

As for your use case, you can convert the book to htmlz and read that, it will remove all internal file boundaries, or you can merge the internal files in the calibre editor, if conversion is not suitable.

entodoays · 07-04-2020, 05:13 AM

Now that I think of the "resistance" option, the app actually adds resistance ONLY to the first of boundaries and then it scrolls freely, which wouldn't be too much of a nuisance when scrolling across multiple chapters, but would avoid the unwanted page skip at the first chapter when you're reading normally.
I could convert ebooks, but I have a big collection and would rather avoid doing batch conversions if it can be avoided. Also, some internal boundaries in certain books are actually helpful.

democrite · 07-10-2020, 03:30 AM

Flow mode is for me too very natural on a screen. We view web pages as such; many perhaps most view PDFs as such. Why not EPUB? Multiple viewers have it. iOS Books. Now Kindle for iOS and perhaps Android. Google Play app not yet. eReaders? Screen tech perhaps does not allow for such.

Merging or conversion is not quite possible in many cases. Not everyone reads simple so called fiction. Many works have multiple footnotes, references, etc., and such may not survive a merge. The Apple iOS solution was to add a control type to iOS itself of an array of views, web views in the case of Books, and render views as needed. Not possible for calibre? Perhaps. Possible to have lets say a recyclable array of three or x number of views such that as one scrolls, the next and previous views are loaded such as if one is at some file boundary more than one can be displayed stacked, and if one scrolls to a position, the view length is already calculated and then loaded? Maybe possible. A lot of work? Could be. I continue to believe flow is the natural way to view an ebook, at least on desktop, and if it's not used more for eBooks, it's perhaps the difficulty of implementing such.

11-22-2019, 07:50 AM	#1
Icewarden Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	Calibre's viewer scrolling problem on laptop Hello, I have scrolling problem with calibre's viewer in laptop with trackpad. Its a Dell laptop with Windows 10. I use flow mode and when scrolling downwards with two fingers, it always jumps to next chapter instead of going continuously like a webpage which makes reading not possible with scrolling which is my preferred method. I tried changing setting in scrolling behaviour by trying "mouse wheel scrolls by screen fulls instead of pages" setting both on and off but nothing changed. Please do tell if I have missed some settings. The version 3 did not have this issue. Version 3 only jumped at the end of a chapter in book but version 4 jumps every time. If possible I request to provide option in flow mode to not jump at all even after chapter ends and continuously scroll from beginning to end of book without jumping when chapter ends. Like how pdf readers like foxit and pdf x change editor behaves. I have another small request and I apologize if its off topic. But if possible, can an option of dark mode to turn the toolbar at the side and the box which appears above when right clicked be made available in future versions? The boxes shown in this screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/G8pcPHe.png Regards

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11-22-2019, 08:57 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Using two fingers on the touchpad in the viewer works for me exactly as before in flow mode, it scrolls continuously. Is your touchpad not generating wheel events??

11-22-2019, 10:37 AM	#3
Icewarden Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	Sorry I don't know what wheel events is. But another thing I should mention, scrolling upward has no jumping issues and it works fine. Its only jumps when scrolling downwards. I also just downloaded version 3.48 portable of calibre to check and it has no jumping issues I mentioned above

11-22-2019, 07:13 PM	#4
democrite Evangelist Posts: 425 Karma: 77256 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: none	I don't recall how the old viewer differs in this, though what's hinted at in the message is something I've been meaning to ask. As we are used to viewing documents in some sense like flow mode, word processing documents, PDFs, some mobile EPUB readers act as such, etc., is it possible to offer some smoother transition between files? At the limit of a file/chapter, calibre loads the previous or next file with scroll position at the top of the file. As such, scrolling at the limit such as to view the end of one file or beginning of another is a bit finicky. If it were possible to have the viewer use multiple WebFrames (?) such that at the limit of a chapter, it would smoothly scroll between them, such that one could simultaneously view the beginning/end of one file and such of another, like how some email apps show a threaded conversation using multiple HTML controls, how a word processor smoothly transitions between pages, and too many PDF viewers, I think that'd significantly enhance flow mode viewing.

