Book format settings

[Tdublyou]

In the last release of Freda for PC, a change occurred to the way book format settings are maintained. They are now not retained for each book, but are now applied to all the books in your library. So if you make a change to the format settings for one book, and then open another book, the settings you had previously made to the latter are overridden by the new format settings you set for the other (original) book. If you read more than one book at a time, or frequently reference multiple books, this change to the settings logic is wholely untenable.

[jim_chapman]

In the last release of Freda for PC, a change occurred to the way book format settings are maintained. They are now not retained for each book, but are now applied to all the books in your library. So if you make a change to the format settings for one book, and then open another book, the settings you had previously made to the latter are overridden by the new format settings you set for the other (original) book. If you read more than one book at a time, or frequently reference multiple books, this change to the settings logic is wholely untenable.

I don't think that's exactly what's going on.  Freda's settings are normally permanent - that is to say, when you change a setting, that change is kept indefinitely, until you change it - by using the settings page, or by applying a preset that provides a new value for that setting.

What changed in the last release was that I added a new 'special settings to apply just for this book' preset (you'll find it at the bottom of the list on the presets screen).  If you create this preset for a particular book, then every time in the future when you open that book, the values in that special preset will get loaded.  You can create such a preset for every book (but you don't have to).

So if you want to use specific settings for a book, you do that by opening the book, applying the settings you like to use for that book, then opening the presets screen, clicking on the button 'add settings to apply just for this book', choosing the settings you want to save, then tapping OK.  Now whenever you open the book, these settings will be applied.

Whenever you open a book that hasn't got a special preset defined, Freda will not load any special settings.  That might not be what you want - and in that case you can change the settings in the usual way by accessing the settings screen, or the presets list.  I find it useful to have one preset 'epub' which I use whenever I'm reading an epub book, and another setting 'txt' that I use for TXT format - and I just tap on the relevant preset before opening the book.  (I did think of automating this behaviour, but really, it is too complicated).

[Tdublyou]

The way you have done this is entirely user-unuseable. The option to apply the settings to just "this" book is way at the end of a long chain, which no user is going to find on his own, and then you require the user to check off each setting to apply, rather than "all changes made".

[jim_chapman]

The way you have done this is entirely user-unuseable. The option to apply the settings to just "this" book is way at the end of a long chain, which no user is going to find on his own, and then you require the user to check off each setting to apply, rather than "all changes made".

'all changes made' since when?  Since the app was first installed?  Or since it was last launched?  Or since you last opened a book?  Or since you last changed some settings? Any of these choices is likely to be wrong some of the time, and to lead to confusion and frustration.  To avoid confusion, it's better that, when saving a preset, Freda asks the user what should be saved in it.

I'm always happy to receive suggestions about how to improve the user experience, but it's better if you think through the consequences and details of what you are asking for (and phrasing suggestions in the form of insults is never a great way to persuade people of your point of view).

Also, I do assume that my users know how to work a scroll-view - so I'm not sure why putting a UI element at the end of a list would be a problem.  Freda is a tool for the more sophisticated user - if you want a simplistic tool with minimal options for customisation, you can always use the Kindle reader, ADE, the Kobo app, or the Calibre ebook reader.  I don't mean to sound unduly snarky, but Freda is, by design, quite a complex tool, and complex tools will tend to have elaborate user interfaces, with a lot of options hidden away in them.