Yet Another PWA JNC Client
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Since I, as many others I presume, got tired dealing with the official JNC app, I went to create my own as a web app.
This client is tailored to my needs, so among its features:
- Optimized for iPhone XR with iOS 13.5 since that is the device I have.
- Light and dark modes.
- You can follow series.
- Simple view to see how much you have pending to read.
- And more important, you don't need to change the theme every time you open the reader to, you know, use the app for what it's supposed to be used for.
So it's a PWA, you can add it as an app to your Home screen when Sharing from Safari. However, by limitations from iOS, it also loses all of the data after 7 days of inactivity. The series you follow (and well, your login) are stored locally, so if you don't open the app after that period, you need to add them again.
There are a couple of minor things I need to fix eventually, but has been working quite fine the last couple weeks I've used it.
Since it's a web app, it should run in Android, but since I don't have a device, no idea how it looks/works. And for iOS, I think it will require iOS 13.4, since I'm using web animations which weren't available in previous iOS versions.
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@Crimson-Wise Looks great, much easier to navigate than the official app, bit too much white space in the reader on an iPad due to the narrow reading area though. Readability is better too with a line break between paragraphs rather than being indented in the official app.
I also like that it tells you the number of pages in the part at your current settings and shows what part you are reading at the top.
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@sniper_samurai Thanks!
I imagine the whitespace you're referring to is on the left/right sides? Long story short, I'm trying to put the pages with a fixed width/height ratio, since otherwise illustrations would overflow to follow up pages. So at the end, the ratio also ends up applying to text pages. Been thinking of ways to improve that but need to play with it.
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Tried it on OnePlus 3T (Android) and it seems to work great.
Only issue I've come across so far is that if I zoom in on an illustration then when I pan around it seems to sometimes prematurely try to move me onto a different page.
Stay shiny, y'all.
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@Shiny Interesting, hadn't seen that one.
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@Crimson-Wise Yeah, the margins are a bit wide due to the aspect ratio on the iPad. Doesn't detract from the reading experience though.
Just added it to my home screen on my OnePlus 5T and works great there too. Good to have a reader on android that the letters don't increasingly over run the page.
The settings icon seems to be missing though, at least tapping the top right still brings up the settings.
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@sniper_samurai said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
The settings icon seems to be missing though, at least tapping the top right still brings up the settings.
I've deployed what I think should fix it.
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How do you change the theme of the home screen? Also would appreciate a vertical scrolling option, and a “resume? Yes or no” prompt when opening a part you’ve read before.
Also, when using text-to-speech on my iPhone, it seems to always go back to the beginning, no matter what page of the part you’re on. That makes it sort of a downgrade from the official app, since it can read the whole part and resume at any moment you choose in vertical scrolling.
Otherwise, it looks really good. Great job! :)
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@sniper_samurai said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
@Crimson-Wise
Readability is better too with a line break between paragraphs rather than being indented in the official app.
I also like that it tells you the number of pages in the part at your current settings and shows what part you are reading at the top.I actually think 3 of those are bad because you end up with really little text per page.
@LegitPancake said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
How do you change the theme of the home screen?
It follows system settings on iOS (maybe on android 10+ too).
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Features which I'd love see:
- Justified text mode
- Selecting home while on the home page brings you back to the top
- Clearer differentiation between read and unread chapters, e.g. text turns blue once it has been read
- Embolden the suggested next/current part to read, e.g. the chapter after the most latest completed chapter and/or the the newest partially read chapter, whichever is newer
If you had a Patreon then I'd be happy to help fund development.
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@LegitPancake said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
How do you change the theme of the home screen?
Comes from the system default, as _08 mentioned.
vertical scrolling option
Will think about it.
“resume? Yes or no” prompt when opening a part
Wouldn't going to the first page from the reader scrollbar work? That is usually how most Ebook readers work. Well, I guess if the part has been completed they automatically go to the beginning.
Also, when using text-to-speech on my iPhone, it seems to always go back to the beginning, no matter what page of the part you’re on. That makes it sort of a downgrade from the official app, since it can read the whole part and resume at any moment you choose in vertical scrolling.
Interesting. Haven't used TTS myself, but will check.
Otherwise, it looks really good. Great job! :)
Thanks!
@_08 said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
I actually think 3 of those are bad because you end up with really little text per page.
Oh, interesting.
@Shiny said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
- Justified text mode
Should be simple to do.
- Selecting home while on the home page brings you back to the top
Same.
- Clearer differentiation between read and unread chapters, e.g. text turns blue once it has been read
- Embolden the suggested next/current part to read, e.g. the chapter after the most latest completed chapter and/or the the newest partially read chapter, whichever is newer
Will think about it.
If you had a Patreon then I'd be happy to help fund development.
Thanks, but I already have a job, so I'm good :)
This was more of a weekend project (kind of, I'm reusing the reader from a different personal project) in response of how much the official app was annoying me, and I sort of don't want to solve JNC's problems. Still, if there is something easy to implement/fix, or if it annoys me as well, I'll be happy to do so.
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@Crimson-Wise This looks cool, I might use it to read here too. I'm curious, is it open source?
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Thank you for the hard work. It looks really good on my Android.
This is so cool. -
@2manybugs said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
@Crimson-Wise This looks cool, I might use it to read here too. I'm curious, is it open source?
Thanks. And not at the moment. To be honest, I haven't decided if I want it to be open source. Still, if I decide to, will do later.
@shrike_al said in Yet Another PWA JNC Client:
Thank you for the hard work. It looks really good on my Android.
This is so cool.Thanks!
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As another feature request, it would be useful if at the end of a part it gave a link which took you straight to the next part (or if you are up to date told you when the next part was due). There could also be a link to the forum thread in the same place.
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Looks fine on my Samsung Note 10.
I'll probably stick with the official app - I use vertical scrolling, which solves all the weird pagination issues it can have - but it's great to know that there is a working alternative if I need one.
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The official app doesn't work at all on my iPad after a recent iOS update, so this has been a welcome replacement. I really appreciate you sharing this!
I have only run across two things I'd comment on. The margins are quite large on a tablet, which makes sense if it was designed for a smartphone. And a way to navigate to the next part quickly would be nice.
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is it wrong that I'm abusing of it on a PC?
I wanted to have a witty signature once I saw some of the ones some guys on the Bookworm forums had but None of the ones I thought felt witty enough...
The solution: Fuck it, I'll go Commando!
