Kindle firmware 5.8.7 (11/30/2016)

[JoHunt]

I like the bold font.

[Barty]

The amazing thing about fonts is although they may look similar at first glance, when I start reading with them I quickly realize the difference. I don't know the technical details and may not know why I like one over the other, but I'm definitely not indifferent. I guess that's why designers keep making endless variations of the same families of fonts.

Originally Posted by booklover6

Yes a bolder bookerly would be great. Or why not add Georgia to the line up of fonts? Until then, I'll stick with my rooted and non-updated Voyage, with Charis SIL. (I tried Ember on my Kobo Glo HD. I don't like it that much. The text seems squished).

I think they used to include Georgia as one of the Kindle fonts. They still include it on the iOS Kindle app. However, on the iOS app Georgia is lighter/thinner than Bookerly and Caecilia.

ETA: It is strange how Caecilia works great for me on my iPhone 6 Plus but is too thin on my Voyage. I can comfortably read for hours using Caecilia on my iPhone or iPad Mini 2, even with the font size much smaller than I use on my Voyage, but on the Voyage my eyes start to fatigue fairly quickly with Caecilia. I think it is the lower resolution on the Voyage, and perhaps that bleeping light layer as well.

[Bob B]

I am staying with Caecilia. Ember Bold is too bold! Yes, a slightly bolder Bookerly may be the holy grail.

Is there a technical reason why the Kindle can't have a user adjustable font darkener (for lack of a better term?) The user can adjust size (within limits), why not boldness? I find it frustrating we have to wait forever for new fonts, only to have them leaving us wanting for something else. Why doesn't Amazon listen?

Originally Posted by Bob B

I am staying with Caecilia. Ember Bold is too bold! Yes, a slightly bolder Bookerly may be the holy grail.

Is there a technical reason why the Kindle can't have a user adjustable font darkener (for lack of a better term?) The user can adjust size (within limits), why not boldness? I find it frustrating we have to wait forever for new fonts, only to have them leaving us wanting for something else. Why doesn't Amazon listen?

Not that I'm aware of. There is absolutely no reason why users could not be allowed to adjust font weight, margins, etc., other than apparently Jeff Bezos doesn't read, or at least doesn't read on his own devices. Maybe he is compensating for small body parts by trying to be over-controlling of device options, much like Jobs was at Apple.

[Atunah]

I would love a tad darker bookerly, but nothing as fat and thick as the new amber bold. That on is unreadable to me, even if it was a serif font. I like how bookerly presents the page better than caecilia, as in the layout, words don't have as much space between them in some of the sentences. Not sure what that is called. I think its more noticable on larger fonts. I am at #4. I'll probably move to #5 by next year.

But caecelia is just a tad darker so I use it most times. Especially when it gets darker or is dark inside due to clouds.
In bright light and outside, I can use bookerly.

[dordale]

Originally Posted by Bob B

I am staying with Caecilia. Ember Bold is too bold! Yes, a slightly bolder Bookerly may be the holy grail.

Is there a technical reason why the Kindle can't have a user adjustable font darkener (for lack of a better term?) The user can adjust size (within limits), why not boldness? I find it frustrating we have to wait forever for new fonts, only to have them leaving us wanting for something else. Why doesn't Amazon listen?

Can't see what the technical reason would be--other than it would provide more programming. The Kobo readers allow users to adjust the weight of fonts, which is one of my favorite features of my Kobo Aura HD. For my Kindle, I always use Calibre to convert my books and use my own font, so that I can I can get a serif font that is dark enough for me. (If Amazon would add just a little weight to their Bookerly font, that would be just about perfect for me!)

[CalbertAmu]

One more vote for a bold Bookerly. Even better would be to allow weight adjustments like Kobo

[barryem]

I've gone back to Bookerly too. Ember Bold is nice but just a tad too bold, just as Bookerly is slightly not bold enough. I could read happily with either but I think I prefer Bookerly.

Barry

[septentrion]

I'm staying with Bookerky, too, though if it could be a tad bit bolder...

[svenlind]

Originally Posted by dordale

Can't see what the technical reason would be--other than it would provide more programming. The Kobo readers allow users to adjust the weight of fonts, which is one of my favorite features of my Kobo Aura HD. For my Kindle, I always use Calibre to convert my books and use my own font, so that I can I can get a serif font that is dark enough for me. (If Amazon would add just a little weight to their Bookerly font, that would be just about perfect for me!)

I also add my favorite font to my Kindle books using Calibre. I use JSWolfs font
can be obtained here from MR. The disadvantage is that the filesize of the book is increased with about 1 MB.

The new ember is too bold. I will also vote for a bolder Bookerly.
Or better still the ability to add custom fonts to the Kindle.

[booklover6]

Originally Posted by jswinden

I think they used to include Georgia as one of the Kindle fonts. They still include it on the iOS Kindle app. However, on the iOS app Georgia is lighter/thinner than Bookerly and Caecilia.

Since Georgia is available in the Kindle app, I don't see why they couldn't put it in their ereaders. And give the bold or non bold option. Honestly, the fonts in the app could use bolding, too! It would be even easier to add an option like that to the Fires, but all these years later, no.

[shamanNS]

Because (unmodified) Georgia look waaay to thin on E-ink display. Just like Garamond and Charis SIL (which publishers just love to embedd... I wander if they even bothered to test books on eInk device...).

Originally Posted by booklover6

Since Georgia is available in the Kindle app, I don't see why they couldn't put it in their ereaders. And give the bold or non bold option. Honestly, the fonts in the app could use bolding, too! It would be even easier to add an option like that to the Fires, but all these years later, no.

I just checked and they include Georgia in their Fire Kindle app too. I think the requests for font weight control and margin control are two of the longest running requests in Kindle history. Amazon keeps thumbing their nose at us over both. Maybe if their illiterate, Silicon Valley reject programmers actually used their devices we would get a few meaningful requests addressed properly.

Originally Posted by shamanNS

Because (unmodified) Georgia look waaay to thin on E-ink display. Just like Garamond and Charis SIL (which publishers just love to embedd... I wander if they even bothered to test books on eInk device...).

I think most publishers, larger ones anyway, are still in the printed book era. I never heard anyone complain about the font used in a printed book. You got what they gave you. But with all the ebooks available and being sold now, the publishers still haven't caught up with the digital curve, and may not want to. At any rate, all their research from decades ago about which fonts please the most customers in printed books is totally useless with ebooks. Ten years ago when ebooks were still not very popular the publishers probably had a good excuse, but not today when they sell a large percentage of their books in electronic format.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by jswinden

But with all the eboks available and being sold now, the publishers still haven't caught up with the digital curve, and may not want to.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Publishers don't seem to want to encourage ebooks. They'll sell them and market them with glee, competing against other ebooks. But I don't think they want to push hard enough to compete against paper books.

I think paper books keep the prices high and high prices means more profit even with more expenses. Once ebooks begin to "take over" it'll get harder and harder to keep the prices high.

Barry