Some feedback on the 4.1 viewer

[Kythe42]

So I greatly appreciate the option to have a scrollbar returned. It's somewhat narrower than the old one and I don't know if there's a way to make it a bit wider, but I could potentially get used to it.

I also appreciate the return of the ability to view book positions, but unfortunately the way it was implemented still lacks the functionality that I need. Previously I used to be able to click in that box and type in the position I wanted which is still not possible. You click on it now and it just brings the menu up.

I also find the font on the headers and footers too small. Is there a way to adjust the font size for those? If not, that would be a helpful thing to add.

I'm still really not fond of the new menu. The way it's laid out is very difficult for me to read and it's like instant eye strain. I really hope that the option to choose between the new menu or the old sidebar will be added. I never felt the old viewer was cluttered at all with the old header and sidebar, and they were much easier for me to navigate than the new setup.

The main thing I like about the new viewer that the old one doesn't have is the ability to estimate how long it will take you to finish a chapter/book. It was a feature that I liked from Moon + Reader, which is one of my favorite ereader apps, but it unfortunately doesn't have a Windows version. Unfortunately, given how difficult I find the new menu system, this is not enough to keep me using the new viewer. I think I'm still going to have to keep using 3.48 until there's an option for a menu that doesn't cause me physical pain to read and preferable the return of a book position box that I can type in to jump to the position I want.

[db105]

For me, the 4.1 viewer is a big improvement on 4.0. I have the scroll bar back, and the bugs in flow mode are corrected. Now everything seems to flow better. Those were my biggest problems, so I'm relieved.

One small detail I'm missing is that when I have the TOC open and I scroll down, as I changed chapters, before 4.0 the TOC elements opened as I scrolled into them (when there are several levels), while now they remain closed.

In any case, thank you to Kovid and to everyone else working on Calibre for giving us such an excellent program. It's a lifesaver for those of us who love ebooks.

[Kythe42]

I've now updated to 4.2. Kovid, I really appreciate you adding in the ability to jump to a location again, but it's still implemented in a very inconvenient way. in 3.48 it was right there, always visible and I could just type it in. Now I have to click twice to get to that menu. There are times when I might want to quickly jump between two or more locations. Having to go through a couple of menus each time significantly slows that down and would drive me crazy, especially combined with menus that give me instant eyestrain.

Maybe it could be implemented in the same way that search in where you only have to click on the menus to get to the location jump once and then it leaves it on the screen header until you close out of it?

I'd still strongly request bringing back the option of the old sidebar and header for those that want it as it does create a big accessibility issue, and then people can choose in the settings which layout they prefer.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Kythe42

There are times when I might want to quickly jump between two or more locations.

Don't know if it would help but you can open the same book multiple times in different viewer sessions.

Originally Posted by Kythe42

I'd still strongly request bringing back the option of the old sidebar and header for those that want it as it does create a big accessibility issue, and then people can choose in the settings which layout they prefer.

As the viewer progresses in development, it would be nice to have certain aspects dockable again (like the TOC), such as Search and Go To location.

[Kythe42]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Don't know if it would help but you can open the same book multiple times in different viewer sessions.

I mean, I guess that would technically work, and it might even be preferable depending on exactly what someone's doing, but it seems a bit cumbersome if you're just looking to quickly reference different parts of the book. I could see it being more ideal if say you wanted to have a glossary open in one instance for easy reference while just reading the book in the other instance.

Thanks for the suggestion though. I'm not sure that's the method I'd want to use under normal circumstances, but I'll try to remember it down the road for situations like the example I gave.

Regardless I can't see myself switching to the new viewer unless an option is added enable/disable the old sidebar and header. The new menu really does hurt my eyes and makes it more difficult for me to find the settings I'm looking for, which just isn't a good tradeoff for the viewer being "less cluttered" when I never found it to be cluttered to begin with, or gaining the perk of calculating how long it will take to finish the chapter/book, which is nice but not a necessity.

I was very surprised to hear that there are a bunch of people that found it to be cluttered. I always felt it was a very simplistic clean viewer. I could understand people saying that if they were trying to read within the main Calibre program itself, especially with the way mine is set up, but the viewer itself felt like it was a very minimalistic display. I guess I'll just keep using the old viewer until such time the new viewer changes into something I can live with and hopefully I won't run into any compatibility issues with newer ebooks down the road.