# New Kindle Home Screen



## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Oh joy. They already messed up the home screens on the Fires; now it looks like the Kindle is going to follow. I don't need to see a bunch of stuff on the screen. I just want a list of books. Why is that so hard for them to understand?

https://goodereader.com/blog/kindle/amazon-introduces-new-home-screen-on-the-kindle


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

meh. I've used the 'home screen' setting for ages. When I want to see my library I just tap on 'your library'. Not really a big deal as far as I'm concerned. And it looks like it will still be just one touch to get there.

Plus, if I'm reading a book, it opens to that book anyway, so I don't even see the home screen until I'm done one book and looking for another.

but I agree that it is nice to have options.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Well that's a bit of a bugger to say the least. (Yay! KB doesn't recognise British profanities).

I too still use the old list version of the home screen and I really don't see why I should be forced to change it. Why take away a feature that they know people use? I can only assume they want to force everyone to see their recommendations so as to entice you to buy more books.

According to the article you won't be able to set the list view as the default anymore like you can now, but I hope they will retain the option to get to your list by going to Menu/Your Library. Otherwise, how on earth do you find your books? I know you can search, but what about if you don't know the title of the book you want? For example, I have a collection for KU books I've borrowed but not yet read - and I can't remember all the titles. (I have enough trouble remembering the titles of books I _have_ read). If I can't get to my list of collections, how will I find them?

So fingers crossed that they haven't done away with the list view completely, but just removed the option to have it as a default - which in my view is bad enough. 🤞


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> meh. I've used the 'home screen' setting for ages. When I want to see my library I just tap on 'your library'. Not really a big deal as far as I'm concerned. And it looks like it will still be just one touch to get there.


I think it's two touches. 

But why force people to have to do even that. I can't think of a single reason they would take the option away that benefits the users. So it must be because it suits Amazon better and they don't care if it doesn't suit us as well. Or maybe it's just change for change sake - it won't be the first time for that to happen either.

EDIT: I just took a look at the updates page and the Voyage doesn't have the update to 5.13.7 like the other later models. So that's good news for me as I read almost exclusively on my Voyage, but worrying also that this means the Voyage will now no longer get other updates that I might actually want.

* Sigh *


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

re: one vs 2 touches. My voyage and PW don't have ads, so when I open the page I am at the home screen (or on the last book I read.) If I'm in the last book, it's one touch to home and one more to the library list. If it opens at the home screen it's one touch to the list. So .... we're both right.  Based solely on the images in the article linked above, it looks like "your library" will still be accessible, even if you can't default to only show that. As you say, if you can't get to something like a list of books, that's a Very Bad Thing.

I didn't look to see what devices this will apply to. On the one hand, if it never comes to the Voyage, that's o.k. I use the home screen but my husband does NOT and he's not good with change on things like this. Plus, he actually uses the thing so infrequently I have to re-teach him how it works every time. It's easier _for me!_ to have it NOT showing the "home screen" on his device.

On the other hand, as you say .... I wonder if this means Voyage is officially no longer supported.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

My main complaint is that I don't need Amazon to recommend books to me on the Home Page of my Kindle. Come on, I have over 6,500 titles in my library now. They are getting money for books out of me 
And I paid to get the ads off my device. Why would I want a Home Screen that is basically an ad? I could have done that for free.

Ann, on the regular Home Screen, do you get the dots for length or the READ indicator?


Totally unrelated: I am really surprised how much I like the book cover as screensaver.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I hear ya about the 'recommendations' .....

The Home screen looks pretty much the way it shows in the article you linked to. So .... no, no indication of length. But if I tap the words 'your library' and I have it set to show as a list then, yes, it does have the dots. I prefer to see the book covers but it's true there's no indication of length that way. If you're showing covers -- and even on the home screen -- it shows the percentage of the book you've read, or may have a 'new' corner ribbon or a 'read' corner ribbon.

And yes .... I LOOOOOOOVVVVVEEEEE having the book cover as the sleep picture.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> re: one vs 2 touches. My voyage and PW don't have ads, so when I open the page I am at the home screen (or on the last book I read.) If I'm in the last book, it's one touch to home and one more to the library list. If it opens at the home screen it's one touch to the list. So .... we're both right.


Ah, you are in fact correct! I thought from the home screen to get to 'your library' I had to go to the menu first and then choose it. I just tried setting my Kindle to the book cover home screen and I see that there's a link at the top left to go there directly. Better, but nevertheless still unnecessary in my view.


Andra said:


> And I paid to get the ads off my device. Why would I want a Home Screen that is basically an ad? I could have done that for free.


