Several of my books have exhibited different behavior using the stock reader as well as the PC reader. The first issue was a non B&N (Borders)ePub book that the margins were not adjustable. The text was displayed with 3/4 inch margins at the narrowest margin setting. The next was a B&N ePub (A Course In Miracles) that would not change font size & the default was pretty small. When I posted that on the B&N site the B&N rep (Michael-V) that monitors that site asked me for the name of the pub., but he never followed up with any comments! Last night I noticed a new B&N ePub book (100 Quotes to make you think) I think it was free, would not change the text to white in "Night Mode". Text was black. Oh wait, just tried all of the settings & when I went to "Mocha" the text was white & now the "night" setting shows white text. I had switched back and forth from "Normal", "Gray", "Normal" & back to "Night" several times without seeing white text. It wasn't until just now when I tried "Mocha" that it started working properly??? Anyway, the original issues remain unchanged & B&N doesn't seem to care/know what to do. The font size problem is the one that concerns me most, as in some cases the default font is very small &, after all, the ability to change fonts is an advertised Nook feature. BTW the inability to change font size was evident on the Nook, Nook Color & the Nook PC app. Haven't tried Aldiko or any other reader apk. Do the ePubs have to reside on the SD card for Aldiko to see them?
OH, WAIT A SEC!!!! Just noticed that I was tricked. The "Mocha" setting was not working properly & neither is the "Night" mode. I "Night" & "Mocha" the introduction to this book (100 Quotes) Page 3 & 4, was in white & then switches to black for the rest of the book. In "normal" or the other settings, all of the text is black! Pretty weird!!
Cheers,
kev
Background (skip if you just want the link):
I really like reading with my Nook Color (CM7) but I usually read at night and even with Cyanogen's red Night Mode, browsing the web to read is still way too bright. (looking at bright stuff while trying to set yourself up to go to sleep is a recipe for bad sleep quality). I tried looking for a browser that has a real night mode (aka invert colors so webpages default to dark background, white/gray text), but as far as I can tell, none exist. I installed a fork of Stylish/Greasemonkey ("Scriptish) that is compatible with Firefox Mobile, and tried to use some of the "dark" themes/scripts. But that wasn't really much better because every time I click a link to a new page, I get a huge bright white flash of light that lasts until Firefox Mobile has completely finished rendering the page (10 seconds+). I can read eBooks fine in the dark because FBReader has a good functional night mode and you can custom set the background and text colors.
Anyway, TLDR I just found a solution that's almost as good and perhaps even more useful in certain use cases. It's a Firefox extension/add-on called GrabMyBooks: grabmybooks.com
You can have GMB grab full webpages, links that you've right-clicked on, or selected text. You can do multiple pages at a time and each one will show up as an article (chapter). It'll stick these in a file, let you give it a title, a cover, etc, and then you can download an ePub with each page as a chapter. You can also do some basic editing within the browser/GMB, or save the ePub to your computer and edit in Sigil.
The best part is that for power users who regularly want to download articles from certain sites, you can create "Detection Rules" to automatically retrieve the content enclosed between two HTML tags that have a particular ID or class.
I'm planning to use this as an alternative/complement to ReadItLater (which I love, but it doesn't work with most sites that require logins)
I use Screen Filter to adjust the brightness.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en
I set my NC at 0% in android settings, then I apply a screen filter at 40% of that.
colorado_al said:
I use Screen Filter to adjust the brightness.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en
I set my NC at 0% in android settings, then I apply a screen filter at 40% of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried that too but it's not good enough, it's still a white background even if it is dimmed.
colorado_al said:
I use Screen Filter to adjust the brightness.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.haxor&hl=en
I set my NC at 0% in android settings, then I apply a screen filter at 40% of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I hadn't heard of this
Sent from my NookColor using xda premium
I am used to CTRL+= (increasing web browser font size) while browsing the net. Because some websites have really tiny font size. The CTRL+= option (works in FireFox, IE and Chrome) is very essential because it doesn't affect the layout of the webpage at all and it doesn't cause Scrolling (unlike Zooming In which WILL cause scrolling).
