Help: missing embedded fonts after ePub3 transfer to Kindle

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It may not just be Amazon having to stop selling eBooks and/or Readers in Italy.

Are you referring to the statement/rumour in another forum that only ereaders capable of TTS with appropriate controls will be permitted for sale in Italy in order to meet accessibility requirements?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Are you referring to the statement/rumour in another forum that only ereaders capable of TTS with appropriate controls will be permitted for sale in Italy in order to meet accessibility requirements?

Yes. I wonder how strict Italy will be.

[Quoth]

The rules do not mandate epub3 and can be met with epub2. Not sure about AltText on images in azw3 or old mobi.
And I doubt Italy will insist physical ereaders have TTS. They & all EU might insist iOS and Android do TTS, but they have for years, though some apps only read a page/screen at a time unless TTS is built in. That will meet requirements.

[Nightjar]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Looking at your sample, it would be very easy to fix it so it works with ePub 2.

Hmmm... Not so easy – at least for me – because I must find an effective fallback (ePub2-compatible) method for ePub3 and HTML5 tags, like for instance <section> and <figure>, without deleting them.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Don't use rem, use em. Don't use px. Use em. For width, don't use calc. Don't use justify-content, use text-align.Don't use display: flex;. Just get rid of it. don't use vh. Use %.

Even after having applied to the code the changes above, the ebook still doesn't look right on a "prehistoric" viewer like ADE 2.0.
The main problems that still need to be fixed with ADE2 are:

• Cover image oversized
• Title page text with wrong font size and alignment
• Copyright page with wrong font size and line height
• Dedication page with missing vertical line, missing <br> and wrong text alignment
• Chapter page with missing horizontal top line above chapter title, missing "no indentation" of the first word of each paragraph, wrong line height, missing <br> on citation text, all images are oversize, missing horizontal top line over endnote block
• Author page with oversize image, missing "no indentation" of the first word of each paragraph, wrong line height
• Suggested ebooks page with oversize images, missing <br>, missing "no indentation" of the first word of each paragraph, wrong line height

Of course, with the same code the ebook does look just fine with ADE 4 (and more recent viewers).
Please let me know if you can give me some more specific help. Thanks!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nightjar

Hmmm... Not so easy – at least for me – because I must find an effective fallback (ePub2-compatible) method for ePub3 and HTML5 tags, like for instance <section> and <figure>, without deleting them.

The easiest (IMHO) way to do it is to start over and create your sample in ePub 2. Then convert to ePub 3 and put in the accessibility code, But do not put in any code such as figure and section and header. Don't use them for anything other then a placeholder. Don't use them in CSS and don't use them in the HTML with classes. As you are building your ePub, make sure you don't put in things that break significantly with ePub 2. When done, you'll have a working ePub that will work for ePub 2 & 3.

And don't use multiple CSS. Put everything in one CSS file.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The easiest (IMHO) way to do it is to start over and create your sample in ePub 2. Then convert to ePub 3 and put in the accessibility code, But do not put in any code such as figure and section and header. Don't use them for anything other then a placeholder. Don't use them in CSS and don't use them in the HTML with classes. As you are building your ePub, make sure you don't put in things that break significantly with ePub 2. When done, you'll have a working ePub that will work for ePub 2 & 3.

And don't use multiple CSS. Put everything in one CSS file.

Jon, dear, that's his problem; he doesn't know how to solve those scenarios (How to eliminate or replace section and all that.)

Why don't you help him with that?

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Jon, dear, that's his problem; he doesn't know how to solve those scenarios (How to eliminate or replace section and all that.)

Why don't you help him with that?

Hitch

Replace section and figure with div.

I'll have a go at the ePub. I'll convert it fully to ePub 2.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Replace section and figure with div.

I'll have a go at the ePub. I'll convert it fully to ePub 2.

There you go. You're a prince.

Hitch

[Nightjar]

Does anyone know if there is a "plain" ePub3 template available somewhere on the web, fully accessible and compatible with ePub2, from which I could start almost from scratch?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Nightjar

Does anyone know if there is a "plain" ePub3 template available somewhere on the web, fully accessible and compatible with ePub2, from which I could start almost from scratch?

Blitz (no longer maintained)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Blitz (no longer maintained)

Ditto, I was thinking of Blitz, but as you said, it's not maintained.

Somebody around here has a template, don't they? Anybody remember?

