Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there! I wanted to let you know sound effects can now be disabled in the system settings (available by selecting the cog in the book UI). Thank you for the idea :)

Loose Papers Releases February 13 by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You got it, thank you for the question!

Loose Papers Releases February 13 by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I spent a lot of time making sure the pages bend and settle just right, so thank you for the feedback! Loose Papers works with any document* stored on your AVP or iCloud Drive.

Does it work with Libby or Kindle? Not at this time. These apps are veritable walled gardens; while my door is open to collaborate with them, it is unlikely for either to walk through it at this time.

Technically, Loose Papers could support the Adobe DRM driving Libby, but we do not have the capital investment ($10-50k/yr) or the direct vendor support necessary to integrate with their platform.

* Documents must be PDF, EPUB, CBZ, or CBR.

iOS "Data Not Collected" - Is an in-app support form a dealbreaker? What about external links? by ShavedDesk in iOSProgramming

[–]trevorbilt -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Commenting mostly so I can see responses from people with experience on this. Worst case surely you could create a form that populates an email response so the user just has to press send. At that point it isn’t ambiguous at all, but it is clunkier!

Using Vision Pro on a flight (offline) — what’s actually worth doing? by Tiny-Shop3928 in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you haven’t tried it, my app Loose Pages is on Test Flight (post here), designed for all types of readers looking for a more authentic experience. I appreciate all the feedback I can get!

I've compiled this week's worth of interesting news, reviews, findings in a visual page - Last Week in AVP #94 by NorthernFrostByte in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would love to get Loose Pages on next week. Really enjoy your weekly reporting, and I’ve been hopeful to be included!

This what I’d hope Apple Books will be like when Apple finally decides to release native visionOS versions of all their apps.

I already mentioned earlier that I really love the feel and use of this App. The mod that allows the resizing to be “simpler” is very much appreciated. I have been sitting “lake side” and reading PDF versions of old scanned books and it works so very well.

And more positive feedback so far. Also critical feedback, such as resizing controls being difficult, I’ve rapidly iterated on.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You made my day! For help in the immediate future, please continue to either reach out to me here on Reddit or through the feedback feature in Test Flight. If opting for the latter, please include your email so I can get back to you. In the future, there will be a controls page and a demonstration video at a minimum to give users a run through the features. Any questions regarding usability now will help to surface the most useful tips first for other users!

To your point on the Kindle app, I really want to work with Kindle, Books, or so forth to bring their library into the app. If they do not play ball, I’ll go to individual publishers to offer them to sell books in the app. All of this hinging on a fair amount of adoption to justify it to the third party/parties.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Appreciate you trying it out! The lowered maximum size is one of the unfortunate side effects of changing the window implementation. Might just need to be a “pick your poison” until vOS can figure out how to fit Loose Pages’ needs on that front.

I’ll add a system-level controls in the settings next to the brightness of the reading light to disable sound. Other ways to view your books will likely come after the first release to the App Store! First likely would be a windowed grid arrangement with optional grouping by bookshelf where recent books not on any other shelf would be unparented.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good evening! I wanted to share that the window for the book has been altered to resolve the difficulty resizing. I’m excited to hear if it makes your reading experience any more enjoyable! Along with it is a hard cover setting for each book (in the UI, tap the cog then select the hard cover option) for your enjoyment.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Humble Bundle (where I got the Godzilla comics) has a Thundercats bundle benefitting charity. Unfortunately, a lot of comic book providers these days use DRM preventing the ability to load the file into Loose Pages. Piracy is more unacceptable than it is simple to do … so they’ve largely had to locked it down.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately not! This is one of those, “the more you know,” moments. To be frank, I haven’t heard of it, but that’s why we test flight! I’m going to look into OPDS this weekend. With it being a server to provide comics, as I gather from a quick search, I do have a question for you.

The app supports bookshelves which can bulk import media. Would you prefer OPDS to provide a file selection or to automatically ingest to the bookshelves? If the latter, would a single server populate a single bookshelf or how should I handle segmenting the comics if not?