Exactly! I wonder if we can reclaim the extra we paid to not have ads!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> Exactly! I wonder if we can reclaim the extra we paid to not have ads!




Oh, Linda .... you're so hilarious!


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Oh, Linda .... you're so hilarious!


I do my best to entertain.


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Am I missing something? The new home screen shown on the Goodreader site doesn't look radically different than what I've had on my Paperwhite 4 for ages now. (And no, I don't have the latest update yet.)


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

CS said:


> Am I missing something? The new home screen shown on the Goodreader site doesn't look radically different than what I've had on my Paperwhite 4 for ages now. (And no, I don't have the latest update yet.)


It's not so much that it's different, it's that previously you could choose between having the home screen with the cover thumbnails and the recommendations etc, or defaulting to the old style list only. A lot of people (like me!) chose to stick with the list home screen.

It seems that in the new version, you won't have that option of having the list version as the default - you'll get the thumbnails automatically and have to follow the 'your library' link to get to your list of collections/books.

Since the lists will still be available it seems odd to take away the option to default to that view. We can only assume that Amazon perceives some advantage in forcing you to look at their recommendations. Full disclosure: I still won't be looking at them. 🙈


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I would add to what Linda said: I don't know of anyone who's gotten it yet, so the discussion is based purely on what was said in the article. It seems such a silly thing to change, that, for me, I'll just wait until I have it and see what really happens. Not saying the article is wrong, just wondering if it's mistaken.

PS: just checked my PW and my Oasis: Neither have updated and they're just about always connected.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

I don't have this update yet, and I'm not rushing to get it, as I also prefer the list view. But I did just view a YouTube video that shows the new features. According to the man who did the video, once you set it to library view, it will stay there if you exit your book. But I'm not sure if you have to reset it each session. The reading controls are also all moved around (not for the first time) so that will take some getting used to. 

Here's a link if you'd like to view it. It's a bit under 12 minutes total.






If you'd rather avoid using the link, the YouTube video title is:

Massive Kindle Updates! Version 5.13.7 Recap

or just search on Kindle 5.13.7


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

Well, that was a surprise for me - the way the link posted. I thought it would just be a blue hyperlink, but it's showing the actual video screen. Reminder to myself to always preview my messages, which I didn't do with that one.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

That's a pretty informative video. Clearly there is a lot more to this update than mentioned in the Good E Reader article.

Some of the changes look interesting, others not so much. I don't think we'll be able to really judge it until we've had hands on experience of it and had a chance to play around with the settings to see just how it actually works.

I usually download updates manually as they often take such a long time to filter through to the UK, but on this occasion I think I'll wait. As I read on my Voyage more than any other of my Kindles, it may ultimately not really impact me - at least until my Voyage has to be retired!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Very informative, indeed. I'm still not clear whether, once you tap Library that's all you'll see (vs the "Home page") even if it goes to sleep in between. But, even if it wakes up to "home" every time, it's not the end of the world, as he notes -- you can get to your library with just one tap.

I was a bit amused by how he talked about the browser. It doesn't really sound like it's changed much, they just aren't calling it "experimental" any more. But if they have made it so it is supposed to work faster, that may be why the update won't e on the Voyage -- the processor may not be able to handle whatever it's doing.

I'll wait for it .... still not seeing it on either my PW or Oasis ......


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

My PW updated this evening. I can confirm that the home page doesn't look much different to before. At the bottom are "Home" and "Library". When you tap Library, you get your usual list (or set of book covers, depending on the setting). Most importantly: if you set it to Library and then put it to sleep, it is STILL ON Library when you wake it next time. I have not tested 'deep sleep' yet, but I don't see why that would be different.

Bottom Line: you can still have your default setting be to show your library vs the 'Home' screen; it's just a different -- and, in my opinion, easier -- way to set it.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

This is good to hear. I don't have the update yet, but from what you wrote, it sounds like it won't be as disruptive as feared.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I don't think so .... and I can further confirm, after putting the kindle down for the night, I woke it from 'deep sleep' this morning, and it is still on 'library' vs 'home. One difference, perhaps: if you use 'list', you may not have quite as many titles showing .... I'm seeing 5. In 'grid view', 6 books show. In list view it does still have the row of dots that roughly give an idea of how long the book is, as well as how far you've read.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

One strange thing I have noticed. This morning I was opening a book I'd read on last night on another device. Sometimes it automatically comes up and asks if I want to go to that page, but sometimes it doesn't. This is not new behavior.

What IS new is there is an option to 'disable touch screen' in the menu (accessed from the 3 dots).   

