iPhone Hyphen - ePub Reader for iPhone and iPad

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Looking good!

. Interestingly, I never had that bug. But no matter, I agree, its looking good. And I have almost got to a point where I will delete Stanza. Its the only other reader left since I began with this testing business. And I havent used it since...

[odamizu]

Actually, I haven't seen that bug, either; nor have I had any trouble with gesture responsiveness. I was just giving a big to Hyphen overall.

[wilsonkate58]

hey I'm new to here. I'm using iPhone 6S. Can I download calibre to my device?

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by wilsonkate58

hey I'm new to here. I'm using iPhone 6S. Can I download calibre to my device?

No. It needs to be on your computer if you want to use it. THis thread is about hyphen ereader. There's a whole forum about Calibre, surprised you didnt notice.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=166

[hyphenreader]

Beta Build 27 is now out! Fixes a few minor bugs and brings us closer to the first public release: hyphenreader.com/beta-changelog

[MartyTX]

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

Beta Build 27 is now out! Fixes a few minor bugs and brings us closer to the first public release: hyphenreader.com/beta-changelog

The Beta is definitely ready for a "Prime Time" public release. Very user-friendly interface ... easy to get immersed in reading ... and that's what its all about!

Thanks for all your hard work.

[hyphenreader]

Originally Posted by MartyTX

The Beta is definitely ready for a "Prime Time" public release. Very user-friendly interface ... easy to get immersed in reading ... and that's what its all about!

Thanks for all your hard work.

[hyphenreader]

(Reply to this post (click here), so as not to derail that thread.)

Originally Posted by Faterson

You, Matt, opted for ADE pages as the (only) page-count option in your Hyphen e-reader, and while I disagree, it's definitely a superior solution compared to Marvin's totally random invention of "250-word 'pages'". Conversely, Marvin's footers, and especially their newly added (though still incomplete) footer customization options are clearly ahead of Hyphen's footers. Generally, I love seeing the "XXX pages left" data rather than "I'm on page XXX", so I'd like to see that display option in Hyphen; as well as the ability to have (optionally) 1 or 2 decimals displayed for the "percentage read" indicator.

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding page counting, both types you mentioned available in some regard. Hyphen uses ADE pages in most places. Instances where you might want a reference, or something that will take you back to approximately the same place in the text. You'll see these in the book nav slider and shelf. As for 'screen flips', Hyphen displays those by default in the page footer ('X pages left in section') while reading, not ADE pages though you can switch to using ADE pages in the footer in Settings.

I'm still exploring the pagination issue. It's defintely one that's tough to get right, and possibly one of the biggest issues with digital book formats.

Originally Posted by Faterson

While you're here, Matt, it's definitely nice to see yet another e-reader clearly inspired by Stanza and/or Marvin. My compliments. Hyphen still has some catching up to do before it reaches at least Marvin's level, but it seems to be on the right path. Now, I've only briefly tested Hyphen for now, and perhaps it's due to that being a free version, but some things didn't seem to be working right. The only book I could open was Moby-Dick,

That's a restriction of the free version, you're limited to the book you've most recently imported, in this case Moby Dick.

Originally Posted by Faterson

but reducing paragraph spacing in this particular e-book appears to be impossible.

You tested this in the Table of Contents/Intro, right? In the case of the Moby Dick ePub, what you're seeing isn't paragraph spacing - it's actual line breaks in the text, and short of modifying the text, is outside of Hyphen's control. \n\n, instead of <br />.

Originally Posted by Faterson

It's possible to make a highlight, but it's unclear how to change the highlight color, or in fact how to add an annotation to the highlight, other than by accessing it via the highlights list (a terrible runaround).

You modify/annotate a highlight by long-pressing it. This is one of the interactions that I've improved in a coming update, however.

Originally Posted by Faterson

On the plus side, Hyphen offers 8 highlight colors as opposed to Marvin's 6 colors. In terms of annotations export, Hyphen is only slightly less glitchy than Marvin: unlike Marvin, Hyphen does preserve paragraph breaks from the original highlight when exporting, but just like Marvin, Hyphen fails to preserve basic formatting (such as italics or bold) inside the highlight, and just like Marvin, Hyphen fails to preserve line-breaks in user annotations.

That's true. Could you tell me more about how you use exported highlights? Would you also want things like images, font sizing, headers, etc., preserved?

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

Regarding page counting, both types you mentioned are available in some regard.