Hitch

[JSWolf]

I would find Blitz a bother. I think it's just easier to create an ePub 3 eBook but not to use CSS code that doesn't work in ePub 2. And in the HTML, don't use classes with <section>, <header>, or <figure>. And don't use <figure> where a <div> would be used in ePub 2. Also, you will need an NCX ToC to keep compatibility with ePub 2.

If I wanted to create an ePub 3, I would use the plugins for Sigil that help in creating ePub 3.

[LostOnTheLine]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Does your eBook work when the embedded fonts do not display? If so, dump the fonts as you have no way of getting them to work on an older Kindle.

I haven't finished reading this thread yet but I keep hearing this same sentiment over & over again & it's annoying.

Here's why

1. Some books need to have different fonts. For example I read a book series that at times has 8 different narrators. The author did a wonderful job of making it engaging by having each narrator use a different font. I don't have an eBook version of this series, so I don't know how that would work, but the fonts chosen for each character help to display the character of the narrator. Like a less educated character can have a less proper, serif-free font, while more formal characters can have a more elegant font. Now do you loose anything by having them all with the same font? Yes, absolutely. Can you get by without it? Sure, you could put the narrator's name at the top of their section, mostly they narrate whole chapters so that's easy enough & they already have the narrator's name at the top of the chapter anyway, but on rare occasions you have a different narrator interrupt the current one with a "You're telling that part wrong". It's not a dialogue between the characters, it's more a dialogue with the reader, it's like someone took the notebook from the person writing it & wrote, to the reader, that what they said was wrong because they weren't there, & here's what really happened. That was only really done in the 1st couple books with multiple narrators, so it was more blatant with the font change, & I think it'd be confusing if it happened with 8 narrators & you didn't necessarily remember whose font it was, but the point still stands.
2. If you are making a digital version of an author's work & that author included different fonts for things & you don't you are not giving a faithful digital copy of the original work. & if you are doing so under contract you may just be breaking the contract.
3. JRR Tolkien. You know when he 1st published the publisher "Corrected" his "Typo" of Elves to Elfs & Dwarves to Dwarfs. But Tolkien did this intentionally. Dwarfs & Elfs were the "correct" words at the time, but they were associated with "Silly tales" as Tolkien put it. & He wanted to distinguish the races in his stories from the races in literature at the time. But now when people think of either race they think of the ones based on Tolkien's creation. Dwarfs were more like Snow White's dwarfs & elfs more like the kind that make cookies & toys. Before Tolkien that was what everyone thought of when you said those words. When the author makes an intentional choice & you change it... You're wrong. Plain & simple
4. This thread is about "Help: missing embedded fonts after ePub3 transfer to Kindle" This whole thread is ABOUT the fonts. Saying "Don't use them" would be no different than someone asking how to play basketball & you telling them to play soccer instead. It's beyond not helpful, it's rude & inappropriate.

[Quoth]

The author did a wonderful job of making it engaging by having each narrator use a different font.

That's a really old idea that predates ebooks and is BROKEN. The author needs to properly do dialogue with speech or action tags. However if you are converting someone else's work you are stuck with it.

However, if you embed fonts in Calibre, check in the editor etc, before you convert and then convert to azw3, transfer via USB, never "Send to Kindle" service and select Publisher on the Kindle theme it should work. All up to date FW Kindles before PW1 except K1, K2, DX and DXG.
All kindles from PW1 on any FW version.

Basically any kindle with FW for azw3 will work with embedded fonts. Make sure in Calibre Editor that the fonts really are there. The Calibre editor can add them but epub->epub conversion with [ ]Embed Fonts and [ ]Subset fonts is simplest. They may also need to be subset if large.

100% Agree if converting someone else's work you don't change anything, unless it's PD from OCR.

[Quoth]

of Elves to Elfs & Dwarves to Dwarfs. But Tolkien did this intentionally. Dwarfs & Elfs were the "correct" words at the time, but they were associated with "Silly tales" as Tolkien put it.

Depends whose old tales you read. Elves & Dwarves were also correct and older. See hoof > hooves. And borders elves (Scotland / England) in Thomas the Rhymer are like the Irish Sidhe (Scots sith or sìde) and those are much like Tolkien's Elves. He really only invented the Hobbits. The publisher's proof reader must have been uneducated.
Fairies (elves) being small & winged started in England with Shakespeare and peaked in Victoria Era and Early 20th C. The older stories are quite different.