*VERY* detailed guide on changing default Reader fonts

[pepak]

Didn't work for me with LRF, but I only had a few minutes for experimenting. It is possible the font names and families I used are not what the renderer expects.

[kbear]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Very nice. Would you mind posting detailed directions please? Thanks.

As I said in my previous post, the key is to name the fonts correctly.

The font's internal name (not the filename of the .ttf) can be altered by a font-editing application like FontLab Studio (which is what I use - font design is a hobby of mine).

Unfortunately I'm a Mac user, and I don't know what font editing apps are available for Windows, so I can't give you step-by-step instructions for some other freeware tool. FontLab is available for Windows, but it is a rather expensive professional app.

However, whatever tool you use, the procedure is straight forward: let's say we want to use Times instead of the default Dutch 801.

1. We open the Times Roman font and rename it to Dutch 801, just like it's described in Valloric's PDF. Save it as tt0011m_.ttf.

2. Open the next style, lets say, Times Italic, and we ALSO rename it to Dutch 801. But we set the style name to "Italic" instead of "Roman". Then we save it as tt0011i_.ttf. (I'm not certain that the .ttf name has to be exact. Maybe it will work with any name, as long at its 8.3 characters long)

3. Repeat the same procedure for the bold and bold italic styles, naming them tt0011b_.ttf and tt0011bi.ttf respectively.

When the fonts are prepared. Upload them to the Reader. Experienced PRS hackers already know how to do that so I won't bother with a detailed description, since you can find instructions on other forums of this site.

The only thing that bears scrutiny is that if you use an automated system like PRSCustomizer, you will need to manually copy the fonts in the proper location (depending on your firmware) inside the sdcard folder, because PRSCustomizer only copies the three default fonts.

I hope this was clear enough. I'll be happy to answer any questions. Just post them in the forum, or PM me.

[tedmcardle]

Thanks for this info.

[pepak]

Originally Posted by kbear

As I said in my previous post, the key is to name the fonts correctly.

No. I just can't get the fonts named correctly. Could you please post the Italic font that works for you, so that I can compare it to my font and discover what's wrong?

[kbear]

Originally Posted by pepak

No. I just can't get the fonts named correctly. Could you please post the Italic font that works for you, so that I can compare it to my font and discover what's wrong?

Sure. Click here to download the fonts I use in my PRS-505. They are Mac OS X system fonts, so to use them legally you need to own a Mac

[pepak]

Thanks. I don't plan to USE them, I just want to find out why MY fonts don't work. In the afternoon I will have it and then I will delete them.

[pepak]

Looks like the real italics/bold only works in RTF, but not LRF :-(

[kbear]

Originally Posted by pepak

Looks like the real italics/bold only works in RTF, but not LRF :-(

That's strange. Although I have no LRF documents to test, I noticed that apart from RTF, the user interface of the reader was also able to use the new font styles (i.e. sans-serif bold) for the menu display.

This led me to believe that the text renderer of the PRS-505 could handle extra styles in all documents that use internal fonts.

I suggest you try uploading a new LRF document to the reader. Maybe documents already uploaded have been cached with the old font set.

If that's the case, formatting the Reader (to empty the internal cache) or uploading a new LRF document might work.

This is of course all speculation, but there's nothing to lose by trying.

[pepak]

Originally Posted by kbear

I noticed that apart from RTF, the user interface of the reader was also able to use the new font styles (i.e. sans-serif bold) for the menu display.

I noticed that as well. However, the UI is much less picky than the renderers regarding proper font setup. There are configurations which will routinely fail in rederer but work in UI.

I suggest you try uploading a new LRF document to the reader. Maybe documents already uploaded have been cached with the old font set.

Nope :-(

[newowner]

Hi, I'm new to the site and to ebooks and need some help with the guide. Appendix D instructions are to run PRS-505 Update 1.1.00.18040 which is the same as the latest firmware version shown on Sony's site. However, the ABOUT section on my reader list 1.1.01.25200 which seems to be a newer version. Is the information in the guide outdated or am I reading it incorrectly?

The script for modifying fonts shows VersSE.ttf with a size of 32 in the example (fig 3.3). Will 32 (or another selected size) become the default font size? Would be nice as this would eliminate zooming on existing small print.
(NOTE -current trial version (6.0) of FontCreator will not allow you to save the newly created font.

If I proceed with the process what (if any) functionality will be lost?

If a newer firmware version is posted in the future will I need to repeat the process to change fonts? If so, how does one go about modifying the guide to flash the reader with the lastest firmware.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

[pepak]

Originally Posted by newowner

Hi, I'm new to the site and to ebooks and need some help with the guide. Appendix D instructions are to run PRS-505 Update 1.1.00.18040 which is the same as the latest firmware version shown on Sony's site. However, the ABOUT section on my reader list 1.1.01.25200 which seems to be a newer version. Is the information in the guide outdated or am I reading it incorrectly?

Both. Or possibly neither. The current situation is that while there are newer firmware versions than 18040, they have no new functionality apart from different date format, and thus are considered safe for replacement with the "most popular" 18040.

If I proceed with the process what (if any) functionality will be lost?

You will get an american date format in "books by date" instead of your british/german/whatever.

If a newer firmware version is posted in the future will I need to repeat the process to change fonts?

The font files will remain the same (so once you modify them as necessary, back them up!), but you will need to modify this hypothetical future firmware with them again.

[pepak]

I have written an utility SonyFont for quickly and easily modifying font naming.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=141

If we ever figure out exactly how to add Bold and Italic fonts, I will update it for their support as well.

[DGReader]

Thanks for writing this booklet, Valloric. Your sentence in the book "The fonts that come with the Reader are Swis721 BT, Dutch801 Rm BT and Courier10 BT, with filenames tt0003m_.ttf, tt0011m_.ttf, tt0419m_.ttf, respectively." answered the question that brought me to this page.

I'm wondering, though, can anyone tell me if there are any other fonts in the new Sony Reader Pocket Edition PRS300? I notice there were some preloaded books in German and French, complete with all foreign characters, but I don't know if those books have embedded fonts or if they're using the Reader's "native" fonts.

P.S. I should clarify that my purpose is not to make books more readable on my own Sony Reader but to convert some books with bare bones typography into books with more elegant typography. Yet I've read that embedding fonts slows down page turning, so I'm wondering if I would be able to create ePub books with more advanced typography that would be readable in an eBook reader's native fonts. Come to think of it, though, I guess I wouldn't want to go through the trouble of converting a classic if it wouldn't be readable on more than just the Sony Reader, so maybe I'm asking the wrong question here...

[pepak]

Western glyphs are supported natively. You need extra fonts for e.g. east-european or asian languages.

[kartu]

Originally Posted by pepak

If we ever figure out exactly how to add Bold and Italic fonts, I will update it for their support as well.

I've successfully used fonts other than standard 3 in text viewers.

Did anyone try to simply put font into /opt.../fonts folder and try to reference it by name in LRF? (LRF explicitly references fonts by names)

As far as I see from reading the code, RTF needs some xml mappings etc, but LRF uses fonts folder with whatever is in it. System also loads all fonts in fonts folder regardless of their names. (I don't know where this list is used later, if at all)