Quote:
Originally Posted by Ea
It does look a good deal better on the Kindle. I was quite disappointed, too, when I tried it on the PB as I like it on the Kindle. It looked much thinner on the PB (due to the higher resolution perhaps?) and was uncomfortable to read.
|
Most probably it was caused by the fact that Caecilia is normally distributed in *.otf format. I think that PocketBook software can not use hinting information in otf format so it tries to render the font in its true shape. I tried to convert otf font file into ttf and I was informed by conversion software that hinting info in otf is incompatible with ttf format. Non-hinted font will not look good on a small resolution screen. And anything below 400dpi IS a small resolution. A 6" screen has resolution 166dpi and 5" one has resolution 200dpi. Do not take me wrong, 200dpi is great resolution for a screen, but not from a typographical point of view.
This is why so many people like to read using Verdana, Georgia, and other "core" Microsoft fonts on their e-ink readers. Fonts that Microsoft bundles with Windows, Office, Windows Vista, Office 2007, or web core pack are very well hinted.
If you have PocektBook, load alternative version of FBReader, set font size increase step to 1, display text using Verdana, gradualy increase the size and observe the results. You will see that shapes of letters are aggressively squeezed into a pixel grid, so vertical and horizontal strokes always look very sharp, even, and evenly sized.
Apple traditionally does this different way, so any Windows user that looks at Apple screen and every Apple user that looks at Windows screen innediately know that something is ... different here.
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html
http://damieng.com/blog/2007/06/13/f...s-and-mac-os-x
For more info on hinting see
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/...tingIntro.mspx -
look at all five pages. VERY informative.
http://designorati.com/articles/t1/t...ay-hinting.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Font_hinting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._Windows_fonts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_fonts_for_the_Web
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambria_%28typeface%29
Also see Calibri, Candara, Consolas, Constantia, and Corbel, links on Cambria page.