CTRL plus =; is even more necessary while browsing using my smartphone due to the size of the screen (smaller than my desktop's 27 inch monitor). I just wonder if there's an option to increase font size of a website like "CTR + =" without causing you to have to scroll left and right to read the text (which is inconvenient!).
Any advice?
I use Opera Mobile because it will automatically re flow the text to the current window width when you zoom. It saves a LOT of wasted effort trying to scroll for each line!
I think it may be an option, and the default may be off.
yabyab said:
CTRL plus =; is even more necessary while browsing using my smartphone due to the size of the screen (smaller than my desktop's 27 inch monitor)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not by much! A screenshot from my note takes up a fair bit of my desktop screen!
jeromepearce said:
Not by much! A screenshot from my note takes up a fair bit of my desktop screen!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't give a damn about "Screen Resolution" what I meant was "Size" my eyes don't care whether the resolution is billionXmillion pixels if it was squeezed in a 2 inch extra sharp monitor. It's still a freaking 2 inch monitor I can't SEE despite the billions of pixels contained inside!!
jeromepearce said:
I use Opera Mobile because it will automatically re flow the text to the current window width when you zoom. It saves a LOT of wasted effort trying to scroll for each line!
I think it may be an option, and the default may be off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you... but that's a shame to have to stick to a browser just for such a feature?
I can't believe no one thought of such a feature for smartphones... and I don't even wear glasses.
Just double tap the screen in your browser and the text size increases and wraps to the screen, every android phone does this. Plus ifbyou then zoom in ad out with pinching the text keeps wrapping to the screen :-D
I'm thinking of getting a Nook HD+ for storing and viewing my photos. Could somebody please let me know what the actual size of the photos would be on screen. I estimate it would be about 7x5 inches, is that right? Also, is the whole screen available to use or are there bars across the top and bottom for notifications etc. I use the 'Quickpic' app on my phone for photos and would expect to use this on the Nook.
Thanks.
If you use cyanogenmod you can full screen the image with expand screen feature. I'm not sure about stock rom.
[APP] [NST/G][2.1+] E-ink Optimized Ebookdroid - excellent PDF CBZ FB2 DJVU reader -- Great for reading comics!
Here I am posting an amazing app tweaked by @nivieru a few years ago specifically for the Nook Simple Touch which is by far the best PDF reader I have found for this device. I have not messed with using it for CBZ, FB2, or DJVU formats, but I would assume it would perform just as well on those. I primarily use this app to read comics in PDF format. And I have found it to be more than great. I have tried other many other apps for reading PDF; the two runners up being: EzPDF Reader and AVP PDF Viewer.
My criteria for calling this a good PDF reading:
1. Auto-Cropping Pages: This app will automatically crop dead space out of the pages. This is crucial when reading comics in PDF. It is best to read on the NST in landscape, and this auto-crop feature allows you to maximize the use of the screen while not having to fiddle so much with some kind of scroll-lock. I can load my comics and go.
2. Better Contrast: Nivieru really set this up nicely. I downloaded the last installable version of ebookdroid, and without Nivieru's tweaks I found it to have huge potential but to be wanting in this department. The app has the ability to change contrast, brightness, and exposure. After a few hours of fiddling with it and getting it as best as I could get it, my results were sub-par. For example, AVP Viewer showed small text better then ebookdroid without Nivieru's tweaks. Now, it is superior to AVP Viewer in sharpness, crispness, contrast, and vibrancy. The text and images just pop right off the e-ink screen! Blacks are very black. Whites are white. There is no loss in the gradient of grayscales possible with Nivieru's tweaks to this app.
3. Very customizable taps/button usage on the app: One thing I found superior to AVP Viewer and EzPDF Reader was that I had more options to turn the page with buttons than simply programming the side buttons to be android volume buttons. I use the Right and Left Tap programming in Nook Simple Touch Mod Manager to turn pages on my epub reading app (@Renate NST's Temblast Reader--the best and simplest epub reader I've found).
With this app, you can program the pages to turn using these very same buttons by: 1. tapping the menu key 2. More-->Settings-->Configure taps. At this menu, simply tap the desired page button, tap the dropdown for Single Tap, then choose Scroll Forward and Scroll Back for the right and left button you wish to program for each respective action.
