iPhone Hyphen - ePub Reader for iPhone and iPad

[kyteflyer]

Some things never change, do they. I give up.

I will only comment on HYphen, since this thread is about Hyphen. I don't know if Matt ever intended it for scholastic or academic pursuits, but for those of us who just enjoy reading for its own sake, and not necessarily making annotations, its just about perfect. I have already completely abandoned other readers.

[adrian1944]

I agree with Kiteflyer. It is the reading aspect of a programme I care about, not how many colours of notes can be achieved. I do not think I have ever annotated a item or am likely to do so.

Hyphen would be perfect for me if only I could adjust the left tap to move on a page rather than back as is the sole option at present. I think this is promised with the update and really desperately wanted

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

... its just about perfect. I have already completely abandoned other readers.

I agree. I still support MapleRead and Marvin, but Hyphen 1.2 is my new favorite ereading app and the only one I use.

People who aren't involved in the Beta and are comparing earlier versions of Hyphen to Marvin 3 and MapleRead should wait until Hyphen 1.2 is officially released before making any judgments. Hyphen 1.2 has many, many improvements. Not sure why it's v1.2 rather than 2.0, since it feels like a major upgrade to me. Heck, I'd even be willing to pay for it again, I love it so much!

Originally Posted by adrian1944

... I do not think I have ever annotated a item or am likely to do so.

I highlight and make notes regularly, and Hyphen is still my favorite ereading app

Originally Posted by adrian1944

Hyphen would be perfect for me if only I could adjust the left tap to move on a page rather than back as is the sole option at present. I think this is promised with the update and really desperately wanted

Yup, 1.2 has it. You'll be able to set left and right taps so that they go next page, previous page, or nothing. You'll also be able to set the size of the tap zones from 10-30%.

In addition to all the great customization options, one my favorite features is that Hyphen 1.2 syncs not just current location, but also bookmarks, annotations, and library. If I add a book to Hyphen on my iPhone, it shows up on my iPad (as an icon for downloading with one tap), so I don't have to go to an external source (e.g., Dropbox) and add it again. It also uses iCloud to sync not a private server and doesn't require you to register with the developer (or Adobe) for full functionality.

I am so happy about Hyphen 1.2 that I could cry

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by odamizu

In addition to all the great customization options, one my favorite features is that Hyphen 1.2 syncs not just current location, but also bookmarks, annotations, and library.

I don't need e-book software to sync my library (I'm fine with performing the few necessary taps per book manually), but if the upcoming Hyphen version indeed syncs also bookmarks and especially annotations, it would be a major breakthrough, which would likely put Hyphen immediately ahead of its competitors such as Marvin. In order for me to rate any e-book software at least 4 stars, syncing annotations is a must. Kindle et al can sync annotations, but are so lame and incompetent in other respects, that they don't really deserve more than 2 stars. Now, if Hyphen indeed can synchronize annotations reliably in the upcoming version 1.2, in addition to all the customization options it already has, it might become the first e-reader I'd be willing to rate 4 stars.

Now, as to what I particularly find missing in Hyphen, it appears that it only supports 1 day-mode and 1 night-mode, right? If that is so, that's really too uncomfortably bare-bones to me. Marvin now offers 5 theme settings, which is a relief compared to the 3 settings in the previous Marvin era, but still not enough to me. The king of themes is definitely Moon+ Read Pro on Android – I would urge every e-book software developer to try and emulate Moon+ in this respect. In Moon+, you can define an unlimited amount of themes, and you can also integrate your own background colors/textures/photographs.

Also, I'm noticing Hyphen is lacking the essential "Paste highlight" button in the annotations window, as seen in MapleRead and Marvin 2. I really can't annotate efficiently without such a button. To my shock and horror, in Marvin 3, that button originally disappeared as well, but in the course of Marvin 3 beta-testing, Kris at least restored the button's functionality via a context pop-up menu item – which is far less handy than the dedicated button in MapleRead or Marvin 2, but at least it's there. I'd plead with Matt to give us such a button in Hyphen as well.

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by odamizu

...
People who aren't involved in the Beta and are comparing earlier versions of Hyphen to Marvin 3 and MapleRead should wait until Hyphen 1.2 is officially released before making any judgments.
...

I've used Hyphen Beta. It has indeed some improvement building on top of its previous public released version 1.1. Apparently, this developer learns from other similar apps like MapleRead and Marvin, and suggestions posted to other threads.

However, I'm still not impressed by the latest beta version 1.2 (27) of Hyphen despite the incremental improvement. My strong preference is still MapleRead. I can see that some of my favorite MapleRead features have already been cloned by Hyphen. There is nothing wrong of that per se. Competitors always learn from each other.

