Calibre 4 Reader - KB Only?

[NerdToys]

Am I missing something? The only way to advance to the next page is using the keyboard? Clicking the page does nothing on my system. Did this function really get dropped?

[kovidgoyal]

Click the margins to turn pages or use the mouse wheel.

[theducks]

I never even tried the Rodent for that
I used the Spacebar

BTW I did just try. You can't be on the cover.
Once you advance (scroll wheel works), there is a tiny side arrow where the scroll bars used to be (mid point)

[NerdToys]

Thanks for the replies. Sorry, but this doesn't seem like an improvement to me. Have to say that I'm probably going back to the previous version. My primary reason to use Calibre is to read the books, and it feels like the reader has been made less useful. I didn't have any problem with the sidebar and the functions there, or the scrollbar that's been removed.

[Strether]

Lest Kovid think that some of us don't appreciate the new viewer, I hated the old one and the new one is amazingly easy to read with.

Jim

[Kythe42]

Originally Posted by NerdToys

Thanks for the replies. Sorry, but this doesn't seem like an improvement to me. Have to say that I'm probably going back to the previous version. My primary reason to use Calibre is to read the books, and it feels like the reader has been made less useful. I didn't have any problem with the sidebar and the functions there, or the scrollbar that's been removed.

I have to agree here. I'll try to give myself some time to get used to it, but I never had a problem with the sidebar controls and the header, which was pretty unobtrusive to begin with, and I actually really like having them there all the time rather than having to bring up the new control menu that obscures half the book. The new menu also really isn't nearly as aesthetically pleasing as the old sidebar.

This new version also lacks a functionality that the old one had that I made regular use of. While having the percentage there is a nice addition, I also really need the previous current/total "pages" that used to show in the upper left corner. Even if they aren't real pages, I found it much more useful than a percentage in determining how much progress I'd made. On top of that, I would also use it to navigate to a specific spot in the ebook, which isn't even currently available in the "Go to" controls. I kind of wish I could downgrade the viewer without downgrading the entire program.

Hope to see some improvements in future releases and I hope bringing the sidebar back as an option for those that want it will be possible.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Kythe42

I kind of wish I could downgrade the viewer without downgrading the entire program.

You can. See my post here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...1&postcount=47

I admit I use the old viewer because the scrollbar is indispendable for me. With the keyboard arrows I can't control the scroll speed so well, I also can't use them on my Windows tablet. Plus, the spinning gear in the new viewer is much more visible than it is in the old.

Sorry.

[Kythe42]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You can. See my post here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...1&postcount=47

I admit I use the old viewer because the scrollbar is indispendable for me. With the keyboard arrows I can't control the scroll speed so well, I also can't use them on my Windows tablet. Plus, the spinning gear in the new viewer is much more visible than it is in the old.

Sorry.

Thanks very much! An easy work around even if having two different versions installed feels a bit silly. Ultimately my first choice would have been having Moon+ Reader on Windows (have tried emulators but were slow, clunky, and syncing with Android didn't work), but in the absence of a Windows app for that, the older version of the Calibre viewer was the next best thing. I'll probably use this older version for now, but I will eagerly watch to see how the new viewer develops.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Strether

Lest Kovid think that some of us don't appreciate the new viewer, I hated the old one and the new one is amazingly easy to read with.

Indeed, and for myself, now that the reader has a nice clean reading interface, I will likely start using it as my main reading application on PCs.

John

[GarryB123]

Originally Posted by Kythe42

Hope to see some improvements in future releases and I hope bringing the sidebar back as an option for those that want it will be possible.

Me too.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Indeed, and for myself, now that the reader has a nice clean reading interface, I will likely start using it as my main reading application on PCs.

John

How is it cleaner ?



New on the left, old on right (scroll bar) with controls hidden (Ctrl+F11)

And when they were shown, the controls didn't obscure the text.



I'm not being critical, but I don't see how the new viewer has a cleaner user interface, just a different one. And it's dropped a couple of features Print to PDF and support for cover-free books.

BR

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

How is it cleaner ?

Attachment 173970

New on the left, old on right (scroll bar) with controls hidden (Ctrl+F11)

And when they were shown, the controls didn't obscure the text.

