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meme · 05-03-2011, 01:16 PM

The unicode support appears almost stable. But before I release a new version, here is a test version of the release that includes some bonus functionality. @A_dagio - let me know if this works ok for you.

Thanks to imdqmznh's suggestion at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=641 and for the work that the thread points to especially by NiLuJe.

Modify Kindle Settings such as Margins and Fonts

You can set your horizontal justification and margin size, and even fonts without installing any hacks using this option.

Spoiler:

Before connecting your Kindle to your PC and changing any of these settings, you must press the Home key on the Kindle to go to the Home page or your changes will be ignored.

Justification

Control whether the text is left justified (ragged right edge) or fully justified (straight left and right edges). Not all books will be affected by this setting depending on how they were created. You can change the setting on the Kindle once you run the plugin and if check 'Allow user justification'.

Margin

Control the amount of space between the edge of the screen and the text. The Kindle allows you to set to a few values (fewest, fewer, default), but you can use the plugin to set other margins (e.g. 20).

Fonts

The Kindle does allow you to use a different font for your books without jailbreaking and without installing a font hack. But you need to follow a few steps so that the plugin can find your font and the Kindle can use your font.

Find some fonts to use.
- The font must have 4 Truetype or OpenType files - one each for Regular, Bold, Italic, and BoldItalic variants
- For example, DroidSerif is popular and free, available from http://www.google.com/webfonts/famil...ly=Droid+Serif (you will need to extract the 4 files from the zip file, and rename DroidSerif.ttf to DroidSerif-Regular.ttf)
Go to the Home screen of your Kindle, then connect your Kindle to your PC
Create the directory "fonts" on your Kindle at the top (e.g. E:\fonts) if it isn't there already
Copy the 4 font files to your Kindle's directory - you must use a specific name format, e.g. if your font is called "DroidSerif", then the 4 files in the font directory must be named as follows (use "-" not "_", and use ".ttf" even if its an OpenType font):

DroidSerif-Regular.ttf
DroidSerif-Bold.ttf
DroidSerif-Italic.ttf
DroidSerif-BoldItalic.ttf
Run the plugin - your font should be visible in the drop down menu for fonts. If it is not visible then check that the 4 file names are correct and in the right directory
Select your font, and click Save
Eject and Restart your Kindle

Notes:

If you get the message "The selected item could not be opened" when you try to open a book, it means the font you selected is not compatible with the Kindle for some reason. Go to the Home screen of your Kindle, reconnect it to your PC, use the plug to select a default font, and restart your Kindle.
You can copy any number of fonts to your Kindle's font directory. The plugin will show a list of all fonts it finds (but each font must have the 4 files with the name pattern above, e.g. MyFont-Regular.ttf, ...). Only 1 font can be used by the Kindle at a time - you will need to use the plugin and restart the Kindle to change fonts.
To change back to a regular font, just use the "Aa" key to select "std". In fact, if you select the standard font on the Kindle menu, and want to use your custom font again, you may need to run the plugin again to re-load your custom font.
The plugin actually copies the 4 font files to the names alt-Regular, alt-Bold, etc. and sets the preferences to use the font "alt". The Kindle only seems to recognize the "alt" name and not other names, so the plugin just copies your font files to the "alt" name when you select it.
If you have only 3 of the 4 variants of a font, you could copy/rename one of the others, but this does not always work or look right

Font Size

The size of the text on your Kindle will depend on the font you use. You can easily set the size using the settings on the Kindle so you can see the impact.

Line Spacing

You can already control this on the Kindle, but you can use this to set more values.

Other

There are various other settings that the plugin will allow you to change, but they have no known effect.

I've included a few options that don't appear to do anything. I may remove them, but for now I've left them in case someone finds out what they do.

I've linked to one example font that is hopefully okay to post a link to here since it appears to be free, but let me know if there is any issue with this. I expect the font settings to cause some confusion. If you follow the steps, and have a compatible font it does work - but I've no idea how to tell if a font is compatible. Unfortunately if a font isn't compatible you won't be able to open a book to change it and will need to use the plugin to reset it.

All of these settings can be set by you using a file on the Kindle and do not require any hacks to be installed. The plugin just wraps a GUI around it. In fact, I uninstalled my fonts hack to test this and need to re-install it to test it with the hack installed.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to include these settings in the Kindle Collections plugin, but since I needed to re-use a lot of the code it was simpler to add an option than to split out and remove all the parts I didn't need. And having it all in one plugin is simpler to manage. Not sure about renaming the plugin though as I think its the collections feature that most people would be looking for.

