ebooks that won't let you change the font

mr ploppy · 10-12-2012, 12:13 PM

A lot of ebooks I get from Amazon lately won't let me change the font, and they open up in serif with very large spacing between lines. I did install the font size hack recently, I'm not sure if that is the cause of it or not but if I run the faulty ebooks through Calibre first they open with normal spacing and I can change the font to sans-serif.

jswinden · 10-12-2012, 12:28 PM

Unfortunately that is usually due to the author/publisher hard-coding the formats. Most allow us to choose our formats but a few hard-code them. You need to Google Alf and learn how to liberate the books then use calibre to reformat them.

They use CSS (cascading style sheets) to hard-code the formatting. After liberating a book, you can change or override the CSS coding.

DreamWriter · 10-12-2012, 07:11 PM

Which Kindle do you have, Mr. Ploppy? Font size/type problems are showing up on the KF8 Kindle devices (Paperwhite, Kindle Touch, and now the Kindle Keyboard with the recent 3.4 update, which brought KF8 to that device). I don't know if the $69 has the issue. The line height bug is a known problem on the devices.

As jswinden mentioned, the issue shows up when authors/publishers hard-code the font formatting (size, font type, etc.) for ebook body text. They should not specify these settings so readers can select their own preferences.

I suggest that you report the problem to the author/publisher if you have a way to do that and/or report the problem to Amazon via the link at the bottom of the ebook's product page there.

wystearya · 10-12-2012, 07:52 PM

I had this happen on my Paperwhite actually. It was one of the free books, so I just thought it was something to do with keeping the cost down. I know nothing about coding or hacking so, I could be completely wrong with my theory. lol

Blossom · 10-12-2012, 09:01 PM

A simple run through Calibre will fix it. Just check the fonts box in the Look n Feel conversation tab. Seeing the Pdoc cloud doesn't support KF8 yet I still read in mobi. I do have a couple KF8s I made for the Fire using merge epub plugin then converted them over to AZW3 (KF8). Those are sideloaded.

10-12-2012, 12:13 PM	#1
mr ploppy Feral Underclass Posts: 3,410 Karma: 26134395 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Yorkshire, tha noz Device: 2nd hand paperback	ebooks that won't let you change the font A lot of ebooks I get from Amazon lately won't let me change the font, and they open up in serif with very large spacing between lines. I did install the font size hack recently, I'm not sure if that is the cause of it or not but if I run the faulty ebooks through Calibre first they open with normal spacing and I can change the font to sans-serif. __________________ Hooligan fiction. Come and have a read if you think you're hard enough. http://marcusblakeston.wordpress.com

10-12-2012, 12:28 PM	#2
jswinden Amateur Radio Posts: 3,936 Karma: 2506296 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: USA Device: Kindle Touch, iPad 3, iPhone 5	Unfortunately that is usually due to the author/publisher hard-coding the formats. Most allow us to choose our formats but a few hard-code them. You need to Google Alf and learn how to liberate the books then use calibre to reformat them. They use CSS (cascading style sheets) to hard-code the formatting. After liberating a book, you can change or override the CSS coding. __________________ Jack Currently: Kindle Touch, iPhone 5, and iPad 3.

10-12-2012, 07:11 PM	#3
DreamWriter Author's Wife/Avid Reader Posts: 1,283 Karma: 2200020 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: West Coast Device: Kindle Keyboard 3G, Acer Iconia A100 & Acer Iconia A500	Which Kindle do you have, Mr. Ploppy? Font size/type problems are showing up on the KF8 Kindle devices (Paperwhite, Kindle Touch, and now the Kindle Keyboard with the recent 3.4 update, which brought KF8 to that device). I don't know if the $69 has the issue. The line height bug is a known problem on the devices. As jswinden mentioned, the issue shows up when authors/publishers hard-code the font formatting (size, font type, etc.) for ebook body text. They should not specify these settings so readers can select their own preferences. I suggest that you report the problem to the author/publisher if you have a way to do that and/or report the problem to Amazon via the link at the bottom of the ebook's product page there. __________________ Thriller—Lotto: Blood Money—Kindle (worldwide) • DRM-free ePub - B&N (US/UK) • paper Golf Fiction—The Right Side of the Fairway—Kindle (worldwide) • ePub - B&N (US/UK) • paper 1930s Adventure—Dust Bowl Justice—Kindle (worldwide) • ePub - B&N (US)/UK) • paper

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10-12-2012, 07:52 PM	#4
wystearya Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 474 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kindle Paperwhite	I had this happen on my Paperwhite actually. It was one of the free books, so I just thought it was something to do with keeping the cost down. I know nothing about coding or hacking so, I could be completely wrong with my theory. lol

10-12-2012, 09:01 PM	#5
Blossom Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,780 Karma: 4481760 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Eastern TN Device: PW/K4B/K4S/K3+3G KFire/SGP 5.0/LG Vortex	A simple run through Calibre will fix it. Just check the fonts box in the Look n Feel conversation tab. Seeing the Pdoc cloud doesn't support KF8 yet I still read in mobi. I do have a couple KF8s I made for the Fire using merge epub plugin then converted them over to AZW3 (KF8). Those are sideloaded.


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