Those who read two-column papers might like the new two-column navigation (@FranMarelli This does not work in conjunction with scroll mode.
I've been waiting for this all my life! Actually, I've been waiting for this ever since I discovered it's not there in Koreader while it is there and works naturally in Pocketbook's reader app. The current implementation in Koreader is much inferior to the implementation in the Pocketbook reader app.
For one, why only two columns? There are all sorts of weird pdfs out there,
five columns and
seven columns.
In Koreader, I'd like to see another setting for at least three columns or, better, an arbitrary number of columns.
Also, I'd like to see an option for more directionality. As far as I can gather, right now you can only begin at top-left, proceed downwards to the bottom-left when it jumps to the top-right and proceeds downward from there. All this should be configurable: Start at any corner and move vertically or horizontally from there. Not sure how to do it, but please do it. It will make Koreader unbeatable.
Please-please an arbitrary number of columns. In Pocketbook's reader app, you can select two or three, and three is sufficient for almost everything.
Pocketbook does not attempt to detect the columns, it auto-divides the whole page to two or three and when the user thinks/sees it does not fit properly a column, you can drag on the touchscreen (this works splendidly in Pocketbook, not awkwardly or glitchily).
In Koreader, instead of dragging, maybe let the user adjust the visible area at any point vertically/horizontally a preset number of mm or px by a gesture. In fact, I have this suggestion and warm wish: In multi-column mode, let the user navigate in any direction (unless already at the edge of page of course) a half-screen worth, not full-screen worth. I.e. instead of navigating the page (only) in a pre-set manner, let there be, in column mode, swipes or other definable gestures that allow proceeding in any direction.
EbookDroid attempts to detect the columns in the pdf and then it literally breaks the columns into visually separate pages for display, as if you were reading a pdf with single-column pages. This, however, only works if the pdf is indeed formatted well enough with columns neatly separated throughout the file. When the pdf is scanned as image, the detection fails. When the pdf is formatted with the wide header/title/abstract preceding the two-column main text, the detection fails again, and EbookDroid displays the whole-page view.
So, my opinion is that attempting to
not detect the columns is a good thing. And mechanically dividing the page into an arbitrary number of columns/rows is also a good thing. It works splendidly like this (three columns) in Pocketbook's reader app and the Neo app in Onyx Boox.
Second, not only does Koreader's two-column mode not work in conjunction with scroll mode, it also does not seem to work in conjunction with auto-crop (it goes to a view that looks like page-width or content-width). By the way, once you have selected auto-crop, how do you un-crop it? Go back to "zoom to fit page"?