PRS-300 VERY slow

[jhempel24]

I use Book Designer and Calibre, to format my books, and it seems that any time I use anything BUT the default options, the formatting and the refresh are VERY VERY Slow. For instance changing the Font to georgia and the size to 9.

Is this normal or is there a problem?

I've never used Book designer, but I haven't noticed any negative impact on books tweaked in calibre as far as displaying them on my 300 or 900.

However, you need to give more information. For example what file type or you converting or modifying and what file type are you converting to. If you a converting from an ePub to a BBeB then you can expect the BBeB to be a much larger file due to embedded fonts and what not, and so a BBeB file will display more slowly on a 300 than its equivelant ePub file.

If you are modifying an ePub to another ePub, you shouldn't see any noticeable difference in display times. However, if you change an ePub font to a font not located on your 300, then it won't display that font but will display the default font instead. As far as I know, the only way to make an ePub display the Georgia font is to add the Georgia font into a fonts directory on the root directory of the 300 and then have the CSS file reference the font file. Search these forums for how to do his.

Actually, let me show you the CSS code to add using calibre to reference the Georgia font in a ePub.

Prior to using this CSS, you must have copied the Georgia font files to a directory named fonts on your 300's root. (The directory does not need to be named fonts, but for this example that is what we will call it.)

Step 1: Copy Georgia font files to the /fonts directory on PRS300

• georgia.ttf
• georgiab.ttf
• georgiai.ttf
• georgiaz.ttf

Step 2: Use calibre to reference the Georgia font files in the /fonts directory

@font-face {
font-family: "Georgia";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/georgia.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Georgia";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: normal;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/georgiab.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Georgia";
font-weight: normal;
font-style: italic;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/georgiai.ttf);
}

@font-face {
font-family: "Georgia";
font-weight: bold;
font-style: italic;
src: url(res:///Data/fonts/georgiaz.ttf);
}

body { font-family: "Georgia", serif; }

The last line body { font-family: "Georgia", serif; } in this example assumes the CSS file(s) in your ePub use the Body tag to define all the fonts in the book. Unfortunately that is rarely the case, so you will have to override any additional tags within the CSS that refer to a font-family.

BTW, in the URL references like src: url(res:///Data/fonts/georgia.ttf); the reference ///Data/ is the root of the PRS300.

[HarryT]

What file format are you talking about?

If you're embedding a font into an LRF file, the result will be painfully slow.

[ludovicus]

Harry - jswinden states that he's talking about epub:

Actually, let me show you the CSS code to add using calibre to reference the Georgia font in a ePub.

jswinden - Have you found that embedding fonts on the 300 makes it slower?

Thanks!

[jhempel24]

I'm talking LRF format, not ePUB, but I'll just keep the font the default on the BookDesigner, it's not all that important to me to change the font and size. I was just curious if something was wrong with the reader.

But using book designer, it also really doesn't matter what file I'm converting from because it dis-assembles the file from what I can see.

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by ludovicus

Harry - jswinden states that he's talking about epub:



jswinden - Have you found that embedding fonts on the 300 makes it slower?

Thanks!

If you create a LRF (BBeB) book with embedded fonts then it will definitely be slower to open and turn pages in than the same book in ePub format.

You cannot embed fonts in an ePub. You can add fonts to your 300 and then reference them in a converted/modified ePub, but doing so does not slow down the file on the 300. It should be the same speed as using the 300's default fonts.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by ludovicus

Harry - jswinden states that he's talking about epub

Too bad jswinden wasn't the original poster complaining about slow response.

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I'm talking LRF format, not ePUB

As HarryT noted it was obvious by your complaint that you were talking about LRF.

It's always nice to know when it is a limitation of the device/format. If you ever decide to go the epub route I'm sure jswinden's advice is solid.

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I'm talking LRF format, not ePUB, but I'll just keep the font the default on the BookDesigner, it's not all that important to me to change the font and size. I was just curious if something was wrong with the reader.

But using book designer, it also really doesn't matter what file I'm converting from because it dis-assembles the file from what I can see.

Thanks guys!

Then that is why it is so slow. LRF files are bloated whether or not you embed fonts, and even more bloated if you do embed fonts. LRF files are much slower to use on the 300.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Then that is why it is so slow. LRF files are bloated whether or not you embed fonts, and even more bloated if you do embed fonts. LRF files are much slower to use on the 300.

LRF files are no slower on a 300/505 then epubs and work fine as long as you don't embed fonts.

With the nice headers and lack of any number in the right hand margin many folks here prefer the LRF format.

Personally I use ePub, but to each his/her own.

[Toxaris]

Originally Posted by jswinden

You cannot embed fonts in an ePub. You can add fonts to your 300 and then reference them in a converted/modified ePub, but doing so does not slow down the file on the 300. fonts.

Since when? As far as I know you can do both. There are guides how to embed fonts with epub in that section of the forum. I tried both embedding and fonts on the device and both worked.
Embedded fonts are much slower though.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jhempel24

I'm talking LRF format, not ePUB, but I'll just keep the font the default on the BookDesigner, it's not all that important to me to change the font and size. I was just curious if something was wrong with the reader.

Just a note that changing the font size won't cause any slow down. It's embedding a new font that slows things down.