Fonts supported by K4 & KT

ElMiko · 08-28-2012, 04:23 PM

does anyone here have a list of fonts supported by the K4 and KT? I know that with amazon's KF8-related firmware updates, they added a few additional fonts to mix, but I can't seem to find out which ones specifically!

Just to be clear, I'm not looking for instructions on how to hack my Kindle for additional font rendering. I just want to know which ones will show up on a Kindle straight out of the box.

(And, for the record, I think that two of the accepted fonts are Courier and Arial, but I could be wrong.)

Blossom · 08-28-2012, 11:26 PM

I believe KF8 has embedded fonts. As far as I know there are no new fonts on the K4 which I own. I have no clue on the KT but you can download the Kindle Previewer I think it shows the list you are looking for.

ElMiko · 08-29-2012, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I believe KF8 has embedded fonts. As far as I know there are no new fonts on the K4 which I own. I have no clue on the KT but you can download the Kindle Previewer I think it shows the list you are looking for.

Yeah, I guess my question is as at least partly a KF8 question: namely, which embedded fonts will render on a K4 or KT (i know that my K4 renders something that looks like courier and something that looks like arial).

Blossom · 08-29-2012, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElMiko

Yeah, I guess my question is as at least partly a KF8 question: namely, which embedded fonts will render on a K4 or KT (i know that my K4 renders something that looks like courier and something that looks like arial).

It doesn't matter on the font. The K4 will show any font that is embedded in the KF8. (Rendering quality will vary.) It's just like a epub, the font is included in the file.

The K4 has 3 fonts. Two versions of Caecilia, One Sans Serif and a hidden Mono font. Any other font you see in a book is embedded in the file of the book you are reading. I find this annoying and remove them with Calibre.

I use Amasis that has been modified for eInk as my reading font.

The KT now might be different. The Kindle Previewer has a list of fonts when you go in preview mode for the KT.

ElMiko · 08-30-2012, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

It doesn't matter on the font. The K4 will show any font that is embedded in the KF8. (Rendering quality will vary.) It's just like a epub, the font is included in the file.

The K4 has 3 fonts. Two versions of Caecilia, One Sans Serif and a hidden Mono font. Any other font you see in a book is embedded in the file of the book you are reading. I find this annoying and remove them with Calibre.

I use Amasis that has been modified for eInk as my reading font.

The KT now might be different. The Kindle Previewer has a list of fonts when you go in preview mode for the KT.

Ok, I think I understand you now. I misspoke when I said "embedded fonts" in the second post. What I was really talking about was fonts defined in the css stylesheet, not kf8 files that have .tff inside them. And from what you're saying, there are only three fonts built in to the kindle e-ink readers: Caecilia, sans serif (Arial-ish), and monospace (courier-ish). Yay or nay?

tomsem · 08-30-2012, 05:53 PM

Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Helvetica Neue are built in (plus a monospace font that requires specific markup to invoke). These are not identical to what you would get if you purchased them, as Amazon has modified the smaller sizes so they are more like demi-bold than regular and are more readable and crisp than they would otherwise be. These also have very good Unicode support.

KF8 format may use embedded fonts, and when they do, you can still choose a built-in typeface if you prefer. I find that the DPI of the Kindle screen is not usually sufficient to display embedded fonts crisply at smaller text sizes (1-3). Embedded fonts are unlikely to be 'optimized for eInk'. But they probably look okay on Fire or the Kindle apps that support KF8.

You can hack to add your own font but these will suffer the same issues at small text sizes as embedded fonts, so you'd want to get one that is 'modified for eInk' as Blossom suggests. I don't know if it is possible to point a stylesheet at fonts you have placed on the Kindle, as you can with other ereaders.

The Kindle Previewer font selection for KT does not reflect what is actually available on KT. The KF8 sample .mobi file, which displays examples of each typeface on Kindle Fire and the Kindle apps with KF8 support does not do so on KT: they just render with whatever typeface is selected in the Fonts menu. Maybe they are planning some software update to add these, or maybe they will only be on the 'new' Kindle Touch that is coming out (one rumor is that it will have a 1024x768 210DPI display, or so I'm hoping).

