[HN Gopher] Show HN: Lota - An online ePub reader with VS Code s...
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Show HN: Lota - An online ePub reader with VS Code style
Previously when I wanted to learn languages by reading the
original, I started looking for an EPUB reader. I wanted it to be
1. browser-based, so I could use my browser extensions 2. cross-
platform, so I could read on different devices 3. able to read
multiple books at the same time, so I don't have to open multiple
windows Unfortunately, I didn't find it. As a developer, I really
like the flexible layout and power of VS Code, so I tried to
combine its design concept with EPUB reader, and Lota was born.
Author : pacexy
Score : 77 points
Date : 2022-09-17 09:10 UTC (13 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.lotareader.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.lotareader.com)
| sdrothrock wrote:
| I usually don't comment for this kind of thing, but I'm not so
| sure about the name... with a lowercase "L", it's easily confused
| with "iota/Iota" in many fonts.
|
| Even if it's clear that it's an "L" and is "Lota," that just
| makes me think of a portable bidet and not ebooks. Whichever way
| you end up reading it, it seems kind of unfortunate and difficult
| to search for.
| [deleted]
| the_third_wave wrote:
| That looks quite a bit like the ePub (and PDF and ...) reader [1]
| I made for Nextcloud, many years ago. I have not maintained it
| for a few years due to a lack of time and interest (I made it so
| my daughter could read on the school-issued iPad on which she was
| not allowed to install apps, it lacked a good reader) so it
| doesn't work on current versions but it could be made to run with
| relative ease. It uses the Futurepress epub.js library to render
| ePub documents, it would not surprise me to see this product
| using that as well.
|
| As to the question of needing an internet connection for reading
| a book the answer is that epub.js - or rather the browser engine
| in which it is executed - can lead external files so it can be
| used without an internet connection. I suspect this product can
| not be used in that was since it has 'cloud storage' as a
| 'premium' feature. Running locally would undermine the value of
| this 'premium' feature.
|
| [1] https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader
|
| [2] https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js
| dsr_ wrote:
| Your epub reader was one of the reasons I originally installed
| NextCloud. It would make me very happy if it were available
| again. For a while I was hand-patching the manifest to lie to
| NextCloud, but that stopped working.
| the_third_wave wrote:
| I'll have a look at reviving the project now that Nextcloud
| seems to be stabilising a bit. While the official Mozilla PDF
| reader has gained the capacity for 2-page viewing like Reader
| had (I sent them a patch, maybe it helped?) there is no
| equivalent of the "near-native" look Reader has.
| classified wrote:
| I don't want to need an internet connection for reading a book.
| Is there an option to run this locally?
| pacexy wrote:
| Try installing the app, it should be able to run offline.
|
| https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361?hl=en&co=GE...
| Turukawa wrote:
| I developed https://qwyre.com as a PWA offline app-based epub
| reader. You're welcome to give it a go. It even imports links to
| epubs direct and stores them in your browser. There is no central
| online storage, no tracking, and here's the privacy statement
| https://qwyre.com/privacy-rights
| jtbayly wrote:
| Search doesn't seem to search inside the work I'm reading. Am I
| missing something?
| Turukawa wrote:
| I haven't implemented search inside the work. Only for
| searching the library (it's ultimately meant to be a self-
| publishing app, but that's a work in progress). It uses
| https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js/ Eventually, I'll get
| all its API working, but there's not much of a how-to guide,
| so it's slow.
| chimen wrote:
| I'm going a bit off track here but I have a question. Is there a
| package that you can adapt to your own needs and you endup with a
| vscode based project? Something like codesandbox has for example?
|
| https://projects.codesandbox.io/
| jtbayly wrote:
| I produce online books in various versions. The hardest part is
| making a functional web-version. I've always wanted to just use
| our ePub version with a browser-based reader like this.
|
| 1. Is it possible to craft a link that will open your app and
| load (and open) a particular ePub file we are hosting? It seems
| like this would be a good way for you to get users, if ePub
| providers were promoting your app.
|
| 2. The mobile experience seemed pretty bad at first. No ability
| do anything except scroll through the pages once I opened a book.
| Couldn't access any sort of menus or navigation or TOC or search.
