Hybrid library view

[Comfy.n]

Hi,

Sometimes I miss the covers in book list view, so I wonder if there's some way to create a custom column to display (not exactly store) a cover thumbnail. This is an illustration I made after adding 40px extra spacing between rows:



One of my wishes for Calibre 8 would be this 'hybrid' library navigation mode, a combination of cover grid and book list.

(the resized column icons to fit the extra row width don't look nice at all but i could live with it)

[chaley]

There isn't any way I can think of to do this except to create column icons for each cover, which isn't practical.

It is possible to change the column icon processor to accept a full path to an icon file in addition to having icons in cc_icons. An advanced template would return the full path to the cover as an icon for some column.

I'm not convinced that:

• this is a good idea (performance).
• anyone but you would use it.
• iconified covers would show enough detail to be useful.

That said, I will look at it sometime next week because I'm curious to see if coding it is reasonable.

[ownedbycats]

To be honest, I cant even see the book covers. Is the cover browser not work for this?

[Comfy.n]

Thank you!

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

To be honest, I cant even see the book covers. Is the cover browser not work for this?

Well, it's small indeed but somehow I think it would be helpful to identify books on a quick glance... One could always add more extra spacing between the rows to make them more visible.

Cover grid even combined with emblems lack info I'd like to see grouped.

[Comfy.n]

(And the cover browser on a separate window, as I have it set, will show only the selected book cover.)

[BetterRed]

It would have greater appeal if it were clickable, to pop for example: an Identifier link (if present) or one of the detached Book details panels**. A column containing a link and nothing else with a column icon generated from the cover might suffice… would require:

• A new column type, similar to column with a fixed set of values, but with a fixed link e.g. {identifiers:select(amazon)} or {calibre//:book-details(this)}
  
• An enhancement to L&F->Column icons to generate the icon from the cover (on-the-fly, stored, cached ?):

Problem: by default, left mouse click on a cell opens it for editing, and right button click pops the book list context menu. Middle button click? nah… besides Apple's Magic Mouse no can do. Ctrl+Left button click maybe, or a user designated kb shortcut.

** this can be done via the enter_key_behavior setting in the Control behavior of the book list tweak- I have it set to show_book_details, from there I can tab/backtab to a value, e.g. an identifier, and press enter. Another one of those lesser known features of calibre that I find very useful.

BR

[Comfy.n]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

It would have greater appeal if it were clickable, to pop for example: an Identifier link (if present) or one of the detached Book details panels**.

BR

That would be nice too