It's right under the 'sync to furthest page read' option and I'm afraid I'm going to touch it accidentally! Why would they do that? I'm not even sure why you would WANT to disable the touch screen on a device that has no other way to turn pages. Perhaps I'll look and see if there's a new user guide that explains it at all.

I also feel like the words in the menus are smaller, but that may be an 'accessibility' type setting that I can adjust.

BTW, my Oasis had NOT updated as of last evening. It has ads so I expect some differences in how the home screen looks.


Edited to add: ON the device, the user guide is updated -- but the version available on Amazon still references the older layout.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Thank you for the updates Ann. None of my newer devices have updated yet.
It's nice to hear that maybe they did not totally mess things up. After the changes in MCD and the emails you get for book orders, I was really afraid that they had a non-reader in charge of that stuff. It is kind of weird that they would give an option to disable the touchscreen on a touchscreen-only device. I could see disabling it when reading on a device with buttons, but you still need the screen to make selections in menus. I guess we will just have to see how it goes.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

My PW has also updated. 

As Ann says, you seem to be able to keep it on the 'library' setting, though I notice that if you are in a book, where before you would press at the top of the screen and get the 'home' button, now you get 'library' which takes you back to the collection you were in when you opened the book - you have to press the back arrow again to get to the main library screen, so not quite as efficient but doable.

There are fewer collections showing on the main library list screen - 5 as opposed to 7 on the Voyage and 8 on the earlier PW models.

One thing I have noticed which wouldn't affect me is that the text on the menus is quite a bit smaller than before, probably the equivalent of font size 2 or 3 in a book and not bold. I think that could be a problem for some users, especially as you can't adjust the font size on the menus - or at least you never have been able to before, as far as I know.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> What IS new is there is an option to 'disable touch screen' in the menu (accessed from the 3 dots).


That's very weird! Once you disable it, how do change it back if the touchscreen doesn't work? Presumably it comes back if you put it to sleep, then wake it up again? 

I don't think I want to experiment!!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

yes ... the text on the menus is much smaller -- and it doesn't look like there's a way to change it. 

I don't do much with collections ON my devices, so the "<Library" does effectively take me back to the home page.

I'm going to go through the user guide via the device and see what it says about that 'disable touch screen' thing.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I use collections a lot, probably more out of habit than anything else if I'm honest, so I have several pages of them. And yes, the 'library' choice just takes you to the last page within the library you were on. Even if you're not in a collection, just on one of the later pages of the main list, pressing 'library' won't take you back to the first page as the old 'home' button did. You have to choose the number of the page you want or change from 'download' to 'all' (or vice versa) to get to the first page. Even if you choose 'home' and then 'library', you still go to the last page of the library list you were on, not necessarily the first.

So you can get to where you want but it's not nearly as simple and easy as before. 

I honestly can't think of any reason why they would deliberately make the menu items so much smaller. You have to wonder sometimes what's going on in the heads of these developers and whether they actually read on a Kindle themselves. It's seems like it's just another one of those changes for change sake things, though I would have thought making them slightly bigger would have been just as easy!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> I honestly can't think of any reason why they would deliberately make the menu items so much smaller. You have to wonder sometimes what's going on in the heads of these developers and whether they actually read on a Kindle themselves. It's seems like it's just another one of those changes for change sake things, though I would have thought making them slightly bigger would have been just as easy!


AND ..... you think they'd realize that a lot of Kindleers are older -- and might be happier with slightly larger fonts in the menus.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

I had not made any comment yet because none of our Kindles had updated. Now that the Voyage, Paperwhite, and Oasis 2 have all updated, let me say ... 😝😝😝 I'm not a fan and don't think the new layout/options are nearly as user friendly.

It came first to DH's Paperwhite and he (who is pretty tech savvy), couldn't figure out how to pull an old series back from the cloud to re-read the first 5 novels before starting a newly released #6. Putting the author's name into the search kept coming back with "not found" until I figured out he needed to be case-specific and actually capitalize the first and last name. "All" used to give you options as you entered "pretty close" letters, so not that big a deal, but a little more of a pain.

In the meantime I tried to send the specific book from Content and Devices to his Kindle using my laptop. The changes to that page were apparently just populating to our account (I know there's a separate thread about the new C&D layout) because while it would let me choose "Download to another Device" from the 3-dot-menu on the right, it wouldn't give me a dropdown list of which device to send it to and kept telling me I could cancel the download request. I gave up that evening, but it does seem to work properly now.