[EDIT: file removed ]

05-03-2011, 01:16 PM	#772
meme Sigil developer Posts: 1,274 Karma: 1101600 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: UK Device: Kindle PW, K4 NT, K3, Kobo Touch	Test version 1.5.7d available The unicode support appears almost stable. But before I release a new version, here is a test version of the release that includes some bonus functionality. @A_dagio - let me know if this works ok for you. Thanks to imdqmznh's suggestion at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...&postcount=641 and for the work that the thread points to especially by NiLuJe. Modify Kindle Settings such as Margins and Fonts You can set your horizontal justification and margin size, and even fonts without installing any hacks using this option. Spoiler: Before connecting your Kindle to your PC and changing any of these settings, you must* press the Home key on the Kindle to go to the Home page or your changes will be ignored.* Justification Control whether the text is left justified (ragged right edge) or fully justified (straight left and right edges). Not all books will be affected by this setting depending on how they were created. You can change the setting on the Kindle once you run the plugin and if check 'Allow user justification'. Margin Control the amount of space between the edge of the screen and the text. The Kindle allows you to set to a few values (fewest, fewer, default), but you can use the plugin to set other margins (e.g. 20). Fonts The Kindle does allow you to use a different font for your books without jailbreaking and without installing a font hack. But you need to follow a few steps so that the plugin can find your font and the Kindle can use your font. Find some fonts to use. The font must have 4 Truetype or OpenType files - one each for Regular, Bold, Italic, and BoldItalic variants For example, DroidSerif is popular and free, available from http://www.google.com/webfonts/famil...ly=Droid+Serif (you will need to extract the 4 files from the zip file, and rename DroidSerif.ttf to DroidSerif-Regular.ttf) Go to the Home screen of your Kindle, then connect your Kindle to your PC Create the directory "fonts" on your Kindle at the top (e.g. E:\fonts) if it isn't there already Copy the 4 font files to your Kindle's directory - you must use a specific name format, e.g. if your font is called "DroidSerif", then the 4 files in the font directory must be named as follows (use "-" not "_", and use ".ttf" even if its an OpenType font): DroidSerif-Regular.ttf DroidSerif-Bold.ttf DroidSerif-Italic.ttf DroidSerif-BoldItalic.ttf Run the plugin - your font should be visible in the drop down menu for fonts. If it is not visible then check that the 4 file names are correct and in the right directory Select your font, and click Save Eject and Restart your Kindle Notes: If you get the message "The selected item could not be opened" when you try to open a book, it means the font you selected is not compatible with the Kindle for some reason. Go to the Home screen of your Kindle, reconnect it to your PC, use the plug to select a default font, and restart your Kindle. You can copy any number of fonts to your Kindle's font directory. The plugin will show a list of all fonts it finds (but each font must have the 4 files with the name pattern above, e.g. MyFont-Regular.ttf, ...). Only 1 font can be used by the Kindle at a time - you will need to use the plugin and restart the Kindle to change fonts. To change back to a regular font, just use the "Aa" key to select "std". In fact, if you select the standard font on the Kindle menu, and want to use your custom font again, you may need to run the plugin again to re-load your custom font. The plugin actually copies the 4 font files to the names alt-Regular, alt-Bold, etc. and sets the preferences to use the font "alt". The Kindle only seems to recognize the "alt" name and not other names, so the plugin just copies your font files to the "alt" name when you select it. If you have only 3 of the 4 variants of a font, you could copy/rename one of the others, but this does not always work or look right Font Size The size of the text on your Kindle will depend on the font you use. You can easily set the size using the settings on the Kindle so you can see the impact. Line Spacing You can already control this on the Kindle, but you can use this to set more values. Other There are various other settings that the plugin will allow you to change, but they have no known effect. I've included a few options that don't appear to do anything. I may remove them, but for now I've left them in case someone finds out what they do. I've linked to one example font that is hopefully okay to post a link to here since it appears to be free, but let me know if there is any issue with this. I expect the font settings to cause some confusion. If you follow the steps, and have a compatible font it does work - but I've no idea how to tell if a font is compatible. Unfortunately if a font isn't compatible you won't be able to open a book to change it and will need to use the plugin to reset it. All of these settings can be set by you using a file on the Kindle and do not require any hacks to be installed. The plugin just wraps a GUI around it. In fact, I uninstalled my fonts hack to test this and need to re-install it to test it with the hack installed. I wasn't sure if I wanted to include these settings in the Kindle Collections plugin, but since I needed to re-use a lot of the code it was simpler to add an option than to split out and remove all the parts I didn't need. And having it all in one plugin is simpler to manage. Not sure about renaming the plugin though as I think its the collections feature that most people would be looking for. [EDIT: file removed ] Last edited by meme; 05-04-2011 at 03:41 PM.