11-22-2019, 08:57 PM	#5
Icewarden Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	Here's a gif screenshot of my problem: https://imgur.com/IzbY41V

11-22-2019, 09:04 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	@Icewarden: Wheel events are the events sent by a mouse wheel which is what two fingers on a touchpad are meant to emulate. Make sure you are on the latest calibre version. @democrite: Sure at the cost of greatly complicating the code, increasing resource usage and tanking performance. Another webframe as you call it is a whole new sandboxed process in web engine. That process would therefore need to laod all the resources used by the book in copies. And all this for somethingthat is not even the primary usecase of the viewer. If the transition between files bothers you so much, merge the files before reading, which you can do with a couple ofclicks in the editor or by converting to htmlz.

01-02-2020, 04:59 AM	#7
Icewarden Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2019 Device: none	This problem no longer exist in the newest version I tried and the table of contents is dark mode now too. Thanks for these good changes.

07-04-2020, 03:40 AM	#8
entodoays Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 706 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	I'm posting here, because my query is quite similar. I would like the viewer to not scroll past the end of internal borders. There's a setting in viewer "Stop at internal file boundaries when smooth scrolling by holding down the scroll key". I tried enabling this setting, but what is the scroll key? I'm using the trackpad to scroll and there's no scroll lock on my laptop.

07-04-2020, 03:48 AM	#9
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	The scroll key is down or page down or spacebar. Mouse wheel/trackpad based scrolling is not applicable to that setting.

07-04-2020, 04:00 AM	#10
entodoays Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 706 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	Is there a way to stop the viewer scrolling past internal file boundaries while scrolling with the trackpad?

07-04-2020, 04:31 AM	#11
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No that would make it impossible to scroll through the entire book using the touchpad.

07-04-2020, 04:45 AM	#12
entodoays Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 706 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	I'm using Reasily app on my Android and the way it works is this: Scroll takes you up to, but not beyond internal boundaries, then to go to the next section you swipe sideways. I can imagine a similar behaviour with the trackpad. Scrolling takes you to the end of section. Then you can either press the right arrow key or scroll sideways to move to the next section. Another possibility that I've seen in another app is that there is a sort of "resistance" when you scroll to the end of a section when you scroll to the end. You have to scroll "harder" to pass beyond the end of chapter. Either one of these behaviours would make flow mode much more pleasant in my opinion. I tend to keep the line I'm reading at the top of the screen. This implies that when I get to the end of the chapter, at one point it skips the last page and move on to the next chapter. This is what I'm trying to avoid. I'm ready to test development versions of the viewer if this helps. I'm using Ubuntu.

07-04-2020, 05:01 AM	#13
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Using another key to turn pages is precisely what I want to avoid when I said "it makes it impossible to scroll through the entire book with the touchpad". As for resistance, that's just annoying when fast scrolling through a book, which is what I tend to use the touchpad for. That said this is not something I would refuse a patch that adds an option for. As for your use case, you can convert the book to htmlz and read that, it will remove all internal file boundaries, or you can merge the internal files in the calibre editor, if conversion is not suitable.

07-04-2020, 05:13 AM	#14
entodoays Zealot Posts: 144 Karma: 706 Join Date: Oct 2011 Device: Sony Reader PRS-T1	Now that I think of the "resistance" option, the app actually adds resistance ONLY to the first of boundaries and then it scrolls freely, which wouldn't be too much of a nuisance when scrolling across multiple chapters, but would avoid the unwanted page skip at the first chapter when you're reading normally. I could convert ebooks, but I have a big collection and would rather avoid doing batch conversions if it can be avoided. Also, some internal boundaries in certain books are actually helpful.

07-10-2020, 03:30 AM	#15
democrite Evangelist Posts: 425 Karma: 77256 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: none	Flow mode is for me too very natural on a screen. We view web pages as such; many perhaps most view PDFs as such. Why not EPUB? Multiple viewers have it. iOS Books. Now Kindle for iOS and perhaps Android. Google Play app not yet. eReaders? Screen tech perhaps does not allow for such. Merging or conversion is not quite possible in many cases. Not everyone reads simple so called fiction. Many works have multiple footnotes, references, etc., and such may not survive a merge. The Apple iOS solution was to add a control type to iOS itself of an array of views, web views in the case of Books, and render views as needed. Not possible for calibre? Perhaps. Possible to have lets say a recyclable array of three or x number of views such that as one scrolls, the next and previous views are loaded such as if one is at some file boundary more than one can be displayed stacked, and if one scrolls to a position, the view length is already calculated and then loaded? Maybe possible. A lot of work? Could be. I continue to believe flow is the natural way to view an ebook, at least on desktop, and if it's not used more for eBooks, it's perhaps the difficulty of implementing such.