uBook 2010 suggestions

[windows]

Okay as I've now been using uBook 2010 for a few days a few thoughts and suggestions:

• Skin - The new default skin is nice but to me the name of the book down the left hand side cuts too much off the reading window, so to me would be improves if the title was shown in small text at the top of the screen.

Some of these thought may be coloured by me using the HD2 which has no controls apart from tapping on a capacitive screen for interaction:

• Options - Okay I guess a lot of us read via using the <.> mode whereby we tap the screen to move from page to page. This works well but when one has to move into the configuration and needs to use the +/- sections and the links within them it is a nightmare - as one has to remember to change mode to links mode then go into the options, make the changes you need and the change back to <.> mode again. Can this not be automated so that when one goes into options the mode changes and then changes back again?
• Options - Open book control can we have a slightly thinner scroll control and maybe smaller 'book type' indicator icon - this would give more room to display the title of the book to be loaded?
• Options - The top mode switch controls, can these be recoded to that the bottom of the icon border sort of flows down to surround the below icons, that way it would be clear to new users that they are different modes that can be invoked and that you know the iconset currently displayed is relevant to whichever tab.
• Icon - On the HD2 (and other machines with a hires WVGA display) the uBook icon looks very pixelated and unprofessional, can we have a new icon that looks good?
• Icon - Can we have a new design of icon that actually looks like a book? May be with the umlat icon on the cover? It might look better?

Anyway jut my few thoughts!

[µBook]

Originally Posted by windows

Okay as I've now been using uBook 2010 for a few days a few thoughts and suggestions:

• Skin - The new default skin is nice but to me the name of the book down the left hand side cuts too much off the reading window, so to me would be improves if the title was shown in small text at the top of the screen.

Maybe for 2011 , otherwise I'm sure a skin from 2009 would do this. Also if you use the skin scaling you can make the bar thinner.

Originally Posted by windows

Some of these thought may be coloured by me using the HD2 which has no controls apart from tapping on a capacitive screen for interaction:

• Options - Okay I guess a lot of us read via using the <.> mode whereby we tap the screen to move from page to page. This works well but when one has to move into the configuration and needs to use the +/- sections and the links within them it is a nightmare - as one has to remember to change mode to links mode then go into the options, make the changes you need and the change back to <.> mode again. Can this not be automated so that when one goes into options the mode changes and then changes back again?

I agree 100% as I have the same problem often. That means making the touch mode by book instead of global, which is a semi-major change. Will think about it...

Originally Posted by windows

• Options - Open book control can we have a slightly thinner scroll control and maybe smaller 'book type' indicator icon - this would give more room to display the title of the book to be loaded?

I have already (for the next release) changed the title to go on three lines and added the use of the icons images generated in library mode (see attached picture)

Originally Posted by windows

• Options - The top mode switch controls, can these be recoded to that the bottom of the icon border sort of flows down to surround the below icons, that way it would be clear to new users that they are different modes that can be invoked and that you know the iconset currently displayed is relevant to whichever tab.

Yeah I know what you mean. In this case the 'matrix' design doesn't leave me sub-cell spaces to surround other cells. I have tried just to make those with a square bottom but it is ugly (ok, uglier)

Originally Posted by windows

• Icon - On the HD2 (and other machines with a hires WVGA display) the uBook icon looks very pixelated and unprofessional, can we have a new icon that looks good?
• Icon - Can we have a new design of icon that actually looks like a book? May be with the umlat icon on the cover? It might look better?

Anyway jut my few thoughts!

I'll leave the last two questions for someone else to answer... with their icon editor.

Thanks for the feedback!

[windows]

Cheers David, we'll see how the next version looks.

So do we have any icon designers out there?

[Ommadawn]

I really like the new features and interface and the direction uBook's heading in, and have been a happy customer for quite a few years now.

The one thing I'd really like to see, however, is better epub support. More and more it seems, epub is looking like becoming a defacto ebook standard. I know there is basic support and that uBook can go into an epub archive to look at the files inside, but this is a messy and not very intuitive. How much work would be involved in adding some touches to make epub books as easy to open, read, etc as other file types?