KF8 on Fire HD6 - Justification & Font Issues

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by Hitch

dg:

Can you kindly report back anon, and let us know? Most interested!

Hitch

Nope. Still crashes. And it looks like I was wrong. That's not a new build—it's from 2012. I was thrown off by their download page, which says:

About the Latest Version
The latest version of the Kindle for Mac reading app is compatible with the following devices.

Version 1.11x
Kindle for Mac can only be used on any Apple Macintosh computer running Max OS X 10.9.5 or higher.

But in fact, 1.11 was built in 2012, back when 10.9 was barely even in development, much less in its fifth public update release, and the Info.plist still says that it compatible with 10.6.

So either the web page is completely wrong and 1.11 isn't new, or the web page is right and somebody failed to update the copyright date and a bunch of other stuff. Either way, somebody at Amazon screwed up. Either way, it didn't fix the crash.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

My only question is whether they're doing something special in the Fire HD6's firmware, like enabling automatic hyphenation unless it is explicitly disabled.

That's what I thought initially, but I haven't been able to find any other KDP books published within the last week that display auto-hyphenation on my Kindle Fire HD6! My device's software updated from 4.5.2 to 4.5.3 a few days ago, and it's still there.

The reason I'm curious is that I know for a fact that Kindle for OS X crashes if you enable automatic hyphenation in a KF8 book. It not only won't let you open the book, but also won't let you delete the book without an instant crash. So if KDP is adding it on ingest, then every book they import from now on is going to cause their buggy Mac reader to turn into an almost literal Kindle fire....

Are you able to open the Last Mulligan sample in the Mac Kindle app? If so, do you see auto-hyphenation there? (You may need to increase font size.)

* * *

Amazon KDP's Technical Team is investigating and said I'll hear from them by Thursday, March 5 (one week from today).

I'm focusing my attention on Last Mulligan for now, but all four of my recently updated e-books have auto-hyphenation and body text/headings that are darker than in previous editions. I even re-uploaded the original (October 2014) Kindlegen-created mobi file. That version was fine before but now has the same issues.

As far as I know, these oddities show up only on the Fire HD6. But when I download the KDP-converted file directly from KDP and sideload on my Fire, everything looks fine (no extra hyphens or too-dark text). It's so weird!

Here is the KF8 stylesheet (CSS) for LM as it is now. Within the last week or two, I've tried many other things, but those changes didn't seem to make any difference either. I'm open to suggestions! I didn't include some parts of that CSS below because (1) this post is already so long and (2) there's nothing suspect in that code (such as bold or font specifications not seen in other parts).

body
{font-family:serif;
font-weight:normal;}

div.fullimage
{padding:0;
margin:0;
text-align:center;
vertical-align:middle;
text-indent:0;}

img.fullimage
{padding:0;
margin:0;
text-indent:0;
height:100%;
vertical-align:middle;
text-align:center;}

div.copycenter
{margin:0;
text-indent:0;
text-align:center;}

div.title
{margin:0;
text-indent:0;
text-align:center;
font-family:"Helvetica", sans-serif;
font-size:1.5em;}

div.chapter
{margin-top:1em;
margin-bottom:0;
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0;
padding-bottom:.3em;
text-align:center;
text-indent:0;
font-family:"Helvetica", sans-serif;
font-size:1.5em;}

p
{margin:0;
text-indent:5%;}

p.center
{margin-top:0;
margin-bottom:1em;
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0;
text-align:center;}

p.firstpara
{margin-top:1em;
margin-bottom:0;
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0;
text-indent:0;}

p.scenebreak
{margin-top:.5em;
margin-bottom:0;
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0;
text-indent:0;}

p.toc
{margin:0;
text-align:center;
text-indent:0;}

p.image
{margin:0;
text-align:center;
text-indent:0;}

div.dots
{margin-top:.5em;
margin-bottom:0;
margin-left:0;
margin-right:0;
color:#909090;
text-indent:0;
text-align:center;}

span.initialcap
{font-size:1.5em;}

span.bold
{font-weight:bold;}

span.italic
{font-style:italic;}

Is it wrong to have <span class="bold italic">......</span> in the HTML to call both bold and italic CSS? The epub has always been this way, without any issues, but I thought I'd ask since I'm looking at everything.

