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Old 07-25-2010, 06:07 AM   #1
mikelv
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New version 1.3.0.0 available

The new version is now available on addons.mozilla.org: https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/45281.

Here is what I changed:

Changes
  • Now it's possible to read the book content in several columns, so it's easier to read if the lines are long. This can be configured in the preferences.
  • A button for opening the ePub-catalog can now be added to the Firefox toolbar.
  • Plugins (e.g. for display of SVG images) can now be enabled in the preferences.
  • Firefox 4.0 is now supported.

Bugfixes
  • Sometimes the book content wasn't displayed with the configured font size.
  • Font size changed via the zoom-buttons was reset when the Firefox tab was changed.
  • On some websites the filename of ePub-files was not displayed in the Firefox "Save as" dialog.
  • In some cases "ePub-file corrupted" was displayed instead of the loaded page (e.g. login).

As always, please let me know if you experience any problems and for the case you like the new features, I'm also very happy to hear from you .

Last edited by mikelv; 08-03-2010 at 03:19 AM.
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Old 07-25-2010, 09:18 AM   #2
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Great.
I like the new feature reading in columns.
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Old 07-25-2010, 09:40 AM   #3
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Hi,
I think a button to hide/show TOC would be convenient.
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Old 07-25-2010, 09:44 AM   #4
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The current column config is using minimum width. I think it will be more convenient using number of columns, such as 1, 2, 3 columns with a button on the toolbar. The default is 1 column, a click on the button will toggle 2 columns, and another 3 columns,...
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Old 07-25-2010, 09:51 AM   #5
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When reading real paper books, we turn page by page. Currently, we still use vertical scrollbar to navigate contents of EPUB. It will make EPUBReader more similiar to real paper book if we can hide vertical scrollbar in EPUBReader. Instead, we can click on the next-page/prev-page button to turn page.

Besides, maybe it's too much, if some animation (the effect of turning page) can be used when turning page...

Last edited by ericshliao; 07-25-2010 at 10:08 AM.
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Old 07-25-2010, 12:16 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericshliao View Post
When reading real paper books, we turn page by page. Currently, we still use vertical scrollbar to navigate contents of EPUB. It will make EPUBReader more similiar to real paper book if we can hide vertical scrollbar in EPUBReader. Instead, we can click on the next-page/prev-page button to turn page.
Here is one vote very much against that kind of change unless it can be only an option. Emulating dead tree technology on an electronic screen is not always good ergonomics. The current method allows smooth scrolling with the mouse scroll wheel, and IMHO is ergonomically better on a computer screen.
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Old 07-26-2010, 04:52 AM   #7
mikelv
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericshliao View Post
Hi,
I think a button to hide/show TOC would be convenient.
Hi Eric,

thanks for your feedback!

You can use the "Del" key on the keyboard to hide/show the TOC.

If you make a right click over the EPUBReader navigationbar and select "Help keyboard", you see all available keyboard shortcuts.
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Old 07-26-2010, 04:59 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericshliao View Post
The current column config is using minimum width. I think it will be more convenient using number of columns, such as 1, 2, 3 columns with a button on the toolbar. The default is 1 column, a click on the button will toggle 2 columns, and another 3 columns,...
When I implemented the columns feature, I thought also about this solution. I decided to implement it like I did, because I think it's more convenient to just tell Firefox how large the columns should be and let do it the rest automatically.

Let's see which other feedback comes in, if many people would like to use it another way, I'll think about changing it.
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Old 07-26-2010, 05:09 AM   #9
mikelv
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ericshliao View Post
When reading real paper books, we turn page by page. Currently, we still use vertical scrollbar to navigate contents of EPUB. It will make EPUBReader more similiar to real paper book if we can hide vertical scrollbar in EPUBReader. Instead, we can click on the next-page/prev-page button to turn page.

Besides, maybe it's too much, if some animation (the effect of turning page) can be used when turning page...
I know that other readers like the one on the iPad simulate book reading, my intention is not to do this. I want to give the user the best reading experience which is possible with the means of Firefox. This means, that you can scroll pagewise with the page up/down keys on your keyboard, or use the vertical scrollbar if you want to scroll linewise.
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Old 07-26-2010, 02:16 PM   #10
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Scrolling of the page having several columns

Hi Michael,

Having the possibility to split the text into several columns is very nice and needed feature.

But I think that implementation of scrolling of the page having more than one column isn't right. To scroll vertically isn't good usability. Such page should have not a vertical scrollbar but a horizontal one. This is how splitting text into columns is implemented in Lucifox ePUB reader.
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Old 07-26-2010, 03:14 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laisvunas View Post
...that implementation of scrolling of the page having more than one column isn't right.
That's why I came up with the idea of pagewise scrolling, instead of vertical scroll-bar. For one-column reading, vertical scrollbar is ok, but for columns more than one, vertical scrollbar may be obsurd.
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Old 07-26-2010, 04:31 PM   #12
mikelv
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laisvunas View Post
Hi Michael,

Having the possibility to split the text into several columns is very nice and needed feature.

But I think that implementation of scrolling of the page having more than one column isn't right. To scroll vertically isn't good usability. Such page should have not a vertical scrollbar but a horizontal one.
Perhaps this is a matter of taste. In my opinion vertical scrolling is no bad usability when a multicolumn layout is used. This is how it works on all websites which use a multicolumn layout. You read the text more like in a newspaper than in a book.

In my opinion horizontal scrolling is bad usability, I've seen this never before.
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Old 07-27-2010, 05:00 AM   #13
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Hi Michael,

Vertical scrolling of multicolumn text is OK, but only in cases when the height of the page is comparable to the height of the screen (i.e. multicolumn text height does not exceed more than 1.5-2 x compared to the height of the screen). When the height of the multicolumn text exceed the height of the screen many times (this will always happen while reading long chapters) the poor usability will result: the reader will scroll one column to the end then to begin to read the next column he will be forced to scroll back to the beginning of the first column.

Quote:
In my opinion horizontal scrolling is bad usability, I've seen this never before.
Please try Lucifox add-on for Firefox or standalone Lucidor ePUB reader: in then multicolumn text has horizontal scrollbar.
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Old 07-27-2010, 05:42 AM   #14
mikelv
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Laisvunas View Post
Hi Michael,

Vertical scrolling of multicolumn text is OK, but only in cases when the height of the page is comparable to the height of the screen (i.e. multicolumn text height does not exceed more than 1.5-2 x compared to the height of the screen).
Let's see, what the other 28,000 users think about this .
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Old 07-27-2010, 06:24 AM   #15
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Sorry, English is not my mother tongue. May be that is
why I do not understand. When referring to scrolling I
assume a more or less smooth sliding of the viewing area.
If this is the case, then horizontal scrolling is definitively
bad usability. On the other side, I agree with Laisvunas,
vertical scrolling is not very convenient for book reading.

There is however, another possibility. I will call it
horizontal scroll jump, to differentiate it from the widely
used on the web called pagination.
What I mean is that it may possible to display two facing
pages that would fit in the existing viewer area and then
scroll jump (left or right) by two pages, pressing the
corresponding arrow keys on the key board. One could
even add some arrows that would appear on mouse
hovering over the right or left most zones of the viewing
area, to facilitate the scroll jump on touch screens.

I am not a programmer; I have no idea how difficult could
it be to implement, but that, I think, would improve a lot
the usability of the reader.

As I mentioned before, there is someone in the calibre
forum that did something similar for the calibre viewer.
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