Kobo Firmware 3.11.0

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by davidfor

The problem is that they can't trust the sideloaded fonts. If there is a problem with the font and things go wrong, it affects the user experience and Kobo will be blamed.

Is it a cop-out? Probably. But, if they have tested a few fonts and found problems with them, then they can justify it.

Yes, but the irony is that, in my experience (quite a lot) with custom fonts, the most frequent problem is when at least one of italic, bold or bolditalic wrongly displays as Regular, so far I've been able to fix these by tweaking the internal font name. Kobo have not disallowed custom fonts completely (thank goodness) just because not all of them are guaranteed to work. In addition, some custom fonts which have worked perfectly for months, exhibit missing bold and/or italic after a firmware upgrade. v3.5/3.8 broke a couple of mine which I had fixed but they broke again with v3.11 (fixed again). But this is not limited to custom fonts as I see Kobo managed to break their own Avenir system font in 3.11

On the other hand I don't think I've had any problem (as yet) with custom fonts 'thickening badly'. I have had the occasional custom otf font which wouldn't thicken at all. Converting to ttf has always (so far) fixed this particular problem.

I know there's nothing we can do about their bizarre decision but IMO I think TypeGenius is something they should be bragging about, not hiding.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Ashfall

I'm having this problem and have found that when I use the sleep switch, the screen does a full refresh both going to sleep and waking up. But when I use the sleep cover, it does a full refresh when going to sleep, but NO REFRESH when waking up, leading to ghosting. This behavior is new to 3.11 it seems. Maybe related to the new light delay feature.

For now my workaround is just to use the switch to sleep/wake again, causing a full refresh.

Is the text on the first page very light when you wake using the switch? I don't have a sleep cover so I always use the switch, I haven't seen any ghosting but the text is very light after waking until I turn the page, then it darkens to normal.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can see how that could be a problem. I found a nice looking free font (forget the name) and I tried to tweak it in a good font editing program and because of the poor way it was designed, some of the letter/characters did not come out properly. But can't Kobo put it in the beta section with a note that it's not guaranteed to work with all fonts?

I'm not sure exactly where you are saying to put the note, a text file openable from the Beta features page of the setting? Wherever it goes, do you really expect people to read it? And accept it and not complain? The browser is in the same beta features and hence unsupported, but look at the complaints about it.

[Ripplinger]

Doesn't the trick of adding the line to your Kobo eReader.conf file work on all readers? Or does it work on my Glo from GeorffR's patch for 3.11.0?

This is what I added and on new firmware, it's definitely showing up much bolder and thicker than on the older firmware. I'm not sure font sharpness makes any difference any more, but since the last firmware update didn't remove the lines, I left them in for all fonts.

[Reading]
readingFontSharpness\Lexia%20DaMa=0.2
readingFontWeight\Lexia%20DaMa=0.8

[Ashfall]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Is the text on the first page very light when you wake using the switch? I don't have a sleep cover so I always use the switch, I haven't seen any ghosting but the text is very light after waking until I turn the page, then it darkens to normal.

Yes, it's definitely lighter now after waking until turning the page.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

Doesn't the trick of adding the line to your Kobo eReader.conf file work on all readers? Or does it work on my Glo from GeorffR's patch for 3.11.0?

This is what I added and on new firmware, it's definitely showing up much bolder and thicker than on the older firmware. I'm not sure font sharpness makes any difference any more, but since the last firmware update didn't remove the lines, I left them in for all fonts.

[Reading]
readingFontSharpness\Lexia%20DaMa=0.2
readingFontWeight\Lexia%20DaMa=0.8

If that is working, and my fiddling today seems to suggest it is, then that is something that could be added to the utilities plugin. I'll need to work out the values for each position in the slider. And decide whether to offer separate sharpness and weight sliders.

And while I was testing this, I added some fonts and didn't restart. The font seems to be working. And the file name doesn't match the name in the font. Looks like Kobo has changed something in the font handling with FW3.11.0.

[johnnystuff]

Standby and switch off don't work any more after the upgrade. Am I the only one?

[violent23]

Jumped two version numbers and the cut off text on the lowest margin setting is still not fixed. Kobo seriously needs to fix their standing bugs before adding new features as their lack of quality assurance is quite embarrassing.

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by violent23

Jumped two version numbers and the cut off text on the lowest margin setting is still not fixed. Kobo seriously needs to fix their standing bugs before adding new features as their lack of quality assurance is quite embarrassing.

Please describe what settings, patches etc you are using. If possible share a book or test case where you are seeing this.

[violent23]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Please describe what settings, patches etc you are using. If possible share a book or test case where you are seeing this.

I already reported it in the bug thread and have corresponded with Kobo about it many many months/FW versions ago

This is with zero patches and is on any full stock Aura device, as that is all I own though this bug may effect other devices.

Stock FW any newer 3.x version. Any .kepub with any stock font set to lowest margin setting (closest to the edge). On the right hand side italics and F's get cut off.

Stock settings and options should not be seeing cut off letters. The fact that problems like this are allowed to exist for so long just illustrates how poor Kobo does their quality control and how unskilled their programmers are. Visual bugs in the firmware should not make it past beta testing let alone be in the final shipped versions time and time again. I mean it's not like Kobo is some small startup with few resources. At this point it is inexcusable the amount of bugs and problems that their firmware has and the fact that they cannot even get their proprietary .kepub engine working correctly let alone the abysmal experience that is the .epub engine (which at this point almost appears to be on purpose in order to push their own format) just shows how little Kobo actually cares about CS or providing an adequate eReader experience for their customers. $160.00 for an eReader that can not display text correctly after numerous updates is a pretty sad state of affairs.

