4.0 version Calibre update? Terrible

[Seadevil]

tHE SIDEBAR showing all the options is gone ! can't adjust size of fonts..limited.

Removed and went back to older version.

Maybe someone can FIX it?

[rashkae]

Easy there.. I'm not gonna try to get you to like the new interface, but everything is there. Right click on the page, or press the ESC key, to bring up controls, including font size.

The only thing really missing, that I've found, is a quick toggle between paged and scrolling modes.

[aegiswiz]

I tried to associate the reader to portable 3.48 and nothing but trouble even after manually adjusting registry. As like you, I uninstalled 4 and reinstalled 3.48

Maybe When KOVID GOYAL sees waves and waves of folks abandoning 4.0 he'll reconsider his destruction of ebook-viewer.exe. I've had Calibre since it came out and trusted Kovoid as he'd never done anything this disastrous before. In the old version, you could set your preferences and actually have them happen. This one, doesn't matter how you adjust the styles, or even if it is saving (it appears to) but nothing changes according to the revised styles.

[michael95621]

Originally Posted by rashkae

Easy there.. I'm not gonna try to get you to like the new interface, but everything is there. Right click on the page, or press the ESC key, to bring up controls, including font size.

The only thing really missing, that I've found, is a quick toggle between paged and scrolling modes.

You are correct the interface is still there, but IMO it's nearly unusable at least on a laptop/tablet. It takes up half the screen, isn't user friendly, and isn't intuitive. I actually thought I broke something until I remembered I updated the software and my first google result was another person having problems.

I too will be going back to the old design as it's far easier to use.

I'd also like to point out that ESC not reducing full screen mode and +/- not being mapped to zoom or having a clickable zoom are simply poor design choices to not have as default settings if we are going to go to this type of view.

I hope the developer fixes it or I'd be curious to see why they went in this direction.

[GregW]

Originally Posted by aegiswiz

I tried to associate the reader to portable 3.48 and nothing but trouble even after manually adjusting registry. As like you, I uninstalled 4 and reinstalled 3.48

Maybe When KOVID GOYAL sees waves and waves of folks abandoning 4.0 he'll reconsider his destruction of ebook-viewer.exe. I've had Calibre since it came out and trusted Kovoid as he'd never done anything this disastrous before. In the old version, you could set your preferences and actually have them happen. This one, doesn't matter how you adjust the styles, or even if it is saving (it appears to) but nothing changes according to the revised styles.

Saving viewer preferences works if you close the preferences window using the (x) and not the (esc).

For me though, every other option I use regularly is either not there or twice as hard to get at. I'm back to 3.48 too.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by michael95621

I'd also like to point out that ESC not reducing full screen mode and +/- not being mapped to zoom or having a clickable zoom are simply poor design choices to not have as default settings if we are going to go to this type of view.

ESC is used to access the controls which are actually useable in fullscreen unlike in the old viewer. And the controls have button to toggle fullscreen. And pressing crtl+(+ or -) increases and decreases font size just as it did in the old viewer. And there is a clickable way to increase and decrease font sizes as well via the controls.

[stan999]

Never had a problem with calibre speed ,ever. This release is laggy as s**t. It's not my specs or either of that crap. Going back to 3.48. I like the UI changes...Coming from Mac anything and everything windows UI aesthetics terrifies me to death!

[michael95621]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

ESC is used to access the controls which are actually useable in fullscreen unlike in the old viewer. And the controls have button to toggle fullscreen. And pressing crtl+(+ or -) increases and decreases font size just as it did in the old viewer. And there is a clickable way to increase and decrease font sizes as well via the controls.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I should preface and amend my original response by saying the following first:

1. Thank you for creating what is still the best ebook reader out there. Better yet it's 100% free. If 4 was the only thing available I'd likely still use it over anything else on the market paid or not.

2. While I don't agree with the design choices of 4 vs. 3.48 I am merely critic with absolutely zero of the skillset required to create what you've done. I am also one user, so my input should be taken with a grain of salt, for all I know there is a large group of dedicated powerusers or perhaps pay and what you've created are the features they want. My only ask is that you continue to support a version that looks more like 3.48 as I think many users will find it more friendly and easier to learn/navigate.

