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Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by javapnews on Thursday January 28, 2021 @03:38PM (#25948798)
Try to read ebooks via browser and couldn't find one that really works that able to replace desktop readers.

Made one that usable for daily use. Comments and suggestion welcome.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by mrec on Thursday January 28, 2021 @04:28PM (#25949522)
Solid start. The page layout options could use a bit more work:

1. It initially defaults to showing two facing pages per screen, but the selector shows "Read a chapter as a long scrolled page" as selected. "Fit 2 page side by side in window" is the same and is presumably the actual default. Switching back to "long scrolled page" from that does do what you'd expect. This is fullscreen on a 1920x1080 desktop display.

2. I personally dislike side-by-side views - I find them distracting - but at this size the line length for "long scrolled page" is too long for readability. I'd prefer a "long scrolled page but with shorter lines and bigger margins" option, like Firefox's reader view.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by SamBam on Thursday January 28, 2021 @04:52PM (#25949864)
Can you describe what motivated you to build an ebook reader for the browser, when multiple free desktop and mobile book readers exist?

Also, do I need to keep the screen open if I want to save my place in my book? It doesn't seem to save my book or my location when I reload the page.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by ocdtrekkie on Thursday January 28, 2021 @10:04PM (#25953251)
Not the OP, but I find Calibre burdensomely heavy for what I want, and Okular far too glitchy. Also, sometimes I am at PCs where I can't install arbitrary software.

I think we still need far more/better solutions in the open source e-reading space.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by zwayhowder on Thursday January 28, 2021 @06:30PM (#25951032)
I can't speak for the creator but I often read Japanese ebooks in my browser because it allows me to lookup unfamiliar words quickly with Yomichan and then create anki cards for them (if I want to).
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by burgerrito on Thursday January 28, 2021 @09:16PM (#25952801)
A bit OOT but how do you transfer Yomichan to anki cards? Do you do it manually?
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by zwayhowder on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:50AM (#25955382)
It's a built in feature using Ankiconnect.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by k_sze on Thursday January 28, 2021 @10:01PM (#25953219)
Have you tried calibre? It’s a proper ebook reader app that allows you to define custom dictionary URL patterns.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by zwayhowder on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:51AM (#25955393)
I use Calibre daily, but for epub > dictionary > anki card there isn't a good workflow I've found.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by forgotmypw17 on Thursday January 28, 2021 @11:57PM (#25954135)
> multiple free desktop and mobile book readers exist

Under many circumstances, some I've been in, none of those are an option, and a browser is all you've got.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by beci on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:29AM (#25955267)
>> when multiple free desktop and mobile book readers exist

Do you know a good list of available readers? I still searching for the one which fit for me. This one could be a good candidate after some polish.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by xtracto on Thursday January 28, 2021 @05:53PM (#25950689)
hey, I actually was working on something similar ( forking from https://github.com/satorumurmur/bibi which is an open source epub reader ), but my objective was to allow

a) To save books in some place online like s3 or gdrive etc.

b) Allowing to use the "bookmark" feature across sessions.

My use case is that sometimes I am reading a EPUB and I have it in my tablet, but sometimes I have my computer, and othertimes I have my phone. Currently I have to download it 3 times to read it and remember the bookmark.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by anderspitman on Thursday January 28, 2021 @06:09PM (#25950862)
> To save books in some place online like s3 or gdrive etc

How far did you make it with this? S3 is tricky because they don't offer OAuth so the user basically has to generate an IAM user and access keys and paste them into your app. I'm currently exploring solutions to this problem.

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by xtracto on Thursday January 28, 2021 @07:54PM (#25952045)
Right, I only got to that, I entered my s3 keys manually. I think for a smoother experience I would use Google Drive, which provides OAuth access AFAIK.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by alfonsodev on Thursday January 28, 2021 @05:35PM (#25950455)
Amazing! Great job! I'm so curious about your process

What programming language did you use?

What was the harder part?

Which format was the hardest?

How long did it take you?

Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by theirbadspeller on Friday January 29, 2021 @12:02AM (#25954170)
ReadEra is an excellent piece of polished software that has everything I want in an e reader and is a joy to use. I would highly recommend using the free version, and then buying the premium to support the developer.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by corecoder on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:03AM (#25955137)
Great work! I join the margins bandwagon: when displaying a single column, it would be great to be able to have a not too big page width, as very long lines on a desktop monitor are hard to read.
Re:Show HN: A usable eBook reader inside a browser (azw3, mo... by beci on Friday January 29, 2021 @03:23AM (#25955233)
Great work!

Maybe have to reconsider layout for big screens similar to mine. But browser resize is fine for now.