Blossom · 08-31-2012, 02:42 AM

What he said above! It should be noted you can't turn off the publisher font on a K4 like you can on a KT.

It's the same on the Kindle Fire. This is why I prefer mobi over KF8 at the moment. The KT only has that option.

The only way to see a custom font on a KF8 is to embed it. I'm pretty sure if there was another way there would be a thread here.

It's super easy on a K3 or K4 to add your own font as default. No real hacking needed. Not so on a KT I believe you have to jailbreak it or run a patch of some kind. This is why I have not bought a KT.

Just found out that the latest firmware let's the KT can use Custom fonts without Jail breaking or Patching. Yay!

ElMiko · 08-31-2012, 09:46 PM

What promtped this question is that I had an epub (converted into KF8 with calibre) that had some text styled with the font-family "Courier" and some with the font-family "Monotype Corsiva" (with "cursive" as the fallback) (again, this was all simply through the css stylesheet, not through embedded .tff files). When I opened it in my Kindle 4, it rendered the Courier in a monospace font and the Corsiva in the Helvetica (sans-serif) font. I was merely trying to determine whether a) there were other fonts that the K4 and KT rendered natively, and what was the replacement algorithm for which CSS-styled fonts to render as which Kindle fonts.

Rebecca_06 · 09-01-2012, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's super easy on a K3 or K4 to add your own font as default. No real hacking needed. Not so on a KT I believe you have to jailbreak it or run a patch of some kind. This is why I have not bought a KT.

This thread was getting my hopes up, until I got to this part.

I use a KT and have been embedding fonts in my mobi files for ages (a setting in Calibre I never changed from my sony reader days) in the hopes that Amazon would support this eventually. The Kindle Previewer does seem to recognize this as my books show the custom font, but sadly, it doesn't show on my KT.

Barty · 09-02-2012, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

.

It's super easy on a K3 or K4 to add your own font as default. No real hacking needed. Not so on a KT I believe you have to jailbreak it or run a patch of some kind. This is why I have not bought a KT.

Too bad because that means the next kindle will in all likelihood require a hack to install a custom font. I can't live without my custom font.* I'll have to wait for the k6 to get hacked if I decide to upgrade

* classic first world problem!

akleiw · 09-03-2012, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

It should be noted you can't turn off the publisher font on a K4 like you can on a KT.

Actually you can. If you're using Calibre to modify your ebooks, make sure you've got the latest version. That used to be a bug that was recently fixed.

Blossom · 09-03-2012, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akleiw

Actually you can. If you're using Calibre to modify your ebooks, make sure you've got the latest version. That used to be a bug that was recently fixed.

How do you turn the font off? There is no option I can see on my K4? I can run it through Calibre and remove the font but other then that I don't see a way.

akleiw · 09-04-2012, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

How do you turn the font off? There is no option I can see on my K4?

It should show up in the box where you change the font size, spacing etc.

Blossom · 09-04-2012, 02:17 PM

I don't have that option on my menu.

This is from my Archive Items. It hasn't touch Calibre.
It just isn't this book either.
I have another KF8 where I can't change the font.

akleiw · 09-04-2012, 05:15 PM

I've downloaded a sample of "I do" and while it's a KF8 file I can't see any custom fonts in it. If you want to verify whether everything is OK with your Kindle, here's a book that should give you an option to turn publisher font on and off - The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot (it's in the public domain).

08-28-2012, 04:23 PM	#1
ElMiko Addict Posts: 320 Karma: 56788 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	Fonts supported by K4 & KT does anyone here have a list of fonts supported by the K4 and KT? I know that with amazon's KF8-related firmware updates, they added a few additional fonts to mix, but I can't seem to find out which ones specifically! Just to be clear, I'm not looking for instructions on how to hack my Kindle for additional font rendering. I just want to know which ones will show up on a Kindle straight out of the box. (And, for the record, I think that two of the accepted fonts are Courier and Arial, but I could be wrong.)

