New home screen limited to four books?

[Nick Payne]

It has been my habit for many decades to be reading multiple books concurrently - I read a chapter here and a chapter there.

The old home screen, as I recall, could have at least seven books displayed. The new one seems restricted to four, which is too few for my purposes.

Is there any way to get around this limitation of four? At the moment half of the home screen is occupied with crap which I can't dismiss and in which I have no interest.

[davidfor]

Sorry, that's how it works. The top row will show the four most recently opened and not finished books. There has been a LOT of discussion about the new home screen for the last few months.

[lightbulbjim]

Hamburger menu -> My Books -> Sort by recent

[Ripplinger]

If you hate it that much, you always have the choice to go back to older firmware to get the old home screen back. I'm on 4.2.8110 and will probably never update again because of the new home screen. It's not a problem for me since I never sync books with Kobo, I only sideload books to my readers.

[GeoffR]

Just to add to lightbulbjim's suggestion, if you set the options to "sort by recent" and "cover view" you should get more book covers (with progress/completion info) on the books page than you did on the old home screen. You can navigate back-and-forth between book and books page without ever visiting the homescreen.

It is probably better on the larger screen, but even on my old Glo (fw 4.5.9587) I get eight book covers with progress and/or completion status per page with cover view.

[Ken Maltby]

KOReader has added "Display mode" settings, that include such images for its "File Browser" and its "History" listing. The attached screenshots:

Luck;
Ken

Sorry, I could have set it up with better examples, this is just using my current files.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by lightbulbjim

Hamburger menu -> My Books -> Sort by recent

That sorts by most recent books added to the device, not most recently read. It's probably a decent replacement for some usage patterns, but not if you sync a large library to the device and then read at your leisure.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by sjfan

That sorts by most recent books added to the device, not most recently read. It's probably a decent replacement for some usage patterns, but not if you sync a large library to the device and then read at your leisure.

The "Date added" option sorts by the date added to the device; the "Recent" option sorts by the date of the most recent action on the book: sideloading, downloading, opening, reading, finishing, etc.

I.e. "Recent" sorts in exactly the same way that the old tiled home screen did, except that you can't dismiss individual books like you could dismiss individual tiles. (But for the OP who has many books on the go, the "Reading" filter could be used to exclude the finished and unread books.)

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by Nick Payne

It has been my habit for many decades to be reading multiple books concurrently - I read a chapter here and a chapter there.

The old home screen, as I recall, could have at least seven books displayed. The new one seems restricted to four, which is too few for my purposes.

Is there any way to get around this limitation of four? At the moment half of the home screen is occupied with crap which I can't dismiss and in which I have no interest.

Best fix is to go back to a previous version and don't turn wifi on again, or connect to the desktop app. That way you avoid updates. You can download your Kobo books to your PC and side load to your device. I have one of my devices on the new screen. Can't say I like it all that much.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by booklover6

Best fix is to go back to a previous version and don't turn wifi on again, or connect to the desktop app. That way you avoid updates. You can download your Kobo books to your PC and side load to your device. I have one of my devices on the new screen. Can't say I like it all that much.

This is my solution for both my Kobo Aura One and my Aura HD.

Might not be available though to people who purchase newer Kobos that come with a firmware with the "new" homescreen.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by dordale

Might not be available though to people who purchase newer Kobos that come with a firmware with the "new" homescreen.

For future devices, yes. From what I've read here, all of the newest can run an older than current version of the FW.

There are things I like about the newest FW, it's just the home screen that is ok, but I like it less than the previous one. I like having 6 or 7 book covers showing. I also think the latest FW is slightly slower, in responsiveness, than previous versions.

[patrik]

Hmm, I find the new menu system much more efficient than the old one (which I didn't have any problem with either).

I also read several books at a time. I simple press the "meny" buttom, "my books" and it shows the books I read last (sort: recent). Can it be simpler?

Practically no reason to go to the home screen anymore.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by patrik

Hmm, I find the new menu system much more efficient than the old one (which I didn't have any problem with either).

I also read several books at a time. I simple press the "meny" buttom, "my books" and it shows the books I read last (sort: recent). Can it be simpler?

Practically no reason to go to the home screen anymore.

Yes, works fine, until you add a bunch of books.

[patrik]

I add books all the time. Still works fine. Still easy.

Could it be better? Sure.

For me, the new menu system is a big improvement in way of ease.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by patrik

I add books all the time. Still works fine. Still easy.

Could it be better? Sure.

For me, the new menu system is a big improvement in way of ease.

Your opened books are still at the top of the list? Maybe I need to check my settings.

You must have Show: Reading Sort: Recent. I'll keep it like that for awhile!