Word breaks

FlexUser · 03-22-2014, 01:03 PM

I have serious problems with word breaks on a Sony PRS-T2. I reported this on the Sony forums and all they could do is sending me to the support account. Sony support after months of e-mails and sending screenshots, book titles say that they cannot reproduce.

They say "It might be caused by the way you place the books on the e-reader". I am using Calibre. Great tool, I donated money to support the development. Could there be something wrong the way Calibre places books on the e-reader?

They asked me to send it to a support center or discuss with the vendor. I did the last and they were flabbergasted. Never seen or heard of this. They gave me a brand new PRS-T3 to test with. I placed my books on it and the same problems are there.

The books look OK when reading inside Calibre.

I enclose photos made from the Sony e-reader on a couple of pages with failures.

Anyone else seeing bad word breaks? Anyone that can comment on "Maybe there is something wrong the way you place the books on the e-reader"?

kovidgoyal · 03-22-2014, 01:45 PM

Looking at those screenshots, I dont see what is to be flabbergasted about? It looks like normal hyphenation for long words at the end of a line. Of course since I cannot read DUtch?, I dont know if the hyphenation is correct or not. Probably the files you are viewing have soft hyphens embedded causing the hyphenation.

In any case if you want to determine if calibre is causing hyphenation, simply copy one of those books to the reader without using calibre and see what happens.

When copying books to the reader all calibre does is update their metadata. The only way that can cause hyphenation is if it sets the language metadata and the reader then reads that and turns on hyphenation. Which you can prevent by clearing the language field in calibre.

Zetmolm · 03-22-2014, 02:13 PM

Yes, the hypenation is incorrect. Hyphenation in Dutch should be done only on syllable breaks, and these examples break words in the middle of syllables.

I think the problem is that the hyphenation routine used in the Sony or in any other Adobe-based reader is lousy. I've seen this in other readers as well. It's not about Calibre, it's not about soft hyphens in the book, it's all about the software on the reader. In the end it's probably up to Adobe to do something about this.

I've seen this behavior in many books on several different readers. If the vendor says they cannot reproduce this they are not really trying.

Some readers have an option to turn off hyphenation. That's the only solution I can think of.

AlexBell · 03-23-2014, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zetmolm

I think the problem is that the hyphenation routine used in the Sony or in any other Adobe-based reader is lousy. I've seen this in other readers as well. It's not about Calibre, it's not about soft hyphens in the book, it's all about the software on the reader. In the end it's probably up to Adobe to do something about this.

I'm sure you're right. I have the same problem with hyphenation with my T3 with English language books. In fact if I could turn hyphenation off I would. The costs far outweigh the benefits.

FlexUser · 03-23-2014, 02:18 AM

@Kovid: Thanks for replying and confirming that it is not Calibre that is doing something wrong as Sony suggests.

About flabbergasted I enclose another screenshot from the PRS-T2. The problem is also discussed at the Sony forums (http://community.sony.nl/t5/eReading...T2/td-p/359582). This problem is repaired by a firmware update after half a year of complaining and the Dutch consumers authority (Consumentenbond) contacting Sony. At that time I did not have Calibre yet (great software, thanks).

@Alex: Thanks for letting me know I didn't miss an option.

@Zetmolm: I did inform Sony - with screenshots - that the same pages look good in Calibre and bad in Digital Editions but Sony claims that they cannot reproduce.

cybmole · 03-23-2014, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I'm sure you're right. I have the same problem with hyphenation with my T3 with English language books. In fact if I could turn hyphenation off I would. The costs far outweigh the benefits.

you can turn hyphenation off by adding a line to the book's CSS - see threads on sony forum. You can use modify epub + extra css in calibre prefs, or do an epub to epub convert to get that code into each book

OP: The T3 uses a newer version of ADE renderer which hyphenates (badly and annoyingly) in English, the T2 & earlier models' renderer does not hyphenate at all in English.

the muppets who work for what Sony laughingly call "customer support" are clueless about their own products, as you've discovered.

FlexUser · 03-23-2014, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

you can turn hyphenation off by adding a line to the book's CSS - see threads on sony forum. You can use modify epub + extra css in calibre prefs, or do an epub to epub convert to get that code into each book

While you are most likely right WHY, WHY do I need to modify the epub documents to be able to read them? That should be the responsibility of Sony (with/without the support by Adobe).

cybmole · 03-23-2014, 04:25 AM

because the words "responsibility" & Sony don't work in the same sentence

abobe - to be fair - have made hyphenation controllable, though they don't bother to document it, so you need forums like this to learn the commands from.

it' s Sony who have not bothered with a user preference, so you have to do it before side-loading the book - and if the book is DRM'd then you can't do it al all.

and as Sony are quitting the e-read market they won't ever fix it for you- .

