Some questions for a possible noob Kindle user

[arspr]

Hi, guys.

As you can read in my signature I've been a Sony and Kobo user, but just today my Aura HD has broken without evident cause.

I'm really fed up about Kobo and its "particularities" so, as it is the only current feasible Carta+FrontLight replacement, I'm considering buying a Paperwhite. I'm more or less a power user with Calibre and Apprentice You Know Its Name so I don't mind porting all my existing library from epub to azw3.

But I would like to ask some questions about Kindle devices:

• Do they support embedded fonts? (In AZW3 I mean).
• Do widows and orphans work in Kindles?
• Are there known "oddities" about kindle behaviour I should know before buying?
• Is pdf rendering and navigation more or less acceptable? (Without text reflow I mean).
• Do Kindles support CBZ/CBR comics?
• Could someone test this trick with <span> and white-space: nowrap; and check if it works in Kindles? (It works in my old Sony but it didn't work in the AuraHD epub renderer) You don't need to use it in Spanish books, just wrap some words with it and check if it is broken or not in several lines.

[arspr]

By chance, I've just been able to use my sister-in-law's Kindle Paperwhite with some of my books and:

• It has "huge" margins even with the lowest GUI setting and with margin:0 set in the book... Why the hell do you do waste screen area?
• Widows and orphans don't work either...
• It doesn't seem to support embedded fonts.
• ToC is not flattened, (all the subchapters appear just as chapters), as it happens in Kobo devices, but just crippled at the 2nd level... You don't get access to 3rd or deeper level items.
• pdf navigation seems even worse. (Zoom level is quite less customizable and it seems you cannot turn pages unless at 100% level).

I'm at lost... I really don't know what to do...

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by arspr

Do they support embedded fonts? (In AZW3 I mean).

Yes. (In order to see them, you may need to turn on the Publisher's Defaults.)

Originally Posted by arspr

Is pdf rendering and navigation more or less acceptable? (Without text reflow I mean).

The default PDF reader sucks, but if you jailbreak your Kindle, you can install KOReader, which does a much better job. (You can also read ePubs with it.)

Originally Posted by arspr

Do Kindles support CBZ/CBR comics?

No, but there's a free converter and a comic reading app for jailbroken Kindles.

Originally Posted by arspr

Could someone test this trick with <span> and white-space: nowrap; and check if it works in Kindles?

If you create an ePub that uses "this trick," which I honestly don't really understand, I can compile it and test it on my Kindle.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by arspr

By chance, I've just been able to use my sister-in-law's Kindle Paperwhite with some of my books and:

• It has "huge" margins even with the lowest GUI setting and with margin:0 set in the book... Why the hell do you do waste screen area?
• Widows and orphans don't work either...
• It doesn't seem to support embedded fonts.
• ToC is not flattened, (all the subchapters appear just as chapters), as it happens in Kobo devices, but just crippled at the 2nd level... You don't get access to 3rd or deeper level items.
• pdf navigation seems even worse. (Zoom level is quite less customizable and it seems you cannot turn pages unless at 100% level).

I'm at lost... I really don't know what to do...

if you want all those things you have to look at other makes - all recent Kindles have the same feature set.
Kobo may be your best answer, it is more tweakable. but then you are changing your books' supported format, so read up on that before you buy.

[arspr]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Yes. (In order to see them, you may need to turn on the Publisher's Defaults.)

Thanks for your answer.

But... where do I enable that option?

In my first contact with my sister-in-law's PW2, I didn't see that option in the menus. IIRC the configuration menu about reading options just covers full refresh cycle frequency and minor highlight/notes options and the font menu only displays a list of alternate fonts, their possible size and line spacing and margin options.

Originally Posted by Doitsu

The default PDF reader sucks, but if you jailbreak your Kindle, you can install KOReader, which does a much better job. (You can also read ePubs with it.)


No, but there's a free converter and a comic reading app for jailbroken Kindles.

I feared something like that... I'm not a heavy pdf or comic reader but I have some of them and I don't want to start meddling in the device firmware/default software...

Originally Posted by Doitsu

If you create an ePub that uses "this trick," which I honestly don't really understand, I can compile it and test it on my Kindle.

Well, you need to know some html.

<p>In this paragraph the text is reflown in different lines if needed because of the used font size and available width space, but <span style="white-space: nowrap;">this text won't wrap and would always appear in a single line,</span> (if it weren't so long, which may cause the trick to fail). But that trick should perfectly work around a simple <span style="white-space: nowrap;">—word</span> pair which could be rendered separated otherwise because dashes are wrapping points by default at least in all the epub software I know.</p>

Nevertheless you can grab a test book, (or just its code), from this post in Kobo bug thread.

I was asking about it because this trick does not work any more in the RMSDK renderer (epub books) used in Kobo devices. Although it perfectly works in the older RMSDK renderer used in my Sony PRS-650 (and in any other place, BTW. Like Calibre book viewer)

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by arspr

But... where do I enable that option?

If the font was properly embedded you can select it via the Publisher Font option in the font size menu.



For more information, see this website. (Note that the font hack mentioned in this article no longer works with current eInk Kindle models.)

Originally Posted by arspr

Well, you need to know some html.

Actually, I do know some html and I prefer stylesheets instead of inline styles. Anyway, I attached a page from the Kindle version of your test book.

[arspr]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Anyway, I attached a page from the Kindle version of your test book.

Many thanks for your time. Nevertheless I'm nearly sure I'm going to continue with Kobo Aura H2O... I don't exactly feel comfortable with what I'm learning about Kindle and 6.8" is far a huge advantage...

OTOH, if you want to fully test that file and the nowrap trick you have to play with font size/font face/margins till you get a line wrap between — and whoever or between exclaimed and — in the second paragraph, and then look at what you get in the fourth one.

OTOH I also use CSS style files as a common rule. I don't even use the <style> tag in <head>. But this inline style attribute is an easy way to build up a sample self-contained case for testing purposes.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by arspr

By chance, I've just been able to use my sister-in-law's Kindle Paperwhite with some of my books and:

• It has "huge" margins even with the lowest GUI setting and with margin:0 set in the book... Why the hell do you do waste screen area?
• pdf navigation seems even worse. (Zoom level is quite less customizable and it seems you cannot turn pages unless at 100% level).

I'm at lost... I really don't know what to do...

You can use JBPatch to fix the margins on the PW.
Likewise KOReader for PDF.

Do not worry about meddling with the firmware, these are well-trod roads.