"Ideal" Kindle 2 PDF page size

Ea · 11-29-2009, 07:00 AM

I've been experimenting a bit with an 'ideal' page size for self-created PDFs.

I've attached the sample that seemed to work best: 8.5 cm wide x 11.4 cm tall and 0 margin. Kindle adds a bit of margin - and it appears that the content is zoomed to fit width, and centred both horisontally and vertically. Horisontal centering looks odd if you only have a short paragraph left on the 'page' (last page of my sample).

The zoom-to-fit also affects the size of the fonts - but I think I've come pretty close to a PDF page size that displays the fonts in a size that matches actual print size (in vertical view).

Since there's little margin top and bottom, I made another sample 1 cm shorter (8.5x10.4 cm). This also seems to work okay if you like a bit more margin top and bottom.

On the first page I drew a box along the edges of the 'paper', so they're 'visible' - and if you shift back and forth between page 1 and 2 on the Kindle, you can compare font sizes and 'margins'

The font is calibri and font size is 12 pt.

On a final note; if this is the way PDFs work on the Kindle DX, I fully understand why the PDF implementation on this device is considered 'basic'

It's okay for my needs, but it ain't great.

RobbieClarken · 12-25-2009, 03:30 AM

Thanks Ea, 85x114 mm works great.

I used these dimenasions to create a PDF of a section of a webpage I wanted to read on the Kindle. For those interested, printing directly from Firefox was making a mess of things so I found the easiest way was to copy to Word, change the dimensions and use Acrobat Pro's "Create PDF" plugin.

Nathan Campos · 12-31-2009, 11:28 PM

PDFs are good, but I preffer to convert they

Ea · 01-01-2010, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieClarken

Thanks Ea, 85x114 mm works great.

I used these dimenasions to create a PDF of a section of a webpage I wanted to read on the Kindle. For those interested, printing directly from Firefox was making a mess of things so I found the easiest way was to copy to Word, change the dimensions and use Acrobat Pro's "Create PDF" plugin.

My only problem with printing to PDF from Firefox has been how to set margins to '0'. I mean I've tried to set page settings, but I still get a 1-1,5 cm margin. I mostly create PDFs from a word processing application anyway - usually because of the margin issue.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nathan Campos

PDFs are good, but I preffer to convert they

Added: Sometimes PDFs are the best option. For things like recipes, I might want to keep the ingredient list on a single 'page' - the easiest way to do that is creating a PDF. Likewise with a travel intinary or bus plan.

PDFs are the 'quick-and'dirty' way for me to easily create documents where I need some control over how it's displayed on the page, or where the source material is messy and needs editing.

With some source material, creating a PDF from Word or some such, is by far the quickest and easiest way to make something that looks well. For things like fan fiction, which is short, it's rarely worth it saving as .doc, opening Windows in VMWare, starting up Mobipocket Creator and creating a .mobi book. And I've had poor results with using rtf->mobi in calibre.

stormydown · 10-29-2010, 08:18 AM

HI. I'm a newbie and the mobipocket creator will not load on any of my two laptops, the computer gets so far and refuses to carry on... is it best to do that through safe mode?

Ea · 10-31-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormydown

HI. I'm a newbie and the mobipocket creator will not load on any of my two laptops, the computer gets so far and refuses to carry on... is it best to do that through safe mode?

Hello, and welcome to Mobileread, stormydown

Since your question seems completely unrelated to the (rather old) thread you posted it in, I think you would have a much higher chance of getting help if you start a new thread and post your question there. Also, it would be better to post it in the Mobi sub forum as your question is related to Mobipocket Creator.

willus · 10-11-2011, 09:02 AM

There are a number of utilities that attempt to re-paginate letter-sized PDFs so that they fit better on a 6-inch reader screen, but work at the graphical level so that figures and formulas are not lost, e.g. k2pdfopt, PaperCrop, and pdfread.

Ellynae · 09-13-2013, 11:08 AM

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have been searching for a simple explanation to what I knew had to be a simple task: moving a Word document from my laptop to my Kindle for my own personal use. All I found were 'simple' ways to self publish—and they weren't so simple! Your explanation was exactly what I needed. And it worked fabulously.

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12-25-2009, 03:30 AM	#2
RobbieClarken Addict Posts: 371 Karma: 1002274 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Australia Device: Kindle	Thanks Ea, 85x114 mm works great. I used these dimenasions to create a PDF of a section of a webpage I wanted to read on the Kindle. For those interested, printing directly from Firefox was making a mess of things so I found the easiest way was to copy to Word, change the dimensions and use Acrobat Pro's "Create PDF" plugin.

12-31-2009, 11:28 PM	#3
Nathan Campos Groupie Posts: 194 Karma: 250000 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brazil Device: Kindle DX & Kindle (2011)	PDFs are good, but I preffer to convert they

10-29-2010, 08:18 AM	#5
stormydown Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Chorley Device: kindle	HI. I'm a newbie and the mobipocket creator will not load on any of my two laptops, the computer gets so far and refuses to carry on... is it best to do that through safe mode?

10-11-2011, 09:02 AM	#7
willus Fuzzball, the purple cat Posts: 1,272 Karma: 11087488 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: California Device: iPad	There are a number of utilities that attempt to re-paginate letter-sized PDFs so that they fit better on a 6-inch reader screen, but work at the graphical level so that figures and formulas are not lost, e.g. k2pdfopt, PaperCrop, and pdfread.

09-13-2013, 11:08 AM	#8
Ellynae Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2013 Device: Kindle	Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I have been searching for a simple explanation to what I knew had to be a simple task: moving a Word document from my laptop to my Kindle for my own personal use. All I found were 'simple' ways to self publish—and they weren't so simple! Your explanation was exactly what I needed. And it worked fabulously.

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