I do most of my reading on a surface pro 6 running windows 10 home. I have the keyboard and pen option, but I think it's well known that both the Pro 6 and Windows 10 have bugs. When I tried using +/- the page didn't zoom in or out it was non-responsive. When I clicked on the % indicator at the bottom right it was also non-responsive. The only method I found was to ESC and dig through the setting to change the zoom level which wasn't easy or intuitive. I also couldn't figure out how to close the book cleanly either. I'm sure some of this could be fixed by just spending more time with the application, but I didn't see an upside to learning a new method when I didn't think it would be faster than the old method. I should also mention that I had an important thing I needed to read within a limited time frame and didn't have the time or patience to learn a completely new interface to read it.


With that said my suggestion for Calibre that I think would be ideal, would be to have it function like a hybrid of softwares that people already use extensively for their work or leisure, the chief among them being Adobe Reader and Netflix respectively. When you go full screen in these the method of exiting full screen is ESC or F11, which are common for browsers and many applications, so having that bring up the GUI is confusing at least to me. Additionally simply mousing brings up the clean GUI for these applications, and the GUI in them has a similar look and feel to 3.48 vs. a GUI that took up over half my screen in 4. Generally speaking full screen is really meant for people who already know the keyboard shortcuts or who will be doing mouse clicks/wheel only without any scrolling.

[un_pogaz]

I agree on this point:
ESC is not a common key for options (not in a software).
The only case I know the case where ESC == Option is the video games.... because ALL the keys are theoretically usable in-game (but it was necessary to exclude a key to display the menu, so we chose ESC because it was isolated and being the furthest from the other keys).
Since normal applications are less immersive, an F key would be more appropriate.
Moreover, a lot of game inclue one key F == Options in addition to ESC.

[gweminence]

Originally Posted by stan999

Never had a problem with calibre speed ,ever. This release is laggy as s**t. It's not my specs or either of that crap. Going back to 3.48. I like the UI changes...Coming from Mac anything and everything windows UI aesthetics terrifies me to death!

Can't say I agree - Calibre is much, much faster for me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Seadevil

tHE SIDEBAR showing all the options is gone ! can't adjust size of fonts..limited.

Removed and went back to older version.

Maybe someone can FIX it?

Obviously you didn't get the new way of getting to the options in the new viewer. What you do is right click and you'll get the options. So you can change the size of the text and all the other options.

Two easiest waya to change the text size is to hold the shift key and use the scroll wheel on your mouse or using the keyboard, CTRL+ or CTRL- will change the text size.

So there's really no reason to go back. You can install Calibre 4.1 and you can have your options with the viewer.

[JSWolf]

What I don't get is why so many people are assuming things about Calibre 4.x and getting it all wrong. A good example is assuming that the options were taken away from the viewer.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by michael95621

You are correct the interface is still there, but IMO it's nearly unusable at least on a laptop/tablet. It takes up half the screen, isn't user friendly, and isn't intuitive. I actually thought I broke something until I remembered I updated the software and my first google result was another person having problems.

i have to say that you are incorrect. I'm using a laptop and I also use a Surface Pro 2 and on both, the interface does not take up 1/2 the screen. Besides, once I do what I want/need to do, the interface control go back to being hidden.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

ESC is used to access the controls which are actually useable in fullscreen unlike in the old viewer. And the controls have button to toggle fullscreen. And pressing crtl+(+ or -) increases and decreases font size just as it did in the old viewer. And there is a clickable way to increase and decrease font sizes as well via the controls.

Would it be possible to make some enhancements to the viewer when it comes to graphics?

I would like to be able to double click an image and have it viewed. In the viewer if the image is larger then the viewer, I;d like to be able to use the mouse to scroll the image. Thanks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by stan999

Never had a problem with calibre speed ,ever. This release is laggy as s**t. It's not my specs or either of that crap. Going back to 3.48. I like the UI changes...Coming from Mac anything and everything windows UI aesthetics terrifies me to death!

Same laptop that was running 3.48 is now running 4.1 and I do not find 4.1 to be laggy. Maybe your AV doesn't like the new 4.x. That can cause a lag.

I'm on Windows 10.