Stand alone Android epub reader that handles formatting correctly?

Barty · 10-28-2019, 01:34 PM

I'm looking for something on Android like Marvin. An epub reader you can side load books to, has a nice interface, and formats correctly -- eg doesn't ignore margin-top or text-indent. The closest I've seen is fbreadet, but the ui is kind of rough.

Thanks in advance

Sent from my G6 using Tapatalk

jackie_w · 10-28-2019, 02:22 PM

I'm not an Apple user so can't comment on similarities to Marvin, but I posted some info here about CSS honouring on Android epub apps.

Opinions on UI are in the eye of the beholder so I won't comment about that either.

ETA: I use Calibre Companion with both of the apps I mention so I don't need the library features provided by either.

stumped · 10-28-2019, 03:56 PM

Bookari honours CSS well, as stated in the above link,leastways it did when I last used it.

I abandoned it for moon reader which also honours CSS well IF you have the patience to work through many many preferences and tweak it to do so. "Out of the box", moon tends to do its own thing to suit small screens.

Bookari lost me due to their kobo-like habit of bundling new free bugs with each update. If you get bookari, also get a good backup and restore app for rolling back out of bugged uodates

TBH, download free trial versions and see for yourself, rather than go with other folks opinions.

crane3 · 10-28-2019, 04:10 PM

Why is it presumed that the CSS for a book is "correct"? If I change the font or font size, wouldn't I be 'dishonoring' the publisher's intent in CSS?

Then again, how does one know that the CSS is correct if the person determining the stuff is a summer intern working at the publisher's office? Is an editor doing the CSS & what about the author's preferences of how things should look?

And what about text that was just ran thru a epub conversion package by the someone at the publishing house? Which epub conversion software is the "correct" method?

stumped · 10-29-2019, 03:08 AM

update to my previous comments
Be warned that google play reviews of Bookari have turned hostile and rating is dropping
specific accusations for Bookari Premium are
1. its looking like abandonware- no updates for over a year
2. Bookari customer service has gone dark. they no longer reply to help requests
3. the app does not work AT ALL with android 10.

I don't use it at all nowadays, so I cannot personally confirm the above, just posting them as a warning for prospective buyers
I did visit bookari.com, which thinks it's still 2018 and has nothing to say about the app, so that's another bad sign

Moon reader is the most capable and best rated android app. its many features for " optimising" CSS for small screens can be toggled off if you don't care for them

Dopedangel · 10-29-2019, 11:27 AM

If you like fbreader then set it up with calibre companion. For me the ui of the app does not matter much as I rarely go to the settings browse my books with calibre companion then open with my prefered reader can even be different app for different formats.

Barty · 10-29-2019, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crane3

Why is it presumed that the CSS for a book is "correct"? If I change the font or font size, wouldn't I be 'dishonoring' the publisher's intent in CSS?

Oh I very much want to use my own font face and text size etc. That's why I use epub rather than pdf.

What I mean by honoring the CSS is I don't want the reader software to do things like left align everything, including title and headings, just because I select ragged margin, or to have the same spacing between all paragraphs and the same first line indent when the book uses extra spacing and no indent to denote scene change. The fact that many books are poorly formatted or I don't like the choices the punisher makes doesn't mean the reader software should further mess things up.

Barty · 10-29-2019, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

Bookari honours CSS well, as stated in the above link,leastways it did when I last used it.
.

Thanks I'll give bookari a try.

I tried moon a while ago. It had a lot of settings but I remember it was a chore to get it to display things properly. I'll try it again to see how it goes.

Pajamaman · 10-29-2019, 09:07 PM

Alreader is very good. My favorite. Very advanced.

Koreader seems to respect formatting, and you can reliably turn it off, but I've found it unstable in Android. Works good on a kobo/kindle.

eMole · 10-30-2019, 03:09 AM

If you like fbreader don't worry about CSS, for fbreader's CSS supoort is NULL.

stumped · 10-30-2019, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barty

Thanks I'll give bookari a try.