For me, I actually don't like sync with iCloud. Sync with Dropbox (a private server considered by odamizu) is a much better option than iCloud for me. The fact that Hyphen and Marvin solely rely sync on iCloud is something I don't like.

Having said that, sync is not my first priority. Otherwise, iBooks, which must be the first ereader app that has iCloud sync, would have won over me long time ago.

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by Faterson

...
Now, as to what I particularly find missing in Hyphen, it appears that it only supports 1 day-mode and 1 night-mode, right? If that is so, that's really too uncomfortably bare-bones to me. Marvin now offers 5 theme settings, which is a relief compared to the 3 settings in the previous Marvin era, but still not enough to me. The king of themes is definitely Moon+ Read Pro on Android – I would urge every e-book software developer to try and emulate Moon+ in this respect. In Moon+, you can define an unlimited amount of themes, and you can also integrate your own background colors/textures/photographs.
...

Let's get the record straight.

In terms of iOS reading view background themes, the good old Stanza was definitely the first that supports customized colors/textures/images/photos. But its customization wasn't done quite right to tone down the photos to make them really usable. IHMO, MapleRead (BookMaster) introduced in 2014 was the first app that really got it right. I started using Moon+ long time ago (while using Android) and don't recall seeing its support of such customization until after 2014.

Anyway, I think MapleRead's design and implementation looks better. An unlimited number of user-defined themes for day and night modes has been available in MapleRead since v1.0. Not sure if Faterson has explored MapleRead's themes yet, since he's new to the app.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by cedhax

... For me, I actually don't like sync with iCloud. Sync with Dropbox (a private server considered by odamizu) is a much better option than iCloud for me ...

Please do not attribute things to me that I never said.

I was trying not to point fingers, but since you insist, I was referring to MapleRead's private server, not Dropbox (which I use happily). The feature page on MapleRead's web page clearly states:"we offer sync services across your devices via our own Cloud" [emphasis added].

In order to sync reading location on MapleRead, you need to register with Maplepop. Neither Hyphen nor Marvin require you to register with the developer. (Indeed, Marvin's privacy policy, goes so far as to say: "Marvin is a well-behaved app and does not require a user account to operate.")

MapleRead, on the other hand, requires you to create an account in order to sync. From MapleRead's Privacy Policy: "When you create a Maplepop account, you will be asked to provide your email address, which will also be used as your Maplepop ID ... Your Maplepop ID is used for authentication of services such as synchronization of reading progress data of your books across devices ... We may collect information such as device information, operating system version, language, and the time zone where a Maplepop product or service is used. We also may collect information about user activities in Maplepop apps, services and on our websites." The information appears to be anonymized, and I could live with this issue if MapleRead suited me best, but it doesn't.

Finally, I would like to apologize to anyone who wants to stay on-topic and echo kyteflyer's point that this is a Hyphen thread and request that we keep the discussion on Hyphen. If people want to argue about which ereading app is the best, please start a new thread. I think Marvin, MapleRead and Hyphen are all great reading apps, and I'm glad cedhax has found an ereading app s/he loves. We are lucky to have so many great choices.

But this is a Hyphen thread, and I agree with kyteflyer that we should keep the discussion to Hyphen. Thanks.

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Please do not attribute things to me that I never said.

I was trying not to point fingers, but since you insist, I was referring to MapleRead's private server, not Dropbox (which I use happily). The feature page on MapleRead's web page clearly states:"we offer sync services across your devices via our own Cloud" [emphasis added].

So what's the your definition of a private server?

Let's consdier iCloud. iCloud is Apple's own cloud (server), not some other company's cloud. Is iCloud private or public? Of course, iCloud is public. Otherwise, you won't be able to use it. Similarly, MapleRead provides its public service through it own cloud. So is Dropbox. If you choose to call MapleRead's cloud private, then by the same logic, Dropbox's and Apple's iCloud should be called private too. Bluefire Reader has its own sync server too. What's wrong with that?

Originally Posted by odamizu

In order to sync reading location on MapleRead, you need to register with Maplepop. Neither Hyphen nor Marvin require you to register with the developer. (Indeed, Marvin's privacy policy, goes so far as to say: "Marvin is a well-behaved app and does not require a user account to operate.")

MapleRead, on the other hand, requires you to create an account in order to sync. From MapleRead's Privacy Policy: "When you create a Maplepop account, you will be asked to provide your email address, which will also be used as your Maplepop ID ... Your Maplepop ID is used for authentication of services such as synchronization of reading progress data of your books across devices ... We may collect information such as device information, operating system version, language, and the time zone where a Maplepop product or service is used. We also may collect information about user activities in Maplepop apps, services and on our websites." The information appears to be anonymized, and I could live with this issue if MapleRead suited me best, but it doesn't.

