We’ve just released an updated version of Ibis Reader with some new features, performance enhancements, and many bug fixes. The new features are all in the mobile version, though some bug fixes affect the desktop web experience as well. Here are some highlights:
Improved pagination and position-tracking
We’ve changed the method of moving from page to page and remembering where you left off. Books should load faster, and it should be easier to understand whether you’re moving forward or backward in the page.
Relative book length and reading position in My Books
In your list of books on the device, we now display some hints about the length of the book and how far you’ve read in it:
Also on this screen we tried to make it more clear that your “Online Bookshelf” is a link. Many people were confused by the old layout, which made that link seem more like a title. Clicking on the Online Bookshelf link will take you to the cloud library and allow you to pull down individual books to read on the current device.
Online Bookshelf cover images and metadata
For new books that you add starting with this release, you’ll be able to see cover images in your online bookshelf.
Improved iPad reading screen
We made the margins more generous on the iPad screen and added the page title (in portrait mode).
High-resolution (retina) screen support
We refreshed many of the icons and images to take advantage of the high-resolution screen in the iPhone 4 (and likely iPad 2).
Galaxy Tab support
We made some changes to ensure that Ibis works with the Galaxy Tab, as previously all our tested Android devices were phone-sized. We’ve chosen to give the Tab a phone UI rather than the iPad UI, in part due to screen size but mostly because Android simply does not support the smooth animations and transitions that iOS can.
Known issues
One consequence of the pagination change is that existing positions within a chapter have not been retained, so if you were reading a chapter before this update, you’ll be reset to the start of that chapter. We regret the inconvenience, but it will start position-tracking in the new method right away.
Some versions of Android don’t report their screen size correctly, either at all or after the device has been rotated. We’re going to be working on improving our Android UI in the coming weeks.
Getting the update
As always, just visit your installed Ibis Reader icon (iOS) or go to http://ibisreader.com/ on your mobile device. Due to the way HTML5 works, you may need to refresh more than once to see the update. You should receive a notification that your database was upgraded: close and restart Ibis and you’re ready to go with the new version.
Thanks
We received a lot of help in testing the new release from our friends and colleagues. Your support is always appreciated.