96 replies to this topic

[Swingstage]

Just got Cruz T301 can not install can any one elp?

[Swingstage]

Any chance for mobi support in Android ubook? Have it for windows it would be great for for Android.

Using active icons in brouse mode but if I try to edit icons or update just throws me out of program.

[kogrover]

I've been using uBook on Win Mobile for years.  Aside from some small issues, I've been very happy.  I moved to Android and have still been using my Win Mobile device, just for uBooks and books.

I installed previous versions of the Android beta, but could just not get anything to work.  Nothing seemed to work as I expected - could not navigate, turn pages, get to the options section.  I gave up.  Today I started again with the 2011r1b.  Still, far too painful.  In the following text, I list some issues and suggestions.

The 'default' (after fresh install, e.g. no user configuration) behavior should be more user friendly.  When I turned it on, I could not read the screen, the menu bar (whatever it's called at the bottom that I use to see pages and access the menu) were microscopic (ok, I _could_ see it, but it was a frustrating adventure to try to actually push the right button).  Navigation did not work for me and I could not seem to select anything (because things were so small?)

The suggestions

Have the default start up mode be simple and appropriate for the OS (Android, Win, WinMobile, ...)

For Android, I would not use any skin (e.g no fancy anythings) - if the user wants that, let them select it later.

Have the menu button work (mine does not) (Google Nexus S 4G) - this is a big usability thing: I could not access anything until I change the skin to 300% and made the font larger - which was _very_ hard to do at first.

Have the back button do the normal android back (not just exit the app - in fact, if the user pushes back while on the main reading screen, you could pop up a dialog saying 'Press back again to exit' which times out if no button is pressed within a few seconds.  If any key is pressed before back is pressed again, clear that state, otherwise, if back is pressed, exit --- this is was 'EZ File Explorer' does and I find it very intuitive.)

Have touch and hold (on a reading page) activate text selection/copying or some other obvious function: a dialog with select/copy, Setup, ???.   Right now, it does nothing.

The default mode for page turning should be 'flick up or left for 'Next Page', flick down or right for 'Prev Page'.  Right now, I touch the screen and sometimes it moves forward, sometimes it moves back, sometimes nothing happens, and sometimes I get a menu.  It was rarely doing what I want.  Now it seems to actually work and I'm not sure why.  I ran across the previous post in this thread about the little matrix for page turning.  I just tested my device that is exactly what is happening.  Great.  However, that should be a selectable 'Advanced Touch Navigation" (with some explanations).  Without knowing that, a new user has virtually no chance if figuring anything out, or even being able to read the manual.

I've read other posts about users wanting the volume keys to work for page turning.  If other apps do that, it would be logical, but personally I would not us it.  However, it would be inline with how I would expect a book read to work.  You could have this be the default behavior with a Setup option to disable it.

Usability/Navigation: I should not have to navigate to the menu and set the 'Skin' to 300% (so I can actually select any functions) and the Font to 25 (vice the default 13) so that I can see anything.  The font change is probably just my preference, I could read the display if needed.  Setting the 'Skin'  to 300% I saw early in this thread - I doubt I would have figured it out, and before doing these I could not read the help --- it kept randomly popping up the about and changing from moving page forward to page back.

Have a 'Register' page in the 'Settings'  (call it 'Settings' not options - that's what every other Android app calls them).  I had to find the tidbit about using Browse (in this thread) to move to the directory where the ub1 file was: I had placed it in the root of the SD card and in the dir where my books were: no joy.  I even force closed the app and reopened it.  Still no joy.  Too much magic.

Better ePub support - read the table of contents from the epub and use it to determine read order: when I use 'Next' from the end of a current section it should go to the next in order according to the TOC from the epub, not just the next alphabetical file in the epub(ZIP) archive.

I've read others want mobi support in the Android version.  It would be nice, if it worked.  I found that on the Win Mobile version, opening mobi files mostly did not work: the files opened, but the charset was often strange (quotes and other punctuation were flat out wrong) and the paging left out sections of text.  If I convert the files to epub or pdb the problems went away.  NOTE: You can use 'Calibre' to convert between just about all the formats.

As a caveat, I should also point out that I had naviagtion issues with the WinMobile version: sometimes it worked, others it did not.  I had often wished for a mode where if I touched the bottom part of the screen it would move a page forward, if I touched a top portion, it would move a page back.

For grins, I just tested the Win Mobile device: the touch navigation works just like the diagram in this thread detailed.  On hindsight, I find that a very powerful design and will enjoy it.  However, to a new user, it's extremely difficult to learn.  I would suggest a simplified default and allow the user to choose the Advanced Touch Navigation mode.   I can't believe I just now figured that out - I first registered in 2005!   Sometimes, for a smart guy, I'm pretty darn stupid!

I would recommend a CHM/PDF version of the manual that users could download from the web and read on a normal PC - that may have helped.  Or, better yet, a 'Quick Start.pdf' guide that talked about navigation.  That would have made my uBook usage far more enjoyable.

[The Guru]

I've given David a nudge and pointed him at this email Some good content in there!

[kogrover]

I've been trying out the Android version and have a couple of more issues.

Book reading seems to work well with one exception: if I'm not fast enough reading a page the phone turns off.  Luckily it dims first so I just page back/page forward.  It would be nice to have a time-out setting.  I looked in options and could not find one.

That's the other issue: Options: it's painful for me to navigate and select anything.  I touch items (tabs, buttons, or values) and things blink.  Sometimes they open (or engage, or..), often not: I have to touch them 3 or 4 times.  When in options, the 'Touch Navigation' is turned off (obviously I need to be able to click links), but now the only way I can page forward or backward is with the small menu at the bottom of the page.  It's hard to accurately select the feature I want - too hard.

On Android devices, (in addition to calling 'Options' 'Settings' as I mentioned early), I would have the page be more Android like (e.g. a more simplified list of devices).  That fancy book page for options probably helps keep things consistent between platforms, but, on Android at least, it is not intuitive and it is certainly not user friendly.

If you get the menu key working, having a 'Night Mode'/'Day Mode' button would be nice: it's convenient to be able to invert the colors for (easier on the eyes) reading in dark/dim light.

[uBook]

Lotsa good ideas here.  The next version coming up (within the week) will feature a startup wizard that will solve (hopefully) many initial issues.

Some new navigation (page flick for example) will help.

Also NOTE: for mobi, the problem lies with the HTML files which do no have a proper charset encoding, go to Options -> book -> charset -> UTF-8 will solve it.  

I am making UTF-8 the default HTML charset in the next release.  It is now more popular than it was in 2002

I am having difficulty with the hardware buttons and the sdcard location, which the OS lies to me about (at least on my --awful-- Pandigital)

Thanks to all,
Later,
David

[The Guru]

Sounding good David. Look forwards to seeing it.

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