kindle justification/hyphens

indieauthor83 · 03-03-2015, 03:28 PM

Hi,

Can anyone tell me how to set hyphens in the code, or if there is any other way of eradicating rivers of white spacing between words?

Most of my book looks lovely, but on every few pages there are stretched lines, that distracts me from the content (not good for flow), I would rather see hyphens and have a nice flow, than a neat line, and have to jump from word to word (it's like stopping and starting a car!)

Any help will be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Zoe

dickloraine · 03-03-2015, 04:30 PM

There is a plugin for calibre, called "Hyphenate this". It inserts soft-hyphens to a book. I think it works only for azw, so it only helps if you have a kindle which supports kf8.

theducks · 03-03-2015, 04:49 PM

Turn off Justification (text-align:left ), that way it wont try to fill the line

Hyphenation will simply be wrong for some cases

or 'just use small words'

indieauthor83 · 03-03-2015, 05:04 PM

Thanks Theducks and Dickloraine,

I'll have a look at the 'hyphenate this' plugin thanks.

I did think about left aligning it, but so many people seem to dislike right-ragged edges, I don't want to annoy my readers. It's odd but I used to prefer left aligned myself, until I've now got used to justified, now they look distracting.

dickloraine · 03-03-2015, 09:15 PM

Oh, you want to publish the book? Then I probably wouldn't do anything about it. No hyphenation is a limitation of the kindles. You could do it, but there could be problems. Also some people don't like auto-hyphenation. I would be conservative and would avoid adding something not officially supported. As to left or justified, that is personal preference. I don't own a kindle, but as far as I know, unfortunately the user can't decide this. Personally I read only justified. All print books are justified. I don't know, what's most common for kindle books.
Most people probably don't care about anything of the above. And people who care, I suspect know how to change the book. So I would do what is the standard for the platform. That way everyone knows what he gets.

dickloraine · 03-03-2015, 09:20 PM

As an compromise, you could insert soft-hyphens only for very long words.

Tex2002ans · 03-03-2015, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by indieauthor83

I'll have a look at the 'hyphenate this' plugin thanks.

[...] I don't want to annoy my readers.

If you are reading or tweaking a book for personal usage, feel free to insert soft hyphens or Hyphenate This, but if you are SELLING this ebook, do not insert any soft hyphens, and avoid them like the plague.

Here is one of the topics where we discussed soft hyphens (and if you look at the other topics I linked in Post #2, you can see some of the horrors that can occur):

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=230358

indieauthor83 · 03-04-2015, 01:30 AM

Thanks Dickloraine and Tex2002ans,

Much appreciated.

I'll avoid adding soft-hyphens after reading that article! Someone had warned me against using them, but didn't explain why, so thank you that's very helpful!

Yes I'm publishing it, I have people who have written reviews who are now tapping their feet, because I have been 'tweaking' it for several weeks now. I may have to outsource it if I can't get on top of it today!

So I'm grateful to everyone who has replied it's a big help

Zoe

dickloraine · 03-04-2015, 08:43 AM

Until eReaders use more sophisticated methods to render text, there will always be "pages" that look odd. Nothing anyone can do about it. Someone who reads eBooks is accustomed to it. But you gain some things too, like the ability to set fonts, font-size etc. as a reader. In my opinion this more then outweigh the occasional odd page.
Don't aim for the "perfect" look. Just make a clean eBook. How exactly it is displayed depends on the eReader.

indieauthor83 · 03-04-2015, 10:33 AM

Thanks Dickloraine,

I was told that by a professional who helped me with my coding. I'm about to publish it so thought I would pop my head on here, on the off-chance that any programmers had conjoured up a miracle, before I pressed publish!

I think I've got it looking the best I can, so I'm going to brave it later tonight when my little boy is in bed. Wish me luck!

03-03-2015, 03:28 PM	#1
indieauthor83 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: UK Device: kindle fire hd	kindle justification/hyphens Hi, Can anyone tell me how to set hyphens in the code, or if there is any other way of eradicating rivers of white spacing between words? Most of my book looks lovely, but on every few pages there are stretched lines, that distracts me from the content (not good for flow), I would rather see hyphens and have a nice flow, than a neat line, and have to jump from word to word (it's like stopping and starting a car!) Any help will be much appreciated! Thanks in advance Zoe

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03-03-2015, 04:30 PM	#2
dickloraine Guru Posts: 631 Karma: 7544080 Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Berlin Device: PRS 350, Kobo Aura	There is a plugin for calibre, called "Hyphenate this". It inserts soft-hyphens to a book. I think it works only for azw, so it only helps if you have a kindle which supports kf8.

03-03-2015, 04:49 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 29,794 Karma: 54830978 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	Turn off Justification (text-align:left ), that way it wont try to fill the line Hyphenation will simply be wrong for some cases or 'just use small words'

03-03-2015, 05:04 PM	#4
indieauthor83 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: UK Device: kindle fire hd	Thanks Theducks and Dickloraine, I'll have a look at the 'hyphenate this' plugin thanks. I did think about left aligning it, but so many people seem to dislike right-ragged edges, I don't want to annoy my readers. It's odd but I used to prefer left aligned myself, until I've now got used to justified, now they look distracting.

03-03-2015, 09:15 PM	#5
dickloraine Guru Posts: 631 Karma: 7544080 Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Berlin Device: PRS 350, Kobo Aura	Oh, you want to publish the book? Then I probably wouldn't do anything about it. No hyphenation is a limitation of the kindles. You could do it, but there could be problems. Also some people don't like auto-hyphenation. I would be conservative and would avoid adding something not officially supported. As to left or justified, that is personal preference. I don't own a kindle, but as far as I know, unfortunately the user can't decide this. Personally I read only justified. All print books are justified. I don't know, what's most common for kindle books. Most people probably don't care about anything of the above. And people who care, I suspect know how to change the book. So I would do what is the standard for the platform. That way everyone knows what he gets.

03-03-2015, 09:20 PM	#6
dickloraine Guru Posts: 631 Karma: 7544080 Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Berlin Device: PRS 350, Kobo Aura	As an compromise, you could insert soft-hyphens only for very long words.

03-04-2015, 01:30 AM	#8
indieauthor83 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: UK Device: kindle fire hd	Thanks Dickloraine and Tex2002ans, Much appreciated. I'll avoid adding soft-hyphens after reading that article! Someone had warned me against using them, but didn't explain why, so thank you that's very helpful! Yes I'm publishing it, I have people who have written reviews who are now tapping their feet, because I have been 'tweaking' it for several weeks now. I may have to outsource it if I can't get on top of it today! So I'm grateful to everyone who has replied it's a big help Zoe

03-04-2015, 08:43 AM	#9
dickloraine Guru Posts: 631 Karma: 7544080 Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Berlin Device: PRS 350, Kobo Aura	Until eReaders use more sophisticated methods to render text, there will always be "pages" that look odd. Nothing anyone can do about it. Someone who reads eBooks is accustomed to it. But you gain some things too, like the ability to set fonts, font-size etc. as a reader. In my opinion this more then outweigh the occasional odd page. Don't aim for the "perfect" look. Just make a clean eBook. How exactly it is displayed depends on the eReader.

03-04-2015, 10:33 AM	#10
indieauthor83 Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2015 Location: UK Device: kindle fire hd	Thanks Dickloraine, I was told that by a professional who helped me with my coding. I'm about to publish it so thought I would pop my head on here, on the off-chance that any programmers had conjoured up a miracle, before I pressed publish! I think I've got it looking the best I can, so I'm going to brave it later tonight when my little boy is in bed. Wish me luck!