Hey, I just tried the beta again for the first time since a long ago. Overall, it seems like a big improvement from before. I love how the settings are much simpler. This is my feedback from initial impressions. Definitely no need to respond to all or even most of it. I haven’t read other feedback reports, so probably some of this has already been reported, and a lot of it is nitpicky UI stuff that is just my own opinion anyway.
SETTINGS
SETTINGS
- “Fonts and colors” in settings seems like its just fonts for now
- I love the font previews
- Since all font sizes are relative, it seems like it would make sense to have a setting that adjusts the default size for all, like at the top of the fonts section. OR maybe a master control that changes sizes throughout (e.g. default > large), with the appropriate warning that it will override individual choices.
- For the font size options, it seems like the “custom” label would make more sense as “more.” Elsewhere, custom indicates a range of different settings whereas here its just means more size options.
- In the custom sizes menu, it would be nice to indicate what default, large, etc. refer to, e.g. 100% (default), 150% (large), etc.
- Changing Chinese text size in “Definition Body” also changes it in “Popup Reader.” Meanwhile “Popup Reader” doesn’t have its own feature to adjust Chinese text size. It is also missing in “List.”
- It seems strange to me that there are Reader Bubble settings in the Settings that are separate from the document profile settings. Those settings seem like things that would also make sense as part of profiles, or at least having them in profiles would simplify the settings. What I would expect instead is a document profiles manager in settings where you can see and modify all your document profiles.
- It would be nice to have line(s) of explanation in settings for what search views, search screens, and search shortcuts are.
- Seems like there should be an “Edit” button in Search views and elsewhere like there is in Flashcard profiles to be able to delete profiles without going into the items. But maybe in practice those things are deleted much less often.
- Search screen: Is the option to change dictionary tabs to the one button switcher gone? I liked that switcher.
- I love the integration of notes directly in the dictionary.
- The background colored squircles lag when scrolling compared to the other elements, even with slow scrolling (night mode).
- In dictionary screen, I’d love a way to turn off those background squircles altogether and return to a 3.0 type interface with the various definitions separated by lines and just a small dictionary name abbreviation off to the side. For me that interface emphasizes Pleco’s value in putting a bunch of definitions together and just letting you scroll through without caring too much about which one is from which dictionary.
- I’d love an option to have a normal scroll bar instead of the dictionary scrollbar on the side, would allow the entries to be wider.
- The tab labels in the dictionary screen are almost the same color as the highlight around the selected tab (white in night mode).
- The Unihan extended definition doesn’t seem to follow the font settings.
- Very small thing: It seems like the Commands label fonts should be the same size or smaller than the default font size, not bigger.
- I encountered a crash when adding a PDF file without searchable text to reader. After relaunching Pleco, the file is already in reader like it should be, with OCR done automatically. It happens every time I add that file. It’s a small PDF (under 1mb). I can share the file if need be. Speaking of, I wonder how Pleco decides to auto-OCR a PDF or not.
- At the bottom of my recents are placeholder thumbnails for a bunch of images all labeled “Library Photo,” which seem like all the photos I’ve ever OCRed in Pleco. But they’re not stuff I saved to file manager, so it doesn’t seem like they should be there. Most of them don’t open (presumably the original was deleted), but they give a warning about Pleco needing photo library access instead of realizing the original doesn’t exist.
- Some files were not migrated for some reason (from Pleco Legacy to 4.0). I couldn’t figure out any similarity between them. No patten in their age or size or name or type or anything.
- I like the reader redesign except: it is odd to me that the reader file browser is distinct from the file manager, and deleting a file from reader doesn’t delete it from file manager. I think I understand the technical reason why (once a file is opened in Reader it gets metadata), but for me it is going to be a recipe for a lot of clutter (I delete a file from reader but still need to go to file manager to delete it again). Of the other document-based apps I use, none use this dual-level document browser, even if they add their own metadata to the file. I.E. what I would expect is reader shows you pinned, then recents, then all your files from file manager, and there is no notion of having it in file manager but not in reader. BUT if that whole set-up doesn’t change, it would still be great to have an option to always delete from file manager if you delete from reader, or at least a prompt asking if you also want to delete from file manager. For me there would basically never be a time I want to delete from reader and not from file manager. The only thing I can think of is wanting to reset all the metadata (e.g. clear the highlights), but that should maybe have its own option.Likewise, on first set-up of Pleco, it would be great to auto-import the folders from file manager into reader instead of having to recreate them there.
- It seems odd to me that there are buttons for clipboard, live OCR, and web, but no buttons for the other options from the Open... menu (e.g. the various still OCR functions, Open File, and the Pleco Bookstore.
- When I delete those buttons, it shows the same warning it does for deleting documents. Seems not necessary.
- Seems like “Open...” should maybe be renamed to “More...” or “Add...”
- In general, the reader settings with document profiles are way clearer (and more functional) than they used to be. Nice work. Maybe to make them even clearer, add a note at the top of the document settings reminding that the settings are only for that single document.
- It seems like maybe EPUBs should have own default document profile instead of going under “text.” Pleco books like Chinese History could also use it.
- Will there be an option to customize the top menubar in the reader? I like the set for the clipboard better in 3.0. It would also be nice to rearrange to get one-tap access to highlights, for example.
- In Reader document settings, there is just an option to magnify Chinese text, which is inconsistent with the granular control in other font settings.
- It would be nice to have a link to Popup Reader settings from the reader document settings page.
- PDFs in reader: For long PDFs, the page icons at the bottom are misleading because there are way more pages than there are icons. It seems like a slider would make more sense.
- The labels of the PDF reading options are misleading to me—first, the fact that they are hidden behind the share menu (I get that iOS puts lots of random stuff behind share menus, but I don’t like it there either). Second, they don’t change the PDF view but extract text. The glasses icon in 3.0 was clearer in that regard.
- Word documents work in reader, but font size settings don’t do anything except change new line sizes (at least in the document I tried with). So it seems like the font size setting should be grayed out or something.
- An option to extract Word doc text like with PDFs would also be nice.
- The animations for showing and hiding the bottom bar feel slow when everything else in the interface is snappy. I’d love a way to turn them off.
- The translation function is very cool, but the font of the translation is oddly small and can’t be adjusted. An option to copy the translation would also be nice.
- The back button that shows up in reader is great. Nitpick: Instead of a triangle, the standard back icon of the arrow that circles around would make more sense to me.
- I’m not sure what “container only” and “compound name” do in folder settings or “is stub” or “is rare” do in card settings. Inline explanations would be great. I remember how often I had to go to the manual to figure out Pleco 3. It would be great if that could be avoided with more inline explanations here.
- When selecting text in iOS, I’ve come to expect a small vibration bump and don’t get it here.