Worthless sizes

[brewt]

One of the so-called good things about reflowableness in epubs is being able to make a formerly non-large print book into one on the fly. Trouble is, the set sizings in ADE (and hence, ADE-powered readers) is the default percentage changes with the make-text-larger-or-smaller buttons. I haven't gotten my pica-pole out yet, but it kinds looks sorta like this:

xx-small 75% x-small 89% small 89% medium 100% large 120% x-large 150% xx-large 200%

Now, maybe it's just me, but those ratios suck. I mean, really, who reads anything on the biggest sizes?

Anybody find a clever way to control that a little tighter? Say, ranging from 80% to 130% scale, maybe with a redefinition in the css? (I haven't found anything that works yet).

And is Adobe/Sony/B&N looking at and working on something like this? Infinite control would be better, guys...

-bjc

[Toxaris]

You can always change it in the CSS, but I agree, the scales should be better.

[Gudy]

Originally Posted by brewt

I mean, really, who reads anything on the biggest sizes?

People with visual impairments. Who, from what I've heard, love that you can significantly scale up the font size in ebooks.

That said, yes, user-configurable zoom levels would be great.

[brewt]

Originally Posted by Gudy

People with visual impairments. Who, from what I've heard, love that you can significantly scale up the font size in ebooks.

Well, my father had that, but the size choices available were right around and between what he could make out vs make sense out of. Sure, it was easier to see the biggest size possible, but that made, in most cases, a whole sentence take several screen changes, rendering the read nonsensical if he got distracted. We found he could see things at a size down, but what he really needed was something in between. Hence my need for re-scaling what the size change doohickeys do.

Still haven't found any code that renders control over that yet.

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by brewt

One of the so-called good things about reflowableness in epubs is being able to make a formerly non-large print book into one on the fly. Trouble is, the set sizings in ADE (and hence, ADE-powered readers)

The sizings are set in ADE not in RMSDK (it's RMSDK powered readers, not ADE powered readers btw). This font sizing is a choice of the RMSDK implementers, not enforced by RMSDK itself (it does however interact with the CSS in the document). You can look at the B&N Nook Color (or N2E), Bluefire Reader (Mac or Android) and ADE and see different font sizing selections, for instance.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by brewt

Well, my father had that, but the size choices available were right around and between what he could make out vs make sense out of. Sure, it was easier to see the biggest size possible, but that made, in most cases, a whole sentence take several screen changes, rendering the read nonsensical if he got distracted. We found he could see things at a size down, but what he really needed was something in between. Hence my need for re-scaling what the size change doohickeys do.

Still haven't found any code that renders control over that yet.

What you could do is put PRS+ on the Sony and use the code for changing the font for also changing the font size. It may or may not work depending if other CSS styles change the main text size. But if you edit each ePub, it is fairly easy to sort it out. Of course, maybe the PRS+ developers can sort out the font size issues.

[brewt]

Originally Posted by Jim Lester

The sizings are set in ADE not in RMSDK (it's RMSDK powered readers, not ADE powered readers btw). This font sizing is a choice of the RMSDK implementers, not enforced by RMSDK itself (it does however interact with the CSS in the document). You can look at the B&N Nook Color (or N2E), Bluefire Reader (Mac or Android) and ADE and see different font sizing selections, for instance.

So, is there something on the nook that, when I select "Larger Text" on the device, that I, as the book designer, can control the percentage of biggerness that happens, and not the machine default? (the machine defaults on the devices I've seen seem to be related to the scale I mentioned above, which doesn't work for me). Lookin' for an override control, I am I am.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by brewt

So, is there something on the nook that, when I select "Larger Text" on the device, that I, as the book designer, can control the percentage of biggerness that happens, and not the machine default?

I'd be surprised if there were.

[Jim Lester]

Originally Posted by brewt

So, is there something on the nook that, when I select "Larger Text" on the device, that I, as the book designer, can control the percentage of biggerness that happens, and not the machine default? (the machine defaults on the devices I've seen seem to be related to the scale I mentioned above, which doesn't work for me). Lookin' for an override control, I am I am.

No. The parameters I was talking about work as follows, on most of the Nooks. There is UI to present the user with a list of font size (among a list of other choices - line spacing, justification, margins). As a UI decision there is a fixed list of choices for the user (rather than just bigger/smaller). This fixed list of sizes (hardcoded in) results in the Nook UI telling the RMSDK what the point size for 1em should be, based upon the user selection.

Also I am more sympathetic to the idea of user control than author control of the reading experience (for the things such as font, spacing, etc...), since my personal choices in reading will be different than yours

[brewt]

Originally Posted by Jim Lester

since my personal choices in reading will be different than yours

Yeah, but we all know I'd be right.

-bjc