Well, that's the trouble: some regard. I believe e-book software should consistently provide us with (at least) both of these page-count options: "natural" and "artificial". (The first one for me, at any rate.) For more, please see the post I've just submitted to the Marvin thread here. Right now, Hyphen is just as self-contradictory as Marvin: you're giving us "natural" page-counts for "pages in chapter", but "artificial" page-counts for "pages in book", as the only available options in both scenarios. Sorry, but that just won't do, from my perspective.

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

I'm still exploring the pagination issue. It's definitely one that's tough to get right, and possibly one of the biggest issues with digital book formats.

Absolutely. But I believe that "getting it right" equals giving your users a choice to select whatever page-count option suits them best – not enforcing any single page-count option for all users.

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

That's a restriction of the free version, you're limited to the book you've most recently imported, in this case Moby Dick.

Well, I haven't really imported anything – I simply installed Hyphen as provided by the App Store. The books were pre-installed, so to say; and I realize it's a free Hyphen version meant as a "preview", but it appears slightly illogical to have 5 books pre-installed, but being able to actually open only one of them. Just something for you to consider.

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

In the case of the Moby Dick ePub, what you're seeing isn't paragraph spacing - it's actual line breaks in the text, and short of modifying the text, is outside of Hyphen's control. \n\n, instead of <br />.

Right, I thought it might be due to the EPUB's malformatting – but then, I would recommend avoiding the use of such a malformatted EPUB file as the only file at the hands of which a user can test Hyphen's functionality in the free "preview" version. It would be best for Hyphen to "pre-install" a preview EPUB file (or a set of EPUB files) in which all the (very nice) Hyphen features work as expected.

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

You modify/annotate a highlight by long-pressing it.

I thought that might do it, but nope. Not working on iPhone 6S Plus, latest iOS. Nothing happens when long-pressing a highlight. (On the iPad, though, long-pressing a highlight does pop up the "edit highlight" sub-window.)

Originally Posted by hyphenreader

Could you tell me more about how you use exported highlights? Would you also want things like images, font sizing, headers, etc., preserved?

I have various, mostly scholarly uses for exported annotations, but also quite practical uses, such as for collaboration purposes with the e-book authors, etc. But what is common for all of those uses is that the loss of at least basic formatting from the original highlights, and the loss of line-breaks from user annotations, is just unacceptable.

Yes, if all of the formatting of the original highlight could be preserved in the exported annotation, that would be ideal – no question about it. For starters, though, I'd be happy if at least the very basic formatting were preserved. I'm sure you're aware that italics, for example, carries heavy meaning in texts. There's a huge difference between these sentences:

"That's interesting for me."
"That's interesting for me."

The italicized me in the second version of the sentence makes all the difference. Other formatting measures, such as bold, enlarged or smaller font sizes, etc., might perform a similar function, heavily influencing the meaning of the highlight being exported. Therefore, the more of the original formatting of a highlight can be preserved while exporting an annotation, the better. If all of it could be preserved – well, that would just be perfect.

Similarly, for user-composed annotations, if they contain line-breaks, these must be preserved when the annotations are exported. I mean, no one would insert line-breaks in their annotations needlessly, right? If they are there, they're there for a purpose. Some of my annotations are very long, so I subdivide them into paragraphs, pushing the Enter key twice to separate the paragraphs, as is standard in plain-text. It's just unacceptable for those line-breaks (paragraph separations) to get deleted upon annotations export. (Both Hyphen and Marvin do this, and it's a big nuisance to have to recreate those line-breaks manually in the user annotations after they are exported.)

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by Faterson

...
Similarly, for user-composed annotations, if they contain line-breaks, these must be preserved when the annotations are exported. I mean, no one would insert line-breaks in their annotations needlessly, right? If they are there, they're there for a purpose. Some of my annotations are very long, so I subdivide them into paragraphs, pushing the Enter key twice to separate the paragraphs, as is standard in plain-text. It's just unacceptable for those line-breaks (paragraph separations) to get deleted upon annotations export. (Both Hyphen and Marvin do this, and it's a big nuisance to have to recreate those line-breaks manually in the user annotations after they are exported.)

@Faterson - Check out MapleRead. It does preserve line-breaks in user-composed annotations on export.

[Faterson]

Thanks, I have installed MapleRead to take a look. Of course, the ability to avoid that particular bug – deletion of line-breaks upon export of user annotations – is just one small (although important) aspect of an e-book reader's overall functionality. And so, I'm noticing, for example, that MapleRead does not support more than a single highlight color – and that would be a show-stopper for me. One of the best things about Hyphen is the range of 8 various highlight colors – I could certainly meaningfully employ all of them. (Marvin offers 6 highlight colors, which is not quite as impressive a range, but still OK.)

