Marvin development?

kakkalla · 05-27-2020, 03:19 AM

Hi everyone.

Marvin is, in my opinion, the best ebook reader on my iPad. Sadly, I think the developer has stopped working on Marvin.

Is this correct? Is Marvin not going to be updated?

Thanks.

pwalker8 · 05-27-2020, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kakkalla

Hi everyone.

Marvin is, in my opinion, the best ebook reader on my iPad. Sadly, I think the developer has stopped working on Marvin.

Is this correct? Is Marvin not going to be updated?

Thanks.

You would need to ask the developer if it's every going to be updated. It hasn't been updated in several years though.

leebase · 06-08-2020, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kakkalla

Hi everyone.

Marvin is, in my opinion, the best ebook reader on my iPad. Sadly, I think the developer has stopped working on Marvin.

Is this correct? Is Marvin not going to be updated?

Thanks.

Marvin was the app that finally got me to stop missing Stanza. FBReader is the app that got me to stop missing Marvin. It’s cross platform with Android as well

kakkalla · 06-08-2020, 11:04 PM

Thanks for this. I'll take a look.

I loved the fact that you could highlight some text, then bring up the menu to search for that word in images or in google maps. Does FBReader do this?

Turtle91 · 06-09-2020, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Marvin was the app that finally got me to stop missing Stanza. FBReader is the app that got me to stop missing Marvin. It’s cross platform with Android as well

Fortunately there isn't much to 'miss'. Marvin is still the best ePub reader out there...on iOS.

Marvin still works - unlike stanza - so there isn't really a need to worry about (lack of) updates. Yes, there are a few things that aren't working anymore, but those are mostly to do with third party functionality that stopped working, or changed how they work, and Marvin hasn't changed with them.

pwalker8 · 06-09-2020, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

Fortunately there isn't much to 'miss'. Marvin is still the best ePub reader out there...on iOS.

Marvin still works - unlike stanza - so there isn't really a need to worry about (lack of) updates. Yes, there are a few things that aren't working anymore, but those are mostly to do with third party functionality that stopped working, or changed how they work, and Marvin hasn't changed with them.

That's pretty much my take. I don't know that I would recommend Marvin to someone new to Apple eBook reading, simply because it appears to abandonware, but I don't see a reason to switch until I have to.

Turtle91 · 06-09-2020, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

That's pretty much my take. I don't know that I would recommend Marvin to someone new to Apple eBook reading, simply because it appears to abandonware, but I don't see a reason to switch until I have to.

It'll be awhile before the newer apps will catch up to the functionality of Marvin - even with their active 'updates' - and I don't really care to work through that period. I'll wait until something is actually better before switching. For 96% of the users out there that aren't power users they will be just fine with Marvin.

leebase · 06-09-2020, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kakkalla

Thanks for this. I'll take a look.

I loved the fact that you could highlight some text, then bring up the menu to search for that word in images or in google maps. Does FBReader do this?

Marvin had a "radar" feature or some such that indexed characters and such. No such feature on Marvin.

You can highlight words and bring up a dictionary or translation. I do not think there is an image search.

leebase · 06-09-2020, 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turtle91

It'll be awhile before the newer apps will catch up to the functionality of Marvin - even with their active 'updates' - and I don't really care to work through that period. I'll wait until something is actually better before switching. For 96% of the users out there that aren't power users they will be just fine with Marvin.

Well...that "must switch" feature for me was cross platform support for Android/iOS. I like reading on my iPhone, iPad AND my Amazon/Walmart tablets.

JSWolf · 06-09-2020, 06:28 PM

Marvin does have a number of issues that were brought to the author's attention and ignored.

Turtle91 · 06-09-2020, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Marvin does have a number of issues that were brought to the author's attention and ignored.

Not ignored. Just deemed not the direction the author wanted to take Marvin. There were a lot of feature requests, and things that SOME users thought were problems, that were just not features Kris wanted to tackle.

Regardless - before we go down that road...again... It is still the best iOS reader app. If you want a non iOS reader app, then there are others out there. Good luck with the search!

maxyn83 · 07-15-2020, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leebase

Marvin was the app that finally got me to stop missing Stanza. FBReader is the app that got me to stop missing Marvin. It’s cross platform with Android as well

I have FBreader and while I like that you can add books from iCloud drive, it only let's you click on the books 1 by 1 to download. It would've been great if it can do add all per folders or something. Also, I find it hard to get around the settings. You can't even find the settings in the library section. You have to open a book first to find the settings. So far I'm trying to like it but I just keep going back to Marvin.

I've also tried Kybook 3, Hyphen and MapleRead. Marvin is just so easy to use for reading epub books. My 70 yr old mom can even add her own books now because Marvin has Dropbox settings that will let you download in just a specific folder. Hoping Marvin will be compatible in ios 14.

ilovejedd · 07-15-2020, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxyn83

Hoping Marvin will be compatible in ios 14.

It is.

Surprisingly, iPadOS 14 beta even fixed an issue I had with the 2019 iPad 10.2-inch which has a new, unsupported 2160 x 1620 resolution. On iPadOS 13, text selection was off or just not working in text boxes (e.g. Dropbox custom folder path, custom header/footer, etc). On 14 beta, text selection works normally.

Mind, even on 13 I never had any issues selecting text inside epubs for annotation. It was just in the dialog boxes where I encountered problems. Never had issues with devices with officially supported resolutions, either.

Alas, I don’t think there’ll ever be a fix for the ugly notch when reading dark text on light background on FaceID iPhones.

kyteflyer · 08-08-2020, 03:00 PM

I abandoned Marvin around the same time that Kris did, when he went on to other apps which were not my cup of tea at all (Gerty, for example)... I moved on to Hyphen and have stayed with that because it syncs well with all devices, and I don’t need or want the features many others might want. I still often wish for a Stanza work-alike (for the book management) but that isnt coming from anywhere.

JSWolf · 08-09-2020, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

I abandoned Marvin around the same time that Kris did, when he went on to other apps which were not my cup of tea at all (Gerty, for example)... I moved on to Hyphen and have stayed with that because it syncs well with all devices, and I don’t need or want the features many others might want. I still often wish for a Stanza work-alike (for the book management) but that isnt coming from anywhere.

I never did like Stanza because it was rubbish at rendering ePub.

05-27-2020, 03:19 AM	#1
kakkalla Zealot Posts: 143 Karma: 194 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Melbourne Device: iPad	Marvin development? Hi everyone. Marvin is, in my opinion, the best ebook reader on my iPad. Sadly, I think the developer has stopped working on Marvin. Is this correct? Is Marvin not going to be updated? Thanks.

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06-08-2020, 11:04 PM	#4
kakkalla Zealot Posts: 143 Karma: 194 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Melbourne Device: iPad	Thanks for this. I'll take a look. I loved the fact that you could highlight some text, then bring up the menu to search for that word in images or in google maps. Does FBReader do this?

06-09-2020, 06:28 PM	#10
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,896 Karma: 128597114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Marvin does have a number of issues that were brought to the author's attention and ignored.

08-08-2020, 03:00 PM	#14
kyteflyer Wizard Posts: 1,841 Karma: 9547754 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Newcastle, Australia Device: iPhone SE2020	I abandoned Marvin around the same time that Kris did, when he went on to other apps which were not my cup of tea at all (Gerty, for example)... I moved on to Hyphen and have stayed with that because it syncs well with all devices, and I don’t need or want the features many others might want. I still often wish for a Stanza work-alike (for the book management) but that isnt coming from anywhere.