Every website or every app with a webserver backend these days more or less collects information like that. Have you read Apple's privacy policy? MapleRead's Privacy Policy states that "Maplepop does not sell or rent your personal information to third parties." But there is no similar reassurance statement in Apple's Privacy Policy that I can find.

By the way, if you were really serious about what you say in your next paragraph, I don't know why you wrote so much about MapleRead's privacy policy in the first place.

Originally Posted by odamizu

Finally, I would like to apologize to anyone who wants to stay on-topic and echo kyteflyer's point that this is a Hyphen thread and request that we keep the discussion on Hyphen. If people want to argue about which ereading app is the best, please start a new thread. I think Marvin, MapleRead and Hyphen are all great reading apps, and I'm glad cedhax has found an ereading app s/he loves. We are lucky to have so many great choices.

But this is a Hyphen thread, and I agree with kyteflyer that we should keep the discussion to Hyphen. Thanks.

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by cedhax

Having said that, sync is not my first priority. Otherwise, iBooks, which must be the first ereader app that has iCloud sync, would have won over me long time ago.

Well, to me, syncing annotations is quite clearly the top priority feature request I have had in relation to Marvin ever since Marvin's birth. But although it's my no. 1 feature request and the no. 1 Marvin deficiency for me, it takes a lot more than simply obliging that top priority feature request, to get a user to abandon e-reader software he or she has used for years, and to switch to different e-reader software.

Each e-reader software likely offers hundreds of features, and sometimes, 10 smaller, delightful features, may outweigh one major feature. And so, I've been waiting for annotations syncing in Marvin for almost 5 years now – but if Hyphen will be the first to introduce annotations syncing now, ahead of Marvin: will that be reason enough for me to ditch Marvin? Likely not – at this point. Marvin offers so many other, extremely useful, although smaller features, that currently aren't offered by Hyphen (or MapleRead), that I can't imagine myself switching from Marvin to Hyphen at this point.

For example, Marvin has just introduced customization of headers and footers. (Not complete for now, but at least it's there.) What a fabulous feature to have! Again, it's a feature I've been requesting from Marvin for years, and now that it's finally arrived, should I lose it again, through ditching Marvin and adopting Hyphen or MapleRead right away? That's not likely. I can only ask Matt of Hyphen and MapleRead developers to follow suit as early as possible, so that we can customize our headers and footers in Hyphen and MapleRead, too.

Originally Posted by cedhax

In terms of iOS reading view background themes, the good old Stanza was definitely the first that supports customized colors/textures/images/photos.

To me, it's not a race between Stanza and Moon+ Reader (or MapleRead). Stanza has been dead for many years. As of 2016, I'm simply recommending to Matt of Hyphen and Kris of Marvin to find inspiration in how Moon+ Reader treats themes, because I find its treatment of themes 100% perfect.

Originally Posted by cedhax

IHMO, MapleRead (BookMaster) introduced in 2014 was the first app that really got it right.

That's definitely nice to hear.

Originally Posted by cedhax

Not sure if Faterson has explored MapleRead's themes yet, since he's new to the app.

Not yet, but as I remarked earlier, I immediately noticed an insurmountable show-stopper after briefly looking at MobileRead: no multiple colors for highlights. My hat is off to the MapleRead developers for being innovative by extending the annotations functionality with the priority levels, separate annotations notebooks, etc. – all of that is very nice and commendable. But as explained before, I need to see highlights of various colors, at a glance, when simply turning the pages of an e-book. That's a very common-sense need, isn't it? No geeky stuff, but that's pretty much how people have highlighted printed books for centuries, and it's equally useful in the electronic environment in the 21st century. This is currently such a stumbling-block to me that it discourages me from exploring MapleRead any further, because I can't imagine myself using any e-reader that doesn't offer multiple-highlight-colors functionality. (After all, it's a major reason why I ditched the original e-ink Kindle e-readers! They, too, only offered a single highlight color, but they at least had a good excuse for why they did it – it was a technological limitation.)

Originally Posted by odamizu

Finally, I would like to apologize to anyone who wants to stay on-topic and echo kyteflyer's point that this is a Hyphen thread and request that we keep the discussion on Hyphen.

