6 ms·

Show HN: Lota – An online ePub reader with VS Code style

88 points by pacexy 4y ago

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.

pmontra 4y ago
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 4y ago
Is there FOSS that provides the VSCode style out of the box ? I’ve noticed this UI skeleton being increasingly common
- giansegato 4y ago
  VSCode is open source. Its underlying editor is too, it's called Monaco: https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/ https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    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.
  - dmm 4y ago
    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 4y ago
      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/ https://open-vsx.org/
hombre_fatal 4y ago
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 4y ago
  Do you mean that the macOS built-in dictionary will conflict with the popover?
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    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.
chiefalchemist 4y ago
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 4y ago
  I found a GitHub repo but no code in it. https://github.com/pacexy/lota/ https://github.com/pacexy/lota/
  - pacexy 4y ago
    Yes, this empty repo is for feedback and discussion.
- pacexy 4y ago
  1. Sorry, it's not open source now. 2. Yes, we have a privacy policy, you can find it on the website footer.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
classified 4y ago
I don't want to need an internet connection for reading a book. Is there an option to run this locally?
- pacexy 4y ago
  Try installing the app, it should be able to run offline. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361?hl=en&co=GE...
Turukawa 4y ago
I developed https://qwyre.com 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 https://qwyre.com/privacy-rights
- jtbayly 4y ago
  Search doesn't seem to search inside the work I'm reading. Am I missing something?
  - Turukawa 4y ago
    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/ 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.
- Fudgel 4y ago
  The background image on the page (https://qwyre.com/join-the-qwyre.png https://qwyre.com/join-the-qwyre.png) is a tad large - 1MB in size. It might be a good idea to compress it a bit. Check out https://squoosh.app/ https://squoosh.app/ as its easy to use.
jtbayly 4y ago
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 4y ago
  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 4y ago
    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?
    - pacexy 4y ago
      Yes, because EPUB has different versions, every EPUB file may differ in structure.
sdrothrock 4y ago
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.
chimen 4y ago
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/ https://projects.codesandbox.io/
the_third_wave 4y ago
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 https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader [2] https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js
- dsr_ 4y ago
  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 4y ago
    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.
  - the_third_wave 4y ago
    I gave Reader a good kick, shook out the debris from the tree and made it look a bit more like a "modern" (ha!) Nextcloud app and with that it should work again on current Nextcloud. Find it here: https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader ...or here: https://github.com/Yetangitu/files_reader https://github.com/Yetangitu/files_reader ...or install it directly in NC. For those who give it a try let me know - through Github - if it work as intended.
throwoutway 4y ago
This is cool. Can you take notes simultaneously too?
- pacexy 4y ago
  Of course, but annotation is currently under development.
giancarlostoro 4y ago
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 4y ago
  I use the accessibility features to do text to speech on iOS with the Kindle app and it works quite well.
- wombatpm 4y ago
  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

88 points by pacexy 4y ago

pmontra 4y ago

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 4y ago

Is there FOSS that provides the VSCode style out of the box ? I’ve noticed this UI skeleton being increasingly common

giansegato 4y ago
VSCode is open source. Its underlying editor is too, it's called Monaco: https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/ https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  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.
- dmm 4y ago
  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 4y ago
    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/ https://open-vsx.org/

hombre_fatal 4y ago

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 4y ago
Do you mean that the macOS built-in dictionary will conflict with the popover?
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  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.

chiefalchemist 4y ago

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 4y ago
I found a GitHub repo but no code in it. https://github.com/pacexy/lota/ https://github.com/pacexy/lota/
- pacexy 4y ago
  Yes, this empty repo is for feedback and discussion.
pacexy 4y ago
1. Sorry, it's not open source now. 2. Yes, we have a privacy policy, you can find it on the website footer.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

classified 4y ago

I don't want to need an internet connection for reading a book. Is there an option to run this locally?

pacexy 4y ago
Try installing the app, it should be able to run offline. https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361?hl=en&co=GE...

Turukawa 4y ago

I developed https://qwyre.com 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 https://qwyre.com/privacy-rights

jtbayly 4y ago
Search doesn't seem to search inside the work I'm reading. Am I missing something?
- Turukawa 4y ago
  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/ 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.
Fudgel 4y ago
The background image on the page (https://qwyre.com/join-the-qwyre.png https://qwyre.com/join-the-qwyre.png) is a tad large - 1MB in size. It might be a good idea to compress it a bit. Check out https://squoosh.app/ https://squoosh.app/ as its easy to use.

jtbayly 4y ago

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 4y ago
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 4y ago
  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?
  - pacexy 4y ago
    Yes, because EPUB has different versions, every EPUB file may differ in structure.

sdrothrock 4y ago

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.

chimen 4y ago

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/ https://projects.codesandbox.io/

the_third_wave 4y ago

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 https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader [2] https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js https://github.com/futurepress/epub.js

dsr_ 4y ago
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 4y ago
  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.
- the_third_wave 4y ago
  I gave Reader a good kick, shook out the debris from the tree and made it look a bit more like a "modern" (ha!) Nextcloud app and with that it should work again on current Nextcloud. Find it here: https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/files_reader ...or here: https://github.com/Yetangitu/files_reader https://github.com/Yetangitu/files_reader ...or install it directly in NC. For those who give it a try let me know - through Github - if it work as intended.

throwoutway 4y ago

This is cool. Can you take notes simultaneously too?

pacexy 4y ago
Of course, but annotation is currently under development.

giancarlostoro 4y ago

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 4y ago
I use the accessibility features to do text to speech on iOS with the Kindle app and it works quite well.
wombatpm 4y ago
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