Notices

There is a new ebook reader in extras-devel called mebook. It has smooth auto-scrolling, a feature I have been missing in FBReader. Right now it only seems to support the epub-format (used for example at feedbooks and epubbooks.

The garage page for it is here: http://maemo.org/packages/view/mebook/

The developer also has a blog entry about it, here: http://juhanagsoc.wordpress.com/

If the developer (Parasight) happens to drop in on this thread, I have a few comments for you:

I have given the current version on maemo-devel a twirl, and it seems really nice! The reading experience is much of what I was hoping for (and found lacking in FBreader). I have been using Mobipocket for many years (ever since I first bought my Sony-Ericsson p800, then through various iterations of the SE P-line), and have really missed a good e-book reader on my N900. I am looking forward to see the development of this one!

The smooth-scrolling reading is particularly what I felt was lacking in FBReader. It works quite well, but the steps in scrolling speed when using the volume rocker are a little bit too large: I would have liked twice the resolution. The fact that kinetic scrolling is available while auto-scrolling is great! Just what is needed to temporarily increase/decrease scrolling speed when the text has a quick change in density (i.e. an exchange of conversation with short sentences each on a line of their own vs. long page-fulls of descriptive text). You might think of some automatic system to adjust scrolling speed according to text density, but just the manual override from kinetic scrolling is great.

The fact that auto-scrolling keeps on going after a short swipe of kinetic scrolling is required for the quick manual override, but it also means that there is no way to quickly stop the auto-scrolling if your attention is momentarily needed elsewhere. Perhaps double tap on the screen or some screen region?

I have one concern regarding smooth scrolling (haven't really used it long enough to know if this is a real issue or not). When checking with Conky, Mebook seems to use about 50% CPU at 250MHz while auto-scroll is on. Since it stays at 250MHz, it might not be that much of an issue, but battery time on the N900 is a notorious problem. If there is an even more power efficient scrolling method, that would certainly be welcome.

A big one for me: How about allowing simple text-files as input too? I have most of my ebooks downloaded as simple text, since the format is quite widely supported :-)

Just reading simple straight text files would be great. For text-files, adding some abilities to reflow text would also be very useful (mainly the problem is to find where paragraphs start). Sometimes, an empty line marks paragraph starts/endings, sometimes a one or a few spaces of indentation, sometimes each paragraph is a line on its own. A tricky text-format is where the text has been pre-formatted to a certain line-length, and a new paragraph is only marked by an empty space at the end of a line, where the following word could have fitted if it had been a normal line-break rather than a paragraph break.

Since these formats change depending on the book, and text files don't have meta-data, the format will need to be input manually. A requester where the user could set various options and interactively see the effect on-screen for the current portion of text would let the user get the format right in a jiffy.

A feature I really miss from Mobipocket is the ability to quickly look up a word in a dictionary (if you have one installed). Don't know if there are any good free dictionaries available, or how to get this implemented well (I expect there are no standards for electronic dictionary formats), but if it could somehow be done, it would be bliss!

Some feedback on how much of the full text you have read would also be great. Both FBReader and Mobipocket use a small "scrollbar"-like widget at the bottom of the screen (actually more like a fuel-gauge widget). It keeps you aware of how much of the book you have read, and also lets you skip to a particular place in the book. In mobipocket, small vertical lines across the bar also show where bookmarks and notes have been placed, and small arrows at either end let you skip between them. Putting the "scrollbar" at the bottom of the page rather than on the side (like a traditional scrollbar) has the advantage of not disturbing the text as much.

If you introduce page skipping, do not forget to include a history of previous places so that you can easily return to where you were if you accidentally skip.

Another thing that often is an issue are foot-notes. Some books have links in the main text, and all foot-notes collected together at the end. Apart from the ability of skipping to the foot-note section, the "back"-feature becomes important too, for returning to where you left off.

I think the ability to look up a word in a dictionary comes from the dictionary, not Mobipocket. They usually plug in other software as well. Of course the software or the OS should allow that kind of intrusion.

love this app. definately what i have been waiting for .Now only if there was no tearing when scrolling fast (blame nokia for poor graphics drivers)

Bundyo: The dictionary functionality I was thinking of comes with Mobipocket. Unless you buy one of their dictionaries, there is an non-functional menu item for a dictionary in the Mobipocket context menu when clicking a word. But to get that kind of thing working with a free dictionary (if there are any good ones) might be wishful thinking.

MeBook does not open any books I have. Tried .FB2, .HTML, .RTF, .TXT, but none work. Am I doing something wrong?

You tried everything but epub, the only one it does support.

Mhmm... .EPUB. There are actually people using this format?

There are LOTS of people using that format. Everyone who has a Sony Reader, for example. It's one of the main formats encouraged by Calibre, one of the cooler programs out there.

Woah, I only use ePubs on my ebook reader!