[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[maxjens]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

This app is totally sucking up my time. I have spent more time in Calibre figuring out how I want my books to look. I have been adding the meta data, fixing covers, adding series information. None of this would have happened without this silly app.

I too know the feeling.

Now I mostly have good info in the metadata and covers, but they are not inside the epub. Is it possible to also use that information? Would offcourse love the option too choose what to use when presenting a book in the library.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by bounce

Been looking for a way to export highlights from Epub. Great app.

Some e-reader apps may be able to export highlights, but not in the smart way Marvin does it (in a separate HTML file per book).

However, when it comes to importing, restoring, merging and sharing highlights (in that someone else can import your annotations into their own copy of the book) -- I believe that Marvin is absolutely unique in this regard, and the first e-reader app ever, on any platform, to allow this. To me, Marvin's advanced annotation capabilities are its no. 1 competitive advantage.

[kguil]

Version 1.2.5 is out. Enjoy.

http://marvinapp.com/whatsnew.html

[mariosipad]

Saw it.
Downloaded it.
Will enjoy it!

[luvmy4brats]

Thank you for this wonderful app. I am beyond thrilled with it. Like ProfCrash, I've been spending my time "prettying" things up in Calibre.

I just downloaded the update and am looking forward to playing with it. I'm most excited about the dictionary list.

[luvmy4brats]

Quick thing

I just noticed that while the leading 0 is no longer needed in the series (thank you). Any books tagged with a decimal (like 7.5, 12.5) for "in between" novellas, they show up at the end of the list.

For example I have books 1-32 showing up in proper order, and then after those, I have books 7.5, 12.5, 17.5, 22.5, 24.5, 27.5, 29.5.

I'm pretty sure those with the decimal were sorting properly before this last update.

[ChristopherTD]

Is it the case that formatting preferences are persisted for each book? I suspect that this may be the case - and it is wonderful if it is so. Just wanted to check and see if I was hallucinating or not?

PS if font/margin preferences aren't persisted for each book, it would be great if they were, since some books have wacky stylesheets that require quite a bit of tinkering to get readable. Switching to a normal book and suddenly you have to undo all those changes.

[icallaci]

Not sure if this is a question about Marvin specifically (perhaps it is Apple's problem or a problem with the book I am reading), but if an epub contains a style in the CSS with a negative top margin, Marvin seems to ignore it and uses some other default style. I am currently reading a book where "margin-top: -1em" is used to display that paragraph closer to the previous paragraph, but instead Marvin displays it with a gap. I modified the CSS so that no negative numbers are used and it fixes the problem, but...just wondering a) if negative numbers are a no-no in CSS and b) is this a bug in Marvin?

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by ChristopherTD

Is it the case that formatting preferences are persisted for each book? I suspect that this may be the case - and it is wonderful if it is so. Just wanted to check and see if I was hallucinating or not?

You've got that right: Marvin is that smart. It's another unique feature of Marvin. Its remembering individual settings for every book separately, is a huge time-saver for me, and raises the overall reading experience to higher levels compared to other e-reader apps which are ridiculously rigid and inflexible in this regard.

[bounce]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Some e-reader apps may be able to export highlights, but not in the smart way Marvin does it (in a separate HTML file per book).

However, when it comes to importing, restoring, merging and sharing highlights (in that someone else can import your annotations into their own copy of the book) -- I believe that Marvin is absolutely unique in this regard, and the first e-reader app ever, on any platform, to allow this. To me, Marvin's advanced annotation capabilities are its no. 1 competitive advantage.

As you saw in the other thread I was looking for an Epub reader that exports highlights and found this app. Came on today to make a feature request that I noticed was implemented in today's update (dictionary list). Will look into those import functions. Cheers, can't wait to see where this apps goes.

[Mike76]

Is there any chance to implement feature of using custom dictionaries (for example StarDict ones) in the future?

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by bounce

Came on today to make a feature request that I noticed was implemented in today's update (dictionary list). Will look into those import functions.

In a future Marvin release, it will be possible to export the Vocabulary Lists using the HTML and CSV formats. Import/restore/merge will work for them as well, just as they do for highlights and annotations.

