TOO SLOW to open "Table of Contents"

mdhuang · 09-05-2007, 08:45 AM

I received my Reader last week and in love with it. It is not a perfect device as everybody knows. But with the hacks and other tricks people posted here, it has become a very useful device for reading books.

However, one thing is driving me crazy. It takes forever to open TOC if you have a little bit more items. I have a book with 82-item TOC, and it takes 5 minutes to open the TOC.

I wouldn't be so mad if this happens only the first time you open it just as you open a new book on memory card and it takes a bit time to do the formatting. It happens EVERY TIME I open the TOC. It seems no caching is done for TOC. After you open a page from TOC and then press Menu to go back to it, it takes another 5 minutes to display the TOC.

And worse, there is no way to get out of the wait (excluding a pin reset). You can only sit there to watch a frozen screen.

This is an area I found that a paper book can handle 100 times faster than the reader. Without TOC navigation, reading is not as enjoyable since you can't jump around.

<end of rant>

Nate the great · 09-05-2007, 09:45 AM

That's not normal. What book is it and what format?

athlonkmf · 09-05-2007, 10:15 AM

I found that after reading and navigating a lot, my reader became sluggish too. But after the firmware update it became fast again... could be that the data for history, bookmarks and toc makes things slower and slower.

mdhuang · 09-05-2007, 10:43 AM

It is a book generated from html by html2lrf (part of libprs500).

Operation Guide: 10 item TOC, 8 seconds
Book 1 (html2lrf): 19 item TOC, 13 seconds.
Book 2 (html2lrf): 33 item TOC, 17 seconds.
Book 3 (html2lrf): 56 item TOC, 1 min 6 seconds.
Book 4 (html2lrf): 82 item TOC, 4 min 5 seconds.

I don't have other books with a long TOC which is not generated by html2lrf. Maybe somebody can post some timing numbers here.

Andanzas · 09-05-2007, 10:51 AM

I just opened Dr. Thorndyke Omnibus, downloaded from here (formatted by HarryT, I believe): 78 item TOC, 1 or 2 seconds.

Andanzas · 09-05-2007, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andanzas

I just opened Dr. Thorndyke Omnibus, downloaded from here (formatted by HarryT, I believe): 78 item TOC, 1 or 2 seconds.

Here is the link, if you want to give it a try: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11764

Sorry, I was trying to edit my previous post.

JSWolf · 09-05-2007, 10:53 AM

I have a book I've converted from LIT to LRF using Book Designer that has 47 entries.

It takes me between 1-3 seconds to bring up the ToC. I have the newest firmware and a bunch of hacks installed.

mdhuang · 09-05-2007, 11:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andanzas

I just opened Dr. Thorndyke Omnibus, downloaded from here (formatted by HarryT, I believe): 78 item TOC, 1 or 2 seconds.

Hmmm. I downloaded v1 and it has 64 TOC items. It took only a second to open it. Seems that html2lrf generated books may have some issues with TOC...

I may need to play with some of the html2lrf options when I have time to see if it can be improved.

JSWolf · 09-05-2007, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdhuang

Hmmm. I downloaded v1 and it has 64 TOC items. It took only a second to open it. Seems that html2lrf generated books may have some issues with TOC...

I may need to play with some of the html2lrf options when I have time to see if it can be improved.

Tonight or tomorrow I'll try to convert that LIT to LRF using LIT2LRF and see how the ToC opens.

Andanzas · 09-05-2007, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdhuang

Hmmm. I downloaded v1 and it has 64 TOC items.

Mine has 78 because it's an older version. Good to know, because I thought it was the newest one.

Xenophon · 09-05-2007, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdhuang

Hmmm. I downloaded v1 and it has 64 TOC items. It took only a second to open it. Seems that html2lrf generated books may have some issues with TOC...

I may need to play with some of the html2lrf options when I have time to see if it can be improved.

I haven't had any problems with this. But please note: If you are converting Baen books you really really want to use the --baen switch on html2lrf! The reason is that the Baen html files include an anchor for each paragraph in the book. Html2lrf faithfully converts these into anchors for in the lrf file. The Reader is then super-slow on any action that uses links in that file. It even gets slow on page-turns if the book is large enough.

The --baen switch strips these extra anchors from the html before (or maybe during) the conversion. Kovid added that switch for me a couple months ago to make the converter useful on Baen content.

Xenophon

P.S. The 'extra' anchors aren't useless, by the way. If you are reading in a browser in framed mode, they give you a sequential paragraph number as you mouse over text. This is a GOOD THING (tm) when reporting typos and bugs in the book. It's just that it is useless on the Reader.

HarryT · 09-05-2007, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andanzas

Mine has 78 because it's an older version. Good to know, because I thought it was the newest one.

I re-issued all the volumes with the books arranged in chronological order

.

jmorton · 09-05-2007, 02:30 PM

I have noticed that with the emagazines I purchased from Fictionwise (Asimov's SF and Analog) it takes forever to open the Table of Contents using the Table of Contents button in the menu. The first time I tried it I thought the Reader had locked up. Conversely, if you use the table contents links that are included within the document there is no problem.