Anyway, 30 minutes was WAY too long to figure out how to pull a single book back to a Kindle that has been easily used for years. I can not figure out why they thought any of the current changes are useful at all. Why did we have to wait 12 years to get book covers as our screensavers, but they make changes nobody likes/wants to the layout that worked great??

Plus now I'm back to using a magnifying glass to be able to read the menu pages. Bah humbug.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

My only quibble so far is akin to what Linda mentioned with the collections. I read the paper daily and new issues get grouped with past issues. Previously, after finishing, I could touch "home" and be back there to switch to whatever book I wanted. Now, it's the "<Library" link which only takes me back one level to the listing of issues and I need to do it again to get back to home. Not huge, but also not helpful. AND, it's not something that can be fixed by not using collections because newspapers/magazines are sort of automatically collected. Turning off the 'Group series' feature in settings (Home and Library under the Advanced Options setting of Device Options) won't even help. (They sure do bury that feature toggle.)

Anyway, my workaround will be to get in the habit of, each morning, first removing back issues -- which will remove yesterday's -- and then go to today's. Then the back to library will take me to the first page. OR, just deal with one extra 'back' each day. I've not really decided yet. On the whole it's a small thing.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

crebel said:


> ......... Now that the *Voyage*, Paperwhite, and Oasis 2 have all updated...


Your Voyage has updated? I thought the Voyage wasn't getting this update. 



Ann in Arlington said:


> Turning off the 'Group series' feature in settings (Home and Library under the Advanced Options setting of Device Options) won't even help. (They sure do bury that feature toggle.)


What is this Group Series feature? Under Home & Library on my updated PW4 all I have is the option to choose how Audible content is shown.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> Your Voyage has updated? I thought the Voyage wasn't getting this update.


I noticed that comment, too ..... also curious?



> What is this Group Series feature? Under Home & Library on my updated PW4 all I have is the option to choose how Audible content is shown.


O.k. let's see if I can find it again. 

First, be on the home page, and go to *settings*.

Tap *Device Options
*
Tap *Advanced Options*

Tap *Home & Library*

Top option is *Group Series in Library* which you can toggle off or on. If you turn it off, you see books in series each as individual titles again. (The other has to do with audible content which I don't have any of.)

FWIW, I thought this was here in previous software as well. .... Yes: I definitely have it on my decidedly NOT updated Voyage. Same place in *Home & Library* -- one of two options, the other being to toggle the *Home Screen View. *(On my not-yet-updated Oasis (9th gen) there's also an option about audible content.)

Weird that yours is different. Wonder if it's a difference due to you being in the UK? Not sure why that would make a difference. FWIW, my PW is 10th gen.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> O.k. let's see if I can find it again.
> 
> First, be on the home page, and go to *settings*.
> 
> ...


Now that I think about it, I seem to remember this being mentioned a while back, with mostly negative comments, and I must have thought that it would turn up on mine eventually but wasn't bothered if it didn't. 

Anyway, I just double checked and I definitely don't have that option.

On both my Voyages - running 5.13.6 - I have one option in Home & Library, to toggle the Home Screen view. On my updated PW 10th gen - running 5.13.7 - I also have one option, this time to choose how Audible content is displayed.

I can't imagine why UK devices would be different - and in any case I usually download updates and install them manually and the bookmark I have to the software updates page is for the one on Amazon.com, not .co.uk - so I have the US version of the updates on my Voyages. (My PW updated automatically this time).

It's very odd but I'm not overly concerned about not having it, although it does make wonder if I'm missing out on anything else!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

So weird. The grouping toggle is mostly to turn OFF the automatic series grouping that the software started doing maybe a year ago -- or maybe more -- hard to keep track!  Does yours do that? I don't really care either way, but opinions expressed here were mostly against grouping. 'Bout the first thing people did was figure out how to turn it off.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Linjeakel said:


> Your Voyage has updated? I thought the Voyage wasn't getting this update.





Ann in Arlington said:


> I noticed that comment, too ..... also curious?


So sorry, I really thought I had played with all 3 Kindles here at home and they had all changed. The Voyage has NOT updated and I hope you're correct about it being left out for this one.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Does yours do that?


No, not in any of the views I use. So I guess it doesn't really matter that I don't have the option to turn it off!


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

I got the update yesterday and it's horrible! One of the worst cases I've recently seen of design incompetence, by someone who doesn't realise that the information content of the page is of prime importance. I should perhaps temper this by saying that I always use list view as I find it much more readable than grid, and grid view is less affected by the change as it already had a lower information density. 