Originally Posted by Mike76

Is there any chance to implement feature of using custom dictionaries (for example StarDict ones) in the future?

StarDict dictionaries have been discussed earlier in this thread. It appears they are out-of-date, and there may be copyright issues with them.

I'm eagerly awaiting the announced Translate button in Marvin, too. Once it's there, it will (for example) transfer the reader to a 3rd-party translation app or service. I use the Lingvo app currently, for e-books in languages such as Russian and Polish, for which iOS offers no internal dictionaries. Lingvo gives you both definition and translation dictionaries, of top professional quality (such as from the Collins publishing house), which I'm afraid isn't quite true of StarDict dictionaries.

Especially now with the new Vocabulary List feature in Marvin, I can't wait to see that Translate button implemented. Right now, when reading a Russian book in Marvin, I first need to (seemingly uselessly) press the Define button, so that the word gets stored in Marvin's Vocabulary List. Then I need to press the Copy button, and then I need to switch to the Lingvo app manually. That's 3 steps. As soon as we get the Translate button in Marvin, it should be possible to merge those 3 steps into a single tap of the Translate button.

[Mike76]

Thanks, I've read the previous comments about dictionaries in this thread.

Right now I'm using similar method than you for translating (there are really good third-party Hungarian dictionaries) but it's not really comfortable. The hungarian e-reader community has a few self-made dictinonaries in prc, freedict and stardict formats (far from professional, but usable in everyday reading), so it would have been a great solution for us. Anyway, that Translate button sounds good, I hope it will be implemented as soon as possible.

[bounce]

Originally Posted by Faterson

In a future Marvin release, it will be possible to export the Vocabulary Lists using the HTML and CSV formats. Import/restore/merge will work for them as well, just as they do for highlights and annotations.

I'm eagerly awaiting the announced Translate button in Marvin, too. Once it's there, it will (for example) transfer the reader to a 3rd-party translation app or service. I use the Lingvo app currently, for e-books in languages such as Russian and Polish, for which iOS offers no internal dictionaries. Lingvo gives you both definition and translation dictionaries, of top professional quality (such as from the Collins publishing house), which I'm afraid isn't quite true of StarDict dictionaries.

Especially now with the new Vocabulary List feature in Marvin, I can't wait to see that Translate button implemented. Right now, when reading a Russian book in Marvin, I first need to (seemingly uselessly) press the Define button, so that the word gets stored in Marvin's Vocabulary List. Then I need to press the Copy button, and then I need to switch to the Lingvo app manually. That's 3 steps. As soon as we get the Translate button in Marvin, it should be possible to merge those 3 steps into a single tap of the Translate button.

Great! My next request would be a export vocab out of all books at once so you can put them into Anki or similar flashcard program. Also, just an idea: something similar to Chrome's "language immersion add-on" would be an interesting optional feature for learning languages. http://chrome.google.com/webstore/de.../details?hl=en

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by Mike76

Anyway, that Translate button sounds good, I hope it will be implemented as soon as possible.

Yes... the truly optimal solution, of course, would be for the definition/translation to become visible right inside Marvin -- without the need to leave Marvin. Not sure if it's possible for Kris to arrange that.

The Kindle app is the smartest, when it comes to the display of dictionaries. They are no translation dictionaries, either, however. It's very smart, on Kindle's part, just to pop up the definition at the bottom or the top of the screen. If you want to see the entire definition, you just tap for "more" there.

The iOS way of displaying dictionaries, in a pop-up bubble, is no longer as good, because it makes part of the text on the screen invisible. The worst deficiency is, however, it makes search within dictionaries impossible. You can't look up the definition of a word used in a definition. Also, Apple makes it impossible, for now, to select what language the pop-up dictionary should appear in -- it's pretty much a random process in iOS 6. You can't transparently switch among the available iOS dictionary languages on-the-fly. That's very unprofessional.

Finally, there's the 3rd way: switching to a top-quality 3rd-party dictionary app. And I love Lingvo. But, this makes it necessary to return to Marvin manually ever time (using the 4-finger swipe gesture).