PRS-650 Can the 650 change font and justification?

[AlexBell]

I'm seriously considering buying a Sony 650. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that they will be sold in shops in the city where I live, so I can't check it out for myself.

I have downloaded the manual using the link that Igorsk posted, but can't see any indication that the user can choose font families, or can choose between justified and right ragged edge justification.

Do users of the Sony 650 have these choices? What is the default font?

Regards, Alex

[Squirsier]

If I judge from my PRS-350, which should use the same software as the PRS-650, the only difference being the smaller screen size, you can't change fonts or justification from the device ; you'd have to use Calibre to convert the ebooks to change those.

As for the default font, same as the older model, but I can't be specific as I don't know the names. The BBeB and ePub ones are different.

[BSquaredInOz]

I just bought my 650 and the answer to both your questions is "no". You can change font size but not font family and the justification is whatever the publication comes with.

Other than this though it seems (from my limited use and extensive research) to be a great gadget, at least for me

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by BSquaredInOz

I just bought my 650 and the answer to both your questions is "no". You can change font size but not font family and the justification is whatever the publication comes with.

Other than this though it seems (from my limited use and extensive research) to be a great gadget, at least for me

Thanks to you both. That's a little surprising and disappointing - I can change fonts and change justification on both my ECO Reader and my Cybook Gen 3.

I'll probably go in and change the stylesheet if I don't like what the publisher gives me, rather than use Calibre or Sigil.

Is the default font serif or sans-serif?

Regards, Alex

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Is the default font serif or sans-serif?Regards, Alex

I'm pretty sure it is serif, a version of Times Roman.

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Is the default font serif or sans-serif?

Regards, Alex

It is definitely serif.

One word of caution that I found out using my 300 and 900 with extra fonts. You can of course rename a non-DRMed ePub to name.zip, extract it, modify the files, rezip it, then rename it back to name.epub. But in some cases the Sony reader will not read these modified books. I'm not sure why and not all are unreadable, but some will generate errors and Sony Readers will puke.

To avoid this problem I would copy the epub and rename it to name.zip, extract it, and view the CSS file. But rather than modifying the copy I would use calibre to add the original epub book, edit the metadata if necessary, then convert it and add the CSS changes (overrides) during conversion. Sony Readers did not puke on these like they did the hand modified books.

[Jonimeesermann]

Originally Posted by jswinden

It is definitely serif.

One word of caution that I found out using my 300 and 900 with extra fonts. You can of course rename a non-DRMed ePub to name.zip, extract it, modify the files, rezip it, then rename it back to name.epub. But in some cases the Sony reader will not read these modified books. I'm not sure why and not all are unreadable, but some will generate errors and Sony Readers will puke.

Maybe somehow the mimetype file get compressed when you rezip it? Because mimetype should not be compressed in epub file.

To avoid this problem I would copy the epub and rename it to name.zip, extract it, and view the CSS file. But rather than modifying the copy I would use calibre to add the original epub book, edit the metadata if necessary, then convert it and add the CSS changes (overrides) during conversion. Sony Readers did not puke on these like they did the hand modified books.

While your method works, you could eliminate unnecessary step (re-convert with calibre and rename to zip) using 7zip (or any other zip tools) to open and extract it. Then you can modify css as you like, and after that just drag and drop only css file to the epub file (which is still opened by 7zip).

And you do not need to rename it to zip, just set epub file association with your zip program and it will be opened just like any other zip file.

[dmapr]

Originally Posted by Jonimeesermann

While your method works, you could eliminate unnecessary step (re-convert with calibre and rename to zip) using 7zip (or any other zip tools) to open and extract it. Then you can modify css as you like, and after that just drag and drop only css file to the epub file (which is still opened by 7zip).

And you do not need to rename it to zip, just set epub file association with your zip program and it will be opened just like any other zip file.

I don't even change the epub association, I just right-click and choose Open with… option. Windows will remember the programs you used, so you only need to browse to it once. Other than that I do it exactly like you said and have yet to run into a book that would give the reader trouble.

[Jonimeesermann]

Originally Posted by dmapr

I don't even change the epub association, I just right-click and choose Open with… option. Windows will remember the programs you used, so you only need to browse to it once. Other than that I do it exactly like you said and have yet to run into a book that would give the reader trouble.

Or just use Sigil. I tried Sigil about two months ago, decided didn't like it and just sort of forgotten.

But then I''ve just take a look at recent version, and it improves significantly IMO. The last version I've tried didn't even have tabbed editing (which current version has), and it really is a time saver

[etienne66]

If you are going to zip it manually. The mimetype file has to be first and uncompressed. Like the following example I got from www.hxa.name/articles/content/epub-guide_hxa7241_2007.html

zip -X0 EpubGuide-hxa7241.epub mimetype
zip -Xur9D EpubGuide-hxa7241.epub *

Etienne66

[Amalthia]

Originally Posted by etienne66

If you are going to zip it manually. The mimetype file has to be first and uncompressed. Like the following example I got from www.hxa.name/articles/content/epub-guide_hxa7241_2007.html

zip -X0 EpubGuide-hxa7241.epub mimetype
zip -Xur9D EpubGuide-hxa7241.epub *

Etienne66

I'm a bit confused by what you mean first? Like first in the folder with all the other contents? or first in the OPF file?

I personally find it easier just to use calibre since I'm going to also create MOBI conversions from my ePubs. Plus I hate commandline apps, I had to use those back in the 1970s and 1980s and quickly tired of them. If you misstype one character it blows up in your face.

[etienne66]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

I'm a bit confused by what you mean first? Like first in the folder with all the other contents? or first in the OPF file?

If you find this confusing, I would not worry about how to do it manually, but to use Calibre or Sigil to make the necessary changes like the others have already mentioned. Both programs will make sure the file is compressed properly.

However to explain the technical details:

The mimetype file is not supposed to be listed in the OPF file.

The mimetype file has to be the first file in the epub file and uncompressed. If you were to look at the epub file from a binary level. It would be the first file. This is so that it makes it quick to identify this zip file as an epub file. If you look in the mimetype file with notepad or some other text editor you will see the text application/epub+zip. You don't need to be able to unzip a file to identify it as an epub. This text will always be a set number of bytes from the beginning of the file and because it is not compressed it is easily identified.

You could open up a epub file with notepad, most of the text would be unreadable, but you wold notice the application/epub+zip clearly visible at the same spot in every file.

Etienne66

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Squirsier

If I judge from my PRS-350, which should use the same software as the PRS-650, the only difference being the smaller screen size, you can't change fonts or justification from the device ; you'd have to use Calibre to convert the ebooks to change those.

It still requires editing each ePub, but see Mini-Review of my 350 with Photos for font customization documentation.

[Jonimeesermann]

Originally Posted by etienne66

You could open up a epub file with notepad, most of the text would be unreadable, but you wold notice the application/epub+zip clearly visible at the same spot in every file.

Etienne66

That's not quite true though. All files (xhtml, opf, css, etc) will be readable and editable if you open it with browser or text editor, it just that linked file to css or images will not work.