[Archived] Marvin ePub reader for iPad

[kguil]

Thanks for the tips oooclll.

[ChristopherTD]

A quick question - should Marvin use embedded fonts in a book? I embedded a font using the latest Calibre version, and it's quite possible that the implementation of embedding by Calibre is flaky. However, the embedded font doesn't show up in Marvin. If this isn't a feature of Marvin yet, then I will stop tweaking...

[kguil]

Currently not. I'm working on it right now. It should be available within a couple of versions.

[ChristopherTD]

Hi Kris
Thanks for confirming that, I shall suspend my tweakage for the meantime!

[oooclll]

Hi Kris,

I was wondering if you could work in a way in which to visually depict the "thickness" of the book while it is being displayed in the library. Perhaps based on the number of characters in the book? I miss this a lot from physical books...

[kguil]

oooclll if you open the meta data for the book, there is a button at the bottom left that will count the number of words in the book. Once the number of words are counted they'll be shown underneath the cover of the book in the library.

[Kretzer]

Kris, does that mean you don't intend to show the book length visually? I think that has been discussed before here.
I like the word count and always do it out of curiosity, but a visual impression is still better. It would not need to be very accurate, but roughly equivalent to "percent of book".

This is one of the features I like in the Kindle app, it also looks good, I think.

[oooclll]

I am with Kretzer. A number is much more cognitively demanding (and less beautiful) than a visualization.

[Faterson]

oooclll and Kretzer,

Earlier in this thread, I strongly urged Kris to imitate the Kindle app in this regard. The Kindle app handles this very smartly:

The more dots are shown in the row for a book, the longer the book. That is ideally visual, just like you requested. At a glance, you can see how long a book is, compared to other books.

In contrast, the current way Marvin shows the rows of dots, is not smart, because a very short book has the same number of dots in its row, as a mammoth novel.

Kris said he would think about implementing the variable row lengths. I hope he will do so. At the same time, I also appreciate the current option to have the number of words displayed numerically on the book cover, so if we get both of those indicators at the same time, that would be great.

[oooclll]

I think my ideal visual representation would be a 3D rendition of the book image with a visible thickness.

[Faterson]

I'd prefer the variable-length rows of dots, because using any 3D visual representation, you run out of visible space on the iPad (and especially iPhone) screen pretty quickly... Whereas you can have dozens of books in your library, and when scrolling vertically, you always get the idea how long a book is, by looking at the rows of dots.

Maybe Kris will oblige us both and will give every user the option how to indicate book lengths. You would choose 3D, and I'd choose the variable-length rows of dots.

[kguil]

It's on the to do list.

[SharonK]

Originally Posted by :thanks: You don't [I

ever[/I] need to use the OPDS feature, Sharon. If you wish to use it, you just enter the IP address Calibre shows under the "Content Server" button, into Marvin. The address will end in :8080/opds.

What's even easier, Sharon, is what kyteflyer mentioned: you can just put your Calibre Library inside Dropbox. That way, whatever book you add to Calibre, will automatically become available for you for download on your iPad, iPhone, and anywhere else. Including inside Marvin, using its Dropbox button.

If you have misgivings about using Dropbox for books, you can use any other, similar cloud service for the same thing. I use SugarSync. You simply instruct SugarSync to monitor your Calibre "Books" folder, and that's it! Every book from Calibre will automatically become available for you to download on your iPad, iPhone, etc., using (for example) the SugarSync app. The SugarSync app, of course, gives you the option to open a book in Marvin after you download the book in the SugarSync app.

After reading all the information on the forum I looked at SugarSync, but since I already had Dropbox tried it instead. I didn't like the way Dropbox worked, putting my entire Calibre folder in Dropbox, and using your instructions connected Calibre to Marvin. I love it. Everything is working perfectly. Thank you so much for the information about the correct way to enter the address. That was the part I was having trouble with.

Marvin is the best reader I've ever seen and I'm still learning to use it. I, too, would like to see textured backgrounds such as old parchment paper.

[maxjens]

I understand you will look into it, but is it an idee to reuse the opening screen. One could put the alphabet on the first row to select a writer, then show the large cover with the info next tonit. These are in large fonts. The bottom one could show the covers of the books in that letter of the alphabet. A book that is selected is then shown with all info in the area above.

Just an idee

[kguil]

maxjens, I'm not sure I'm understanding.