I've no interest in the Home screen and so had it turned off. Now, though I'll still never look at it, I cannot do this and instead have the bottom of the page wasted on the large Home and Library buttons. This means less useful information on screen when in library collection view (only five collections per page, used to be 6 or 7), only five books listed per page when looking at the contents of a collection (used to be 7) and the stupid thing is still there even when running the "add to collection" function so once again the useful information on the page is cut from 7 to 5 collections (though why one would need the home/library buttons whilst adding the book to a collection is not obvious)..

Someone above said that this is an easier way to set the choice between Library and Home, which may be true but in no way makes up for the large reduction in useful information per page (or the downgrading of the user experience for people like me how don't give a f**k for the home page contents). What's more it is quite unnecessary as the total revamp to the settings at the top of the page could have hidden the home and library buttons behind the new down arrow, and if the big search kindle box was also hidden it would have actually increased the screen available to present the useful information.

I just hope that they've actually done something to cure the bugs that have been creeping into the software of late (particularly those regarding document downloads and duplicated book entries after manual book updates).

And to Ann who was delighted at having the book cover (the last one you opened I think) as the sleep picture, I like this too but it's not new, it was there before the latest update. What is new is the little version of the cover which appears between the home and library buttons at the bottom of the page. Finally, the actual the implementation of the update is defective as it does not retain some (all?) of your prior settings: it left me with popular highlights turn on (ugh!) whilst turning off the clock which I always have showing when reading. It also seems to have forgotten my reading speed.


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

I don't have the update yet, but Mike999 has captured my view about these changes. I'm also someone who prefers list view. For the last several years, I've been frustrated with the direction many companies are taking of replacing simple functional lists with jazzed up graphics. Another pet peeve is replacing words with icons with no labels.

As for the Kindle, It already takes some time to page through collections, especially when adding a new book to multiple collections. Having to turn more pages will slow this down further. I'm definitely not looking forward to this update.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

For the record ... I know the 'show cover while sleeping' was added a while ago. Been using it a while. My reference to it was in passing as a response to another poster's commenting on it.

Also for the record: I don't think the new format is better than the old, but I don't think it's that bad either. There are a few adjustments I have to make, but, on the whole, it's not a huge deal. I did get it on my Oasis the other night. They COULD have used a hidden menu at the bottom for home/library and thus allowed for one more row of content in list view or when adding things to collections. But, as I think I said before, any issues I have with it are pretty minor quibbles. Once I get into a book, actually reading it is not much different. (Though I did need to make a couple of tries at finding the 'go to' function.  )

YMMV, of course, and that's o.k. too.


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

Firstly, I apologise for assuming that you had not realised that the “show cover while sleeping” feature was not new. I think I was reading a bit carelessly and reacting to the notion that it was a virtue of the new release. Secondly, I totally agree that the view whilst reading is what really matters and that this is essentially unchanged (though I also could not initially find the “Go To” function, but then I’ve always found words easier than icons, which probably means I’m not fit to interact with modern user interface designs). The one change I’d like to see here is to put alterations to the information at the bottom of the screen into a menu only item so that they cannot be directly changed by touch (or at least to allow the touch change to be turned off) as I frequently find that I’ve accidentally changed them when my thumb has slipped over the edge of the screen.



I still really dislike the new format, but I guess that I’ll adapt to it in time. One change I do like is the effect of the back arrow when you have a collection open. Previously if you had switched between “All” and “Downloaded” going back left you in the collection and just reversed the last switch, so you had to press it two or more times to get back to where you were in the library view, and this nonsense has now gone.


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## ShinyTop (Apr 25, 2016)

I don't like change just so they can say they have a fresh look. A fresh look is not the same as better. Once you have it set for library it is mostly the same. The three dot menu has much smaller font than before and, as somebody else said, the go to icon is not obvious. I think our kids and grandkids will holler the loudest as all their parents and grandparents they persuaded to move to Kindle will be calling for help. MLB.com just changed their web site and that change is worse than this one.


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

How the heck did my Oasis in AIrplane mode update?!?

Oh well. Not thrilled with the new look!


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

I've now received the update. So far, there's nothing I feel is an improvement, and lots of things I've used frequently that now take more clicks, more scrolls, or no longer can be done at all. I'm finding that my finger keeps going to the search button instead of the new “go to” icon. That's due to muscle memory, I guess, which will now have to be retrained. Overall, for me this is an unnecessary and user unfriendly update. Not a major annoyance in my life, of course, but it makes the Kindle experience a bit less appealing.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

I think I received the update. Once I am on the home page, I have to page forward at least 4 times before I get to the rest of my books. Now I am closing the cover while still in my book so that it doesn't go to the home page. (I didn't pay to not have ads.)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Marti, do you have 'home' and 'library' at the bottom of the page? That's the big indicator that you have the update. If so, tap Library and you'll be back to the view you prefer. This will hold even when you put the device to sleep, but if you do a restart, it reverts to the home view first.

