On the Mac? I think it’s great, actually. Even if I didn’t think so, it’s just settings, not something you should be spending a lot of time in like Books or Safari or Mail or Messages or Music.
Someone
1 month ago
Try a fixed-layut EPUB, like a graphic novel, or a coffee-table Art book that has full-page artwork, and see the impact of Apple’s UI decorators, with a (from all accounts) permanently visible menu button superimposed on the content.
Oh really? That’s the first time I’ve heard of that behaviour for it – all the reportage I’ve seen has been unequivocal, that it’s permanently visible. If that’s the case (because I don’t have access to it), fantastic.
Any chance you could confirm how the page transitions are handled on Fixed-Layout EPUB?
In landscape orientation, previous default was to show a double page spread, and a 3D page-flip animation to go back and forth (which always, ALWAYS wowed people being shown comics on iPads who weren’t in the Apple ecosystem). In Portrait orientation, default was to show one page aligned to its outer edge, left or right, with some of the other page across the spine showing (depending on how the zoom & aspect ratio matches up with the screen), and then tapping to next or back slides the viewport across the spread, or triggers a pageflip and viewport slide if transitioning to a new spread.
I’m running the beta as the app didn’t function at all in the original release. So they could’ve fixed it maybe.
remerson
1 month ago
Yes the main reading UI in the Books app is quite a mess.
As well the weird options menu (never mind that the options you choose are frequently forgotten), the behaviour around the top navigation area has changed (at least on iPhone). Where a tap used to toggle visibility of system clock etc, now that mostly does nothing (so I can’t check the time with a single tap), and instead there is an ugly X close button in the top right (inconsistent with most/all other ‘go out/back’ nav on iOS) which can’t even be hidden. Oh, but if you accidentally double-tap the book title you can set a bookmark – in the previous version there was a nice bookmark button for that, but no more.
And they removed the lovely page-turn animation. What the hell were the UI team for this app thinking?!
Yannik
1 month ago
You didn’t even mention the worst part for me: If you double tab somewhere while reading a book it now just creates a bookmark. That happens quite easily. So far wasn’t able to read single book without that happening multiple times by accident while just scrolling. Then I have to stop reading and remove the bookmark again each time. It’s very annoying.
Next, show us the System Settings 🙂
On the Mac? I think it’s great, actually. Even if I didn’t think so, it’s just settings, not something you should be spending a lot of time in like Books or Safari or Mail or Messages or Music.
Try a fixed-layut EPUB, like a graphic novel, or a coffee-table Art book that has full-page artwork, and see the impact of Apple’s UI decorators, with a (from all accounts) permanently visible menu button superimposed on the content.
It fades out for me. Or you can tap somewhere and it hides.
Oh really? That’s the first time I’ve heard of that behaviour for it – all the reportage I’ve seen has been unequivocal, that it’s permanently visible. If that’s the case (because I don’t have access to it), fantastic.
Any chance you could confirm how the page transitions are handled on Fixed-Layout EPUB?
In landscape orientation, previous default was to show a double page spread, and a 3D page-flip animation to go back and forth (which always, ALWAYS wowed people being shown comics on iPads who weren’t in the Apple ecosystem). In Portrait orientation, default was to show one page aligned to its outer edge, left or right, with some of the other page across the spine showing (depending on how the zoom & aspect ratio matches up with the screen), and then tapping to next or back slides the viewport across the spread, or triggers a pageflip and viewport slide if transitioning to a new spread.
I’m running the beta as the app didn’t function at all in the original release. So they could’ve fixed it maybe.
Yes the main reading UI in the Books app is quite a mess.
As well the weird options menu (never mind that the options you choose are frequently forgotten), the behaviour around the top navigation area has changed (at least on iPhone). Where a tap used to toggle visibility of system clock etc, now that mostly does nothing (so I can’t check the time with a single tap), and instead there is an ugly X close button in the top right (inconsistent with most/all other ‘go out/back’ nav on iOS) which can’t even be hidden. Oh, but if you accidentally double-tap the book title you can set a bookmark – in the previous version there was a nice bookmark button for that, but no more.
And they removed the lovely page-turn animation. What the hell were the UI team for this app thinking?!
You didn’t even mention the worst part for me: If you double tab somewhere while reading a book it now just creates a bookmark. That happens quite easily. So far wasn’t able to read single book without that happening multiple times by accident while just scrolling. Then I have to stop reading and remove the bookmark again each time. It’s very annoying.