I tried moon a while ago. It had a lot of settings but I remember it was a chore to get it to display things properly. I'll try it again to see how it goes.

as per my previous post on bookari - if you have, or plan to get, android 10 then don't waste your money.

if you want to do your own checks then email them asking if they have or plan to have A10 support - see if they respond

JSWolf · 10-30-2019, 07:19 AM

Why is it that most reading apps for Android are garbage? and don't respect the CSS?

stumped · 10-30-2019, 08:37 AM

garbage is a strong term.

Most may be optimised for a small ( smart phone sized) screen, so the designers have made decisions to improve readability on a screen that is way smaller than an actual paperback book, where honoring the original CSS could indeed give "garbage" experience.

whereas the kindle developers know that amazon only sells 6 or 7 inch kindles so they can make an app that looks good on those, and not worry about how it might look on 3 inch, or 13 inch...

same goes for Marvin. Ipads come in a limited number of sizes, so an apple only reader does not have to support thousands of possible device variants and 6 or more main OS releases

if you run those small screen android (phone) apps on a 10+ inch tablet, than the "optimisation" may not suit

, which is why apps like moon reader have lots and lots of tweakable settings so you get the experience you want on your screen.

NB that's my end user opinion, go bother a developer or write your own if you don't like whats on offer.

I am happy with all of Kindle for android, Moon reader pro , Libby( for overdrive books). I'd use any of those rather than have to read an actual paper book.

Barty · 10-30-2019, 03:38 PM

^^^ yes it's unfair to call them garbage but chrome and other browsers on Android manage to handle much more complex CSS. I don't think the variety of screen sizes is the key difference here. I'm guessing many of the Android readers share the same problematic code base.

Sent from my G6 using Tapatalk

JSWolf · 10-30-2019, 04:43 PM

Garbage is the term I use for eBook reading software that doesn't respect the CSS.

You can respect the CSS and still allow overrides. It's just that a lot of Android programs just use the overrides regardless of the CSS with no way to turn off the overrides. So in some cases, you are stuck the eBook looking how you don't want because the overrides only give a limited set of options.

The way I look at is is if you cannot respect the CSS, don't bother to write the program.

10-28-2019, 01:34 PM	#1
Barty doofus Posts: 2,518 Karma: 13036221 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	Stand alone Android epub reader that handles formatting correctly? I'm looking for something on Android like Marvin. An epub reader you can side load books to, has a nice interface, and formats correctly -- eg doesn't ignore margin-top or text-indent. The closest I've seen is fbreadet, but the ui is kind of rough. Thanks in advance Sent from my G6 using Tapatalk

10-28-2019, 02:22 PM	#2
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,208 Karma: 16534692 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: Kobo: KA1, ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E. PocketBook: TouchHD3	I'm not an Apple user so can't comment on similarities to Marvin, but I posted some info here about CSS honouring on Android epub apps. Opinions on UI are in the eye of the beholder so I won't comment about that either. ETA: I use Calibre Companion with both of the apps I mention so I don't need the library features provided by either. Last edited by jackie_w; 10-28-2019 at 02:24 PM. Reason: ETA

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10-28-2019, 03:56 PM	#3
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	Bookari honours CSS well, as stated in the above link,leastways it did when I last used it. I abandoned it for moon reader which also honours CSS well IF you have the patience to work through many many preferences and tweak it to do so. "Out of the box", moon tends to do its own thing to suit small screens. Bookari lost me due to their kobo-like habit of bundling new free bugs with each update. If you get bookari, also get a good backup and restore app for rolling back out of bugged uodates TBH, download free trial versions and see for yourself, rather than go with other folks opinions.