And here is what's at the top of each HTML section. Nothing has changed in that part of my epubs since these e-books were originally published. My files validate at IDPF as EPUB 2.0.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

I do know how to disable auto-hyphenation completely by adding hyphens:none; in the body code, so that's an option. That results in a lot more ragged-right lines, though, even with full justification. I'm not sure which option most readers would prefer: extra hyphens or more ragged-right lines.

Personally, I wouldn't mind auto-hyphenation if the software didn't hyphenate after two letters or hyphenate proper names and already-hyphenated words. It does seem to break the words properly otherwise (between syllables) in my books.

I would appreciate knowing if anyone notices something in the above code that could be causing:

• auto-hyphenation (only on the Fire HD6, as far as I know)
• darker-than-normal text for page headings, chapter headings, and body text

Also, does anyone see auto-hyphenation in the Last Mulligan sample on their Kindle Paperwhite, Voyage, or other KF8 ereader? That may be important to know. You may need to increase font size in order to see. On my Fire HD6, it's most evident using Bookerly font, but the hyphens are there with other device fonts, too.

Thanks so much for your interest and assistance thus far! I'll let you know if I make any progress.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

That's what I thought initially, but I haven't been able to find any other KDP books published within the last week that display auto-hyphenation on my Kindle Fire HD6! My device's software updated from 4.5.2 to 4.5.3 a few days ago, and it's still there.

Weirder and weirder. I've just ordered the sample to my Voyage. I'll report back. (I honestly don't remember if the Voyage hyphenates or not, which is weird, because I've been reading on it, personally, for the last few weeks fairly consistently. I suspect this means that it doesn't, OR, it does it unobtrusively. I would certainly have noticed weirdo hyphenation.)

* * *

Amazon KDP's Technical Team is investigating and said I'll hear from them by Thursday, March 5 (one week from today).

Yowza, now they're giving dates? Hell, I'll give up my life with ECR and start emailing plain old Tech support (smile).

As far as I know, these oddities show up only on the Fire HD6. But when I download the KDP-converted file directly from KDP and sideload on my Fire, everything looks fine (no extra hyphens or too-dark text). It's so weird!

The darker-font thing is just freaking weird.

Here is the KF8 stylesheet (CSS) for LM as it is now. Within the last week or two, I've tried many other things, but those changes didn't seem to make any difference either. I'm open to suggestions! I didn't include some parts of that CSS below because (1) this post is already so long and (2) there's nothing suspect in that code (such as bold or font specifications not seen in other parts).

I admit, I didn't fine-toothed comb it, but no...I don't see anything that leaps out at me, other than you've swapped out for Helvetica. Did you always have Helvetica as your primary body font? (Also, FYI, this sample that I'm looking at still has that header font we discussed? Is it supposed to? I mean, is the sample supposed to have an embedded font, or...?)

Is it wrong to have <span class="bold italic">......</span> in the HTML to call both bold and italic CSS? The epub has always been this way, without any issues, but I thought I'd ask since I'm looking at everything.

Well, you shouldn't really have that if you don't have the bold-italic face itself. I don't think that should affect the remainder of your font, but as I've said boringly often, the very existence of an embedded font in a mobi can cause some serious wonky.

I do know how to disable auto-hyphenation completely by adding hyphens:none; in the body code, so that's an option. That results in a lot more ragged-right lines, though, even with full justification. I'm not sure which option most readers would prefer: extra hyphens or more ragged-right lines.