Attachment 173971

I'm not being critical, but I don't see how the new viewer has a cleaner user interface, just a different one. And it's dropped a couple of features Print to PDF and support for cover-free books.

BR

The vertical scroll bar is just clutter as far as I am concerned - has been a while since I played with the old reader (I preferred and used others) but seem to recall removing the scroll bar was not an option (may be corrected on that).

Am actually surprised that many still read with vertical scroll given I would have thought they would have become used to the app horizontal paging behaviours on tablets/phones/ereaders. I gave up vertical scrolling somewhere back around 100BCE (some of what I read then has since been found in caves), well sometime before the conveniences of computer mice, PDAs, tablets and ereaders were bestowed upon us it seems about 2,000 years ago .

I don't read with the controls displayed so they never clutter the text for me.

The old controls looked like something out of a 3 year old's hieroglyphic learner reader toy to me. Plus big and clunky.

Regarding features. I just use a reader for reading books so clean with no gizmos. Print to PDF and support for cover free books within the reader, nor any other such plaything gizmos in it are of any use to me, just feature clutter.

Have only had a little play with the new one so far, maybe more tidy like aspects will come apparent to me.

So, the new one is cleaner for me; like all these things each has personal views on such matters. A bit like art.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Am actually surprised that many still read with vertical scroll given I would have thought they would have become used to the app horizontal paging behaviours on tablets/phones/ereaders. I gave up vertical scrolling somewhere back around 100BCE (some of what I read then has since been found in caves), well sometime before the conveniences of computer mice, PDAs, tablets and ereaders were bestowed upon us it seems about 2,000 years ago .

I suspect that most of those who miss the scrollbar didn't use it for reading a novel from beginning to end with vertical scroll. I know I didn't. It was essential for quick overview and for checking the layout and formatting (which I do with every book I purchase), though. For just reading I used the paging.

Not everyone used the viewer just for reading. When one wanted to check for various things in a book, it was often more efficient and faster to have the controls and the scrollbar at hand.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I suspect that most of those who miss the scrollbar didn't use it for reading a novel from beginning to end with vertical scroll. I know I didn't. It was essential for quick overview and for checking the layout and formatting (which I do with every book I purchase), though. For just reading I used the paging.

Not everyone used the viewer just for reading. When one wanted to check for various things in a book, it was often more efficient and faster to have the controls and the scrollbar at hand.

Yes, but my post very specifically referred to a vertical scroll bar and using vertical scrolling, as implemented on the previous versions of the reader.

Moving on, the usual practice is to have a horizontal scroll bar that becomes visible with a touch action or right mouse click. A horizontal bar matches the usual horizontal paging of devices and apps, and matches the easier (for most people) making of horizontal gestures on touch screen or horizontal mouse movements. It is easy to see this with a mouse, for most people sweeping a mouse from side to side is easier than an up and down movement - side to side just involves moving the forearm, whereas up and down involves the whole arm.

I have no personal use problem with a scroll bar being added as long as it is not permanently visible, and I would have thought the solution of a horizontal scroll bar that can be made to appear/disappear with a touch or mouse click as is common in other reading apps/applications for fast navigation through a book would be ideal.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by AnotherCat

Yes, but my post very specifically referred to a vertical scroll bar and using vertical scrolling, as implemented on the previous versions of the reader.

Moving on, the usual practice is to have a horizontal scroll bar that becomes visible with a touch action or right mouse click. A horizontal bar matches the usual horizontal paging of devices and apps, and matches the easier (for most people) making of horizontal gestures on touch screen or horizontal mouse movements. It is easy to see this with a mouse, for most people sweeping a mouse from side to side is easier than an up and down movement - side to side just involves moving the forearm, whereas up and down involves the whole arm.

I have no personal use problem with a scroll bar being added as long as it is not permanently visible, and I would have thought the solution of a horizontal scroll bar that can be made to appear/disappear with a touch or mouse click as is common in other reading apps/applications for fast navigation through a book would be ideal.

I use Calibre mostly on my laptop with no mouse.

That aside, the problem with gestures is that you can't control the scroll speed as precisely as you could with the old scrollbar (I could move in tiny increments, slowly scroll the whole book through or scroll quickly forward and back.) It's the same problem with keyboard arrows - can't really control the speed. That's a deal-breaker for my workflow.