epubs that resist custom font changes

[sonyreaderfan]

I used PRS+ to add custom fonts. The directions and the custom css are exactly as described in a write-up by Anamardoll.

http://www.anamardoll.com/2011/06/er...tion-with.html

The font changes take place for most epubs and work great. However, I came across some epubs that are resistant to font changes. I've attached one below (grimms_nofontchange.epub). The font displayed is the default Sony Reader font.

The epub that is resistant to font changes is the Grimm's Stories from Sony's free Google books. In fact, any ebooks from Google's free classic ebooks are resistant to font change. I then downloaded another Grimm's Story from Gutenberg Project, and that version allows font changes (grimms_fontchanges.epub).

Does anyone know how to make the resistant epub take on font changes, either by modifying the custom css used by PRS+, or converting the epub through Calibre?

Also, reasons why the epub is resistant to font changes?

Thanks. Help much appreciated.

P.S. I know an easy answer is just to get the Gutenberg version for the classics but I've came across some commercial epubs that are resistant to font changes. My plan is to fix them either through changing css file, or converting the commercial epubs through Calibre (after de-drming them.)

P.P.S: Am I allowed to attach drm-free samples of commercial work? An commercial epub that resist font change is The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles. The free sample epub I've downloaded is from Barnes and Noble.
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/odys...obert%2bfagles If you want to download the sample and test for yourself.

Because Sony ebookstores and Kobo bookstores don't have free sample epubs, I download the sample epub from Barnes and Noble to see how it'll look on the Sony Reader. Since it's epub format, it approximates the purchased Sony or Kobo version.

CSS details:
This is the custom css I used.

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Regular.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Bold.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Italic.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-BoldItalic.ttf);
}

body {
font-family: "Charis";
}


@font-face {
font-family: "Charis";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Regular.ttf);
}

[quisvir]

Try this change:

body {
font-family: "Charis" !important;
}

[JSWolf]

The code inside the Google version of Grimm is awful.

[jackie_w]

@sonyreaderfan,

Your misbehaving epub works OK on my Sony, so if quisvir's suggestion doesn't work you could also try changing the font-family bit of every @font-face statement in the Sony CSS file like so:

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis", serif;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Regular.ttf);
}

and similarly, just for belt & braces, also change the body statement like this:

body {
font-family: "Charis", serif;
}

I'm not sure that a Calibre conversion would sort out your font problem but it may sort out the image size problem in this particular epub.

[sonyreaderfan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@sonyreaderfan,

Your misbehaving epub works OK on my Sony, so if quisvir's suggestion doesn't work you could also try changing the font-family bit of every @font-face statement in the Sony CSS file like so:

@font-face {
font-family: "Charis", serif;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/Charis-Regular.ttf);
}

and similarly, just for belt & braces, also change the body statement like this:

body {
font-family: "Charis", serif;
}

I'm not sure that a Calibre conversion would sort out your font problem but it may sort out the image size problem in this particular epub.

Thanks! The bit about adding "serif" to the font family made the font changes work. The font changes works now for the Google version of Grimms and the sample version of The Odyssey. The moral of the story is to be specific in coding the css.