Paperwhite 3 First Impressions

[cvkemp]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Because one poster's track record indicates a bias against Amazon, and general criticism of Amazon (no matter what they do), and a habit of assuming the worst.

Rest assured, we have pointed out in several places, numerous times, that it isn't worth speculating on why the enhanced typesetting is not available for sideloaded books... when it isn't available for Amazon-loaded book either. Yet.

I so agree how do we know what is to be when the software is not even out yet. An Amazon is not say anything at all about the details.
So we all just have wait and see before we start complaining.

[JSWolf]

If there was not some toggle in the eBook to turn on the enhanced typesetting, then Amazon would not be labeling some eBooks as having advanced typesetting and some not. They would all have it.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If there was not some toggle in the eBook to turn on the enhanced typesetting, then Amazon would not be labeling some eBooks as having advanced typesetting and some not. They would all have it.

They would not all have it. The advanced typesetting is a deviation of the old way of displaying books. The Kindle should assume that the book was intended to look exactly as it always used to look. Only reason there needs to be a toggle is on books that have the advandced features so that the user may turn them off if not desired. If the book doesn't have any new features, there is no reason to display the option to turn it on when it wouldn't change a thing. It would be equally wasteful to offer the option "publisher font" when there is no custom font embedded.

Your assumption won't make any sense until the advanced typesetting is implemented and released in a production firmware, and not a limited features pre-release beta version.

[Eltanin]

Does all yours PW3's have aligned screen a bit upper ?
I had one device and now I have replacement, and both of them have very visible bottom edge of the screen. I attach photo.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Have to disagree on your taste for liking fonts bolder on eink. I am quite happy with Baskerville on my Voyage now that the resolution is high enough to make even the smallest sizes readable. How does Bookerly compare to Baskerville concerning appearance of thickness on eink? Also, does Baskerville look nice on smallest size on PW3? Only thing I have heard is that the Voyage appears sharper if compared side by side with the PW3. That doesn't mean that it is unuseable (on the PW1 the smallest font sizes are all unuseable, IMO).

Yes, but unlike you, Amazon does not support my preference. I don't think defaulting text to bold is an unusual preference.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Yes, but unlike you, Amazon does not support my preference. I don't think defaulting text to bold is an unusual preference.

If you have your default text as bold, how do you distinguish text that really is bold within a book?

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you have your default text as bold, how do you distinguish text that really is bold within a book?

Bold is rare to non-existent in the books I read. In what books do you see bold?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Bold is rare to non-existent in the books I read. In what books do you see bold?

It's a not terribly uncommon means of emphasis in a book, just as putting text in italics, or underlining something is. Of course one can read a book without it, but I wouldn't personally choose to hide such a thing, as you're doing. That is, of course, your choice, though.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by terendel

Sorry for not responding earlier. I've been sick. There were no books pre-installed, so, yes, I tested with books from my account which indicated in the book description that enhanced typesetting was available.

Thanks. Just checking it wasn't a feature coded into books pre-installed on your review unit. So the feature is general and ready to go.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a not terribly uncommon means of emphasis in a book, just as putting text in italics, or underlining something is. Of course one can read a book without it, but I wouldn't personally choose to hide such a thing, as you're doing. That is, of course, your choice, though.

I never see bold. I read fiction. Emphasis is achieved with italics or sometimes caps in dialogue.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rizla

I never see bold. I read fiction. Emphasis is achieved with italics or sometimes caps in dialogue.

If you read all your books in bold text, you wouldn't see it, would you?

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you read all your books in bold text, you wouldn't see it, would you?

Most commercial texts I read are on paper these days. They contain no bold. What books do you read that utilize bold?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Most commercial texts I read are on paper these days. They contain no bold. What books do you read that utilize bold?

A significant percentage of books use bold fonts in chapter headings, to name but one example.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A significant percentage of books use bold fonts in chapter headings, to name but one example.

Headers are clear from their size and position on the page. I won't miss anything there by defaulting to bold. Much better to include an option to increase default font weight for those that want it.

[rashkae]

Originally Posted by Rizla

Headers are clear from their size and position on the page. I won't miss anything there by defaulting to bold. Much better to include an option to increase default font weight for those that want it.

Ironically to this conversation, the only time I've failed to distinguish bold text is when I'm reading with Caecilia font. The difference of bold text with that font is very subtle, but it's also one of only two fonts on Kindle (the other being Hevetica, and maybe Palantino.) that is comfortable to read on e-ink at smaller size without some way of forcing darker font rendering, (for me at least, but I have the benefit of doing several side by side comparisons.)

Bold text remains very distinctly bold when using Kobo font weight adjustment, or one of the community e-ink enhanced fonts, (either embedded, or sideloaded in a Jailbroken Kindle as we used to be able to to do before Amazon decided to break that useful functionality out of spite.)

And if I sound like I'm drumming on a dead horse, I apologize. It's just that Bookerly looks *amazing* when it's rendered a little darker. Stylish, but very easy to read at small text sizes. It does irritate me that the Kindle comes so close to being the all around best reader, but snatches defeat from the jaws of victory like this.