I will say that I noticed some months ago that it was taking more page forwards to get to MY books using the old home screen. So I ended up switching that off. Then, of course, all my devices except the Voyage updated.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Oh ick
My Paperwhite got the update sometime in the last few days (I have been reading on my Voyage). How on earth is this supposed to be an improvement? They keep decreasing the number of items they show - either on the Kindle screen or in Manage Content. Um - hello? The longer Kindles are available, the larger libraries will get. Mine is closing in on 7,000 items now - only showing 5 on the screen at a time is ridiculous.

Edit to add:
Oh wow! It gets worse. They got rid of words and went to icons on all the menu items. And there is no more Go To that I can see. Just an icon that takes you to the Table of Contents. I have books that are old enough to not have a TOC. How am I supposed to get around in them? Sigh... Once again Amazon is changing things that don't need to be changed and fixing things that are not broken. I really doubt the folks behind these changes are readers.


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## crisandria (Feb 20, 2009)

Andra said:


> Oh ick
> My Paperwhite got the update sometime in the last few days (I have been reading on my Voyage). How on earth is this supposed to be an improvement? They keep decreasing the number of items they show - either on the Kindle screen or in Manage Content. Um - hello? The longer Kindles are available, the larger libraries will get. Mine is closing in on 7,000 items now - only showing 5 on the screen at a time is ridiculous.
> 
> Edit to add:
> Oh wow! It gets worse. They got rid of words and went to icons on all the menu items. And there is no more Go To that I can see. Just an icon that takes you to the Table of Contents. I have books that are old enough to not have a TOC. How am I supposed to get around in them? Sigh... Once again Amazon is changing things that don't need to be changed and fixing things that are not broken. I really doubt the folks behind these changes are readers.


The GoTo is still there, if you go to the TOC there is an option for Page or Location. That will still let you jump around when there is no actual TOC. 
Although I do agree that I don’t really like the new menu system.


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

Andra, I just checked - having found a book that had no ToC - and "Go To" still had "Page or Location" on my Paperwhite, as well as things like "Cover" and the beginning and end of the book, so some navigation is still possible (plus you can still pull up the slider at the bottom of the page, for what it is worth without the ability to jump from chapter to chapter). The reduction in data per page remains a big negative, somewhat reduced if one has a comprehensive set of collections and actually know which collection the book is in, though with 7000 titles you'd have an awful lot of collections to page through. Your reference to "Manage Content" makes me think that you are talking about the horrors perpetrated to the PC system in the USA. I'm in the UK and still have a useful - if imperfect - PC system that I am dreading will be replaced by the current amazon.com one (though it can take years for some website changes to be propagated to other countries, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed ...)


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Thanks for checking and clarifying for me folks. I really appreciate it.
Amazon responded to my email telling me that I needed to call so they could "help me fix my problem with my Fire." They didn't even read my email correctly: The first sentence clearly states that I am complaining about the software update on my Paperwhite...
We don't need fewer customization options - we need more. I know my mom would gladly see fewer items on her home screen if the font was larger.
I don't use Collections because I found them cumbersome and I tended to forget how I filed things.
The web version of the Manage Content is still somewhat useful. At least we still have the ability to do bulk operations; we lost that on the actual Kindles with the second version. Only the original had the ability to do bulk loads and deletes. But everything is so spaced out and you have to be so particular. If I am searching on the Manage Content page - I want you to search my content. I should not have to specify to look for a particular author in "Books."

Trying to come up with something nice about the Kindle software update - the best I can do is say I can still set a Library List-type view even if it's severely reduced.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Andra said:


> They got rid of words and went to icons on all the menu items.


If you're talking about how it displays your books, you can get back to words via the 'sort' menu .... switch to 'list' from 'grid'. As far as the settings menu, I see icons but also words for each option.


And there is no more Go To that I can see. Just an icon that takes you to the Table of Contents. I have books that are old enough to not have a TOC. How am I supposed to get around in them? Sigh... Once again Amazon is changing things that don't need to be changed and fixing things that are not broken. I really doubt the folks behind these changes are readers.
[/QUOTE]

As others have said, when you are in a book and tap near the top of the page, the icon just to the right of the Aa icon lets you go where you need by navigating the TOC, assuming a book has a linked/formatted TOC. On that pop up you can also tap the 'page or location' item and jump that way.

