Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
The font issue we've had has been with a Type1 (and yes, we also FontForged, to no avail). The font that started it all, at our end, was Orator Std, and lo, the long/short of it is, IT JUST DON'T WORK. ;-) And more importantly, it caused all the other fonts to fail, as well. Nothing we've done makes this font work at KDP, but we've seen other instances with other fonts, in different books, although the corrupted upload method discussed has worked with those. When we made a mobi in our standard way (KG), the resulting post-upload preview file displayed no fonts. When downloaded and unpacked, fonts were in the kindlegensrc.zip, but nowhere else. We tried zipped html files, ePUBs...nothing. The only way we got fonts to "take" was to take the source files, tweak them for mobi as we usually do, zip the results using WinRAR (other zipping methods, thus far, have not worked at all), then rename the resulting zip file as "ePUB" and upload it, even though that "ePUB" was not a valid ePUB. Now, when I say, this got the fonts to "take," the other font, Century Schoolbook, displayed fine; but the Orator was a disaster.
|
Ah, that was something I wasn't clear on. So, if a Type1 font (or a TTF or OTF derived from a Type1) is present in a valid epub or a mobi prepared from a valid epub or other method, then ALL fonts, even non-Type1, are stripped by KDP. Whereas, if the invalid (WinRar) epub or a mobi prepared from it (?) is uploaded, then the fonts survive although the Type1 still doesn't render properly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
We've seen this with a TTF Com4s Sans and yes, the Gandhi, which is a Type1. So, thus far, I haven't been able to nail it down to one thing/factor.
|
Would it be fair to say that one required factor is the presence of a Type1 font? Or have you seen misbehavior even when no Type1 fonts were present (aside from Matthew's case)? Or, conversely, are there some Type1 fonts that do display properly?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
And, yes, we are seeing this issue sporadically whether the mobis are perfectly functional and made without any error messages via KindleGen, KindlePreviewer, or even via dropping an OPF; thinking it was something in the compression/zipping of Sigil, versus the "new" KDP, I've tried epubpack, I've tried ePUBTweak, and I've used several other zipping utilities. For the Orator book, only the WinRAR-ed, then-renamed, not-valid ePUB got any font result at all, and you see what a mess that is.
|
That would seem to exonerate Sigil's zip routines and compression in general (as starting with an OPF and a directory tree doesn't involve any compression).
I'm getting the impression that there are several separate issues.
- Type1 fonts are not handled properly during the final stages (step 6 or after?) of KDP conversion.
- Type1 fonts don't display properly even when present in the final file.
- The KDP previewer isn't reflecting the state of the file that is actually offered for sale or preview download.
The previewer problem suggests that the previewer is displaying the "pre-step-6" file before it gets trashed.
I wonder what kind of processing goes on after step 6? Could it have to do with applying DRM?
Seems to me it has to be a bug in KDP. Hopefully it can be avoided by not using Type1 fonts at all.
I'll keep you in my prayers.
Albert