Download Next {x} Unread

Submission

Ian Jackson

2 weeks ago

Board: Features
Status: Pending

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Download Next {x} Unread

A feature to allow the next 1, 2, 5, 10, etc unread books in a series to be downloaded. When selecting “Download Series”, bring the user to a menu with a “Download All” option, alongside options to choose things like “Download Unread” and “Download Next {x} Unread” with a number scroller for {x}. So when the user is reading a series and finishes a book, the next unread in the series will automatically queue for download in the background. For instance, if “Download Next {3} Unread” is selected, and the user is currently reading Book 4, then Books 4, 5, and 6 would be downloaded. Then when they finish Book 4, the app automatically deletes Book 4 from the downloads and queues Book 7 for download as the user moves on to Book 5. Would also need some sort of handling for when that {x} is out of range. For instance, if the example series above is only 6 books long, the app shouldn’t crash when attempting to download a (non-existent) Book 7. In the Downloads menu, it would also be prudent to create a menu to manage your auto-downloaded series. Or maybe incorporate it directly into the menu for each of the downloaded books. Like if the series is set to “Next {3} Unread”, the user should be able to cancel (or edit) that download order from the Downloads tab. For example, changing it to “Next {5} Unread” instead.

Ian Jackson

2 weeks ago

3

Pablo Ruiz2 weeks ago

I get the idea, but I don't plan to add a "smart downloads" feature, at least not in the foreseeable future. Downloads in Komic are meant to be static. The point is to have books saved locally for offline use (like when you're traveling), not something that changes automatically in the background. That way you always know exactly what's on your device without surprises. The best option right now is to grab the next few unread books manually before reading. In the next release you'll also be able to bulk download "all unread" or "all books in a series", which should make that easier. Maybe much later down the road I'll revisit smarter download options, but for now I want to keep the system simple and predictable.

Ian Jackson2 weeks ago

That makes sense. The request is mostly because the WiFi at my job is spotty. Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s… Well… Not so great. My hope was to be able to download a few in the background when the WiFi is solid, so I can still read them without massive buffering whenever the WiFi is bad. But needing to do that manually every time gets annoying.

Radosław Szymaniak2 weeks ago

I know this isn’t planned, but let me try to defend this request a little ;) I travel a lot for work, and I’ve been using this exact feature in Mihon — it’s a real blessing for someone who doesn’t always have time to remember to download something to read. It gives me peace of mind knowing I always have some of my currently read manga available.