Thorium Reader
Thorium Reader is a free, open source multi-language EPUB reader for Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. It's privacy aware and highly accessible for visually impaired and dyslexic people.
EU
Features
Properties
- Support for Themes
Features
- Full-Text Search
- Ad-free
- Bookmarks
- Fullscreen support
Thorium Reader News & Activities
Recent News
Recent activities
- luciardbellarosa liked Thorium Reader
- intelake added Support for Themes as a feature to Thorium Reader
- intelake liked Thorium Reader
- intelake reviewed Thorium Reader
Loads fast, clean interface. Opens individual files in separate windows which can be a hindrance for those just wanted to switch, but I’ve found they’re useful for split and or comparative reading. I do this all the time; I need different versions of the Holy Bible opened at all times so this default ‘separate window’ mode comes in handy, but I understand the frustration of the lack of a setting for ‘open in same window’ as default mode. Suggestions: (1) add ‘open in same window’ mode as a...
WizRead added Thorium Reader as alternative to WizRead
Hedobald added Thorium Reader as alternative to Babel Reader
BookShelves added Thorium Reader as alternative to BookShelves
POX added Thorium Reader as alternative to HomeBranch
hypremacy added Thorium Reader as alternative to Anthology
POX added Thorium Reader as alternative to Episteme Reader
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What is Thorium Reader?
Thorium Reader is a free, open source multi-language EPUB reader for Windows 10, MacOS and Linux. It's privacy aware and highly accessible for visually impaired and dyslexic people. This application is free, with no ads and no leaks of private data.
This desktop reading app is based on the Readium Desktop toolkit and is developed by the European Digital Reading Lab (EDRLab), a non-profit development laboratory based in France.
Why developing Thorium Reader?
Until now there was no modern EPUB 3 compliant reading application usable on Windows, OSX and Linux, properly accessible for print disabled people, with a good support for the LCP DRM and capable of browsing OPDS catalogs.
EDRLab decided to build such an application and release it for free, in order to provide users a great way to enjoy on a large screen EPUB publications, comics / manga / bandes dessinées, audiobooks, LCP protected PDF documents.
Print disabled people now benefit from an EPUB 3 reading app which supports screen readers like Jaws and NVDA on Windows, Voice Over on Mac.
Technology
Thorium Reader is based on the set of open-source chrome-less modules, a toolkit named Readium Desktop. Thorium Reader and Readium Desktop both rely on Electron.js, node.js and typescript, which are efficient cross-platform technologies. Thorium is also using React components based on HTML 5/CSS 3.
Thorium Reader information
Developed by
European Digital Reading Lab (EDRLab) Licensing
Open Source (BSD-3-Clause) and Free product.Written in
Rating
Average rating of 3.6Alternatives
45 alternatives listedSupported Languages
- English
- French
- Portuguese
- Swedish
- Russian
- Lithuanian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Dutch
- Spanish
- German
- Finnish
- Chinese
- Korean
- Georgian
AlternativeTo Categories
News & Books, Office & Productivity, OS & UtilitiesGitHub repository
- 2,681 Stars
- 214 Forks
- 162 Open Issues
- Updated
Comments and Reviews
I would like to offer a glowing review for Thorium, because I feel other reviews have not been left by its target audience. Thorium isn't the best EPUB reader for the average user, but is the undisputed best option for those with reading disabilities.
I've tried using a wide variety of EPUB readers, but none have been customizable enough to accommodate my dyslexia. Thorium's custom font options, precise controls for editing the spacing of words and lines, and even choice in terms of how you move through pages are unbeatable.
Though Thorium is not the best in its class overall, it is the best in terms of accessibility. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in EPUB as an accommodation for dyslexia.
You can't have a book open without having the library window open in a Separate window. If you try to close the library window, it closes the book you're reading. Which means you just can't simply click on the icon on the dock to switch between things and you have a useless window all the time in your task switcher.
Otherwise it seemed good, but to me this is completely workflow breaking and is a complete show stopper.
Loads fast, clean interface. Opens individual files in separate windows which can be a hindrance for those just wanted to switch, but I’ve found they’re useful for split and or comparative reading. I do this all the time; I need different versions of the Holy Bible opened at all times so this default ‘separate window’ mode comes in handy, but I understand the frustration of the lack of a setting for ‘open in same window’ as default mode. Suggestions: (1) add ‘open in same window’ mode as a default opening option in Settings; (2) add ability to set unified display across all files, i.e., same font size, style, paper color, etc., for all publications in Settings; (3) add folder and or equivalent library categorization features where users can group and organize books into sections, blocks, genres, etc., based on tags [the current ‘catalogs’ doesn’t seem to be made for this, and if it was, instructions are unclear]; (4) add ability to edit books’ properties (e.g., titles, series, genres) on ‘About Publication’ page; (5) add option to continue reading last read book at app opening in Settings [not individual file’s setting] to ease continuous workflow. Overall, it does the job for me. Sure, there are things I wish it had as default, but that isn’t a dealbreaker. It doesn’t feel archaic or cluttered with unnecessary buttons and options, which is what I’m looking for—core functionality with minimalistic design. Waiting for those suggested features and more.
Nice one! Quick, simple and functional without too much unnecessary settings. For a moment my favorite.
It's cool but not the best choice, you need to select dark theme for every book, it doesnt have any fancy features, if you need any. Not feels like a complete app when compared with Calibre or Sumatra PDF. Shame, it have a good UI actually.
Just tried it briefly. On top of being electron, when I clicked the installer, it automatically installed itself in %appdata% with no warning, so if that drives you as crazy as it does me, stay away. On top of that, when I uninstalled it, it left the settings and the installer behind %appdata%, necessitating manual removal. That said, you can crack the installer open with 7-zip and retrieve the app-64.7z file inside, then un-zip that wherever you want.
As for the actual functioning of the program, I only tried it briefly, the installation issues sucked all the fun out of it for me. Looked like it might at least work though and had simple formatting options and a dark mode.
It is an ebook reader with an open source alternative to Adobe DRM (as Adobe Digital Edition) This open source DRM is called READIUM LCP
_ So THORIUM reader is an LCP ebook reader_ it can allow ebook borrowing and lending in a public library for example via the READIUM LCP standard other apps dealing with LCP
https://www.edrlab.org/readium-lcp/certified-apps-servers/#link_acc-1-3-d
i
Readium LCP is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology developed by the publishing industry, for the publishing industry. It is a vendor-neutral, interoperable and distributed DRM solution, created and promoted by Readium members and managed by EDRLab.
The Readium LCP is used by Japanese , French, Canadian, and Belgium libraries as an alternative to Adobe DRM (Adobe Digital Edition)
LCP defines a simple passphrase-based authentication method, which is minimally intrusive for end users AND fulfills the requirements of public libraries, booksellers and publishers regarding content protection.
LCP is designed for privacy and GDPR compliance (required for EU adoption) since no third-party is collecting user data.
Client applications can be developed on mobile devices, desktop computers and e-readers. Browser based applications cannot integrate LCP, as such applications cannot handle DRM details safely enough.
LCP is free from transaction costs. The only mandatory cost for using the DRM is a yearly certification fee for each server or client application supporting LCP.
LCP is built using standard & best practice technology for content encryption:
AES 256 bits encryption for content and content keys SHA-256 for user passphrases RSA with SHA-256 for signing licenses. Supported Formats Different publication formats can be protected by LCP; this includes:
EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, including with embedded audio and video content PDF documents Readium Packaged Web Publications (audiobooks and DiViNa)
related links https://readium.org/lcp-specs/
https://www.editionguard.com/compare-drms/