[duncann]

Originally Posted by violent23

I already reported it in the bug thread and have corresponded with Kobo about it many many months/FW versions ago

This is with zero patches and is on any full stock Aura device, as that is all I own though this bug may effect other devices.

Stock FW any newer 3.x version. Any .kepub with any stock font set to lowest margin setting (closest to the edge). On the right hand side italics and F's get cut off.

Stock settings and options should not be seeing cut off letters. The fact that problems like this are allowed to exist for so long just illustrates how poor Kobo does their quality control and how unskilled their programmers are. Visual bugs in the firmware should not make it past beta testing let alone be in the final shipped versions time and time again. I mean it's not like Kobo is some small startup with few resources. At this point it is inexcusable the amount of bugs and problems that their firmware has and the fact that they cannot even get their proprietary .kepub engine working correctly let alone the abysmal experience that is the .epub engine (which at this point almost appears to be on purpose in order to push their own format) just shows how little Kobo actually cares about CS or providing an adequate eReader experience for their customers. $160.00 for an eReader that can not display text correctly after numerous updates is a pretty sad state of affairs.

I wouldn't be so quick to blame Kobo for this. It's interesting that I have a nook hd+ and use Mantano Reader Premium for epubs, and the f's are cut off on the right margin like you say. The same exact epubs with no modifications on a recently bought h2o with firmware 3.1.1 has no cutoff text. It sounds like it might be something with Adobe and their reader mobile software.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by violent23

... let alone the abysmal experience that is the .epub engine ...

Please elaborate All my books are standard epub and they all look exactly as I expect them to look as per their internal css.

[violent23]

Originally Posted by duncann

I wouldn't be so quick to blame Kobo for this. It's interesting that I have a nook hd+ and use Mantano Reader Premium for epubs, and the f's are cut off on the right margin like you say. The same exact epubs with no modifications on a recently bought h2o with firmware 3.1.1 has no cutoff text. It sounds like it might be something with Adobe and their reader mobile software.

That's the thing, I am not using .epubs I am using Kobos proprietary .kepub format that only works on their own apps and devices.

Depending on if Mantano strips all settings when displaying .epubs has a lot to do with how the .epub displays on screen. Your particular .epubs could have very wide margins settings that are read and shown on the H20 (thus resulting in no way that the text could be cut off) but are completely ignored in Mantano, which could very well result in your .epubs displaying like you say they do.

But my point is that Kobo sell their own devices (the Aura and such) with their own in house made firmware and they sell their own eBooks with their own proprietary format (.kepub) that directly results in their device having cut off text. With the amount of control Kobo is able to have over their devices, it's firmware and their eBooks there is no excuse for visual bugs this many years in.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by violent23

the fact that they cannot even get their proprietary .kepub engine working correctly let alone the abysmal experience that is the .epub engine (which at this point almost appears to be on purpose in order to push their own format)

What sort of problems are you experiencing with the ADE ePub engine? I've been reading up on Kobo because I plan on ordering an H2O in 2 weeks and I have not read of any real issues.

[duncann]

Originally Posted by violent23

That's the thing, I am not using .epubs I am using Kobos proprietary .kepub format that only works on their own apps and devices.

Depending on if Mantano strips all settings when displaying .epubs has a lot to do with how the .epub displays on screen. Your particular .epubs could have very wide margins settings that are read and shown on the H20 (thus resulting in no way that the text could be cut off) but are completely ignored in Mantano, which could very well result in your .epubs displaying like you say they do.

But my point is that Kobo sell their own devices (the Aura and such) with their own in house made firmware and they sell their own eBooks with their own proprietary format (.kepub) that directly results in their device having cut off text. With the amount of control Kobo is able to have over their devices, it's firmware and their eBooks there is no excuse for visual bugs this many years in.

Mantano is the only epub reading app that I've tried that renders epubs according to what the css contains while still allowing for adjustment of line-height and margins without screwing up something else. But kobo also does a wonderful job at this, especially with the patched firmware. And no more cutoff text for me.

Here is the common things all my epubs use:

@import url('res:///css/mantano.css');
@page { margin: 0em; }

body { display: block; margin: 0 0 0 0; padding: 0 0 0 0; border: 0 0 0 0; text-align: justify; /*font-family: "Serif";*/ font-size: 1.0000em; line-height: 1.0475em; }

p { display: block; margin: 0 0 0 0; padding: 0 0 0 0; border: 0 0 0 0; orphans: 0; widows: 0; }

And here is my mantano.css file which references fonts (but is ignored on the kobo because the file doesn't exist):

/* Serif OTF */
@font-face { font-family: serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/normal.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: serif; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/bold.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/italic.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: serif; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/bolditalic.otf'); }

/* Myriad Pro Sans Serif */
@font-face { font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/MyriadPro-Regular.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/MyriadPro-Bold.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/MyriadPro-It.otf'); }
@font-face { font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/MyriadPro-BoldIt.otf'); }

/* Consolas Monospace */
@font-face { font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/consola.ttf'); }
@font-face { font-family: monospace; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; src: url('res:///fonts/consolab.ttf'); }
@font-face { font-family: monospace; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/consolai.ttf'); }
@font-face { font-family: monospace; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; src: url('res:///fonts/consolaz.ttf'); }

body { font-family: serif; font-size: 1.0000em; }
p { display: block; margin: 0 0 0 0; padding: 0 0 0 0; border: 0 0 0 0; orphans: 0; widows: 0; }