Alternatively, when you tap near the top of the page to get that set of icons, you also get the bottom icons (for "page flip") that show you the thumbnail pages so you can page through. Oddly ... I just tried the one page at a time one -- in two different books -- and it doesn't seem to work. (I usually use the one that shows 9 pages so I hadn't noticed it before.) I verified on my Voyage that it should pop up a smaller version of the page you're on and let you go forward and back from there without changing your page if you then just tap the x to cancel out of it. Both icons are there, but only the 9 page one does anything. Hmmmmm.

My feeling about the update overall is that it's not an improvement, it's just different.


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## fos (Aug 16, 2009)

Fortunately, my Voyage doesn't have the upgrade. yet(?) I prefer the old listing style.

My new recently purchased backup Paperwhite did the upgrade automatically. Now the "Home" screen shows Amazon recommendations. I thought I had paid for an "Ad Free" version of the Paperwhite? !!!

Just curious: My wife and I are very avid readers. We both purchase books regularly and read via Unlimited. Why do they need to recommend books to avid readers? I am pretty sure that anyone that reads books on a Kindle eReader are very avid readers. 

From Amazon's point of view this is revenue enhancement.

grrrr


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## jkingrph (Jun 10, 2012)

My thinking is that the voyage, being a discontinued model, although the best ever produced IMHO, has reached the end of it's update life. Personally I like my Voyage the way it is and I hope they leave it alone.


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Oddly ... I just tried the one page at a time one -- in two different books -- and it doesn't seem to work. (I usually use the one that shows 9 pages so I hadn't noticed it before.) I verified on my Voyage that it should pop up a smaller version of the page you're on and let you go forward and back from there without changing your page if you then just tap the x to cancel out of it. Both icons are there, but only the 9 page one does anything. Hmmmmm.
> 
> Weird. I just tried it on our latest paperwhite and this feature still worked fine. I tried on two different books and tapping the left hand "square" icon at the foot of the page brought up the single reduced sized page as you described and the left and right arrows stepped through the book one page at a time. Also, in the book that had a ToC the "slider" allowed one to step the reduced page from chapter to chapter (so just like the pre update software). Mind you this Paperwhite has its own set of features/bugs that do not appear on my wife's one - which managed to update itself even though we only turn on wi-fi to download books - so it does seem that the same software running on the "same" devices can produce different results.
> 
> I just wish I knew of some good way of contacting Amazon re software problems. As Andra noted this can produce decidedly unhelpful results. The people who give me very good service when I have problems with an order often seem unable to read when dealing with a software problem (unless it is something well defined like a problem downloading a book update). Any ideas on how to contact a real software support team and not just customer services?


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

fos said:


> My new recently purchased backup Paperwhite did the upgrade automatically. Now the "Home" screen shows Amazon recommendations. I thought I had paid for an "Ad Free" version of the Paperwhite? !!!
> grrrr


I just checked on my old (too old to update) paperwhite by turning on the home screen for the first time since I bought it and found that this has recommendations ("More Like...", etc.) even though I always get the Ad free versions. So I think it has been there for years, it's just that you cannot now totally turn off the home screen view. I assume that the Ads are much more obtrusive on the "non Ad free" versions and get to other places, like the lock screen and the library view page? 

On my newer (and updated) Paperwhite - bought to get a decent amount of memory - I have worked out the way to use it that ensures that I never visit the home page, though I still have to see space wasted at the foot of the library and collection screens where the Home link resides. However, to my surprise I have found the little cover icon that resides between Home and Library at the foot of the page is actually useful.


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## Mike999 (Sep 11, 2021)

Apologies for mucking up my #52 reply. I managed to make it look as if the whole was a quote by Ann when, of course, only the first paragraph is by Ann, I have to answer for the rest.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

No worries, Mike ..... I understood what happened.

Interesting that your updated PW seems to have 'page flip' working just fine. I had an updated PW but traded it in for the discount on the new PW due out the end of this month .... so I don't have any other updated device in the house to compare to. There are two other Voyages, but they're not getting updated.

I can't decide if I want to bother to contact them about the page flip glitch on the Oasis. It doesn't really bother me -- I'm certainly not likely to go to the trouble to send it back or anything.

There used to be a direct email address that took you to kindle customer support vs generic amazon customer support. They were able to be more helpful with the device itself. I thought it was posted here but I can't find it in any of the logical places. Mind you, this was 12 - 13 years ago when the thing had just come out.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I sent my email to [email protected]
But it was pretty clear from the answer that I did not get a kindle person. Maybe they only did that when the device was new?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Andra said:


> I sent my email to [email protected]
> But it was pretty clear from the answer that I did not get a kindle person. Maybe they only did that when the device was new?


