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Old 07-03-2025, 12:57 PM   #27
DNSB
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Posts: 47,048
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Vancouver
Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos
Quote:
Originally Posted by jackm8 View Post
It's me that wondering if you've ever really compared KFX and AZW3.
Oddly, I have compared mobi to KF8 to KFX on Amazon devices and apps. I have also compared ePub to KF8 to KFX. That the latter comparison shows that many of the "enhanced" features for KFX have been available elsewhere for decades does not make me feel very impressed with KFX. As for KF8? An ePub wannabe.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jackm8 View Post
And why are you even comparing Kobo Touch and Paperwhite? If you're in Kindle ecosystem, you can only compare KFX and AZW3. That's all there is, and the discussion is between these formats. KFX has better typesetting than AZW3, and it has more features than AZW3. It makes sense, as all their support and development stopped on AZW3 when KFX was introduced. AZW3 is a legacy format.
Given that the Kobo Touch is an older device, I felt comparing KFX on a Paperwhite to ePub3 on a Kobo Touch was a fair comparison. Once again, that many of the "features" claimed for Enhanced Typesetting are available on old non-Amazon devices does little to impress me with KFX.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jackm8 View Post
For the use in native amazon reader, I've all my sideloaded books in KFX format and they all work better than if they're in AZW3 format. Drop caps are a niche feature, but hyphens, ligatures and kerning, are absolutely vital, simply because AZW3 doesn't support them at all. Covers work, thumbnails work, text is always the same or better compared to AZW3 on the same files. I really don't see a reason to use AZW3 at all.
And again, we still have the wide margins, the inability to set line heights below 1.2, etc. As for covers and thumbnails? Can you name another ereader brand where covers and thumbnails are a worry?

Sadly, hyphens, ligatures and kerning have been supported by other ebook readers for decades. This makes it hard to take Amazon's Enhanced Typesetting claims very seriously—we are offering features that other ereaders have supported for decades and claiming it as enhanced is more than a trifle risible. Then Amazon claims the ability to start reading before a download is finished is "Enhanced Typesetting".

The issues with hyphenation, non-breaking spaces, etc. are still there. Given the time and effort Amazon is spending on their ever changing DRM, couldn't they have at least one developer attempting to fix the bugs in the KFX renderer?
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