Yes, but it's also true that readers are well accustomed to the rivers of white/short lines, from the earliest K days through the halcyon K2 days, etc. I think it's essentially unnoticeable now, on a DEVICE. I recently was reading a someting-for-Dummies book and was completely put off by the fact that they'd obviously used align:left, and it screwed with my reading a bit. I doubt it would affect anyone else, but it did me.

Personally, I wouldn't mind auto-hyphenation if the software didn't hyphenate after two letters or hyphenate proper names and already-hyphenated words. It does seem to break the words properly otherwise (between syllables) in my books.

Shades of ADE 2.0!

I would appreciate knowing if anyone notices something in the above code that could be causing:

• auto-hyphenation (only on the Fire HD6, as far as I know)
• darker-than-normal text for page headings, chapter headings, and body text

I don't see it.

Also, does anyone see auto-hyphenation in the Last Mulligan sample on their Kindle Paperwhite, Voyage, or other KF8 ereader? That may be important to know. You may need to increase font size in order to see. On my Fire HD6, it's most evident using Bookerly font, but the hyphens are there with other device fonts, too.

Thanks so much for your interest and assistance thus far! I'll let you know if I make any progress.

As stated, I've ordered the sample to my Voyage, and I'll let you know.

UPDATE: no optional/soft hyphens whatsoever on the Voyage.

Here's a question:

Are the SAMPLE and the bought-book the same?

Hitch

[DreamWriter]

The mystery continues... There's auto-hyphenation on the Fire HDX 8.9, too?

The book that's mentioned in the quoted post below, The Tube Riders (The Tube Riders Trilogy #1), is free right now, in case anyone wants to check it for auto-hyphenation and darker text. I do see both issues in that book on my Fire HD6, just like in my books.

From the Fire OS 4.5.3 Update thread. (My reply is in that thread here.)

Originally Posted by cybmole

have they sneaked in hyphenation to the native book reader app.
I am reading the tube riders vol 1 - a £zero amazon kindle "purchase" - seeing lots of hyphens at line ends. they are not hard coded because if I rotate the fire to landscape view then I see different words hyphenated. I have never seen this in a mobi/azw on kindle fire before and I see nothing in read options to control whether I get it or not. I don't much care for having it forced on me.
I had always believed that kindle did not/could not "do" hyphenation but this is a counter example ?
( same book in K for PC flows with no hyphens)

could others check & report back. it could be just this one book but I can't figure how in-book code could control this ?
I have KF HDX 9.7 latst upgrade.
(PS if I convert the book to epub and try another app, it flows just like any other book, which suggest it is an OS/kindle app change not something in the book )

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yowza, now they're giving dates? Hell, I'll give up my life with ECR and start emailing plain old Tech support (smile).

Yes, a date! I've been going round and round with them via email about this for a week, and I've never been given a date before. Which makes me think they will be examining the matter more thoroughly now...I hope. Perhaps they've been receiving complaints from other KDP authors in recent days?

The darker-font thing is just freaking weird.

Yes, it is!

I admit, I didn't fine-toothed comb it, but no...I don't see anything that leaps out at me, other than you've swapped out for Helvetica. Did you always have Helvetica as your primary body font? (Also, FYI, this sample that I'm looking at still has that header font we discussed? Is it supposed to? I mean, is the sample supposed to have an embedded font, or...?)

The body font is serif. The reader can still select their preferred font for main text on the device. Helvetica is specified only for Chapters and Headings.

The sample you have is probably from several days ago. The current version is showing the updated fonts in the downloaded sample. There are no embedded fonts now, and no Fonts folder in the epub.

Well, you shouldn't really have that if you don't have the bold-italic face itself. I don't think that should affect the remainder of your font, but as I've said boringly often, the very existence of an embedded font in a mobi can cause some serious wonky.

Thanks for looking over my CSS! I'm self-taught, so it helps to have another set of eyes take a look. I've worked on this for quite a while now without results, and I'm getting tired of dealing with it. Since I don't know whether the problem truly originates in my file or at KDP, some days (and nights) I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. You know?