4. The Ability to Determine the scroll height for taps or button presses:
Access this by: 1. tapping the menu key 2. More-->Settings...-->All Settings-->Taps, swipes, and keys
You can determine how far that a tap (or button press) to scroll up or down will move the viewing area. I find this extremely useful when I want to use @nmyshkin's newly created IROff app which allows you to turn off the IR to save battery. I find that this combination of being able to effectively scroll up and down without touching the screen having the IR sensors turned off has significantly lowered the battery drain while reading PDF documents because the IR array isn't repetitively reading finger swipes to scroll the viewing region up or down.
This option is much more useful than the two other runner up PDF apps. APV PDF Viewer jumps an entire screen when you scroll with the buttons (this is very difficult to read comics without touching the screen). EzPDF Reader Jumps the viewing area a shorter distance, and is more easy to read with buttons only, however, in EzPDF Reader, there is no way to get rid of the task bar at the top of the screen which takes up valuable reading real-estate.
With this option in ebookdroid, you can easily read PDF documents with the IR turned completely off. Thanks again @nmyshkin.
@nivieru made the defaults of the app better than the original version of ebookdroid, which makes it more install and go rather than install, tweak for a few hours, and go. This app runs pdfs quickly and smoothly, and also it does not leave ghosting on the screen while reading comics.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this app, and am happy to share nivieru's app with the community here. I hope it is just as useful to you as I have found it to be.
Here are some pictures I took with my cellphone comparing the rendering of the same document to other PDF readers. I will say that I have NOT enhanced the photos in any way. If you notice there is a noticeable difference in contrast and clarity from the other three examples.
Un-tweaked "stock" ebookdroid app:
APV PDF Viewer:
EzPDF Reader:
And finally the featured app tweaked by @nivieru--notice the difference in contrast!:
Well done on all counts. May this app be used by all who wish to read comics on the Nook Simple Touch.
I've attached the apk file on this app as well as @nmyshkin's app to turn off the IR sensors for a super efficient PDF reader. This app disengages the touch screen but the touch screen will automatically re-engage when the Nook goes into deep sleep after being asleep for 10 seconds; if for some reason your nook can't go into deep sleep, do a hard reset by holding the power button for 15 seconds and turning back on.
For IRoff to function, you need to have these files that nmyshkin has provided (attached) in their proper locations:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the IRoff app will not function. They are attached.
Note: You do not need those files in place to run nivieru's ebookdroid.
Here is nivieru's github page that has the apk for download with the source code: https://github.com/nivieru/ebookdroid/releases
Thank you to the xda community and all who made the NST such a wonderful, affordable, efficient, and functional e-ink reader. I will not buy another one, maybe ever. Thanks so much.
Peace
Time for a second look
I'm going to take another look at this app. Maybe the first time around I just installed whatever Ebookdroid I could find that would work. I ended up settling on AVP (after ditching Orion Viewer) because I liked that in scrolling the image would stay in the screen frame instead of slopping around. I get that good behavior with Ebookdroid on my Nook Tablet, but it wasn't my experience on the NST. But maybe I missed a setting. I have used AVP to read PDF newspapers mostly. For comics (which I haven't looked at in awhile) I have used Perfect Viewer, but that was for CBR or CBZ files.
Anyway, I need to revisit Ebookdroid in this version and see how it behaves. Thanks for the info.
My pleasure. Thanks for all you have done as well.
You're absolutely right about the display with EBookDroid. It's much clearer and with excellent contrast compared to AVP. Unfortunately neither is very good at handling a large PDF file like a newspaper. I'm finding myself arriving at blank pages and waiting until something shows up. Maybe about the same for both there, and it might be that some of the more esoteric settings like "pages in memory" or similar will help. Have to experiment more. Tap zooming with EBD often gives no result until the page is moved a bit, or goes to a black screen--again perhaps a sign that the system is overloaded with a large file.
Do you know:
1. if there is a way to set the zoom %? On more current versions of EBD you can select the zoom % that occurs with a tap. I can't seem to locate that on this version.
2. what the [0%, 90% - 100%, 100%] and similar options are for on the Tap Configuration menu? There isn't anything like those on the current EBD
Edit: OK, so I have sort of answered my own questions when I installed the current market version on my KitKat device. On that version you can actually see the selections in the tap configuration screen. The default for the funny numerical thing was [0%, 0%, -100%, 100%] so I decided this was good enough for me and set the NST the same way.