10-28-2019, 04:10 PM	#4
crane3 Guru Posts: 608 Karma: 5007204 Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Calif Device: Fire hdx 8.9, Tab S2, Tab S5e, Aura ONE	Why is it presumed that the CSS for a book is "correct"? If I change the font or font size, wouldn't I be 'dishonoring' the publisher's intent in CSS? Then again, how does one know that the CSS is correct if the person determining the stuff is a summer intern working at the publisher's office? Is an editor doing the CSS & what about the author's preferences of how things should look? And what about text that was just ran thru a epub conversion package by the someone at the publishing house? Which epub conversion software is the "correct" method?

10-29-2019, 03:08 AM	#5
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	update to my previous comments Be warned that google play reviews of Bookari have turned hostile and rating is dropping specific accusations for Bookari Premium are 1. its looking like abandonware- no updates for over a year 2. Bookari customer service has gone dark. they no longer reply to help requests 3. the app does not work AT ALL with android 10. I don't use it at all nowadays, so I cannot personally confirm the above, just posting them as a warning for prospective buyers I did visit bookari.com, which thinks it's still 2018 and has nothing to say about the app, so that's another bad sign Moon reader is the most capable and best rated android app. its many features for " optimising" CSS for small screens can be toggled off if you don't care for them

10-29-2019, 11:27 AM	#6
Dopedangel Wizard Posts: 1,759 Karma: 30063305 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Singapore Device: Boyue	If you like fbreader then set it up with calibre companion. For me the ui of the app does not matter much as I rarely go to the settings browse my books with calibre companion then open with my prefered reader can even be different app for different formats.

10-29-2019, 09:07 PM	#9
Pajamaman Wizard Posts: 2,827 Karma: 10700629 Join Date: May 2016 Location: Canada Device: Onyx Nova	Alreader is very good. My favorite. Very advanced. Koreader seems to respect formatting, and you can reliably turn it off, but I've found it unstable in Android. Works good on a kobo/kindle.

10-30-2019, 03:09 AM	#10
eMole Zealot Posts: 130 Karma: 546310 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: PocketBook Touch HD, PocketBook Era	If you like fbreader don't worry about CSS, for fbreader's CSS supoort is NULL.

10-30-2019, 07:19 AM	#12
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,897 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Why is it that most reading apps for Android are garbage? and don't respect the CSS?

10-30-2019, 08:37 AM	#13
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	garbage is a strong term. Most may be optimised for a small ( smart phone sized) screen, so the designers have made decisions to improve readability on a screen that is way smaller than an actual paperback book, where honoring the original CSS could indeed give "garbage" experience. whereas the kindle developers know that amazon only sells 6 or 7 inch kindles so they can make an app that looks good on those, and not worry about how it might look on 3 inch, or 13 inch... same goes for Marvin. Ipads come in a limited number of sizes, so an apple only reader does not have to support thousands of possible device variants and 6 or more main OS releases if you run those small screen android (phone) apps on a 10+ inch tablet, than the "optimisation" may not suit , which is why apps like moon reader have lots and lots of tweakable settings so you get the experience you want on your screen. NB that's my end user opinion, go bother a developer or write your own if you don't like whats on offer. I am happy with all of Kindle for android, Moon reader pro , Libby( for overdrive books). I'd use any of those rather than have to read an actual paper book.

10-30-2019, 03:38 PM	#14
Barty doofus Posts: 2,518 Karma: 13036221 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Voyage	^^^ yes it's unfair to call them garbage but chrome and other browsers on Android manage to handle much more complex CSS. I don't think the variety of screen sizes is the key difference here. I'm guessing many of the Android readers share the same problematic code base. Sent from my G6 using Tapatalk

10-30-2019, 04:43 PM	#15
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,897 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Garbage is the term I use for eBook reading software that doesn't respect the CSS. You can respect the CSS and still allow overrides. It's just that a lot of Android programs just use the overrides regardless of the CSS with no way to turn off the overrides. So in some cases, you are stuck the eBook looking how you don't want because the overrides only give a limited set of options. The way I look at is is if you cannot respect the CSS, don't bother to write the program.

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