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Old 06-13-2014, 03:22 PM   #12
MikeWV
Connoisseur
MikeWV began at the beginning.
 
Posts: 54
Karma: 10
Join Date: Nov 2013
Device: Kobo Touch
SVG Images and Table Talk

I figured out part of the answer to my original question. The font used in the SVG images is the default font of the device on which it is displayed. For example, if I change the default font in Firefox to Calibri, the font in my SVG images is Calibri when I simply open an SVG file or an XHTML file containing an SVG image in Firefox. I also see Calibri in EPUBReader for Firefox. The default font in ADE is apparently Times New Roman and that cannot be changed.

The part of my question that I haven't figured out is how to specify a non-proprietary or generic sans serif font within the SVG files, within the image tag or in the CSS that will override the font that is set in the software presenting the images to a reader. I really need a sans serif font for the larger tables, as tiny serifed fonts are not clear.

I determined early on that because most of my tables are too big to be handled effectively and consistently by e-reading software, I would have to use images of the tables. And although my tables range from small to large, I decided to use images for all tables in the interest of continuity. But that's fine with me, as working with all but the smallest of HTML tables is a royal pain. Plus I already have perfectly good tables in Excel, so why why torture myself by reproducing them in HTML? I agree with Tex2002ans, many of the "disadvantages" of HTML tables look like desirable qualities to me. My tables would be incomprehensible if they wrapped, so not having that ability is a definite plus.

My market is individual investors and I plan to make the books available on Amazon, B&N, Kobo and Apple. The most recent version of the Amazon Kindle Publishing Guide states that SVG is a valid image file type. I took this to mean that KindleGen can now make SVG images work in Mobi for the older Kindles. Acoording to this wiki https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/KF8 "KF8 replaces MOBI but actually includes both a MOBI database and a KF8 database in the same file for backwards compatibility using older Amazon Kindle readers." But it doesn't say what KindleGen does with SVG images. If KindleGen converts SVGs to JPGs for older Kindles, it won't work. If it doesn't work, I may have to provide the books in two versions.

As far as the size of reading devices is concerned, my books are not novels, they are technical in nature and have formulas, tables and charts, which makes them ill-suited to reading on pocket-sized devices like phones. I managed to make the images look good at low resolution (96 ppi) on a 600x800 e-reader with fixed image dimensions and fixed font size, but that's the smallest that will work. I'm hoping that most of the people who buy the books will plan to read them on a tablet and that anyone who buys them will realize that they're not going to be able to read them on phone. According to recent poles, the trend in e-reading is toward tablets and hybrids like the Fire HD. Phones are OK for reading novels, I suppose, but not much of anything else other than email, texts and an occasional weather report.
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