08-30-2012, 05:53 PM	#6
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,464 Karma: 25996225 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	Caecilia, Caecilia Condensed, Helvetica Neue are built in (plus a monospace font that requires specific markup to invoke). These are not identical to what you would get if you purchased them, as Amazon has modified the smaller sizes so they are more like demi-bold than regular and are more readable and crisp than they would otherwise be. These also have very good Unicode support. KF8 format may use embedded fonts, and when they do, you can still choose a built-in typeface if you prefer. I find that the DPI of the Kindle screen is not usually sufficient to display embedded fonts crisply at smaller text sizes (1-3). Embedded fonts are unlikely to be 'optimized for eInk'. But they probably look okay on Fire or the Kindle apps that support KF8. You can hack to add your own font but these will suffer the same issues at small text sizes as embedded fonts, so you'd want to get one that is 'modified for eInk' as Blossom suggests. I don't know if it is possible to point a stylesheet at fonts you have placed on the Kindle, as you can with other ereaders. The Kindle Previewer font selection for KT does not reflect what is actually available on KT. The KF8 sample .mobi file, which displays examples of each typeface on Kindle Fire and the Kindle apps with KF8 support does not do so on KT: they just render with whatever typeface is selected in the Fonts menu. Maybe they are planning some software update to add these, or maybe they will only be on the 'new' Kindle Touch that is coming out (one rumor is that it will have a 1024x768 210DPI display, or so I'm hoping). Last edited by tomsem; 08-30-2012 at 05:56 PM.

08-31-2012, 02:42 AM	#7
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	What he said above! It should be noted you can't turn off the publisher font on a K4 like you can on a KT. It's the same on the Kindle Fire. This is why I prefer mobi over KF8 at the moment. The KT only has that option. The only way to see a custom font on a KF8 is to embed it. I'm pretty sure if there was another way there would be a thread here. It's super easy on a K3 or K4 to add your own font as default. No real hacking needed. Not so on a KT I believe you have to jailbreak it or run a patch of some kind. This is why I have not bought a KT. Just found out that the latest firmware let's the KT can use Custom fonts without Jail breaking or Patching. Yay! Last edited by Blossom; 09-04-2012 at 06:08 PM.

09-04-2012, 02:17 PM	#14
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	I don't have that option on my menu. This is from my Archive Items. It hasn't touch Calibre. It just isn't this book either. I have another KF8 where I can't change the font. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Blossom; 09-04-2012 at 02:38 PM.

09-04-2012, 05:15 PM	#15
akleiw Member Posts: 19 Karma: 12 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: Kindle 4.1.0	I've downloaded a sample of "I do" and while it's a KF8 file I can't see any custom fonts in it. If you want to verify whether everything is OK with your Kindle, here's a book that should give you an option to turn publisher font on and off - The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot (it's in the public domain). Last edited by akleiw; 09-04-2012 at 05:23 PM.

08-28-2012, 11:26 PM	#2
Blossom Treasure Seeker Posts: 18,708 Karma: 26026435 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: Kobo HD Glo, Kindles, Kindle Fires, Andriod Devices	I believe KF8 has embedded fonts. As far as I know there are no new fonts on the K4 which I own. I have no clue on the KT but you can download the Kindle Previewer I think it shows the list you are looking for.

08-31-2012, 09:46 PM	#8
ElMiko Addict Posts: 320 Karma: 56788 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: Kindle	What promtped this question is that I had an epub (converted into KF8 with calibre) that had some text styled with the font-family "Courier" and some with the font-family "Monotype Corsiva" (with "cursive" as the fallback) (again, this was all simply through the css stylesheet, not through embedded .tff files). When I opened it in my Kindle 4, it rendered the Courier in a monospace font and the Corsiva in the Helvetica (sans-serif) font. I was merely trying to determine whether a) there were other fonts that the K4 and KT rendered natively, and what was the replacement algorithm for which CSS-styled fonts to render as which Kindle fonts.

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