Troubleshooting An issue with Arabic script in Kindle Paperwhite

simurq · 08-23-2020, 06:08 AM

I'm using the 5th generation (B024) PW, which is a KF8-compatible device, as far as I'm aware, with the latest firmware update v5.6.1.1. I created an EPUB3 book with Russian text and some portions of the content in Arabic put inside span tags, as shown in the markup and CSS code below, and converted it to AZW3 using Calibre v4.23 (also the latest version as of today):

Quote:

/* html brackets for spans <> changed to square brackets [] by me to make the content visible on the forum page */

...появляются легендарные йаджудж и маджудж ([span class="arabic" dir="rtl" lang="ar" xml:lang="ar"]يأجوج و مأجوج[/span] - Прим. сост.).

Code:

span.arabic {
  font-size: 1.2em;
  font-family: Amiri;
}

The language of the book is declared as follows:

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:epub="http://www.idpf.org/2007/ops" lang="ru" xml:lang="ru">

The only media query used in the book is:

Code:

@media screen and (min-width: 1024px) {
  body {
    width: 1024px;
    margin: auto;
  }
}

The fonts used are well-recognized in the community (PT Sans/Serif for Russian and Amiri for Arabic) and have been embedded in the stylesheet and declared in 'content.opf' using Calibre Editor v4.23:

Spoiler:

Code:

@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/Amiri-Bold.ttf);
  font-family: "Amiri";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/Amiri-BoldSlanted.ttf);
  font-family: "Amiri";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/Amiri-Regular.ttf);
  font-family: "Amiri";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/Amiri-Slanted.ttf);
  font-family: "Amiri";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTC55F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans Caption";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTC75F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans Caption";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTF55E.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif Expert";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTF55F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTF56F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTF75F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTF76F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTS55E.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans Expert";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTS55F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTS56F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTS75F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTS76F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Sans";
  font-weight: bold;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTZ55F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif Caption";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: normal;
  font-stretch: normal;
}
@font-face {
  src: url(../Fonts/PTZ56F.ttf);
  font-family: "PT Serif Caption";
  font-weight: normal;
  font-style: italic;
  font-stretch: normal;
}

Now, when I open the book in Kindle AND select 'Publisher Font' from the device's menu, I can see a series of unconnected Arabic letters with no meaning at all (click on image below to see the same content in Kindle). I don't have the same issue with the default Kindle font setting though. Nor do I have a problem when viewing the files (EPUB3/AZW3) in Chrome or Calibre Viewer.

So, can you please advise what's wrong or a remedy to make Kindle show the Arabic script properly? Thank you!

Rustam Alhas

jhowell · 08-23-2020, 09:06 AM

I don't have a good solution for you. Hopefully others have found ways to get the most out of the KF8 (azw3) renderer in terms of Arabic and will provide details here.

One thing that might be relevant to this problem is that Amazon only delivers Arabic language Kindle books in KFX format, not in KF8. I presume that this because there are deficiencies in how the KF8 renderer deals with RTL text. Your PaperWhite model is too old to run firmware with KFX support, however you might be able to use Amazon's Kindle Previewer software to see how the book would look with Enhanced Typesetting (KFX).

Another possible alternative, if there are only occasional snippets of Arabic in your book, is to replace each of them with an image of the text sized en em units.

simurq · 08-25-2020, 07:36 AM

Your reply was really helpful, thank you! I thought that the KF8 renderer is okay if it shows Arabic script with default settings on my KPW, and the problem was with my stylesheet. Now I just hope that the epub3 I'm going to publish renders well on KFX devices, none of which I possess currently to test myself. Nor can I check the book on Kindle Previewer, as my rig with Windows 7 doesn't support the latest version of the software, which requires W8 or higher. I'm getting too old for new tech advances... )))

As to pieces of Arabic text converted to images, I refused it as an option from the day one, although it was on my list before the start of the work. Thank you anyway!

08-25-2020, 07:36 AM	#3
simurq Member Posts: 20 Karma: 1000010 Join Date: Jul 2015 Device: Kindle Paperwhite v1	Your reply was really helpful, thank you! I thought that the KF8 renderer is okay if it shows Arabic script with default settings on my KPW, and the problem was with my stylesheet. Now I just hope that the epub3 I'm going to publish renders well on KFX devices, none of which I possess currently to test myself. Nor can I check the book on Kindle Previewer, as my rig with Windows 7 doesn't support the latest version of the software, which requires W8 or higher. I'm getting too old for new tech advances... ))) As to pieces of Arabic text converted to images, I refused it as an option from the day one, although it was on my list before the start of the work. Thank you anyway! Last edited by simurq; 08-25-2020 at 07:38 AM.

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08-23-2020, 09:06 AM	#2
jhowell Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,051 Karma: 91577715 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Charlottesville, VA Device: Kindles	I don't have a good solution for you. Hopefully others have found ways to get the most out of the KF8 (azw3) renderer in terms of Arabic and will provide details here. One thing that might be relevant to this problem is that Amazon only delivers Arabic language Kindle books in KFX format, not in KF8. I presume that this because there are deficiencies in how the KF8 renderer deals with RTL text. Your PaperWhite model is too old to run firmware with KFX support, however you might be able to use Amazon's Kindle Previewer software to see how the book would look with Enhanced Typesetting (KFX). Another possible alternative, if there are only occasional snippets of Arabic in your book, is to replace each of them with an image of the text sized en em units.

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