All new Kindle and "all new" auto-hyphenation? (Yes, this is a Nook thread!)

[ZodWallop]

So I was reading articles on typography last night (because that's how I roll) and I found a couple of articles discussing the new Bookerly font. I noticed they are all hot and bothered about the Kindle's new ability to auto-hyphenate.

From the PC Mag article: "The automatic hyphenation, on the other hand, is an absolutely terrific idea. You won't realize how awkward Kindle line spacing was until you've seen your first properly hyphenated Kindle page, and then you'll never want to go back."

Hasn't Nook done this for years? Here's a screenshot of my Nook Simple Touch and there are several auto-hyphenated words:



Has Kindle not done that until now? If it hasn't, how come I haven't heard that listed as a con before? Are they doing something different? Why does the Kindle get so much praise if it couldn't do something so basic until now?

B&N have dropped the ball in a number of areas, but until the latest Nook Glowlight model, their hardware was very nice.

[mycurlylocks]

Wow! I thought all e-ink readers auto-hypenated. I thought my Sony PRS 505 did. Not sure now. All of my Nooks have.

I learn something new every day.

[robko]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Why does the Kindle get so much praise if it couldn't do something so basic until now?

The short answer is because they're Kindle and the media don't pay attention to anyone else to realize it's not a novel new concept. There are lots of things that Kindles do poorly that boogles the minds of users of other brands that Kindle doesn't seem to care about (i.e. a massive number of size settings rather than the limited number on Kindle). Really this is very typical of the big leader brand in any industry. When they finally add a new feature it's the greatest thing since sliced bread even if their competitors have done it for years.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by robko

Really this is very typical of the big leader brand in any industry. When they finally add a new feature it's the greatest thing since sliced bread even if their competitors have done it for years.

Yeah, I guess Apple's been getting away with some of that for years.

Having read some articles and watched a video (yes, that's what I do on a Friday night. Call me Mr. Excitement), the combination of the Kindle's new layout engine and the Bookerly font does some gorgeous things with kearning and ligatures that make a page on the Paperwhite look more like a page in a print book.

So I don't want to say they haven't done anything. I am just surprised at the excitement over something Kindle should have been doing for years.

Yeah, it's bizarre that somebody appears to consider hyphenation a new idea. This is probably the largest discrepancy (in favor of the Nook) between the Nook and Kindle, in my opinion. When I first started reading fully justified text on my Voyage, I was pretty surprised at how bad it looked. Thankfully Calibre can make everything ragged right, but this was never even an issue on my Nook, except on the rare occasions the hyphenation engine died.

I'm glad the Kindle is improving its typography, although it's kind of pathetic how bad it's been for so long. But it's apparently not a big deal to most people, so what are you going to do?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Colerson

I'm glad the Kindle is improving its typography, although it's kind of pathetic how bad it's been for so long. But it's apparently not a big deal to most people, so what are you going to do?

I've never had a Kindle. I'm most familiar with the Nook world. But I'm surprised that I never heard about Kindle's lousy formatting as a knock against it. Every time a new version comes out, it is hailed as the best e-reader available. Such a basic task has been skipped until Amazon fixed it.

I'm thinking of making my next e-reader a Voyage. But if I convert all my ePub to AZW3, I'm wondering if I will have to put in any extra work to make sure my hypothetical Kindle knows to auto-hyphenate and not make my book look like crap.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by mycurlylocks

Wow! I thought all e-ink readers auto-hypenated. I thought my Sony PRS 505 did. Not sure now. All of my Nooks have.

I learn something new every day.

Sony did not hyphenate until the T3 which was not sold in the US and was the last Reader Sony sold. The 505 did not even do full justification with ePub because of the 1.7.2 version RMDSK used. Sony never did upgrade the 505's RMDSK.

Amazon does not hyphenate yet. The firmware for the PW3 that hyphenates has not yet been released to the public. The reviews that show hyphenation are running a beta firmware.

Kobo does hyphenate and all of the other new typesetting that the PW3 will eventually do.

The nook does hyphenate but it over does it.

Other Readers that run RMDSK should hyphenate as long as the version of RMDSK is a new enough version. But I cannot tell you which other brands do hyphenate.

[dickloraine]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I've never had a Kindle. I'm most familiar with the Nook world. But I'm surprised that I never heard about Kindle's lousy formatting as a knock against it. Every time a new version comes out, it is hailed as the best e-reader available. Such a basic task has been skipped until Amazon fixed it.

I'm thinking of making my next e-reader a Voyage. But if I convert all my ePub to AZW3, I'm wondering if I will have to put in any extra work to make sure my hypothetical Kindle knows to auto-hyphenate and not make my book look like crap.

There is a calibre plugin called "hyphenate this", which adds soft-hyphens to azw3 and epubs. So you can have hyphenation even with the current firmware using this plugin.

[robko]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I'm thinking of making my next e-reader a Voyage. But if I convert all my ePub to AZW3, I'm wondering if I will have to put in any extra work to make sure my hypothetical Kindle knows to auto-hyphenate and not make my book look like crap.

Since the firmware isn't released we don't know for sure. BUT reports so far are that it requires coding changes in the book itself to make hyphenation work. SO FAR Amazon hasn't shared what these changes are so it's not known if this is something that is going to possible to insert into sideloaded books. There has been some discussion buried in the Kindle forum in various threads.
Short version is that currently it needs to be a specially created Amazon book for hyphenation to work. That may or may not change.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by robko

SO FAR Amazon hasn't shared what these changes are so it's not known if this is something that is going to possible to insert into sideloaded books.

If they are stupid enough to hold it back from sideloaded books, I guess I won't be getting that Voyage. Since i'm planning on adding the books I own to this future device, most of my books will be sideloaded, at first anyway.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

There is a calibre plugin called "hyphenate this", which adds soft-hyphens to azw3 and epubs. So you can have hyphenation even with the current firmware using this plugin.

Or I will use "hyphenate this"

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by dickloraine

There is a calibre plugin called "hyphenate this", which adds soft-hyphens to azw3 and epubs. So you can have hyphenation even with the current firmware using this plugin.

Soft hyphens work with Kindles, but they do not work with RMDSK (ADE). Though if you have a new enough version of RMDSK, you'll not need to add soft hyphens as you get hyphens anyway.

[dickloraine]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Soft hyphens work with Kindles, but they do not work with RMDSK (ADE). Though if you have a new enough version of RMDSK, you'll not need to add soft hyphens as you get hyphens anyway.

He has asked for the kindle and there it works. ADE is complicated. Old versions sometimes do support soft-hyphens, depending on the device and the implementation there. For newer devices this is of course not needed.