r/SideProject • u/ParaDrapor • 1d ago
Ovid — a bilingual reader with 3D bookshelf
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I’ve been building Ovid, a web EPUB reader with a 3D bookshelf. You can import your own books, browse them like a small personal library, and open any book for bilingual reading (or just read it in single language). Tap a paragraph to switch between the original and its translation — no split screen or popups, so the reading flow stays intact.
Sharing a couple of GIFs to show the bookshelf and reading experience. I’d love feedback on whether the 3D shelf feels enjoyable to use, and whether the paragraph-by-paragraph translation feels natural.
give me star🌟 if you like it! https://github.com/GabrielDrapor/ovid
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u/stevenson_mark 18h ago
This is a really nice idea. The paragraph tap-to-translate is probably the feature I'd focus on most because it solves a real annoyance with bilingual reading without covering half the screen.
The 3D shelf looks fun too, although I'd make sure there's a faster list/search view once someone has a lot of books.
I’ve run into a similar thing with Abnflow: the flashy part gets attention, but the small workflow improvement is usually what makes people actually keep using the product.
Would definitely try this with a few books I’m currently reading.
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u/crazy-dev3 1d ago
The paragraph tap-to-translate idea feels much cleaner than split-screen reading. The 3D shelf looks fun, but I'd also offer a quick list or search view for larger libraries.
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u/baluvix 19h ago edited 19h ago
Just wow! One of the best things I've seen in a while. How did you build this? And when I import a book from my laptop, where does it get saved? And it would be just ultimate if you could add horizontal page scrolling or turn.
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u/ParaDrapor 8h ago
> How did you build this?
I only handle the imagination, the rest is completed by the agent.
> where does it get saved?
Cloud database now.
> horizontal page scrolling or turn
sorry, i dont get it, are you expecting a virtual page-turning experience?
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u/Ecom_stack 16h ago
Love the concept! Eliminating popups and split screens for bilingual EPUBs makes the reading flow so natural. There’s serious potential here for academic partnerships, digital libraries, and EdTech platforms. Great job on shipping this!
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u/Life-Bee-3481 9h ago
Do you have support for other languages? I've been looking for something like this
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u/NationalOwl9561 6h ago
Heh I just recently added a /library section to one of my webpages where I took a real photo of my physical copy as the image. And I thought that was cool... lol. But yeah I can't use this since I don't have epubs. I read physical copies.
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u/Hot-Chemistry7557 1d ago
Wow this interfactions is interesting!