Replace DEFAULT epub fonts! (PRS-505)

[JSWolf]

Do you have the page number on the right side of the screen for ePub? Is justification respected in the CSS? Does it have hyphenation?

[gregcd]

I've tried the software from http://www.ebookapplications.com/ for my 505; it's pretty neat (fully justified epubs, etc). I think it's off topic for this thread though

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

I have figured out that how to replace the default epub fonts for the Sony Reader Library too, which means that we can view epubs in the Reader Library exactly as they will appear on the PRS-505, which makes formatting and editing easier, as you can easily see what the end result will look like without having to copy the epub over to the device. This is really just an extension of pepak's hack for the device (but without the hacking), so all credit to him for that.

I have only tested this on Windows.

Go to the location where the Reader Library is installed, e.g.,
C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader or C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Reader.

In the Data\bin directory create an adobe\pxf directory, so that you have a
C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\adobe\pxf directory. Copy your userStyle.css into it. It should be the same userStyle.css that you are using on the PRS-505.

The adobe\pxf directory is the directory that the epub renderer (C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\FskDocumentViewerAdobe. dll) is hard coded to read for the userStyle.css file. Unlike on the device, on Windows we have access to the adobe\pxf directory, which equates to C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\adobe\pxf, so there is no need for any hacking of binaries.

Now place your fonts in C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\Data\fonts. Use this location rather than C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\fonts because then you can use the same userStyle.css file on both the device and Windows. In the userStyle.css, url(res:///Data/fonts/fontfilename) equates to C:\Program Files\Sony\Reader\Data\bin\Data\fonts\fontfilename in Windows, and /fonts/fontfilename on the device.

Now when you open an epub in Reader Library, it should display using the fonts you have specified in your userStyle.css; if you use the same userStyle.css and fonts on the PRS-505, you should get exactly the same view.

This no longer works with the latest Sony Reader Library 3.3.00.07130. I can see that the location of the userStyle.css in FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll has been changed to res:///userStyle.cs, which on my O/S equates to C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Reader\Data\bin (the same directory as FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll). However, if I put userStyle.css in there it has no effect. Using Process Monitor, I can't see that the Reader Library.exe ever tries to load userStyle.css. It is almost as though this "feature" has been disabled by Adobe.

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

This no longer works with the latest Sony Reader Library 3.3.00.07130. I can see that the location of the userStyle.css in FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll has been changed to res:///userStyle.cs, which on my O/S equates to C:\Program Files (x86)\Sony\Reader\Data\bin (the same directory as FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll). However, if I put userStyle.css in there it has no effect. Using Process Monitor, I can't see that the Reader Library.exe ever tries to load userStyle.css. It is almost as though this "feature" has been disabled by Adobe.

I noticed the same thing. Thanks for confirming it for me:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=15

To get around the problem, I replaced the file FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll with the one from Sony Reader Library 3.2 and everything seems to work OK including external fonts.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by yekim54

I noticed the same thing. Thanks for confirming it for me:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=15

To get around the problem, I replaced the file FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll with the one from Sony Reader Library 3.2 and everything seems to work OK including external fonts.

Cool that will work. But I don't think I have 3.2 anymore. Do you know if it is possible to still download it? Or could you send the old FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll to me?

I wonder if the new devices (e.g., 650) will have a similar problem? That is, no easy way to override the default userStyle.css. It will a pity if that is the case; I would have to resort to putting my preferred font into each epub (which is a bit of a hassle and uses more disk space).

Do we even know if the firmware flasher works with the new devices?

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Cool that will work. But I don't think I have 3.2 anymore. Do you know if it is possible to still download it? Or could you send the old FskDocumentViewerAdobe.dll to me?

I wonder if the new devices (e.g., 650) will have a similar problem? That is, no easy way to override the default userStyle.css. It will a pity if that is the case; I would have to resort to putting my preferred font into each epub (which is a bit of a hassle and uses more disk space).

Do we even know if the firmware flasher works with the new devices?

Check your PM.

I'm also curious as to whether the new 350, 650, and 950 have the capability to use external fonts and userStyle.css.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by yekim54

Check your PM.

I'm also curious as to whether the new 350, 650, and 950 have the capability to use external fonts and userStyle.css.

Thanks--it works a treat.

Have some karma...

[yekim54]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

I wonder if the new devices (e.g., 650) will have a similar problem? That is, no easy way to override the default userStyle.css. It will a pity if that is the case; I would have to resort to putting my preferred font into each epub (which is a bit of a hassle and uses more disk space).

According to jswinden, external fonts work OK on his 350:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98618

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by yekim54

According to jswinden, external fonts work OK on his 350:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98618

I never thought of doing it this way! Obvious really. We still need to edit each epub, but we don't need to actually embed the fonts into each epub--the css can refer to them in the default, external location.

It would be nice though if the new devices had a default css that we could edit, so we would not have to edit the epub at all.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

It would be nice though if the new devices had a default css that we could edit, so we would not have to edit the epub at all.

If you create your epub with Calibre you don't need to edit the epub at all. You create the links to the external fonts as part of the convert-to-epub process using the 'Extra CSS' feature.

[marekk]

I've only just registered to say THANK YOU to pepak - you made my prs-505 usable again! Great work!