I'll think about the bold-italic thing. The HTML's always been that way in the past, but maybe KDP processes that tag differently now. Who knows?

Edited to Add: Upon further reflection, I don't think that bold-italic <span> has anything to do with the problems. There are no similar tags in any of my other books, and they're displaying the same auto-hyphenation and darker fonts.

Yes, but it's also true that readers are well accustomed to the rivers of white/short lines, from the earliest K days through the halcyon K2 days, etc. I think it's essentially unnoticeable now, on a DEVICE. I recently was reading a someting-for-Dummies book and was completely put off by the fact that they'd obviously used align:left, and it screwed with my reading a bit. I doubt it would affect anyone else, but it did me.

I don't mind the occasional unjustified line since I'm used to seeing that on my Kindle Keyboard, but it's surprising just how many ragged-right lines there are on the first page of this book on the Fire HD6 when auto-hyphens are turned off via CSS (see Example #3 in my OP). It really doesn't justify neatly without auto-hyphens on the first two pages, especially when the font's larger. I think the effect is exaggerated because of the small screen size. But the way the software handles auto-hyphenation looks icky, too.

As stated, I've ordered the sample to my Voyage, and I'll let you know.

UPDATE: no optional/soft hyphens whatsoever on the Voyage.

Well, that's good!

Here's a question:

Are the SAMPLE and the bought-book the same?

Hitch

I haven't purchased the Last Mulligan e-book, and I don't want to until this is fixed because I'd have to ask customer service at Amazon Kindle to push the new version to my account every time I change it in order to re-check the formatting. Samples of that e-book on my Fire HD6 were fine in the past; since updating the book over the last week or so, they're not.

I did, however, purchase my other three e-books years ago. A week or so ago, after I discovered these issues, I had CS push the latest versions of those e-books to my Fire HD6. All have the same problems in both bought-books and samples (remember, I also updated those three books within the last few weeks). They were also fine before.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Yes, a date! I've been going round and round with them via email about this for a week, and I've never been given a date before. Which makes me think they will be examining the matter more thoroughly now...I hope. Perhaps they've been receiving complaints from other KDP authors in recent days?

Dunno. Your post citing cyb indicates that the problem is getting some attention from other publishers, so...?

The body font is serif. The reader can still select their preferred font for main text on the device. Helvetica is specified only for Chapters and Headings.

The sample you have is probably from several days ago. The current version is showing the updated fonts in the downloaded sample. There are no embedded fonts now, and no Fonts folder in the epub.

I asked about the Helvetica, because when I choose, "Publisher Font" on my Voyage, I get HELVETICA. As I didn't see Helv. as a body font in your CSS, this obviously strikes me as another odd thing. On the PPW, when you embed any font at all, for any reason at all, even a fleuron, the body defaults to Helvetica, but it's across the board--not merely "publisher font," so this is not expected behavior.

Obviously, I can't know what version of the sample I have; I dl'ed it this morning. OTOH, it's entirely possible that Amazon pushed the same sample to my Voyage as they did the Fire, mind you. That, too, is problematic.

Thanks for looking over my CSS! I'm self-taught, so it helps to have another set of eyes take a look. I've worked on this for quite a while now without results, and I'm getting tired of dealing with it. Since I don't know whether the problem truly originates in my file or at KDP, some days (and nights) I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. You know?

I think everybody is self-taught, in this racket. By definition. I suppose that there are some folks who took courses in ebook-making, somewhere (maybe one of Josh's), but seriously...99.99% are self-taught, if I had to guess.

Edited to Add: Upon further reflection, I don't think that bold-italic <span> has anything to do with the problems. There are no similar tags in any of my other books, and they're displaying the same auto-hyphenation and darker fonts.

I tend to agree with you, but it's worth noting that for font usage, sticking to what you really have, in your embeds, is the right way to go.

I haven't purchased the Last Mulligan e-book, and I don't want to until this is fixed because I'd have to ask customer service at Amazon Kindle to push the new version to my account every time I change it in order to re-check the formatting. Samples of that e-book on my Fire HD6 were fine in the past; since updating the book over the last week or so, they're not.

