No magic in the Kindle: Three reasons

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by spooky69

The Sony Reader is cooler than the Kindle because it has a (mostly) metal case, is uniformly thin, and keeps its intended functionality relatively narrow. Also, I like the "book-like" justification or whatever you call it where the words spread out to both edges. Is there a hack for the Kindle to make the fonts and formatting not look ridiculous?

And that makes it "cool"?? OK .... be honest, you are a teenager, right??

I don't often purchase electronics for the "cool" factor. I purchase them because they do what I want them to do. I don't see the functionality of the Kindle as being overly broad, unless you are referring to the ability to connect to the internet and purchase books without a computer. And, come to think of it .... that's pretty damn cool.

The "book-like" justification is called "full justification" ... some people like it, and others don't. I happen to be a "don't" myself. I don't find anything ridiculous about left justification, and generally use that in my legal documents.

Since you don't own a Kindle, and don't use a Kindle, why would anyone create a hack to change justification to suit you? Is a change in the justification going to make you run out and buy one?? Seriously??

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by spooky69

The Sony Reader is cooler than the Kindle because it has a (mostly) metal case, is uniformly thin, and keeps its intended functionality relatively narrow. Also, I like the "book-like" justification or whatever you call it where the words spread out to both edges. Is there a hack for the Kindle to make the fonts and formatting not look ridiculous?

How does metal make it better. The older Airbus airplanes were metal... now the newest ones are carbon fiber (plastic basically). The carbon fiber is stronger and lighter which is why it is being used. This material is used for the new Cirrus planes also. The Tesla Motor's Roadster has a carbon fiber body, as do I think Saab's.

BOb

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

And that makes it "cool"?? OK .... be honest, you are a teenager, right??

I don't often purchase electronics for the "cool" factor. I purchase them because they do what I want them to do. I don't see the functionality of the Kindle as being overly broad, unless you are referring to the ability to connect to the internet and purchase books without a computer. And, come to think of it .... that's pretty damn cool.

The "book-like" justification is called "full justification" ... some people like it, and others don't. I happen to be a "don't" myself. I don't find anything ridiculous about left justification, and generally use that in my legal documents.

Since you don't own a Kindle, and don't use a Kindle, why would anyone create a hack to change justification to suit you? Is a change in the justification going to make you run out and buy one?? Seriously??

Ya took the words right out of my mouth, only better.....

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

I happen to be a "don't" myself. I don't find anything ridiculous about left justification, and generally use that in my legal documents.

I'm also a "don't" on my Cybook. I have no problem in general with full justification, but given the short line lengths (in my chosen font) and lack of good hyphenation, I prefer left justification on my reader.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

I'm also a "don't" on my Cybook. I have no problem in general with full justification, but given the short line lengths (in my chosen font) and lack of good hyphenation, I prefer left justification on my reader.

Ditto.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

I'm also a "don't" on my Cybook. I have no problem in general with full justification, but given the short line lengths (in my chosen font) and lack of good hyphenation, I prefer left justification on my reader.

I'm a "do". But your reasons are good.

The good typography practice calls for full justification. But when columns are narrow (as in many newspapers and magazines), it's often advisable to use left justification instead, and even turn off hyphenation; otherwise, one gets too large and uneven interword spaces and too many hyphenated words.

Also, for full justification a good algorithm is needed to avoid too uneven spacing, and the simplistic one used by word processors (and eBook readers, I'd guess) is often not good enough. In these cases, left justification can be preferable over bad full justification.

[spooky69]

My original comments were fully justified.

[joblack]

I´m glad I´ve got an iLiad ... I can read whatever I convert to html/txt/pdf.

[HarryT]

I'm 99% sure that the Kindle does have an option for switching a book between left and full justification - perhaps someone who owns one could confirm this? It is a standard feature of MobiPocket (which the Kindle uses) to be able to do so.

The only exception would be with books which have their justification "hard-wired" in them, but when creating a book you really shouldn't do that unless you have an excellent reason for it.

[Ervserver]

if there is such a feature I can't find it

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm 99% sure that the Kindle does have an option for switching a book between left and full justification - perhaps someone who owns one could confirm this? It is a standard feature of MobiPocket (which the Kindle uses) to be able to do so.

The only exception would be with books which have their justification "hard-wired" in them, but when creating a book you really shouldn't do that unless you have an excellent reason for it.

[HarryT]

A quick Google search reveals that to change justification on the Kindle:

1. Go to the "Home" menu.
2. Select "Show and Sort".
3. While the options are on display, press "J".

This will display a new set of options allowing you to switch between left or full justification for text.

[RickyMaveety]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A quick Google search reveals that to change justification on the Kindle:

1. Go to the "Home" menu.
2. Select "Show and Sort".
3. While the options are on display, press "J".

This will display a new set of options allowing you to switch between left or full justification for text.

Oh my .... I guess Spooky is just going to have to run out an buy a Kindle now.

[Nate the great]

It doesn't work with all ebooks, but left or full justification can be selected.

From inside a book, open the font menu and press ALT+J.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A quick Google search reveals that to change justification on the Kindle:

1. Go to the "Home" menu.
2. Select "Show and Sort".
3. While the options are on display, press "J".

This will display a new set of options allowing you to switch between left or full justification for text.

This does not seem to work.

[HarryT]

Oh well, as I say it was just something I found via Google! Not having a Kindle myself I wasn't able to test it.