App Store Short Book. the books are good.
App Store Short Book. the books are good
Posted as part of a review contest
by Artemka81
I have loved reading since I was a child. In those distant and troubled times it was difficult to find a good book, especially for a child, so my entire small library was reread 3-4 times. Buying all the books was a little party. With the passage of time, the computer and the Internet arrived and everything changed. Now almost any book is one click away. But let’s leave the lyrics and move on to the protagonist of this short review: the Shortbook application for iPhone.
After buying my iPhone I tried several reading programs – ruBooks, textReader, Stanza and *** – but each had its own drawbacks and annoying bugs. App crashes, ugly text display, coding issues… all of these really interfere with your reading pleasure. So, in parallel with using each reader for its intended purpose, I’ve searched the Appstore and Cydia for something new with Installer. And one day the Shortbook application came into my hands. For me, this program was a true reflection of the way of writing apple applications: the interface is functional, easy to use, intuitive and beautiful at the same time.
The default main menu is Reader mode. Here are all the books downloaded to the device. The list is displayed in reverse chronological order, that is, the book that is currently being read is always at the top of the list, which is very convenient.
If you put your Iphone in a horizontal position, the reader goes into a mode similar to Coverflow for Ipod, in which you can flip through the covers of downloaded books, if they are available.
Going to the basic mode – open book, we see the text screen, not loaded with any unnecessary information. The program supports all the standard FB2 stuff (italics, bold, link support, etc.). Page turning is possible both by sliding your finger across the screen and by using the so-called touch zones. «Sliding a page up or down allows access to additional information located on the back of the page: current page and its total number, title and author of the book, index, etc.
The app’s most “tasty” feature, sort of a “killer feature” in my opinion, is the ability to download any FB2 file without leaving the program. By pressing the “plus sign” in the upper right corner, Shortbook enters the Internet search mode, and by entering the URL of your favorite online library (for example, www.***) you can download and add any book to the library with a single click in the built-in safari-like browser. Simple and uncomplicated, but very practical. You don’t have to first download the file on your computer, then try to transfer it to your iPhone, and then search for it on your device by browsing the folders. Now, after meditating for a few seconds on the book download progress bar, you can immediately open the book and start reading. The design is done in the background, without distracting the user.
To summarize, there is a short list of the main features of the application:
- Downloading books from the Internet with the built-in browser
- Portrait or landscape screen orientation in reading mode
- Day and night modes (configurable)
- extensive text formatting options
- Convenient automatic grouping by author
- full screen mode
- user friendly interface
- affordable price
For those who want to fully understand the settings and operating modes of the application, there is a very detailed built-in user manual, written by the author himself, Yuri Korotkikh. Also, it’s the first manual I can remember that is really interesting to read. You can express your dissatisfaction, report bugs or simply thank the author in the official forum of the program. Yuri appears here often and takes note of all comments and suggestions.
Currently there are 2 versions of the application:
Short book, priced at $4.99 . The only difference between the two is that with the free program you can download a limited number of books from www.shortki.com, there are no restrictions on the paid version.
? Do you want more? Subscribe to our Telegram.
Mark it in your favourites.
