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Announcing Calibre 2.0

blog.calibre-ebook.com

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Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#81

Post by llasram »

In 2008-2009 I was probably the second biggest commiter to Calibre (still #4 according to github), focusing entirely on the conversion pipeline and format support. I'm still proud of the OEB modeling as some of the finest OO code I've written, or probably will write now that I've moved on to functional.

For everyone complaining about the UI and management functionality, realize that you are not the target audience. Head over to www.mobileread.com, look at the Calibre forum and the praise Kovid gets, and you'll see that he's largely catering directly to what his core users want.

It is interesting that Calibre and mobileread are still around, and relatively little changed. I lost interest and moved on once pretty much every commercially-available e-book became available in EPUB format. What's left is a very, very specialized core of enthusiasts.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#82

Post by izacus »

llasram wrote: post #81

In 2008-2009 I was probably the second biggest commiter to Calibre (still #4 according to github), focusing entirely on the conversion pipeline and format support. I'm still proud of the OEB modeling as some of the finest OO code I've written, or probably will write now that I've moved on to functional. For everyone complaining about the UI and management functionality, realize that you are not the target audience. H…

I don't understand, how can a sane UI have a target audience?

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#83

Post by edent »

jrvarela56 wrote: post #54

Does anyone have a decent webapp to replace this? Interested in building one since I haven't found a viable option. As of now I use Calibre and set my folder to Dropbox so I can access books.

I use COPS as a Web frontend. http://blog.slucas.fr/en/oss/calibre-opds-php-server

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#84

Post by zo1 »

jychang wrote: post #67
Touche wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calibre makes it dead simple to manage a library of ebooks and allows you to do just about anything that can be done with them. That's the definition of a good UI. Whether it follows modern design trends is irrelevant. A UI overhaul would be a terrible idea.

I disagree. The UI is extremely messy, and far from streamlined. I couldn't figure out how to do basic management tasks at first.

Those are very undefined and user-specific complaints you have. And I've seen nothing in your post that justifies a full UI rewrite. Perhaps some changes, to cater for new/novice/confused users, but a UI rewrite is just a ridiculous thing to request.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#85

Post by zo1 »

isaacdl wrote: post #4
maxerickson wrote: post #2

Does it still refuse to index without managing? A quick glance at the documentation says yes.

What do you mean by that?

It means: If you have an existing ebook library, with whichever folder structure. And you ask Calibre in import it, it will go ahead and copy every single file from your folder structure in to its own inside "My Documents" (or one of the other user folders, can't remember.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#86

Post by chipotle_coyote »

keithpeter wrote: post #71
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that's absolutely desirable in terms of priority, calibre's UI has been not merely ugly for its entire six-year history, it's been a jet-powered unicycle ride to Crazytown for its entire six-year history. We're talking about things like just following generally accepted conventions for how to structure GUI menus. I don't think this is a matter of calibre de-prioritizing fixing the UI. I'm pretty sure it's a con…

"...a jet-powered unicycle ride to Crazytown..." I'd like to see a few more jet-powered unicycles rides. They sound fun. Functionality, especially in niche software, is sometimes more important than some kind of idealised smooth workflow. The nearest physical analogue I can conjure up is to contrast a 'sound system' as used in dances in church halls and community centres round here (wardrobe sized speaker cabinets wi…

I don't disagree with your position -- I disagree with the implicit contention that calibre's non-standard UI improves its functionality. It is, at its heart, a file management and viewing application. What advantage does it get by spurning the notion of File and View menus? How is it made better by having a toolbar full of non-standard icons that literally duplicate the menu bar? Is it merely UX idealism that would lead one to argue that menus that have items twenty words long is needlessly suboptimal?

There are GUI conventions which at this point have been with us for three decades, and no matter what operating system you're using the vast majority of programs you use follow them. I would never argue that it's impossible for a program to be improved by deliberately flouting those conventions -- but I'd argue that you need a defensible rationale for doing so. A sound system for a large space has different tradeoffs and design considerations than a home theatre system does, but it's actually following a different set of well-considered conventions, right? I don't think calibre's UX design is well-considered at all; I think it was put together by someone who doesn't know much about UX design, isn't willing to learn, and whose reaction to even gentle criticism is to dig in his heels.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#87

Post by dredmorbius »

walterbell wrote: post #79
dredmorbius wrote: post #77

I'll take a look at this, as my long rant on what's wrong with browsers[1] basically ends up with the admission that something along the lines of Calibre or Zotero is probably more of what I want from a reading app: the ability to manage a library of works, local, networked, or on the Web, with a highly uniform presentation (ignore virtually all document formatting in favor of my own preferences). From my relatively…

Calibre can be configured to use the OS defaults for reading specific file extensions. The option is buried somewhere in the preferences menu of Calibre. On Windows, OSS SumatraPDF will read pdf, epub, djvi, fb, chm and more. You can preset 2up fullscreen & other options, including the carnival yellow default background. It's minimal and can be locked down more than Acrobat, but has still had a handful of public secu…

I use Linux (mentioned though not explicitly stated in my comment above). I've dug for config options and haven't found it. I've also searched for docs and posted on several forums without finding any resolution for this.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#88

Post by dredmorbius »

jychang wrote: post #67
Touche wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calibre makes it dead simple to manage a library of ebooks and allows you to do just about anything that can be done with them. That's the definition of a good UI. Whether it follows modern design trends is irrelevant. A UI overhaul would be a terrible idea.

I disagree. The UI is extremely messy, and far from streamlined. I couldn't figure out how to do basic management tasks at first.

I agree with you that the calibre UI could use help.

*Being specific on where exactly it's deficient would be useful. "It's clunky" really isn't actionable criticism.

My own comments are sparse largely as I've found other elements (mostly the readers) so abysmal that I make little use of Calibre.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#89

Post by dredmorbius »

keithpeter wrote: post #71
chipotle_coyote wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While that's absolutely desirable in terms of priority, calibre's UI has been not merely ugly for its entire six-year history, it's been a jet-powered unicycle ride to Crazytown for its entire six-year history. We're talking about things like just following generally accepted conventions for how to structure GUI menus. I don't think this is a matter of calibre de-prioritizing fixing the UI. I'm pretty sure it's a con…

"...a jet-powered unicycle ride to Crazytown..." I'd like to see a few more jet-powered unicycles rides. They sound fun. Functionality, especially in niche software, is sometimes more important than some kind of idealised smooth workflow. The nearest physical analogue I can conjure up is to contrast a 'sound system' as used in dances in church halls and community centres round here (wardrobe sized speaker cabinets wi…

"Fun" and "conducive to a long and prosperous life" would appear to be at odds in this specific case. I don't find the characterization complimentary.

Re: Announcing Calibre 2.0

#90

Post by dredmorbius »

wslh wrote: post #47
skant wrote: post #43

The author of Calibre claims: In my opinion, calibre’s graphic interface is damn good [1] I don't think the author is going to make any strides towards improving/changing the UI [1] http://features.en.softonic.com/interview-kovid-goyal-creato...

I think developing a good UI is hard. More when you develop a multiplatform application like Calibre. Probably QT is currently the best way to go but the aesthetic is not solved by the framework alone.

I could care less what framework is used, and am fairly positively inclined toward Qt in general.

Some frameworks (GNOME in particular) lead to a shit-ton of user-hostile design decisions.

How you use the framework matters a lot. This is where Calibre needs a lot of love. The interface isn't intuitive (I've got v1.25 open now, and ... it's a mess).

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