PRS-T1 Changing from original font

[Scott Nielsen]

I'm aware there are some limitations when it comes to changing the font; performance may be poorer and bold/italics etc. may not always work. The manual also says something about content with embedded fonts may not change. From that, I take it they believe it'll work most of the time but no guarantees.

In my case though I very rarely succeed in actually changing the font at all. Of fifteen different books I tried yesterday, I was only able to change the font in three of them. For the other twelve, no matter which font I chose, the font just won't change from the original.

Is this something that is peculiar to me? Or do I not quite understand what "embedded fonts" mean, perhaps. All the fifteen files have a font-family (sometimes more than one) defined in the EPUB stylesheet but since three work and twelve don't, I suspect I'm looking at the wrong thing.

Guidance appreciated.

[seabee]

You can open any EPUB file (even with DRMs, they are zip files with a different extension) with 7-Zip or WinRar, edit all the css files (normally not DRM encrypted), searching for font-family attributes. You just have to remove these up to the following ; (included) or } (NOT INCLUDED) character and save each modified file back into the archive.
Think to edit a copy of the books.
However, some books can have style embedded in the same files as the book's text and if they are DRM encrypted, you can't change those without removing the DRMs first.

[rrutkows]

I also have noticed this issue with my new PRS-T1. Accidentally a new version (0.8.27) of Calibre has just been released with a new feature of "removing specified style information (CSS) from the document during conversion". I'm going to see if it helps at the earliest opportunity.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by seabee

You can open any EPUB file (even with DRMs, they are zip files with a different extension) with 7-Zip or WinRar, edit all the css files (normally not DRM encrypted), searching for font-family attributes. You just have to remove these up to the following ; or } character and save each modified file back into the archive.
Think to edit a copy of the books.
However, some books can have style embedded in the same files as the book's text and if they are DRM encrypted, you can't change those without removing the DRMs first.

It is probably better and/or safer to open the epub directly in something like Sigil, as that knows how epubs fit together and should be saved.

[Scott Nielsen]

Originally Posted by seabee

You can open any EPUB file (even with DRMs, they are zip files with a different extension) with 7-Zip or WinRar, edit all the css files (normally not DRM encrypted), searching for font-family attributes. You just have to remove these up to the following ; or } character and save each modified file back into the archive.
Think to edit a copy of the books.
However, some books can have style embedded in the same files as the book's text and if they are DRM encrypted, you can't change those without removing the DRMs first.

Thanks. I'm clear on how to do that but what I don't understand is the inconsistency - the three books I can successfully change the font in also have a font-family defined in the EPUB.
It also appears the vast majority of EPUB files do have a font-family defined. Which SONY must be aware of. Yet, we have the ability to change fonts within through the reader, suggesting it's something that would work more often than not. If not every time.
I'm a bit hesitant to go through my entire library and remove the font-family without understanding the problem better.

[seabee]

Originally Posted by Scott Nielsen

Thanks. I'm clear on how to do that but what I don't understand is the inconsistency - the three books I can successfully change the font in also have a font-family defined in the EPUB.
It also appears the vast majority of EPUB files do have a font-family defined. Which SONY must be aware of. Yet, we have the ability to change fonts within through the reader, suggesting it's something that would work more often than not. If not every time.
I'm a bit hesitant to go through my entire library and remove the font-family without understanding the problem better.

Sometimes, the font-family attribute is only for small parts of the book's text (titles, notes, it depends what styles it's defined in and what styles are used for the book's main text), in this case, you can still change the font for most of the text.

However, I agree that an option to override font-family defined in EPUB would be really useful.

Just do the changes on copies of your books. The only real problem is that if some of your EPUBs require a specific font for special characters (not available in west-european charsets) and are embedding this font, changing the font-familly will make them unreadable.

[seabee]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

It is probably better and/or safer to open the epub directly in something like Sigil, as that knows how epubs fit together and should be saved.

There's really nothing magical at all in EPUB, a valid EPUB stay valid if you only change its CSSs, they are only a zip archive of cross-referencing (files must keep their name and sub-directory inside the ZIP/EPUB) text files (optionally binary files for fonts, and for xhtml content when DRMed). The only possible problem when removing font-familly attribute is if it references an EPUB embedded font with characters not present in the eReader's fonts.

I tried that myself in many EPUB (public domain without DRM), no problem at all and I can select my favorite font. It's only a problem if you don't know how to edit and write-back a simple text file inside a ZIP archive.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by seabee

There's really nothing magical at all in EPUB, a valid EPUB stay valid if you only change its CSSs, they are only a zip archive of cross-referencing (files must keep their name and sub-directory inside the ZIP/EPUB) text files (optionally binary files for fonts, and for xhtml content when DRMed).

Yes and no. There are rules that have to be followed such as the mimetype file having to be first, and the pathnames all having to be UTF-8 encoded Unix paths. If you break those your book might not work any more.

It is pretty easy to follow the rules once you know about them.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by seabee

The only real problem is that if some of your EPUBs require a specific font for special characters (not available in west-european charsets) and are embedding this font, changing the font-familly will make them unreadable.

Is that really how it is supposed to work, or do epub readers use fallback fonts when the Unicode chars required don't exist in the specified fonts?

Modern web browsers seem to use the fallback technique, and since epub readers are basically HTML rendering engines I'd be surprised if they worked radically differently.

[salines]

@seabee
Do you use embedded fonts for change the fonts in epubs?
I have some trouble to use fonts (my own fonts) outside of epubs on the T1.

[seabee]

Originally Posted by salines

@seabee
Do you use embedded fonts for change the fonts in epubs?
I have some trouble to use fonts (my own fonts) outside of epubs on the T1.

I didn't but I tried with Comic Sans MS (because it's immediately recognizable) following this post's instructions (step 5 not necessary at all, as expected by jackie_w), and my book is displayed with Comic Sans MS. All the posts about out-of-EPUB font reference report failure on PRS-T1.

[salines]

Thanks.

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

I have problems with the path to the font "src: url(...)"
The font isn't used so I think there is something wrong.
Does anybody use this method on the T1?

[democrite]

The method I use on my T1 is:

@font-face {font-family: "Cambria";font-style: normal;font-weight: normal;src: url(fonts/font001.otf);}
@font-face {font-family: "Cambria";font-style: italic;font-weight: normal;src: url(fonts/font002.otf);}
@font-face {font-family: "Cambria";font-style: normal;font-weight: bold;src: url(fonts/font003.otf);}

p{text-indent:1.1em;margin-left:0;line-height:120%;margin-right:0;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Cambria,serif;font-size:100%}

and then I add the fonts to the ePub itself, "./fonts/*.otf"

[salines]

Originally Posted by democrite

The method I use on my T1 is:

and then I add the fonts to the ePub itself, "./fonts/*.otf"

But then I have to include the fonts in each epub. That's what I want to avoid. I want my font on the T1 and use it in every epub. That's less work I think and also saves storage space.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by salines

But then I have to include the fonts in each epub. That's what I want to avoid. I want my font on the T1 and use it in every epub. That's less work I think and also saves storage space.

This is absolutely true, however, it does not work on the T1 as noone has yet found the "magic path" equivalent of res:///Data, if indeed such a path exists for the T1. Why Sony have closed off this very useful option is anyone's guess.

The only way which currently works on a T1 is to fully embed the fonts inside each epub.