KOBO Rocks!!!

[tshering]

Originally Posted by kacir

Can you use the reader without registering it first?

There is a database file "KoboReader.sqlite". You can add a new line in the "user" tabel and fill in any values.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by booklover6

When I look at the Kobo plugin, I see the default is

{author_sort}/{title} - {authors}

Is that going to render the display as shown in the example you pointed out, Earthsea?

That line looks like the save template. That is simply used to name the file for the book when calibre sends it to the device. It is never seen when using the device.

What you are seeing in "Ms. Aura owner!" photos is the title that is in the metadata of the book. When a book is put onto the Kobo devices, they are processed and the metadata extracted for use in the library list and other displays. To get what you are seeing in the photos, all you need to do is make sure the metadata in the book is correct. Or at least to your liking.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by davidfor

That line looks like the save template. That is simply used to name the file for the book when calibre sends it to the device. It is never seen when using the device.

What you are seeing in "Ms. Aura owner!" photos is the title that is in the metadata of the book. When a book is put onto the Kobo devices, they are processed and the metadata extracted for use in the library list and other displays. To get what you are seeing in the photos, all you need to do is make sure the metadata in the book is correct. Or at least to your liking.

Wow....that sounds much easier than I thought it would be. Can't wait til my Mini gets here and I can try it out!

[kacir]

Originally Posted by paola

I don't think you can: you do have to login with your Kobo account. Having said this, once you have set up your Kobo as far as I can see you don't need to ever connect it to the kobo website ever again:

Sigh ...
I very strongly dislike being forced to do things.
I do not mind registering at their site, I would just prefer that they try to persuade me instead of holding my device hostage.
I have visited USA last year. I was looking at Kobo Mini. My beloved PocketBook 360 has developed a problem and I suspect it is just about to fail. I saw Kobo Mini and I liked the form factor. I just LOVE how my Mighty Mouse (Pocket book 360 for the uninitiated) fits into my pocket. But I didn't buy the Mini, because I was unable to test it in Best Buy. All the device did was scream at me that it needs to be connected to the Internet and registered before it lets me to have a look at how it renders text and what option it has for displaying books.

Originally Posted by paola

just switch the wifi off and sideloads all your books via calibre (or drag and drop).

If the device has to be registered, then I keep the WiFi off, so it doesn't send [non-annonymized] info about the device use to the manufacurer.

Originally Posted by paola

Are you also falling victim of the Aura tempting calls?

I do indeed hear the sirens calling.
But there are some things that will help me resist the call:
- I have waaay too many e-ink devices at the moment. And I keep returning to my trusty Mighty mouse with its failing display driver.
- I am waiting for the PocketBook Touch Lux. I have insider info that it should be out "Real Soon Now" ;-). And I have a reservation for a reviewers unit. Sadly, it will not be some advanced exclusive preview unit, but one of first ones available to customers. And unless PocketBook did something really catastrophic, like dropping those cool features that previous models have, I am going to start selling my surplus e-ink readers to buy PBT Lux.

I do hope that Kobo Aura HD is wildly successful. I hope that other manufacturers will see that success and will start considering much higher resolutions where we can have real typography. I hope that other manufacturers will realize that people want to configure and tweak every single aspect of book displaying engine. It seems that Kobo Aura has several interesting options regarding text display.
There are some things that Kobo could have done better. I haven't found any info about fonts that users could install on the device, for example.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by booklover6

I'm getting a Kobo Mini It's used. But this way I can play with it and see if I like it enough to invest in a lighted one. So excited!

Welcome!

[JSWolf]

Mostly Math I'd like to see how the following eBooks look.

They are all the same eBook, but have slight tweaks in the CSS for the embedded fonts and line height. I'm hoping they all will work as is. But I'm not expecting v3 to display the embedded font. V1 and V2 should. The line space in V1 and V2 (given what I've read) should be different (1.01 vs 1.3). I'm hoping the line space in v3 works as I've done it differently as well.

Thank you.

[Uschiekid]

Originally Posted by kacir

There are some things that Kobo could have done better. I haven't found any info about fonts that users could install on the device, for example.

You can sideload any font you want. You just name it using the kobo system. That's it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Uschiekid

You can sideload any font you want. You just name it using the kobo system. That's it.

Charis SIL-Bold
Charis SIL-BoldItalic
Charis SIL-Italic
Charis SIL-Regular

That's the proper font naming.

[jiminrussell]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mostly Math I'd like to see how the following eBooks look.

They are all the same eBook, but have slight tweaks in the CSS for the embedded fonts and line height. I'm hoping they all will work as is. But I'm not expecting v3 to display the embedded font. V1 and V2 should. The line space in V1 and V2 (given what I've read) should be different (1.01 vs 1.3). I'm hoping the line space in v3 works as I've done it differently as well.

Thank you.

Here are screen shots of the three files, not sure I can really see much difference in them myself. v1 looks to have more text so the line spacing must be lower on that one.

[treadlightly]

Originally Posted by jiminrussell

Here are screen shots of the three files, not sure I can really see much difference in them myself. v1 looks to have more text so the line spacing must be lower on that one.

I like the line spacing for V2 (or V3, I can't tell the difference). What is it set to? My epubs look more like V1 coming out of Calibre.

[jiminrussell]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I like the line spacing for V2 (or V3, I can't tell the difference). What is it set to? My epubs look more like V1 coming out of Calibre.

I assume v2 is 1.3 for line spacing as JSWolf indicated but not sure, that is the lowest setting that kobo allows in settings from what I have read in this and other threads. Looks like V3 is the same. JSWolf indicated Line spacing for v1 is set to 1.01

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by treadlightly

I like the line spacing for V2 (or V3, I can't tell the difference). What is it set to? My epubs look more like V1 coming out of Calibre.

V1 has the embedded font defined for p and the line height set to 1.01 in p.

V2 has the embedded font defined in p and no line height set.

V3 has the line height and embedded font set in body.

Seems Kobo ignores the line height in the body. This means in order to set a lin height below 1.3, one would have to do so in the various styles used for the paragraphs.

Though one thing I do question. Why is there so much space between the last line of text and the page number? There's enough space there to get 2 or 3 more lines on screen.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jiminrussell

Here are screen shots of the three files, not sure I can really see much difference in them myself. v1 looks to have more text so the line spacing must be lower on that one.

Thank you. I may have yet a couple more later on to try if that's OK.

[Barty]

You know, I do not understand why these companies do not allow you total control over presentation. I have an old ereader app called stanza that lets me set margin, line spacing, paragraph spacing, paragraph indent, all from very large to zero, justification, font size at 2pt increments, and uncluttered screen. There should be a "distraction free mode" with the whole screen used for text. There should be toggles to override publisher's font choice, paragraph and line spacing. There should be no arbitrary limit like 1.3 line spacing. If I want to set to it to 1em, that's my business.

Don't make me jump through hoops. Don't make me convert every book just to get what I want.

Sometimes I just wonder if these devs actually use their product. They probably have a private dev version that does let them have exactly what they want.

[ewphoenix123]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Though one thing I do question. Why is there so much space between the last line of text and the page number? There's enough space there to get 2 or 3 more lines on screen.

one of the more annoying bugs of the reader, you have to add "widows: 0; orphans: 0" or you sometimes get wasted lines at the bottom.