Comic Vision 1.2.0: a home button, spread rotation, and a thank you to the forum
A small update with two changes, both of which came straight from a reader on the community forum. Plus a question about where Comic Vision should go next.
Comic Vision 1.2.0 is out on the App Store this week. It's a simple one with two small changes. The fun part is that both of them came from the community forum I set up alongside the app, hoping to get users involved!
A simple home button in the reader
Before this change, closing the library window after opening a comic meant you had to kill the whole application and reopen it to bring the library back. It's a small problem I was aware of but completely forgot about because I just kept moving the library behind me instead of closing it.
The cool thing is, even if you didn't mind moving the library behind you, the home button will focus the window and bring it back in front of you.
Rotating a page spread
Some comics have a double-page spread that reads vertically. With a physical comic, you'd turn it 90 degrees to read it correctly. In Comic Vision, those pages showed up sideways, since there was no way to rotate the comic.
This feature adds a new setting in the per-page settings called "Page Spread Rotation". It only works on the first page of a spread group. You can rotate 90 degrees to the left or right, and also 180 degrees for a full upside down flip.
The page spread rotation is basically a full book rotation whenever you land on that spread. In 3D mode, there's a smooth transition where you see the book rotate at the same time as the page turn animation.
It works with the horizontal and 3D reading modes. Vertical mode doesn't support page spreads currently, so spread rotation isn't available there either.
The community forum
Both of these started on the app's community forum, where a user opened a bug report and a feature request. The page spread rotation is a feature I probably never would have thought of since I mostly read manga and never encountered this case. So your experience with the app matters, since mine is limited to how I read!
If you run into any issue with the app, a crash, something that doesn't feel quite right, or a feature you'd really like to see, please head to the community and share your experience and ideas! Let's work together to make this the best app it can be 🙂
A companion app for other devices?
This same user suggested making an iPad and/or Mac version of the application. My initial goal was to make a feature-complete app for the Vision Pro and not just another "wow" tech demo, since I feel the Vision Pro is missing a lot of complete, everyday apps. Since the landscape on desktop and iPad is so much bigger, older and more mature, I never really thought about it. But this user mentioned that their experience with major apps like Panels wasn't on par with their experience with Comic Vision.
So now I'm seriously considering it!
What I'm imagining is a Plex-like server/hub on desktop (Mac, Windows and Linux) with multi-user support. The hub would have built-in library management and reading options that at minimum replicate the same features that Comic Vision offers. This hub would have a simple local-network connection with Comic Vision that hopefully wouldn't require any technical knowledge like opening ports or creating tunnels. Comic Vision would become a client that can connect to this hub while also staying standalone as it currently is. Then a sibling iPad app could offer the same functionality.
Considering how big of a project this would be, I'd like to hear from users (if anyone ever reads this 😅). Is this something you'd like to see? Are there other things you'd like to see instead?
Monetary support
I just received the first tip through the app's Support section! I don't plan on ever asking for money directly for this app. The support section will always be optional and never lock any feature.
With that said, it's really motivating having people who like the app enough to support me in that way! Before last week I honestly wasn't sure anyone was using it, and I had stopped planning any new work on it.
So, if you like the application and would like to see it continue to grow, consider dropping a message in the forum, or visiting the Support section in the app. Make yourself known so that I at least know I'm not building something for no one 😅
Thank you for reading and thank you to the person who filed that bug report and feature request!