HarryT · 09-06-2007, 05:04 AM

Fictionwise use "html2lrf" too. Perhaps it's something that that tool does that makes it slow? All the TOCs I've created with BD open instantly.

kovidgoyal · 09-06-2007, 05:36 AM

It isn't the number of links in the TOC alone that determined load time. It's the structure of the book as well. What happens when you open the TOC is that the reader software calculates the page number of the destination of every link. If the book has too few page-breaks/too complex a block level structure, this operation takes too long.

This is just bad design on SONY's part, they should really be doing that calculation when a link is activated.

LRF files created by html2lrf are much more complex than those created by BookDesigner, since html2lrf supports a whole bunch of block level formatting that BookDesigner doesn't.

One technique that may speed up loading of the TOC is to increase the number of page-breaks. You can generate an LRS file with the --lrs option and count the number of Page elements to see how many page breaks the LRF file has.

09-05-2007, 08:45 AM	#1
mdhuang Bookworm Posts: 113 Karma: 154 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Sony CLIE NX80V, PRS-500	TOO SLOW to open "Table of Contents" I received my Reader last week and in love with it. It is not a perfect device as everybody knows. But with the hacks and other tricks people posted here, it has become a very useful device for reading books. However, one thing is driving me crazy. It takes forever to open TOC if you have a little bit more items. I have a book with 82-item TOC, and it takes 5 minutes to open the TOC. I wouldn't be so mad if this happens only the first time you open it just as you open a new book on memory card and it takes a bit time to do the formatting. It happens EVERY TIME I open the TOC. It seems no caching is done for TOC. After you open a page from TOC and then press Menu to go back to it, it takes another 5 minutes to display the TOC. And worse, there is no way to get out of the wait (excluding a pin reset). You can only sit there to watch a frozen screen. This is an area I found that a paper book can handle 100 times faster than the reader. Without TOC navigation, reading is not as enjoyable since you can't jump around. <end of rant>

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09-05-2007, 09:45 AM	#2
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	That's not normal. What book is it and what format?

09-05-2007, 10:15 AM	#3
athlonkmf Guru Posts: 714 Karma: 1014039 Join Date: May 2007 Device: Sony PRS-500, Sony PRS-505, Kindle 3, Sony PRS350, iPad 64GB	I found that after reading and navigating a lot, my reader became sluggish too. But after the firmware update it became fast again... could be that the data for history, bookmarks and toc makes things slower and slower.

09-05-2007, 10:43 AM	#4
mdhuang Bookworm Posts: 113 Karma: 154 Join Date: Aug 2007 Device: Sony CLIE NX80V, PRS-500	It is a book generated from html by html2lrf (part of libprs500). Operation Guide: 10 item TOC, 8 seconds Book 1 (html2lrf): 19 item TOC, 13 seconds. Book 2 (html2lrf): 33 item TOC, 17 seconds. Book 3 (html2lrf): 56 item TOC, 1 min 6 seconds. Book 4 (html2lrf): 82 item TOC, 4 min 5 seconds. I don't have other books with a long TOC which is not generated by html2lrf. Maybe somebody can post some timing numbers here.

09-05-2007, 10:51 AM	#5
Andanzas Out of print Posts: 484 Karma: 1549538 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Madrid, Spain Device: Sony PRS-500 (recycled), Pocketbook Inkpad X Pro	I just opened Dr. Thorndyke Omnibus, downloaded from here (formatted by HarryT, I believe): 78 item TOC, 1 or 2 seconds.

09-05-2007, 10:53 AM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 74,015 Karma: 129333114 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I have a book I've converted from LIT to LRF using Book Designer that has 47 entries. It takes me between 1-3 seconds to bring up the ToC. I have the newest firmware and a bunch of hacks installed.

09-05-2007, 02:30 PM	#13
jmorton Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 374 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: San Francisco Device: Sony Reader PRS-500	I have noticed that with the emagazines I purchased from Fictionwise (Asimov's SF and Analog) it takes forever to open the Table of Contents using the Table of Contents button in the menu. The first time I tried it I thought the Reader had locked up. Conversely, if you use the table contents links that are included within the document there is no problem.

09-06-2007, 05:04 AM	#14
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Fictionwise use "html2lrf" too. Perhaps it's something that that tool does that makes it slow? All the TOCs I've created with BD open instantly.

09-06-2007, 05:36 AM	#15
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	It isn't the number of links in the TOC alone that determined load time. It's the structure of the book as well. What happens when you open the TOC is that the reader software calculates the page number of the destination of every link. If the book has too few page-breaks/too complex a block level structure, this operation takes too long. This is just bad design on SONY's part, they should really be doing that calculation when a link is activated. LRF files created by html2lrf are much more complex than those created by BookDesigner, since html2lrf supports a whole bunch of block level formatting that BookDesigner doesn't. One technique that may speed up loading of the TOC is to increase the number of page-breaks. You can generate an LRS file with the --lrs option and count the number of Page elements to see how many page breaks the LRF file has.

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