iLiad FBReader annoyances

[wallcraft]

I am a big fan of FBReader, but it still has a few rough spots on the iLiad. Here is a list of annoyances. Have I missed any?

1. Boxed +/- in library view too small
2. Page flip is very slow
3. Toggle from fullscreen fails
4. Arrows on Options tag list inoperative
5. File selector box too small
6. Options color tag page designed for color device

The 1st is the only one that might prevent use the FBReader (difficult to select authors), but it may be less of an issue with stylus calibration. It is in FBReader's bug database. Changing the "color" of the boxes and lines (under the color options tag) to full black improves visibility.

The page flip is slow (e.g. relative to the iLiad MobiPocket Reader). Faster would be nice, but not essential.

Full screen mode adds ~15% more words per page. I have "toggle full screen" bound to the Up Arrow - Long key for compatibility with iPDF (keys options tag). Full screen mode can be entered, but not exited. This may be a GTK/Matchbox bug. Can the iPDF fullscreen code be used to fix this?

The options menu contains more tags than can appear on the screen. The arrow icons are supposed to bring up the extra tags, but they don't work for me. A work around is to use the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard. The most important non-apparent tag is "keys", to bind actions to keys.

The size of the file selector box is apparently set (by the Matchbox window manager?) so that the on-screen keyboard will fit either above or below without obscuring the box. A bigger box would be very helpful in file navigation. I suggest extending the box all the way to the top of the screen, still leaving room below for the keyboard.

The color page under options isn't used frequently, but the Maemo (Nokia 770/800) version, for example, would be much more suitable for a grayscale screen.

[Adam B.]

• Boxed +/- in library view too smal

Pretty well known. I'm not sure how to change this (if it's possible), but when I set up native contentlister support, it should be a good workaround.

• Page flip is very slow

I'm trying to move away from using the hacked libX11, and use the iLiad way of doing screen refreshes. I'll do this in the next FBReader port, it should be quicker.

• Toggle from fullscreen fails

Known problem. I'll look into ways of solving this.

• Arrows on Options tag list inoperative

Which arrows are you talking about? You should be able to scroll left and right in the options dialog without a problem...

• File selector box too small

This is controlled by matchbox. A file selector doesn't really work well on e-ink anyway. Again, when you open from the contentlister, it should automatically be added to the library.

• Options color tag page designed for color device

But, this works with shades of grey on the iLiad. I change the color of hyperlinks to be a darker shade so it's easier to see.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Adam B.

• Arrows on Options tag list inoperative

Which arrows are you talking about? You should be able to scroll left and right in the options dialog without a problem...

Arrows were added to the options dialog box to allow scrolling of tabs as indicated in your original post and screenshot for FBReader 0.8.4 iLiad Release. The right arrow works about 1 time in 5 for me, and the left arrow never works. This is after stylus calibration. If I bring up the on-screen keyboard, then its left and right arrow keys always work (i.e. always scroll the tabs one place).

Originally Posted by Adam B.

• File selector box too small

This is controlled by matchbox. A file selector doesn't really work well on e-ink anyway. Again, when you open from the contentlister, it should automatically be added to the library.

If you give FBReader a single file as an argument (which I assume is what contentlister does), it opens the file and you can edit its properties, but it is not added to the library view. I don't know if this is a feature or a bug. The file is present in the list of recently viewed books though.