JBPatch

[diba]

Here we are, german localisation for the margins patch.

[TulseLuper]

Made some correction here on pt locales.

I think its good now.

I´ll update the wiki from here . See ya !

- wiki updated! -

[ivar]

Just for information
In my KT SO deleting /var/local/adunits folder gets no screensaver and no blank screen so for me "Disable Special Offers" downt work. (touching /var/local/adunits as a file gets same effect)

[qlob]

Does this work for kindle 3? in the OP, i saw that 100% of the java framework can be patched, but don't know if this is still the case.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by qlob

Does this work for kindle 3? in the OP, i saw that 100% of the java framework can be patched, but don't know if this is still the case.

Why shouldn't that be the case anymore?

The general approach works for every Java VM - after all, it's pure Java. So yes, of course, the method works on the K3. The only thing that requires some research effort is how to get the patcher bootstrapped. On the K5, this is achieved by registering with the framework as the very first OSGi bundle, and immediately intercepting and hooking into the classloader chain, so that all subsequent class load events come through the PatchingClassLoader.

Of course there are a few K5-specifics in the distribution (most notably the UI), but again: the core will work on everything that runs Java, be it a Kindle, a mobile phone or a PC.

Just give it a try!

[qlob]

Originally Posted by ixtab

Why shouldn't that be the case anymore?

The general approach works for every Java VM - after all, it's pure Java. So yes, of course, the method works on the K3. The only thing that requires some research effort is how to get the patcher bootstrapped. On the K5, this is achieved by registering with the framework as the very first OSGi bundle, and immediately intercepting and hooking into the classloader chain, so that all subsequent class load events come through the PatchingClassLoader.

Of course there are a few K5-specifics in the distribution (most notably the UI), but again: the core will work on everything that runs Java, be it a Kindle, a mobile phone or a PC.

Just give it a try!

Ok, will do. I assume that the installer doesnt work then? so copy the jbpatcher.zip/src files to where they need to be? I'm willing to try anything you throw at me. If you need k3 stuff tested or whatnot, just ask.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by qlob

Ok, will do. I assume that the installer doesnt work then? so copy the jbpatcher.zip/src files to where they need to be? I'm willing to try anything you throw at me. If you need k3 stuff tested or whatnot, just ask.

I'm afraid it's not as easy as that. The only thing I can throw at you is this: https://bitbucket.org/ixtab/jbpatcher . You'll have to compile and test it by yourself. In particular, you'll need to find the correct place to hook into the system. I can't be of any help with that, since I don't have a K3 anymore, and "remote helpdesk" just doesn't work for these things.

One hint: you may want to start with an old version (maybe the first committed one, 1.0.1). The core logic hasn't changed since then, but it's probably easier to follow, because it's smaller and less configurable than the current version.

[ixtab]

This thread now has a shiny new and less cumbersome name, which better fits the software. Thanks to HarryT!

(No, it's not like I only wanted to bump the thread... )

[ixtab]

Hi,

I had already started to develop this some time ago, but then froze development of that particular patch because of the release of JBPatch 2.

Now, because the default formatting is really quite bad (IMO), I came back to this project. It's more or less working, but I would like to get some feedback first.

The fact that the default formatting looks so bad is actually caused by the combination of two different (but somewhat interdependent) shortcomings of the reader software:

• First, there is no hyphenation support. This means that words which don't fit at the end of the current line will be put on a new line, instead of being hyphenated. This is particularly annoying for languages which tend to contain long words, such as german.
• Second, for some reason that only the developers know, lines are not always filling the block size. This results in a really ugly layout, where most of the lines are "block-aligned", but where some lines are shorter than the rest.

The patch which is currently under development can, in principle, fix all of these issues. For now, I have implemented three different modes:

• Block alignment only: This does not involve any hyphenation, but will simply make sure that all lines (except for the ones ending a paragraph) stretch, so that they are left- and right-aligned. This alone already provides a much more pleasant visual experience.
• Dumb hyphenation: this mode allows words to be hyphenated almost everywhere.
• Smart hyphenation: In this mode, language-specific rules are considered to determine where hyphenation can occur. This generally leads to much more sensible ("natural") results, even if they aren't always perfect. The downside is that it requires a bit more processing power and memory - and the hyphenation rules, of course. At the moment, rules for about 160 locales are available.