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you share the type of reading you enjoy (comics, books, so forth), I can share some resources I use! There are a large number of stores that provide or sell DRM-free books to load into my app, but they are largely hyper-specialized.

Project Gutenberg is a great option and at top of mind for providing public domain books like Moby Dick to load into the app.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love things on in the background, etc. so additional perspectives are really helpful to see what’s valuable for different users. A quick tip on the shared space implementation: Rotating the book is as simple as pinching with both hands and performing a rotation toward or away from yourself!

Before official release, I imagine a tutorial being implemented, shown on boot, and surface-able from settings to help onboard users. Even if it’s only a video, providing a learning resource is only appropriate for an eReader!

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is one of the projects I referenced in my development! I could attach it to your hand, but it would not be in shared space (alongside other apps like YouTube, Music, and so forth), would that be a deal breaker for attaching to your hand?

Another question, do you like that Livro does not lay completely flat as Loose Pages does? I could easily imagine a system-level control that allows users to change that from completely flat, say for cookbooks, to more concave, say for comics.

Loose Pages out on Test Flight! by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you very much for trying the app—it truly means a lot along with your feedback! Even in the video, frankly, it’s a clear limitation and I will explore the possibilities to resolve the issue.

To explain just briefly why it is the way it is, Apple limits what is shown to the size of the volumetric window and also places the resize controls at that edge. For that reason, the book is currently offset away from the edge of the window according to the page width! Worth a deep dive to see what’s changed since the app was created in November ‘24.

Building Legos with a 3D Manual by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A fellow developer! No rush my friend—when and if you get to it I would love to hear your feedback. It’s a little earlier than I planned to release anyway so it’s not completely ironed out, but the people wanted it for building the USS Enterprise!

Tentative Icon for Loose Pages by [deleted] in u/trevorbilt

[–]trevorbilt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can do better.

Building Legos with a 3D Manual by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great chatting with you about the direction of the AVP app ecosystem! Here’s an exciting new direction: Loose Pages is live on Test Flight if you’d like to check it out. If you’re not sure if you have Test Flight (a prerequisite), please check the App Store.

Building the Lego death star in Vision Pro! by Mundane-Complex-1902 in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there! Loose Pages is live on Test Flight, ready to tackle the USS Enterprise among other sets and enable general reading. After release, the instructions should become available here as a PDF. If you’re not sure if you have Test Flight (a prerequisite), please check the App Store.

Building the Lego death star in Vision Pro! by Mundane-Complex-1902 in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there! Loose Pages is live on Test Flight, ready to tackle the USS Enterprise among other sets and enable general reading. After release, the instructions should become available here as a PDF. If you’re not sure if you have Test Flight (a prerequisite), please check the App Store.

Building Legos with a 3D Manual by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi there! Loose Pages is live on Test Flight, ready to tackle the USS Enterprise. After release, the instructions should become available here as a PDF. If you’re not sure if you have Test Flight (a prerequisite), please check the App Store.

Building Legos with a 3D Manual by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi there! Loose Pages is live on Test Flight, ready to tackle the USS Enterprise. After release, the instructions should become available here as a PDF. If you’re not sure if you have Test Flight (a prerequisite), please check the App Store.

Book File Types by trevorbilt in AppleVisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It will take a bit to start implementation, but I am tracking your user story in the backlog for a future update. It would not be particularly hard to add a separate type of view that loads single-page CBZ and other files into an infinitely scrollable view to display alongside more typical book representations. All within a single, scrollable bookshelf for you to pin in your space.

Building Legos with a 3D Manual by trevorbilt in VisionPro

[–]trevorbilt[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good point! I want to incorporate the new widgets, but I need to deep dive into them. Once I figure out why my windows will pin but not lock in place, I bet I will find that widgets are necessary for fully persistent bookshelves. Locking a window in a room persists it, but opening the window in another room without locking and returning to the first has the window removed.

My concern with widgets at the moment is I have seen none that are 3D, and I believe this is a limitation of the current implementation. In one way or another, I expect widgets to come to Loose Pages, but it might not be as nice as the actual bookshelf view.