So use the given workaround. you need to add this to your CSS:
body {adobe-hyphenate: none;}

FlexUser · 03-23-2014, 04:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

if the book is DRM'd then you can't do it al all

I do have DRM books in my collection.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cybmole

and as Sony are quitting the e-read market they won't ever fix it for you- .

Thanks, I now know what to do; return the machine and get my money back. I don't see it being my job to fix this Sony / Adobe problem.

I've heard that the Kobe Glow is a much better e-reader. Sadly the vendor does not sell these and can't offer a swap. But they said to return the money if I was still not satisfied.

AlexBell · 03-24-2014, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlexUser

Thanks, I now know what to do; return the machine and get my money back. I don't see it being my job to fix this Sony / Adobe problem.

I think you'll find that hyphenation on a Kobo is just as bad - both Kobo and Sony use Adobe. If I could turn hyphenation off from my Kobo Touch ereader I would - the costs outweigh the benefits.

In my opinion it's an Adobe problem - as shown by the CSS fix.

davidfor · 03-24-2014, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I think you'll find that hyphenation on a Kobo is just as bad - both Kobo and Sony use Adobe. If I could turn hyphenation off from my Kobo Touch ereader I would - the costs outweigh the benefits.

You are probably right, but it can also depend on the hyphenation dictionary used. There were a lot of complaints for various languages at one point. Kobo changed the hyphenation dictionary and most of the complaints went away. I'm pretty sure Dutch was one that was fixed.

03-22-2014, 02:13 PM	#3
Zetmolm Guru Posts: 612 Karma: 2031728 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: PocketBook Touch (622), PocketBook Touch Lux 2, Pocketbook Touch HD 3	Yes, the hypenation is incorrect. Hyphenation in Dutch should be done only on syllable breaks, and these examples break words in the middle of syllables. I think the problem is that the hyphenation routine used in the Sony or in any other Adobe-based reader is lousy. I've seen this in other readers as well. It's not about Calibre, it's not about soft hyphens in the book, it's all about the software on the reader. In the end it's probably up to Adobe to do something about this. I've seen this behavior in many books on several different readers. If the vendor says they cannot reproduce this they are not really trying. Some readers have an option to turn off hyphenation. That's the only solution I can think of. Last edited by Zetmolm; 03-22-2014 at 02:16 PM.

03-23-2014, 02:18 AM	#5
FlexUser Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Sony PRS-T3	@Kovid: Thanks for replying and confirming that it is not Calibre that is doing something wrong as Sony suggests. About flabbergasted I enclose another screenshot from the PRS-T2. The problem is also discussed at the Sony forums (http://community.sony.nl/t5/eReading...T2/td-p/359582). This problem is repaired by a firmware update after half a year of complaining and the Dutch consumers authority (Consumentenbond) contacting Sony. At that time I did not have Calibre yet (great software, thanks). @Alex: Thanks for letting me know I didn't miss an option. @Zetmolm: I did inform Sony - with screenshots - that the same pages look good in Calibre and bad in Digital Editions but Sony claims that they cannot reproduce. Attached Thumbnails

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03-22-2014, 01:45 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,859 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Looking at those screenshots, I dont see what is to be flabbergasted about? It looks like normal hyphenation for long words at the end of a line. Of course since I cannot read DUtch?, I dont know if the hyphenation is correct or not. Probably the files you are viewing have soft hyphens embedded causing the hyphenation. In any case if you want to determine if calibre is causing hyphenation, simply copy one of those books to the reader without using calibre and see what happens. When copying books to the reader all calibre does is update their metadata. The only way that can cause hyphenation is if it sets the language metadata and the reader then reads that and turns on hyphenation. Which you can prevent by clearing the language field in calibre.

03-23-2014, 04:25 AM	#8
cybmole Wizard Posts: 3,720 Karma: 1759970 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: none	because the words "responsibility" & Sony don't work in the same sentence abobe - to be fair - have made hyphenation controllable, though they don't bother to document it, so you need forums like this to learn the commands from. it' s Sony who have not bothered with a user preference, so you have to do it before side-loading the book - and if the book is DRM'd then you can't do it al all. and as Sony are quitting the e-read market they won't ever fix it for you- . So use the given workaround. you need to add this to your CSS: body {adobe-hyphenate: none;}

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