I did, however, purchase my other three e-books years ago. A week or so ago, after I discovered these issues, I had CS push the latest versions of those e-books to my Fire HD6. All have the same problems in both bought-books and samples (remember, I also updated those three books within the last few weeks). They were also fine before.

I understand the problem, but it's a good question: ARE the sample and the real, for-sale/bought book the same? Is this a real problem, OR, is the problem simply in the sample? She wondered....

Hitch

[cybmole]

Simple proof that it's firmware not book code :rotate the reader
in landscape,with mulligan sample,I then see different words being split. kf HDX 8.9. I see this only for this one sample and for the tube riders book cited in other thread

[cybmole]

With that same sample. Hyphenation persists across all options : font, font size line spacing, I confirm 4.5.3 installed.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I asked about the Helvetica, because when I choose, "Publisher Font" on my Voyage, I get HELVETICA. As I didn't see Helv. as a body font in your CSS, this obviously strikes me as another odd thing. On the PPW, when you embed any font at all, for any reason at all, even a fleuron, the body defaults to Helvetica, but it's across the board--not merely "publisher font," so this is not expected behavior.

That is very odd! I have the following code for body in CSS. Shouldn't that be controlling the font in paragraphs, since there is no specific font mentioned in CSS for paragraphs? Instead, should I specify serif and font-weight in the paragraph CSS and delete the body CSS entirely? I have tested to make sure that the reader can still select their preferred font, and that does work fine on my devices the way it is now. I don't want the reader locked in to any certain font. I sure don't like that Voyage thinks Helvetica is my specified main text font; I find that one SO difficult to read!

body
{font-family:serif;
font-weight:normal;}

Helvetica/serif is only in the CSS for titles and chapters headings. I can take out all references to specific fonts if you think that might make a difference, but I kind of like that the headings/chapter font looks a bit different than paragraphs.

Obviously, I can't know what version of the sample I have; I dl'ed it this morning. OTOH, it's entirely possible that Amazon pushed the same sample to my Voyage as they did the Fire, mind you. That, too, is problematic.

If you requested the sample this morning, it would be the current once since I last uploaded late yesterday morning. I suggest that you delete the sample from all devices (and Amazon's cloud) and then request it again.

On my Fire HD6 and Kindle App for Android (tablet), the current sample's heading is Helvetica/sans-serif, and the body text is serif...as I intended. "Publisher font" isn't even showing as an option on my Fire HD6 for my books (and others I just checked), which is odd since I could swear it's been there before!

I understand the problem, but it's a good question: ARE the sample and the real, for-sale/bought book the same? Is this a real problem, OR, is the problem simply in the sample? She wondered....

It's a real problem. Within the last few weeks, I updated and uploaded my other three e-books to KDP, which were previously fine. Now, both the purchased book and sample for each of those e-books are showing the same problems on Fire HD6 as what I'm seeing in the Last Mulligan sample.

And I see the same problems in The Tube Riders (The Tube Riders Trilogy #1) (mentioned up-thread), which I "purchased" this afternoon since it's free today. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that author may have just republished the book (originally published January 2014) since "Try A Free Sample" is currently missing on the product page. I've had the same thing happen about 2-1/2 to 3 hours after hitting the publish button at KDP each of the last four days. Each time, my sample has been unavailable for up to 8 hours! I've reported that glitch to KDP several times, so they're aware of it.

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by cybmole

Simple proof that it's firmware not book code :rotate the reader
in landscape,with mulligan sample,I then see different words being split. kf HDX 8.9. I see this only for this one sample and for the tube riders book cited in other thread

Originally Posted by cybmole

With that same sample. Hyphenation persists across all options : font, font size line spacing, I confirm 4.5.3 installed.

Thanks for confirming what you see on the Fire HDX 8.9! That's how it appears on my Fire HD6, too, which just got the 4.5.3 software update a few days ago. It was happening with my recently republished books on 4.5.2 also.