Discussing the merits and demerits of Hyphen when compared to competitive e-reader products is keeping the discussion on Hyphen. What could be more relevant? I value Kyteflyer as a highly knowledgeable MobileRead poster, and I have valued her input for years, but I believe she may be a tiny, trifling little bit overly sensitive in this regard. Yes, this is a Hyphen thread, but pointing out where Hyphen lags behind other e-readers, and where it excels over them, is thoroughly to the point. As has just been remarked by others, quite a few Hyphen features appear to be "cloned" from Marvin/Stanza/whatever, and that's perfectly fine – but it goes to show how useful it can be to compare Hyphen to its competitors in a thread like this. Such comparisons may inspire Hyphen's developer, Matt, to improve Hyphen even more.

Originally Posted by odamizu

If people want to argue about which ereading app is the best, please start a new thread.

That is definitely not the point, odamizu. Yes, I currently believe Marvin is the best out there, but not by much, and even though it's best, there are no doubt features of Hyphen, and Maple Read, in which these two are superior over Marvin. Discussing where Hyphen lags, and where it excels, is 100% relevant. In fact, if you can believe it, even such execrable software like iBooks is definitely superior over Marvin or Hyphen in such matters as annotations syncing (only in beta-stage in Hyphen so far) or (to touch upon a recent hot-button subject) page-counts. I find iBooks's approach "screen flip = page turn" 100% correct, and I find fault both with Hyphen's use of ADE pages as the only "pages in book"-count option, and Marvin's own (ill-considered) invention of "250 words per pseudo-page". So, as can be seen, even superb e-readers like Hyphen and Marvin can learn something from thoroughly lame e-readers like iBooks. Comparisons to competitors can be useful and productive.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by cedhax

So what's the your definition of a private server?

Sorry. Poor choice of words. This is what I should have written instead: "Hyphen uses iCloud to sync and doesn't require you to register with the developer (or Adobe) for full functionality."

I know cedhax thinks MapleRead is the best, and it's great that s/he's found the best ereading app for him/her. For anyone interested in Hyphen 1.2, these are a few of the reasons I'm so delighted with it:

I store my ebook library on Dropbox. When I want to read a book, I transfer it from Dropbox to Hyphen using "Open in ..." Once it's transferred to one iDevice, it appears in my Hyphen library on all my devices as an icon with a download button. One tap, and the book downloads into Hyphen and opens. No need to go back to Dropbox or iTunes or Calibre server, or any other external source a second time.

When Hyphen syncs, it syncs current reading location, bookmarks, annotations, and library. My annotations are simple, but I do highlight short passages and make simple notes regularly, and so far the syncing works fine for that.

Hyphen syncs using iCloud and does not require you to register with the developer or Adobe. I like this because I already have an iCloud account, which I use for multiple apps, so I don't need to register for anything new. Also, Apple already knows more about me than my mother does, so adding my reading habits is a drop in the bucket.

Hyphen isn't for everyone, but it's the best for me YMMV

[Dusky Rose]

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but I haven't found anything about it. Is there a way to change the page-turn options? I'd like to change the page turn "Next" to happen when I tap the left side, not the right side. Am I missing a place to do that?

Also, I'm pretty hooked on using the tags from Calibre to sort my epubs in various shelves/cataloges. Does Hyphen recognize those so I can have my books filed by tags?

I like it so far, for single books, but not sure I want to load a lot into it and have to manually create shelves.

[MartyTX]

Originally Posted by Dusky Rose

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but I haven't found anything about it. Is there a way to change the page-turn options? I'd like to change the page turn "Next" to happen when I tap the left side, not the right side. Am I missing a place to do that?

The beta has the page-turn options. Both the right and left side taps have 3 tap actions: No-Action - Next Page - Previous Page.

So, you can easily do "Next" with a "Left" tap.

I don't know if the non-beta can do this or not ... but the new version should be here soon!

[hyphenreader]

Originally Posted by Dusky Rose

Sorry if this is a repeat question, but I haven't found anything about it. Is there a way to change the page-turn options? I'd like to change the page turn "Next" to happen when I tap the left side, not the right side. Am I missing a place to do that?

Marty is right - this feature is apart of the coming 1.2 update.

Originally Posted by Dusky Rose

Also, I'm pretty hooked on using the tags from Calibre to sort my epubs in various shelves/cataloges. Does Hyphen recognize those so I can have my books filed by tags?

No, currently, it does not. A more dynamic shelving system is in the works however.

[Dusky Rose]

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

No, currently, it does not. A more dynamic shelving system is in the works however.

Thanks for the info!

[adrian1944]

Is there any chance of the upgraded version be available soon. The lack of an ability to change the page turn options is frustrating.
I was waiting keenly for this new version, liking the reading experience on the current one,(apart from that one frustration). The delay, and the recent silence here, unlike earlier, means that I am getting more and more familiar with other competing readers, and the eventual release may be too late.