Post ideas and questions about Bookworm
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Bookworm is a free, web-based service to store and read ePub-format ebooks.
Bookworm is a free, web-based service to store and read ePub-format ebooks.
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Inappropriate?I'm the creator of Bookworm and I'd love to hear your feedback and suggestions about the site. You can follow development of the project on the blog or post here. Thanks!
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Inappropriate?Some publishers have the author name as "First Last" (e.g. O'Reilly); some put "Last, First" (e.g. FeedBooks). Right now Bookworm always does a normal string sort, in contrast to some other apps -- notably, FBReader takes the last whitespace-separated token to be the surname and sort based on that by default.
There should be an option, when adding a book, to indicate whether the surname is the first word or the last. Being able to custom-edit the sort name would be a huge plus too.
Thanks,
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Michel Salim -
Inappropriate?Those are excellent suggestions. What I'm likely to do is add a profile-wide setting for users to pick a default name order preference, and then also allow you to re-sort on the fly from either "Last, First" or "First Last."
I'll also add a separate feature request for custom-editing the name field. That should be fairly straightforward.
Thanks! -
Inappropriate?I love the concept of Bookworm. I've been driving myself nuts trying to find a decent ebook reader for my PDA (a Nokia n810 Internet Tablet) and Bookworm is a very strong candidate.
Of course, I have a few suggestions...
1) To paraphrase Charlton Heston, TAKE YOUR STINKING HANDS OFF MY FONTS, YOU DAMNED DIRTY APE! I really do feel strongly about this. I've gone to the trouble of setting my browser's default fonts. I like my fonts. They're comfy. I chose them because they're a family and size that I find readable on my system. I absolutely hate it when a web site or web app goes and changes them to what the designer prefers. That applies in spades to an ebook reader, since text is 100% the point of the app. Please don't set the font. Just let it default. People will be happier. And it alleviates a lot of the need for a "mobile" version of the site with bigger fonts. Just leave the fonts alone and it'll be viewable everywhere.
2) Bookworm needs an offline mode. Yeah, I can download the EPUB file, but that doesn't give me the software to view it. If I had a decent ebook reader on my PDA I wouldn't be looking for something like Bookworm in the first place. This seems like an ideal application for Google Gears or something similar.
3) Regarding the sorting order of the authors' names as mentioned above, the OPF specification has a "file-as" attribute for the creator and contributor fields. It's meant for storing the canonical sorting-order version of the name. I don't know if this attribute is widely used. Bookworm should honor it if present, though.
4) Of course, a full metadata editor integrated into Bookworm wouldn't be a bad idea, either! :-)
All in all, I like what I see. I hope Bookworm matures nicely.
I’m excited
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Inappropriate?Hi Steve,
1) Most browsers let you force your own font size and family if you prefer (in Firefox, uncheck "Allow pages to choose their own fonts.")
That said, part of Bookworm's intent is to allow the full expression of the ePub standard, and that includes supporting any CSS that is provided with the book.
I've opened a "compromise" ticket to re-design the CSS such that the navigational items do have set fonts, but the content area will have no default fonts set (except if the ebook sets its own, as above).
Created new ticket: http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i...
2) That's a great suggestion. Most of the offline work has been in supporting reading with Stanza and there has been less demand for offline browser-based reading, but there's no reason why we can't do both.
Created new ticket: http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i...
3) Already has an open ticket! http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i...
4) Agreed! Already on the list: http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i...
Thanks for your feedback! -
Just to follow up to #1, Reading Mode imposes no styles whatsoever on the book text, other than what is contained in the book's CSS. -
Inappropriate?Thanks for the response. Regarding the fonts, you're absolutely right about the CSS. I'd forgotten that EPUB uses it. (I've been using FBreader on my PDA, which doesn't honor the CSS in an EPUB book. Or in any other format, for that matter...) I'm perfectly happy if the book's CSS controls the font.
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Inappropriate?Hello - I'm new to Bookworm but think it's GREAT! Just a quick question for you: Is there a way to upload more than 1 book at a time to my account?
Thanks! -
Thanks! We don't have multiple upload support yet as it's a bit tricky and can't be done without the help of an outside application. But I think it's a great enhancement so I've added it to our official bug/feature tracker here: http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i... -
Inappropriate?Awesome! look forwarding to using Bookworm and seeing how it grows.
Thanks for the response!
I’m happy
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Inappropriate?Bookworm is fabulous. Hands down, a wonderful app. I love how it integrates with the iPhone for easy offline reading.
Quick related question: Any reason a hand-created epub will test perfectly with no errors on Liz's web-based epubcheck and the cmd line epubcheck, load great in Bookworm and Calibre, into Stanza from Bookworm, but *not* load in Stanza desktop (displays gibberish)? Any suggestions would be met with much gratitude and glee!
Thanks for creating this (and the other epub tools and tutorials). I'll use Bookworm as my central library going forward.
Linda -
Inappropriate?Thank you! I'm so glad the service is useful to you.
I would check with the people over at Lexcycle about Stanza Desktop, but I can say that it's a somewhat older piece of software that may not be as up-to-date as Stanza mobile. Lexcycle does have user forums where you can ask questions, but my feeling is that if it passes epubcheck, you are right in expecting that it should be displayable in any epub reader. -
Inappropriate?Very. We're a baby publisher and we've just released our first book - and getting it in epub was my first priority. Bookworm not only helped me test it; I now have a wonderful resource to point readers to who are just dipping their toes into the world of mobile/electronic and online reading.
Without Bookworm, your words on the TOC blog and in the TOC book, your tools and general expertise (and the guide on the IBM site I just found!), this whole epub learning experience would have been a very negative one. As it turns out, it was only very tiring ;-)
I'll be posting a link to Bookworm on our epub download page (now that we have the server configured properly). Your faq page is excellent, and I'll be encouraging readers to try the service.
It's amazing to me how much better the electronic versions sell - far more people want the PDF than the hardcover... I'll be eager to see how many want the epub (and others once i get them coded and loaded).
I checked the Lexcycle forums (before my question here) and didn't find anything - I'll send them a proper email now that you've confirmed my feelings.
Thanks, Liza - I'll let you know if I get any feedback about Bookworm from our readers once I get that page up.
Loving Bookworm (and incredibly grateful to Liza),
Linda
I’m happy, thankful, exited
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Yay! This certainly made my day. -
Not yet, although it is on our list of features to add: http://code.google.com/p/threepress/i... -
Inappropriate?Hello, - I am new to bookworm and I found that bookworm is not supporting my css file when epub uploaded. What could be the reason? Please guide me.
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@Pawan: Are you able to share your EPUB? If so, I'd suggesting sending along part of it (especially the OPF file) to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/epub-co..., where many EPUB folks actively participate). -
Hi Keith,
Thanks for your response, further as per your suggestion I have posted my sample epub file as an attachment to below mentiond address:
epub-community@yahoogroups.com
Kindly review this file and let me know the cause. -
Inappropriate?Hi there,
First off, I'd like to say thanks for creating Bookworm. I think it's going to be a really exciting project..
I've created an ebook from scratch but the content doesn't seem to show up on Bookworm. I've tested it and it loads fine in Adobe DE as well as Calibre. Unfortunately, Stanza renders it funny. I'm wondering how can I troubleshoot what's going on? There weren't any error messages when I was adding the book.
Thanks,
Teren
I’m excited
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@tereno: Have you try the ePub validation form at http://www.threepress.org/tools/?
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