Version 2.6.0 is now available in Testflight

[victor]

We have been working on a new Panels release. It’s main focus is to add quick actions to the reader by tapping on the top right corner.

Quick actions

This menu was previously available, although the only options were to change between readers.

We have now added 3 new quick actions:

1. Share page
2. Reverse reading direction
3. Zoom lock

The first 2 options were already possible before (although not as accessible), the third one is new. We will be adding more actions in the future.

Zoom lock

Zoom lock is a new action available in the quick actions menu. To enable it you need to zoom into a page, tap on the top right and then tap Lock Zoom.
This will fix the current level of zoom and maintain it in all pages. This feature is great if you want to get rid of page borders.

Bug fixes

This release also fixes a bug where the double page reader will not remember correctly were it was left off and another bug that will show empty pages on double page reader.

Testflight

If you’d like to join testflight, you can do that by following this link: https://testflight.apple.com/join/LSWXTgan

[echutta]

@victor

This will fix the current level of zoom and maintain it in all pages. This feature is great if you want to get rid of page borders.

When maintaining zoom lock in a certain position, it turns out that when turning the page, that position changes slightly in the right / bottom part.

Is there no possibility to make the adjustment automatically removing the edges in a whole keeping the correct proportion when changing from page to page?

[dani]

We are uploading a new build. Zoom Lock will always center the content to provide consistent behavior across pages.
Keep in mind that Zoom Lock doesn’t analyze the pages to detect borders or anything like that.

[echutta]

@dani

Zoom Lock will always center the content

Yes I know Dani, but it shouldn’t just center, but keep the chosen position.

@dani

analyze the pages to detect borders or anything like that.

I wonder if this reading mode is planned for this version?

[Greg]

I can’t seem to zoom in at all with the long press. It just zoom locks it

Edit: it does work but the sensitivity has been lowered it seems

[dani]

@Greg

I can’t seem to zoom in at all with the long press. It just zoom locks it

I think we broke this in the latest build. We are fixing it soon

[dani]

@echutta

I wonder if this reading mode is planned for this version?

We are not planning to add any border detection in this version or future version, for now. Building something like that requires quite a lot of complexity for a very niche feature.
We need you to understand that every feature we add to the app has quite a lot of ramifications and keeping the balance between adding features and maintaining the simplicity of Panels is not an easy task.
To us, simplicity weighs much more than features, and we need to protect that.

@echutta

Yes I know Dani, but it shouldn’t just center, but keep the chosen position.

I think that is debatable. I understand that what you want is to trim the page borders. On one hand, if the comic is correctly scanned, margins should be symmetric, and centering the zoom would trim them proportionally. If the scan is not great, and margins are not equal on every side of the page, they will very likely be different across pages, and you’d need different offsets for every page.
Centering the zoom is a compromise solution that will probably cover a big percentage of the use cases.

[Tomas_Martinez]

@victor

This release also fixes a bug where the double page reader will not remember correctly were it was left off and another bug that will show empty pages on double page reader.

Me dais la vida con esto!! Thank you so much guys, this app is amazing

[victor]

Fue dificil de cazar! Llevabamos tiempo intentando arreglarlo y @dani finalmente lo solucionó

[Tomas_Martinez]

Justo me había creado una cuenta para comunicaros ese bug aunque me imaginaba que lo teníais detectado. Esta app es la que más uso en mi iPad con diferencia, me encanta. Felicidades!

(I just created an account to tell you guys this bug even I assumed you detected it. This app is the one I use the most in my iPad, I love it. Congrats!)

[DZ1]

New paid user, loving the app!

Question: do y’all plan on allowing zoom out?

In vertical reading modes in the iPad, I frequently want to zoom out since full width is too large.

[dani]

@DZ1 Thanks

I gave this a look and it’s quite tricky to implement due to how UIScrollView works. But we’ll give it another try in the future.

[dani]

We’ve iterated a bit more on the Zoom Lock feature and now includes some of the behaviors some of your requested.
Give it a try and let us know what you think about it.

2.6.1 Testflight

Yesterday we released a new 2.6.1 Testflight. This version is focused on improving two main areas: Zoom Lock + Privacy Zoom Lock: We’ve tweaked it a bit to allow arbitrary locking positions. Simply zoom on the section of the page you want, and lock the zoom. It will maintain that position instead of moving to the center. We’ve added new visual feedback to let you know when the zoom lock is enabled. Zoom lock is now saved locally. If you set a zoom lock when reading a comic, the next time you…

cc/ @echutta

[dani]

@DZ1

Vertical Scroll Reader: zoom-out

Version 2.6.1 will include a new feature in the Vertical Scroll Reader. Some of you have requested being able to zoom out in the vertical scroll reader. Soon, you’ll be able to zoom out to read webtoon more comfortably. This feature is fully compatible with the new ZoomLock. We hope you like it.

[DZ1]

incredible, thank you for that feature!!

[echutta]

Dani/Victor,
Thanks for making such an amazing app.
Panels