| I saw that by rotating my device, I could get some of those
| things, but then the reading area got cut off, and I couldn't
| scroll the reading area vertically. (I could still turn pages,
| though.)
|
| 3. Search doesn't work yet?
|
| I like it. :)
| pacexy wrote:
| 1. This sounds great and the function is not difficult to
| achieve, I will add it to the plan.
|
| 2. Can you tell me what browser you used? It is only adapted
| for Chrome and Edge now.
|
| 3. Some books do not support search now, it will be fixed
| later.
| jtbayly wrote:
| 1. Great! 2. Using the latest iOS (and thus, Safari). 3. I
| was just using your suggested demo book. You might want to
| replace it with one that works. It's interesting to me that
| the functionality would depend in some part on the book. Why
| is that? Are they not all the same sort of ePub?
| throwoutway wrote:
| This is cool. Can you take notes simultaneously too?
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Looks and feels great.
|
| My instinct was to scroll my trackpad to go prev/next page, but
| scrolling seems to iterate pages as fast as the app can possibly
| load them.
|
| Speaking of language learning, I was hoping to use macOS built-in
| dictionary when highlighting a word but I see that you've offered
| your own popover. I don't know if there's a solution that offers
| both built-in OS stuff and custom functions when you highlight
| content.
|
| Just trying to think of feedback. The UX is really polished and
| fast. And I generally like the minimal VS Code style.
| pacexy wrote:
| Do you mean that the macOS built-in dictionary will conflict
| with the popover?
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Nevermind, I'm so used to reading in another language on my
| phone that, when I went to look up a word in your app on my
| laptop, I forgot I need to right-click, not just highlight
| the word...
|
| It works fine.
| giancarlostoro wrote:
| I was just thinking this morning that I wish more of these ebook
| providers would finally add Text to Speech to books for a small
| monthly subscription so books that dont have any audio book
| variant can be listened to. I wonder if alternative eBook reader
| apps will fit that hole I have someday. I would love to just
| listen to books while I do things like mow the lawn and other
| tasks where I can listen to something but cannot read something.
| I would put up with some robotic voice if it was close to decent
| enough.
| martin-adams wrote:
| I use the accessibility features to do text to speech on iOS
| with the Kindle app and it works quite well.
| wombatpm wrote:
| Copyright is why. Printed rights, electronic, and audio rights
| are all sold separately. Amazon was sued when the kindle came
| out for just that reasin
| pmontra wrote:
| Faster than Cool Reader but storing my books in the cloud? I'm
| sure it's what normal people do. I'll keep synching with
| Syncthing.
| diceduckmonk wrote:
| Is there FOSS that provides the VSCode style out of the box ?
| I've noticed this UI skeleton being increasingly common
| giansegato wrote:
| VSCode is open source. Its underlying editor is too, it's
| called Monaco: https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/
| dmm wrote:
| VSCode is based on a lot of open source code but many of the
| features are proprietary, such as remote file access and c#
| debugging. Also nothing other than the official, proprietary
| builds can use the add-on marketplace.
| a2128 wrote:
| Regarding the add-on marketplace, the community has created
| their own marketplace for use in open-source builds. It's
| surprisingly complete and it's used by default in VSCodium.
| https://open-vsx.org/
| hombre_fatal wrote:
| Pretty sure OP just made it look and feel the same.
|
| Cloning an open source project just to gut it and use its
| look and UX seems like 100x more work than just copying it.
| chiefalchemist wrote:
| Looks really nice. Kudos. I've been looking for something like
| this.
|
| Question:
|
| 1) Is it OSS?
|
| 2) Do you have a privacy statement?
|
| I ask because - and I understand you're not Amazon, etc. - I
| don't like the idea of my reading habits being tracked. I would
| presume, you're not interested in that either. But seeing it in
| writing, and knowing the code is auditable isn't a bad thing
| either.
|
| Again, well played.
| lioeters wrote:
| I found a GitHub repo but no code in it.
|
| https://github.com/pacexy/lota/
| pacexy wrote:
| Yes, this empty repo is for feedback and discussion.
| pacexy wrote:
| 1. Sorry, it's not open source now.
|
| 2. Yes, we have a privacy policy, you can find it on the
| website footer.
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(page generated 2022-09-17 23:02 UTC)