[mattcurtis]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Well, I haven't really imported anything – I simply installed Hyphen as provided by the App Store. The books were pre-installed, so to say; and I realize it's a free Hyphen version meant as a "preview", but it appears slightly illogical to have 5 books pre-installed, but being able to actually open only one of them. Just something for you to consider.

Right, I thought it might be due to the EPUB's malformatting – but then, I would recommend avoiding the use of such a malformatted EPUB file as the only file at the hands of which a user can test Hyphen's functionality in the free "preview" version. It would be best for Hyphen to "pre-install" a preview EPUB file (or a set of EPUB files) in which all the (very nice) Hyphen features work as expected.

Great points! I'll keep them in mind.

Originally Posted by Faterson

There's a huge difference between these sentences:

"That's interesting for me."
"That's interesting for me."

The italicized me in the second version of the sentence makes all the difference. Other formatting measures, such as bold, enlarged or smaller font sizes, etc., might perform a similar function, heavily influencing the meaning of the highlight being exported. Therefore, the more of the original formatting of a highlight can be preserved while exporting an annotation, the better. If all of it could be preserved – well, that would just be perfect.

Ah, I see, thanks for sharing. This poses its own technical challenges, but I'll definitely add it to my noteboard.

[cedhax]

Originally Posted by Faterson

Thanks, I have installed MapleRead to take a look. Of course, the ability to avoid that particular bug – deletion of line-breaks upon export of user annotations – is just one small (although important) aspect of an e-book reader's overall functionality.

You are welcome.

And so, I'm noticing, for example, that MapleRead does not support more than a single highlight color – and that would be a show-stopper for me. One of the best things about Hyphen is the range of 8 various highlight colors – I could certainly meaningfully employ all of them. (Marvin offers 6 highlight colors, which is not quite as impressive a range, but still OK.)

On the contrary, I prefer MapleRead's unconventional note management system with 3 priority levels and unrestricted number of note lists per book over the conventional multiple but restricted number of highlight colors of iBooks, Hyphen, Marvin, etc. For casual highlighting, one (user-definable) color is enough for me. For serious highlighting, I used to use different colors to indicate the relative importance/priority of each note; with MapleRead, I can simply use its priority system directly without remember my own color encoding scheme in my head. It's also more portable when I email my notes to a friend or colleague to tell the priority, especially when she prefers a different highlight coloring scheme than mine. Finally, when there are different types of notes, say, some for proof-reading, some for rebuttal, etc., I like the fact that I can create different note list named explicitly "proof-reading", "rebuttal", etc. In conclusion, MapleRead's note system is far more powerful than your average ereader note system.

[kyteflyer]

Lets not turn this into a this vs that thread? Please?

[Faterson]

Originally Posted by cedhax

In conclusion, MapleRead's note system is far more powerful than your average ereader note system.

I disagree, because that priority system is no replacement for multiple highlight colors. Now, if several highlight colors were combined with some of the innovative MapleRead notes features (multiple notes lists, priority levels, etc.) – that would be something. But a single highlight color is a show-stopper for me – simply by looking at a page of text, I must be able to see the various types of highlights, which appears to be impossible in MapleRead. Also, as I mentioned, the more highlight types/colors are available, the better – and only 3 "priority levels" simply won't do for me. (Plus, to me, it's not about "priority" at all, at least not primarily, but about various types of annotations, and about being able to spot the various highlight types simply by looking at pages of text, thanks to the various colors used.)

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

Lets not turn this into a this vs that thread? Please?

Please let's avoid over-reacting. It's perfectly valid and helpful to compare the various e-readers available when the aim of that comparison is to improve the e-reader being discussed, which is Hyphen in this thread.

For now, based on first impressions, I would rate Hyphen for iPad 3 stars, and Hyphen for iPhone 2.5 stars (due to the severe bug of being unable to long-press a highlight and edit it). I'm rating Marvin at 3.5 stars (both Marvin 3 and Marvin 2 versions), and Moon+ Read Pro on Android at 3 stars. Those are all very solid e-readers to me, and all the others I've ever seen are below 3 stars. I just hope I can live long enough to get to see e-reader software that I might rate at least 4 stars, or – if we dare to dream – 5 stars one fine (probably very distant) day.