01-29-2019, 12:24 PM | #1 |
Nameless Being
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Reader app that respects publisher CSS
Has anyone found an Android reader app that will respect the publisher CSS, similar to how the Calibre built-in reader does on PC?
I normally use Moon+ reader, and it's great. I've also tried nearly all the other leading android readers (to name a few: FB Reader, CoolReader, Presitigio, Readera, Aldiko, Mandano, etc.). However, I have a few books that have tricky layout and CSS. These books render perfectly fine on apps that don't do much messing with the CSS: 3 examples are the Calibre built-in reader, Adobe Digital editions for PC, and the Google Play Books reader. But on 100% of the Android reader apps, they will mangle or at least seriously rearrange the layout of the pages in ways that are deterimental. I've tried simple in-app CSS tweaks, to no avail. What I'm looking for is a simple android reader app that leaves the publisher CSS alone. ETA: I know that Moon+ has "publisher preview" button to show you the publisher's rendering. Strangely enough, that works perfectly but is read/view-ONLY. It only shows what it WOULD look like, but you lose all the functionality of the reader app so it's not useful beyond showing you what the content would look like if the reader weren't messing with it. I actually pinged the developer once and asked if they could just enable a setting to "render content per publisher" but otherwise leave all reader functionality enabled. He agreed that'd be useful but it's never happened, so I assume not much demand for that. Last edited by maximus83; 01-29-2019 at 01:24 PM. |
01-29-2019, 02:50 PM | #2 |
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My 2 go-to Android epub apps, which are good with CSS, are Bookari (formerly known as Mantano) and Pocketbook (by Obreey Products).
Bookari has 2 different renderers available if you want to use an EPUB3 renderer for EPUB3s. As you said you've already tried this one I'm wondering what CSS didn't work for you? It's pretty easy to use but some of the bells & whistles are only in the premium version. Pocketbook is not quite as easy to use because some of its features are not as easily discoverable (e.g. custom tap zones). However, all its premium features are included in the free version, so it's hard to complain about that. It also has 2 different renderers available - one is Adobe-based the other Webkit-based - so you get 2 chances to see whether a particular book's CSS displays as you expect. |
01-29-2019, 03:55 PM | #3 |
Nameless Being
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You are spot on, both apps render complex layouts correctly.
Definitely, the Pocketbook UI is a bit, er, complex. But it handles the CSS nicely and renders per publisher layout. (ETA: inline fixed an error in details) On Bookari, when I selected the "Webkit" rendering--it solves the issue immediately. Apparently the Adobe rendering is engine is the culprit. Related item, I had used an old Mantano version from several years ago, and I had the paid version at the time. Bookari doesn't seem to recognize that, oh well. Have you figured out how to get either app to render in-page footnotes in a popup screen (versus navigating to some footnote page, then having to click some kind of back navigation to return to reading position)? Last edited by maximus83; 01-29-2019 at 06:23 PM. |
01-29-2019, 05:07 PM | #4 | |
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... but assuming you mean in Android ... I haven't actually tested this but the first experiment I'd try is to make sure the epub was epub3 then try coding the footnotes using pairings of Code:
<a epub:type="noteref" ...> <aside epub:type="footnote" ...> I think there are other epub3 Android reading apps out there. Maybe someone who's actually used them will drop by and offer their thoughts. ETA: Try the Gitden reading app if using epub3 footnotes. I think that will work. Last edited by jackie_w; 01-29-2019 at 05:31 PM. Reason: ETA |
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02-02-2019, 01:28 PM | #5 |
Nameless Being
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So, circling back on this, I did some more research, tried a bunch of apps and the most recent versions (some of the ones I tried were 2 or 3 years ago, which in device development that is like 10 years).
Here are all the ones I can find, including the ones @jackie_w listed, that will respect the published CSS of complex layouts on the first try, without any messing with settings, and also have some kind of synchronized note-taking system that lets you capture and export notes, and sync across devices: * Kindle app * Google play * Kobo app * Bookari app * Pocketbook app * FB Reader This one was a surprise. I had tried this as recently as last year, and at that time it still didn't work. FB Reader is *really* coming on strong. They not only render all my complex books perfectly, they also do a great job of rendering footnotes, and give you settings to control that. They have a web-based sync where you can see and edit the metadata of your FB reader books, and they have a note-capturing system that syncs to Google Drive so you can retain control of your books and your notes. Interestingly, they've added cross-platform support so you can now run FB Reader on ios as well as android. In their roadmap, they play to add support for mac/linux/windows, so they are truly going for the universal solution. Last edited by maximus83; 02-02-2019 at 01:30 PM. |
02-10-2019, 07:44 PM | #6 | |
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02-10-2019, 08:41 PM | #7 | |
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Last edited by jackie_w; 02-10-2019 at 08:52 PM. Reason: correction to item 3. |
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02-10-2019, 09:23 PM | #8 | |
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I found setting up new gestures to be a bit problematical (I think there is a language barrier in the translations that result in, for me, a confusing use of the terms "screens" and "sheets") but after much playing around I got what I wanted - as jackie_w said, it will keep you busy for a while . It is slightly clearer after the very recent update (a week or two ago). |
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02-10-2019, 11:19 PM | #9 | |
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02-11-2019, 04:59 PM | #10 |
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I have not found a way to make PocketBook to respect 'text-align: center'. All my centered texts and images are on left. At least it resizes overlarge images to fit the screen width.
What I want, is to put 3000x2000 (well, BIG) map into a book, have it fit the screen (without distortion, I can turn the phone sideways), then when I need to see details, tap the map to 1:1 zoom and pan around it. At the moment the tap-and-zoom works pretty well, tho I have not tested it with really big images. But it bugs me (occasionally) that all headers and logos are on the left. |
02-11-2019, 09:02 PM | #11 | |
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Does it happen for books purchased, or books that you have built yourself or have converted from other formats? |
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02-12-2019, 08:11 AM | #12 |
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Happens to every single book (epub, probably 2), and IIRC also right alignment is nullified. I'm quite sure that all alignment is discarded. I have set the app preferences to have paragraphs justified, but it shouldn't epub's own css take precedence?
Tried same book in CoolReader & AReader -- both show captions and headings and images in center. AReader also zooms the image to 100%, PB-s zoom is smaller, and sort of rubbery -- I stretch the img out and it shrinks slowly back in 1-2 seconds. I thought that zoomed image is so small because phone screen has more pixels. I've been meaning to clobber together a test ebook with different fonts and styling... |
03-16-2019, 08:24 PM | #13 |
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Got Pocketbook reader installed (got the Mars on Friday). I like it very much it does most of what I need. My first ereader was a PB 360 and I still have it....need to find a good home for that one.
Im hoping someone comes a long and figures out the root and maybe we can get some custom firmware down the road and get some of the Boyue software cleaned up. |
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