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MattI · 01-26-2011, 06:05 PM

Actually, I have finally figured out all of my issues on my own.

To answer your question...

The reason we need to use special fonts is that we are taking a fantasy series we publish traditionally, and moving it into the eBook realm. The author uses different fonts to show the reader when a character is speaking in a different language. The author never spells this out in the narrative, however. And why should he? With the different fonts, the reader understands why some of the characters present understand what was just said and why other characters don’t. Basically, it would be like taking a room full of English speaking characters, and mixing in 3 French speaking characters. When the 3 French Characters say something in French, the English speaking characters would not understand what was said. However, the author wants the “reader” to understand the French that was spoken and he does not want to keep saying, “He/She said in French.” So, using a different font lets the reader know that what was just said was in a different language (French) and that some of the characters do not understand, but you, the reader, understand even if you, the reader, don’t speak French.

Since many eReader program/device ignores our built in code (that follows the ePub standard) then the “special” text shows up as the same as all the text. This will confuse the reader when they can’t understand why a French character said something in what looks like English (because it is in the same font), but none of the English speaking characters reacted to.

Again, after a mere 2 months of digging, I have solved this issue on our side and we can now put out a product that we are happy with. If you, the reader, want to change the font, that is fine. We just want to do our thing and do it the way we feel is right. What you do with it after you get your own copy on your own eReader device is up to you.

01-26-2011, 06:05 PM	#3
MattI Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: iPad	Actually, I have finally figured out all of my issues on my own. To answer your question... The reason we need to use special fonts is that we are taking a fantasy series we publish traditionally, and moving it into the eBook realm. The author uses different fonts to show the reader when a character is speaking in a different language. The author never spells this out in the narrative, however. And why should he? With the different fonts, the reader understands why some of the characters present understand what was just said and why other characters don’t. Basically, it would be like taking a room full of English speaking characters, and mixing in 3 French speaking characters. When the 3 French Characters say something in French, the English speaking characters would not understand what was said. However, the author wants the “reader” to understand the French that was spoken and he does not want to keep saying, “He/She said in French.” So, using a different font lets the reader know that what was just said was in a different language (French) and that some of the characters do not understand, but you, the reader, understand even if you, the reader, don’t speak French. Since many eReader program/device ignores our built in code (that follows the ePub standard) then the “special” text shows up as the same as all the text. This will confuse the reader when they can’t understand why a French character said something in what looks like English (because it is in the same font), but none of the English speaking characters reacted to. Again, after a mere 2 months of digging, I have solved this issue on our side and we can now put out a product that we are happy with. If you, the reader, want to change the font, that is fine. We just want to do our thing and do it the way we feel is right. What you do with it after you get your own copy on your own eReader device is up to you.