I don't know exactly how long this has been an issue. I first noticed it when I uploaded four revised e-books (back matter changes) to KDP starting February 14. I've combed through the HTML, changed CSS, and uploaded numerous epub/Kindlegen-created mobi files since then in futile attempts to remedy the problems. Nothing's helped, which makes me think the issue's on KDP's end, probably in the later stages of file processing.

The previously published versions of these e-books were fine. And strangely, when I sideload the mobi file downloaded directly from KDP (after they convert the epub I uploaded), everything looks fine on the HD6...no extra hyphens, full justification with no ragged-right lines at all, and crisp text that's not too dark!

So far, it appears that auto-hyphenation is on the Fire HD6 and HDX 8.9. Also, text in the affected books is darker than it used to be on the HD6. There is no auto-hyphenation on the original Fire HD7 (not sure about later models?), Kindle for Android App, and Voyage (although Voyage may be displaying some weird font issues). I'm not sure about the other Fire/Kindle devices or iOS apps.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by DreamWriter

Are you able to open the Last Mulligan sample in the Mac Kindle app? If so, do you see auto-hyphenation there? (You may need to increase font size.)

No sign of auto-hyphenation on OS X.

[tomsem]

I believe this has been established, but the Last Mulligan sample does show hyphenation on my HD6 (FireOS 4.5.3). But honestly, it looks good to me, the breaks all seem to be in the right place.

It is a bit mind-altering, as I've been reading ebooks exclusively for 5 or 6 years now, almost all on Kindle platform, and I'm not used to it. But it has only been a few minutes.

I also see hyphenation in another book mentioned on another thread here, The Tube Riders v1 (free).

No hyphenation in Kindle for iOS, Kindle for Android, or Paperwhite 1.

No, I like it! No rivers! Now I want to know how it is done...

[cybmole]

>dreamwriter. tried to PM you but you are not accepting. '[d started a thread here which quotes code from tube riders
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=256541.
i thought that all the inline styles therein might be a factor, but when i check your mulligan sample your code is very clean simple <p> tags. so rule that out also.
I was hoping someone would reply to that thread with a way of checking for hidden soft hyphens embedded but no joy yet
FYI in kindle for PC your sample is well behaved, as was tube riders except for a ragged right edge. it seems right justified give or take a character or two, i.e. almost right justified but imperfect.. checking older books in same software, that ragged edge seems to apply to all books though.

[cybmole]

perhaps we can all agree:
1, if Amazon add a feature like this that alters the reading experience, they shoudl announce it, not sneak it in
2. it should come with an on-off setting in reader preferences

I too would like to know how it has been done, my suspicion is that it is something in the kindlegen or whatever software that preps the books for final publication, combined with something in OS 4.5.3.it seems to be outwith at least one upset author's control , & my peeking at code in two of the affected books has not produced any new clues.
{ tube riders has a minimal css file - see below- just size and margin; and long in-line style declarations in every p tag. but nothing that mentions hyphenation }

css
@page Section1 {
  size: 595.25pt 841.85pt;
  margin: 99.25pt 85.05pt 85.05pt;
  }
div.Section1 {
  page: Section1;
}
inline
<p style="margin:0.00% 0.00%; text-indent:1.5em; text-align:justify; widows:0; orphans:0"><span style=" font-size:1.0rem">‘Dan!’ Paul shouted.</span></p>

if it were only an OS change I should see it in my older books, but I don't. it may even be that 4.5.3. is a red herring, we need a tester whose device has not yet upgraded.

I think we will find that it is device independent as more folks report in.
AFAIK the stores download the same book to all AZW capable devices, and I would also assume that .uk and .com stores serve up identical files

[DreamWriter]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

No sign of auto-hyphenation on OS X.

Thank you!