Below are sample screenshots for an english (first row) and a german book (second row). Each row is ordered as follows:

1. Default K5 display
2. Justification only, no hyphenation
3. Justification + dumb hyphenation
4. Justification + smart hyphenation

Please take a look at these and let me know what you think. At the moment, I'm inclined to make the patch configurable to select between options 2) and 4), but suggestions and feedback are highly appreciated.

Note: Yes, the hyphen character is an "@". This is intentional, because it makes it easier to spot the locations where hyphenation has kicked in. Of course, this will be fixed in the final version.

[NiLuJe]

@ixtab: Unsurprisingly, I really like the full hyphenation (setting 4) . Not a fan of the hard justification, but I guess it'd look better with 'sane' margins .

Thanks for making this happen, it's a huge pet peeve in the french community, too .

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@ixtab: Unsurprisingly, I really like the full hyphenation (setting 4) . Not a fan of the hard justification, but I guess it'd look better with 'sane' margins .

Hehe... yeah, that is a rather extreme setting which I chose specifically because it causes a lot of hyphenation and block adjusting, so it makes testing easier. With wider blocks, it will look less extreme.

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Thanks for making this happen, it's a huge pet peeve in the french community, too .

I'll send you a PM in a few minutes with a download link to the development version, so maybe you can try it out with french books

Edit: I just tested "setting 4" using a normal layout, and skimming through some german books: it looks really good, almost perfect actually. The only time that it seems to occasionally make mistakes is with words in a foreign language, such as english names. Still a *huge* improvement over the default display.

[ixtab]

This patch can fix the alignment of content displayed on the Kindle Touch, and add hyphenation support to the books you're reading. Virtually all languages are supported.

Here are a few screenshots from an english (first row) and a german book (second row), respectively. The pictures in the rows are in the following order:

1. Kindle default behavior, patch not activated
2. Patch activated, but no hyphenation support for the current book's language
3. Patch activated and hyphenation available.

Download and further instructions here.

[diba]

Option 2 and 4, 3 is annoying quite quickly. Gonna install immediatelly!
You are amazing, start to take donations!

Why can't this be done by Amazons developers? A lot of customers ask for this options offered by JBPatch.

[bhaak]

Originally Posted by ixtab

• Second, for some reason that only the developers know, lines are not always filling the block size. This results in a really ugly layout, where most of the lines are "block-aligned", but where some lines are shorter than the rest.

This is IMO actually a quite ingenious solution when having the preconditions "no hyphenation" and "wanting justified lines".

Without hyphenation and "stupid" justification you often get really ugly holes in stretched lines. That is of course more of a problem in languages like German where there can be quite long words.

So they solved a problem "ugly holes in justified text" by going down a road that - to my knowledge - no typographer has ever done as every typographer knows how to hyphenate. Strange and annoying but still a creative solution.

BTW, if you look at the promotional images of the Kindle Touch, you'll see that the English images are carefully chosen not to display this pseudo-justification: http://is.gd/fsudaS

Whereas the German images show the complete fail in regards to hiding the bad typography: http://is.gd/UxQN7K And this in the country that was once a forerunner of good typography. Ah well, it has been going downhill anyway with typography after Gutenberg printed his first book.

[ixtab]

Originally Posted by diba

Option 2 and 4, 3 is annoying quite quickly. Gonna install immediatelly!
You are amazing, start to take donations!

Hehe... thanks. About the donations: I don't think it would yield more than a few bucks. 99% of the people are greedy, and if they can get things for free they will just take them. After all, only few people bother to click on the Karma button, even though all that takes is a few seconds of time.

Originally Posted by diba

Why can't this be done by Amazons developers? A lot of customers ask for this options offered by JBPatch.

I'm also starting to feel like I'm mostly fixing Amazon's bugs