As for the zoom settings, still nowhere to be seen, but much experimentation has led me to conclude that the only tap-zoom setting that works reliably and reasonably well is the "zoom to column"--at least for a newspaper or magazine for which it almost seems designed. The other options like "zoom" (does nothing but show the inoperative zoom toast at the bottom of the screen) and "quick zoom" (does nothing until the page is moved slightly and doesn't release after tapping until the page is moved a little again) result in either no effect or much delay.
Edit:Edit: Oh, LOL! Who would have suspected that the "zoom" toast at the bottom of the screen functioned with a swipe from right to left!!! So the "1.00x" at the left end is actually the setting at the far right, and as you swipe toward the left the zoom increases! Now this bears looking at further
nmyshkin said:
You're absolutely right about the display with EBookDroid. It's much clearer and with excellent contrast compared to AVP. Unfortunately neither is very good at handling a large PDF file like a newspaper. I'm finding myself arriving at blank pages and waiting until something shows up. Maybe about the same for both there, and it might be that some of the more esoteric settings like "pages in memory" or similar will help. Have to experiment more. Tap zooming with EBD often gives no result until the page is moved a bit, or goes to a black screen--again perhaps a sign that the system is overloaded with a large file.
Do you know:
1. if there is a way to set the zoom %? On more current versions of EBD you can select the zoom % that occurs with a tap. I can't seem to locate that on this version.
2. what the [0%, 90% - 100%, 100%] and similar options are for on the Tap Configuration menu? There isn't anything like those on the current EBD
Edit: OK, so I have sort of answered my own questions when I installed the current market version on my KitKat device. On that version you can actually see the selections in the tap configuration screen. The default for the funny numerical thing was [0%, 0%, -100%, 100%] so I decided this was good enough for me and set the NST the same way.
As for the zoom settings, still nowhere to be seen, but much experimentation has led me to conclude that the only tap-zoom setting that works reliably and reasonably well is the "zoom to column"--at least for a newspaper or magazine for which it almost seems designed. The other options like "zoom" (does nothing but show the inoperative zoom toast at the bottom of the screen) and "quick zoom" (does nothing until the page is moved slightly and doesn't release after tapping until the page is moved a little again) result in either no effect or much delay.
Edit:Edit: Oh, LOL! Who would have suspected that the "zoom" toast at the bottom of the screen functioned with a swipe from right to left!!! So the "1.00x" at the left end is actually the setting at the far right, and as you swipe toward the left the zoom increases! Now this bears looking at further
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you figured it out. Sorry I didn't notice that you had commented on this. It's definitely THE clearest comic reading app I have found. It also autocrops nicely. No need to re-zoom every time a file is opened.
ALinkToTao said:
[APP] [NST/G][2.1+] E-ink Optimized Ebookdroid - excellent PDF CBZ FB2 DJVU reader -- Great for reading comics!
Here I am posting an amazing app tweaked by @nivieru a few years ago specifically for the Nook Simple Touch which is by far the best PDF reader I have found for this device. I have not messed with using it for CBZ, FB2, or DJVU formats, but I would assume it would perform just as well on those. I primarily use this app to read comics in PDF format. And I have found it to be more than great. I have tried other many other apps for reading PDF; the two runners up being: EzPDF Reader and AVP PDF Viewer.
My criteria for calling this a good PDF reading:
1. Auto-Cropping Pages: This app will automatically crop dead space out of the pages. This is crucial when reading comics in PDF. It is best to read on the NST in landscape, and this auto-crop feature allows you to maximize the use of the screen while not having to fiddle so much with some kind of scroll-lock. I can load my comics and go.
2. Better Contrast: Nivieru really set this up nicely. I downloaded the last installable version of ebookdroid, and without Nivieru's tweaks I found it to have huge potential but to be wanting in this department. The app has the ability to change contrast, brightness, and exposure. After a few hours of fiddling with it and getting it as best as I could get it, my results were sub-par. For example, AVP Viewer showed small text better then ebookdroid without Nivieru's tweaks. Now, it is superior to AVP Viewer in sharpness, crispness, contrast, and vibrancy. The text and images just pop right off the e-ink screen! Blacks are very black. Whites are white. There is no loss in the gradient of grayscales possible with Nivieru's tweaks to this app.