Originally Posted by tomsem

I believe this has been established, but the Last Mulligan sample does show hyphenation on my HD6 (FireOS 4.5.3). But honestly, it looks good to me, the breaks all seem to be in the right place.

It is a bit mind-altering, as I've been reading ebooks exclusively for 5 or 6 years now, almost all on Kindle platform, and I'm not used to it. But it has only been a few minutes.

I also see hyphenation in another book mentioned on another thread here, The Tube Riders v1 (free).

No hyphenation in Kindle for iOS, Kindle for Android, or Paperwhite 1.

No, I like it! No rivers! Now I want to know how it is done...

Thanks for reporting that it's happening on your HD6, too...and that you don't see it on your other three devices!

Can you confirm that the text for Last Mulligan looks darker than other books on your HD6 because that's another unexplained problem that's cropped up in all my recent uploads! Other books I've checked still have crisp fonts, as mine did before. Since I see both auto-hyphens and darker text in The Tube Riders v1, as I do in my four recently republished books, I think the two problems may have the same root cause.

Auto-hyphenation is most visible at larger font sizes on the Fire HD6, and the number (and location of word breaks) depends on the reader-chosen font, too. If the software wouldn't make less-than-ideal choices, such as hyphenating after two letters too often, proper names, and already-hyphenated compound words, I wouldn't mind it myself. Some readers are gonna hate it, though. At least it's properly breaking words at syllables in my own e-books.

Originally Posted by cybmole

FYI in kindle for PC your sample is well behaved, as was tube riders except for a ragged right edge. it seems right justified give or take a character or two, i.e. almost right justified but imperfect.. checking older books in same software, that ragged edge seems to apply to all books though.

Thanks for letting me know. I'm keeping a list of devices showing the auto-hyphenation and those that don't, so that's very helpful.

Here's the list of affected devices so far:

• Fire HD6
• Fire HDX 8.9

And these devices/apps do not display the auto-hyphenation:

• Fire HD7 (original model)
• Voyage
• Paperwhite 1
• OS X (Mac)
• Kindle for iOS
• Kindle App for Android
• Kindle for PC

Originally Posted by cybmole

I too would like to know how it has been done, my suspicion is that it is something in the kindlegen or whatever software that preps the books for final publication, combined with something in OS 4.5.3.it seems to be outwith at least one upset author's control , & my peeking at code in two of the affected books has not produced any new clues.
{ tube riders has a minimal css file - see below- just size and margin; and long in-line style declarations in every p tag. but nothing that mentions hyphenation }

css
@page Section1 {
  size: 595.25pt 841.85pt;
  margin: 99.25pt 85.05pt 85.05pt;
  }
div.Section1 {
  page: Section1;
}
inline
<p style="margin:0.00% 0.00%; text-indent:1.5em; text-align:justify; widows:0; orphans:0"><span style=" font-size:1.0rem">‘Dan!’ Paul shouted.</span></p>

if it were only an OS change I should see it in my older books, but I don't. it may even be that 4.5.3. is a red herring, we need a tester whose device has not yet upgraded.

I think we will find that it is device independent as more folks report in.
AFAIK the stores download the same book to all AZW capable devices, and I would also assume that .uk and .com stores serve up identical files

I don't see it in older books either. Actually, my four recently re-uploaded e-books and Tube Rider are the only ones I know about.

I first noticed auto-hyphens and darker text in all four of my books after I republished them at KDP starting on February 14. Last week, I even re-uploaded the original version of Last Mulligan, published in October 2014. It was affected now, too, whereas it was just fine before! I've also sideloaded the file I can download from KDP after its initial conversion there, and everything looks perfect on my Fire HD6! I don't see anything in my code that should cause these problems. I'm not an expert, but I'm not a newbie either.

I can say, without a doubt, that this was happening with 4.5.2 on the Fire HD6. I was hoping that the very recent software update to 4.5.3 would fix the problem, but it didn't. At this point, I believe there's something going on in the later stages of file processing at KDP. They're investigating my issues and have stated they will get back to me within the next week.