Opening ePub-files for reading
When you have EPUBReader installed, you are ready to read ePub-files in Firefox. There are two ways how you can open an ePub-file for reading:
- Go to a website where ePub-files are offered for downloading. Please be aware, that EPUBReader only supports ePub-files without DRM protection. These websites are good locations to get many free ePub-files: www.feedbooks.com and www.gutenberg.org. To open the ePub-files, just click on the download-link.
- If you have already stored an ePub-file on your disk, you can open it via the Firefox menu "Tools/ePub-Library" or by dragging the ePub-file on the Firefox window.
EPUBReader downloads/opens now the ePub-file, makes some processing and displays the ePub-file ready to read. Depending on the size of the ePub-file, it may take some seconds until you can read it, so please be a little bit patient :). When processing is finished, your screen looks like this:
EPUBReader has opened the first page of your ePub-file. On the right side you see the content of the first page, at the bottom on the right side you see the navigationbar, which is describe in the following.
Catalog-button. If you click on this button, the ePub-Catalog is opened. See below for more details.
Save-button. When you open an ePub-file with EPUBReader, the ePub-file is downloaded and stored in your Firefox profile folder. By clicking on the save-button, you have the possibility to store the ePub-file at a location of your choice.
Bookmark-button. If you click on this button, your current reading position is saved. If you open the ePub-file again from your Library, the file is opened at this position.
Navigation-buttons. If you click on the left or right navigation-buttons, you go to the previous or next chapter. If you just want to read the ePub-file from the beginning to the end, page after page, these buttons are all you need, you don't need to go to the TOC. The TOC is like the TOC in a book, it offers an additional possiblity to jump directly at various places in the ePub-file.
Zoom-buttons. If you click on the zoom-buttons, you can decrease/increase the font-size.
On the left side of the opened ePub-file you see the table of contents. The table of contents is a list of links, which gives you the possibility to jump directly to a specific position in the ePub-file. At the bottom you find the following two buttons:
Preferences-button. If you click on this button, the preferences window is opened. You can change here the appearance of the book content and the Table of Contents. Check here for more details.
Help-button. If you click on this button, the FAQ-page of EPUBReader's homepage is opened.
In the ePub-Catalog you have access to your private library and to the OPDS-catalogs of different websites.
Everytime you download an ePub-file on a webpage or open a local stored ePub-file, an entry to the library-page is added. If you want to read the ePub-file again, just go to the library-page and open it from there. The ePub-file opens faster than the first time, because no processing is done.
Open book. If you click on this button, the ePub-file is opened for reading.
Save. If you click on the save-symbol, you can save the ePub-file, which is stored in the EPUBReader-library, at a location of your choice.
Trashcan. If you click on the trashcan, the ePub-file is removed from the library-page and also from your Firefox profile folder.
The catalog can additionally be opened via the Firefox-menu "Tools/ePub-Catalog". Also a bookmark has been added to the end of you bookmarklist with which you can open the catalog.
You can here access OPDS-catalogs of different websites.
Select the website in the listbox at the upper left. On the left side you can navigate through the catalog. If you click on the magnifier, you can see more details about the ePub-file. If you click on the book, you can open the file for reading.
You can change the appearance of the book content and the Table of Contents in the peferences dialog. You can open this dialog at the bottom of the Table of Contents.
Here you can configure the appearance of the ePub content.
- Background. Here you can configure the background color of the text.
- Font-face. Here you can configure the font-face of the text.
- Font-size. Here you can configure the font-size of the text.
- Font-color. Here you can configure the font-color of the text.
- Margin width. Here you can configure the left and right margin of the text.
- Columns. Here you configure the minimum width each displayed column must have. If the display space has for example a width of 200mm and you configure a minimum column width of 120mm, only one column is displayed. If the display space width is increased to 240mm, a second column is displayed. Multi columns shorten the lines, so long lines can be read easier.
Here you can configure the appearance of the Table of Contents.
- Background. Here you can configure the background color.
- Link unvisited. Here you can configure the color of unvisited links.
- Link visited. Here you can configure the color of visited links.
- Link hover. Here you can configure the color of a link when the mouse is over it.
- Font-size. Here you can configure the font-size.
- Font-face. Here you can configure the font-face.
- Reset to default. Here you can reset all values to the default.
Here you can configure some things which have nothing to do with either the content or the Table of Contents.
- Calibre OPDS URL. If you use Calibre2Opds, you can enter here the URL of the OPDS catalog. If an URL is entered, a new entry "Calibre2Opds" is added to the list in the ePub-Catalog.
- Javascript enabled. Here you can configure, if Javascript statements which are included in the content of an ePub-file are executed. Due to potentially security risks, Javascript is disabled as default.
- Plugins enabled. Here you can configure, if Plugins which are used in the content of an ePub-file are executed. Plugins are for example Flash- or PDF-plugin. Due to potential security risks, plugins are disabled as default.
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