3. Very customizable taps/button usage on the app: One thing I found superior to AVP Viewer and EzPDF Reader was that I had more options to turn the page with buttons than simply programming the side buttons to be android volume buttons. I use the Right and Left Tap programming in Nook Simple Touch Mod Manager to turn pages on my epub reading app (@Renate NST's Temblast Reader--the best and simplest epub reader I've found).
With this app, you can program the pages to turn using these very same buttons by: 1. tapping the menu key 2. More-->Settings-->Configure taps. At this menu, simply tap the desired page button, tap the dropdown for Single Tap, then choose Scroll Forward and Scroll Back for the right and left button you wish to program for each respective action.
4. The Ability to Determine the scroll height for taps or button presses:
Access this by: 1. tapping the menu key 2. More-->Settings...-->All Settings-->Taps, swipes, and keys
You can determine how far that a tap (or button press) to scroll up or down will move the viewing area. I find this extremely useful when I want to use @nmyshkin's newly created IROff app which allows you to turn off the IR to save battery. I find that this combination of being able to effectively scroll up and down without touching the screen having the IR sensors turned off has significantly lowered the battery drain while reading PDF documents because the IR array isn't repetitively reading finger swipes to scroll the viewing region up or down.
This option is much more useful than the two other runner up PDF apps. APV PDF Viewer jumps an entire screen when you scroll with the buttons (this is very difficult to read comics without touching the screen). EzPDF Reader Jumps the viewing area a shorter distance, and is more easy to read with buttons only, however, in EzPDF Reader, there is no way to get rid of the task bar at the top of the screen which takes up valuable reading real-estate.
With this option in ebookdroid, you can easily read PDF documents with the IR turned completely off. Thanks again @nmyshkin.
@nivieru made the defaults of the app better than the original version of ebookdroid, which makes it more install and go rather than install, tweak for a few hours, and go. This app runs pdfs quickly and smoothly, and also it does not leave ghosting on the screen while reading comics.
All in all, I am extremely happy with this app, and am happy to share nivieru's app with the community here. I hope it is just as useful to you as I have found it to be.
Here are some pictures I took with my cellphone comparing the rendering of the same document to other PDF readers. I will say that I have NOT enhanced the photos in any way. If you notice there is a noticeable difference in contrast and clarity from the other three examples.
Un-tweaked "stock" ebookdroid app:
APV PDF Viewer:
EzPDF Reader:
And finally the featured app tweaked by @nivieru--notice the difference in contrast!:
Well done on all counts. May this app be used by all who wish to read comics on the Nook Simple Touch.
I've attached the apk file on this app as well as @nmyshkin's app to turn off the IR sensors for a super efficient PDF reader. This app disengages the touch screen but the touch screen will automatically re-engage when the Nook goes into deep sleep after being asleep for 10 seconds; if for some reason your nook can't go into deep sleep, do a hard reset by holding the power button for 15 seconds and turning back on.
For IRoff to function, you need to have these files that nmyshkin has provided (attached) in their proper locations:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the IRoff app will not function. They are attached.
Note: You do not need those files in place to run nivieru's ebookdroid.
Here is nivieru's github page that has the apk for download with the source code: https://github.com/nivieru/ebookdroid/releases
Thank you to the xda community and all who made the NST such a wonderful, affordable, efficient, and functional e-ink reader. I will not buy another one, maybe ever. Thanks so much.
Peace
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bumping this thread up, as it deserves to be noticed. Thank you for bringing this to our attention and for the files you attached (thanks to @nmyshkin for his contributions.) I have found eBookDroid the few days I have been using it to be a superb PDF and DJVU reader. I tested CBZ (comic) files too and it seems equally good. This is now my app of choice to read PDF and DJVU books. I use FBReader for EPUB and MOBI books.
I was hoping to have FBReader's PDF and DJVU plugins work on the Nook Simple Touch, but I was getting a Parse Error when trying to install, so I suppose they are not compatible with Android 2.1. However, eBookDroid more than makes up for that problem. A great reader!
My pleasure. I'm glad you are enjoying it.