FW 5.3.x - 5.7.x Fonts Hack

What is the best font for visually comfortable, eye friendly and speed reading? 📖

[NiLuJe]

Highly subjective question, you'll have to do your own investigation .

(FWIW, finally being able to enjoy Serifs w/ the PW2 screen, I'm mostly using Crimson [which is free] & Adobe Garamond Pro [which is very NOT free]).

I'm not using the Touch much, but it's currently sitting on Libre Baskerville (which *will* crash the framework without a custom FT).

[NiLuJe]

Don't be alarmed by the fallback/Code2000 mentions in the first post, I updated it with the docs from the snapshot version (because of a few tweaks here and there) .

Provided nothing horrible happens, expect a new 'stable' release sooner than the planned mid-August. (In the meantime, the snapshots should be in a sane state, that's what I'm currently running on my devices).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DrPrince

What is the best font for visually comfortable, eye friendly and speed reading? 📖

I would have to say my Modified CharisSIL. One thing it fixes is the large line gaps in KF8. Plus, it just looks good and is very read to read with.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would have to say my Modified CharisSIL. One thing it fixes is the large line gaps in KF8. Plus, it just looks good and is very read to read with.

Can you upload it?

[jacobt13]

OK... so I did alllll of this. Did the jailbreak, the Kindle Kit, the font hack, the restart, the updates, Font Hack behavior cache update, etc. on my new Kindle Paperwhite (version 5.4.3). It didn't work. Then, I just happen to look at the Aa menu on one of my books that had an embedded font from Calibre. I chose on that book Publisher Font and it changed to the desired font. Only the books with the embedded font have that option and those are the only books where the desired font (even though I chose the font in the KUAL menu) appears in the book. So my question is, did I not NEED to do the font hack? Can I eliminate the KUAL menu and all that and just stick with the font embedding through Calibre or is that what it is supposed to do? I read over everything and never saw that after the process I needed to do the Publisher font option from the menu so I am just curious for future reference in case I ever need to start from scratch.... Thanks for any advice!

[NiLuJe]

@jacobt13: You're confusing two different things (and apparently missed the two notes about FW 5.4...).

KF8 font embedding works no matter what, and the hack doesn't affect that at all (barring a change in FreeType lib used). But in effect is has *nothing* to do with this hack .

You will *NOT* see any new entries in the Aa menu on FW 5.4, so, no surprises there.

So, next obvious question: I'm gonna need to know what you meant by that 'etc.', because I'm guessing you missed/misunderstood something .

[knc1]

Originally Posted by DrPrince

Can you upload it?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/arc.../t-184056.html

[jacobt13]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@jacobt13: You're confusing two different things (and apparently missed the two notes about FW 5.4...).

KF8 font embedding works no matter what, and the hack doesn't affect that at all (barring a change in FreeType lib used). But in effect is has *nothing* to do with this hack .

You will *NOT* see any new entries in the Aa menu on FW 5.4, so, no surprises there.

So, next obvious question: I'm gonna need to know what you meant by that 'etc.', because I'm guessing you missed/misunderstood something .

Actually, I did each and every step. I loaded (in the correct order) the jailbreak, the MobiKindleKit, the python, the fonts hack, the KUAL, the fonts I wanted. I updated each step until the KUAL was loaded on. Once that step was hit, I would restart the framework on each step (such as after doing the fontconfig cache refresh). I knew that I shouldn't see any changes in the Aa menu ('cause I did read that , though admittedly, I read only about the first two pages of each thread thoroughly) which was why I was so surprised that I did see the Publisher Font option change. I am happy to get more specific if you needed me to so that I can help you guys figure out if the new version may be causing problems or something, but I really did read each step and follow the directions. The KUAL menu worked properly, the right fonts came up in my custom font menu, I was able to chose a font, and when I hit Show Current Font, it said the font that I wanted (Droid Serif, nothing fancy) was the current Serif font. So I am 99% sure that I did everything right, but was surprised that the font didn't change. The only time it changed was when I chose the Publisher font on the eBooks that had an embedded font. I didn't realize I could just do that instead. Which is fine! I am happy to do that and that method works for me! I really just asked so that - in case something happens and the kindle needs to reset I know that I don't need to go through it all again - that the embedding will do the trick. Good to know that. But as I said, if you want more specifics, I could retrace my steps a little better just if you want it for information purposes. But right now, I have the right fonts on my new reader, so I am content! Thanks!

[knc1]

Does your keyboard have a "new-line" key?
Sometimes labeled: "Enter"
Sometimes has a bent arrow facing down and to the left.

Try using it, you may be surprised at what it does for the readability of your posts!

[NiLuJe]

@jacobt13: Okay, good .

Just to be sure, a couple more questions:

* You overrode the Serif family with Droid Serif, correct? Once you've restarted the framework, in the Aa menu, that means "Caecilia" (not the condensed version) should now be Droid Serif (that should be visible from the Aa menu itself, the font will still be shown as named Caecilia, but rendered as Droid Serif).
That reminds me that I should add a screenshot to make that clear . [EDIT: Done, see #2. I took the opportunity to update the KUAL screenshots, too.)

* I'm assuming the Publisher Font actually renders as the font the publisher intended, and not one of yours?

But to answer your question, yeah, KF8 font embedding is tied to the book file itself, it has no bearing on the device it's actually read on (any KF8 capable Kindle app handles embedded font this way), so if the workflow (and the slightly larger files), and more importantly how that renders on your device of choice, suit you, by all means, it's a perfectly valid solution .

EDIT: Oh, that reminds me: there's a (couple of different) bug(s) in some badly formatted files using embedded fonts (and even a couple when not using embedded fonts) where the font choice you make in the Aa menu isn't actually honored, and either falls back to Caecilia or Helvetica. You might want to check a different book (preferably *without* embedded fonts) if things still feel wonky .

[jacobt13]

* That might have been it... I can't test it now since I ended up uninstalling the KUAL menu. The whole KISS thing. If I wasn't using it, I figured I would just keep it simple, less chance of me doing irreparable damage to the Kindle down the line! I thought I checked through each of the five or six font options, but it may have been two things going at once and I wasn't thorough enough - on the two or three I checked Caecilia, they were the exceptions and on the one that I didn't, it would have worked! Glad that at least it helped you see a place that someone might get slipped up!

* The publisher font option gives me the embedded font that I put in from Calibre. In this case, Droid Serif. That was why I wasn't sure if that option was coming from the Calibre embedding or from the Hack. I thought the Calibre embedding would just be automatic, but I have to embed it through Calibre then choose the Publisher font option in the Aa menu. Not that it is a big deal - it is easy enough to do. But just making note that it does need to be done may help someone down the line!

[NiLuJe]

@jacobt13:

* Err, you can't do *anything* with this hack without KUAL (unless you're well versed in fontconfig trickery, and then some). So I assume you uninstalled the hack itself first, because if not, you might end up with semi-broken settings.

* Okay, good, nothing weird there then .

[jacobt13]

* LOL - yes, I reset the kindle to factory settings - basically because I don't trust myself! If I didn't need the hacks (and the only thing I use it for is to get my fonts the way I like) I don't trust myself not to mess something up further down the line. The idea of hurting the kindle was assuming my incompetence may come back to bite me in the butt somewhere down the line so I felt better safe than sorry!

[NiLuJe]

@jacobt13: A reset to factory settings *doesn't* actually reset much (settings, userstore (ie. books)). You still have parts of your hacks installed.