Yes! That looks like the address ...... but I suspect you're right and that it's no longer a kindle-centric email address. Probably just feeds into generic help people. Or generic CS 'bots.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

I have also noticed that tapping "Library" to leave a book takes me back to whatever page in my library I opened the last book instead of going to page 1. Why change that? 
Grrr


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

yeah .... I, too, find that a bit weird.


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Ann in Arlington, thanks for your reply that was 30 days ago. I do have Home and Library at the bottom and I had it set to library, which is good for me. (I clicked to quote your note, but I guess it was too long ago.)


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

mlewis78 said:


> Ann in Arlington, thanks for your reply that was 30 days ago. I do have Home and Library at the bottom and I had it set to library, which is good for me. (I clicked to quote your note, but I guess it was too long ago.)


On my laptop at least, quoting a post is a 3-step process now:

1. Click the "quote option at the bottom of any post.
2. Click "insert quote" at the bottom of the reply post
3. Click "quote message" in the pop-up box that appears after Step 2

After Step 3, you _finally_ get the quoted message to appear in the reply box and you can add your comments beneath. Seems a little convoluted to me, but it does work.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

It is easier to hit "reply" instead of "quote"


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Andra said:


> It is easier to hit "reply" instead of "quote"


WAY easier! Thanks, Andra.


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## Fogeydc (Oct 24, 2017)

Andra said:


> It is easier to hit "reply" instead of "quote"


And then you can also trim any part of the quote that you're not responding to.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

So what if you wanted to include a quote from a second person? Would you hit 'reply' again on their post and it would add to your current reply box under the previous quote or would you have to hit 'quote' instead for the second one?


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

Fogeydc said:


> And then you can also trim any part of the quote that you're not responding to.





Linjeakel said:


> So what if you wanted to include a quote from a second person? Would you hit 'reply' again on their post and it would add to your current reply box under the previous quote or would you have to hit 'quote' instead for the second one?


Hitting 'reply' on each of the previous posts added both to this single reply. 



Andra said:


> It is easier to hit "reply" instead of "quote"


Hitting 'reply' on Andra's post farther up the chain also added directly to this same box.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Linjeakel said:


> So what if you wanted to include a quote from a second person? Would you hit 'reply' again on their post and it would add to your current reply box under the previous quote or would you have to hit 'quote' instead for the second one?


Got that by hitting 'reply' on your post.



Andra said:


> It is easier to hit "reply" instead of "quote"


And got that by hitting 'reply' on Andra's post.

So ..... that works.  I just added some space using the 'return' key to enter a blank line.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

Well I am glad that helped. I forget who mentioned that a few months back, but it definitely made things easier for me.

And back on topic - I REALLY hate only having 5 titles and not going all the way back to page 1 when I close out of a book. Interestingly enough, the Kindle app on my work ipad and my Fire tablets go back to the first page. So they have done something stupid with the actual Kindle firmware...
Sigh
They need real readers to help with their updates instead of listening to marketing folks.


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> So weird. The grouping toggle is mostly to turn OFF the automatic series grouping that the software started doing maybe a year ago -- or maybe more -- hard to keep track!  Does yours do that? I don't really care either way, but opinions expressed here were mostly against grouping. 'Bout the first thing people did was figure out how to turn it off.


Well, astonishingly, about two years after everyone else, my PW4 suddenly updated and told me I now have the series grouping option in settings!

Sadly, I don't think it was worth waiting for.  

I thought you would be able to pick 'series' instead of 'collections' or 'author' etc in the 'sort' menu to choose your preferred display but no, it comes at the bottom of the collections and apparently in no particular order. It also doesn't seem include the shorts that some series have interspersed with the full novels. 

All in all, a badly thought out addition. I'm glad I wasn't holding my breath. The Amazon programmers really need to take a long look at how the Kobo organises things.


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## Maura (Aug 27, 2019)

Well, after using this update for these many weeks, my opinion hasn't change -- I dislike everything about it. I did email to the address posted here, and I actually got a reply inviting me to talk to someone about it, which I ignored. I told them what I didn't like in the email. Assuming they can read and comprehend, that should be enough, and it's not like the idiots who turned the Home page into Library and then made a mess of it with bars for search and filter and whatever you call it on the bottom are going to put things back the way they were.

I don't want or need a search bar always open. I never want to see that bar at the bottom. I never want to see what they call Library. I never want to see a bar that shows the filter. I do want a back ability. I don't want samples stuck off by themselves where I have to go looking for them. I guess I should be happy I can still read a book without all that clutter across the text.


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