kobopatch request thread - Page 22

jackie_w · 09-23-2019, 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathil

One thing I was wondering is if it is possible to alter/reduce the font size of the text in the footnotes popup. I used to install a patch compiled by jcn363 called 'footnotes and alike' (link here), which worked without being updated up until the latest 4.15.* firmware version, but (as I suspected) it doesn't work anymore. I don't know if it would still be feasible in the newest firmware version?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Yes, this is still possible. So far not enough people have expressed interest for it to be added to the standard kobopatch pack but I have my own custom patch I can share with you. I only use mine to reduce font-size for KA1 & Forma but I can add the necessary for all the other models.

@mathil,

Please try the attached patch to change font-size of the main text in kepub pop-up footnotes. Put it in nickel.yaml, or wherever you stored the old, non-working patch by jcn363. Hopefully I've re-written it in a way which ought to survive better across firmwares (but you never can predict what Kobo might change next

)

You will need to store this as a personal custom patch, i.e. it's not currently part of the standard kobopatch .zip pack (nor has it ever been). That may change if enough other users make it known they are using it without problems.

Pop-up footnote main text font-size (beta)

Spoiler:

mathil · 09-24-2019, 10:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

@mathil,

Please try the attached patch to change font-size of the main text in kepub pop-up footnotes. Put it in nickel.yaml, or wherever you stored the old, non-working patch by jcn363. Hopefully I've re-written it in a way which ought to survive better across firmwares (but you never can predict what Kobo might change next

)

You will need to store this as a personal custom patch, i.e. it's not currently part of the standard kobopatch .zip pack (nor has it ever been). That may change if enough other users make it known they are using it without problems.

Pop-up footnote main text font-size (beta)

Spoiler:

Jackie, thank you so much for taking the time to share and edit your patch

I just installed it and it's working perfectly well! I will store this aside and hopefully it will hold up for the following firmware releases as well.
I guess the reason that people haven't asked for this as much as other patches is that it tends to affect mostly people who read a lot of non-fiction. In my case, managing to fit more text in the popup instead of going back and forth to the notes page is really useful, but I can definitely see why most people wouldn't care much about it. I'm feeling very lucky right now

thanks again!

jackie_w · 09-24-2019, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathil

I'm feeling very lucky right now

thanks again!

You're welcome. I'm glad it works for you.

Vetchy · 09-25-2019, 02:59 AM

Does it possible to create patch, allow set fonts for all menu on Kobo. After last update we got new header and footer where supported only Latin font. With Cyrillic its looks ugly.
Maybe it exist?

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In next photo I'm marked different font family in header and footer.

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Chaplan · 09-25-2019, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geek1011

That's a good idea, and might be doable depending on how the LEDS are controlled. The only issue is it may cause flickering if I make the PWM rate too slow.

Thanks a lot for the time and knowledge you put into this patches.
It makes the UX a lot better for the end user.

I have 2 questions, has this lower brightness possibility ever been tested and if so did flickering actually got noticeable by lowering the PWM rate?

The second question, I'm a night reader and always invert text mode late at night.
Would a quick setting to change between light/dark modes be possible to have on the status bar as we do with portrait/landscape rotation modes?
I know it's possible in devmode, it's just not as accessible as it should IMHO.
I leave it as an idea for a patch.

geek1011 · 09-25-2019, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplan

Thanks a lot for the time and knowledge you put into this patches.
It makes the UX a lot better for the end user.

I have 2 questions, has this lower brightness possibility ever been tested and if so did flickering actually got noticeable by lowering the PWM rate?

The second question, I'm a night reader and always invert text mode late at night.
Would a quick setting to change between light/dark modes be possible to have on the status bar as we do with portrait/landscape rotation modes?
I know it's possible in devmode, it's just not as accessible as it should IMHO.
I leave it as an idea for a patch.

I have tried making it as low as the driver will allow without kernel modifications, and it is a bit dimmer, but not by much. There wasn't any noticable flickering.

About a quick setting for invert screen, there is the replace adobe page numbers patch to put it in the reading settings. It's not possible to add a toolbar button because of how it's implemented.

jackie_w · 09-25-2019, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vetchy

Does it possible to create patch, allow set fonts for all menu on Kobo. After last update we got new header and footer where supported only Latin font. With Cyrillic its looks ugly.
Maybe it exist?

In next photo I'm marked different font family in header and footer.

It's not possible to do a global patch to change font-family for the whole GUI. At least I can't think of a way to do it. Perhaps geek1011 can correct me if I'm wrong.

In both your images I believe all those highlighted fields are default coded as Avenir sans-serif. There is probably special code to cater to other Kobo-supported languages (e.g. Japanese/Chinese) It looks like Avenir is unsuitable for Cyrillic and, no doubt, many other not-officially-supported languages. It also looks like some of your highlights are using a fallback to Georgia - yes, it's ugly but better than displaying blanks. I think the previous firmware used whatever font-family was selected for the book to display header/footer. This would probably work better for everyone but I've no idea how to do that.

As it stands, I think your 7 highlighted area styles may require at least 6 different patches. Before patching it you have to find the relevant code. It can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sometimes you're looking in the wrong haystack. It's tedious, time-consuming and requires a lot of trial and error as, not surprisingly, there's no documentation.

More eyes looking would help but volunteers seem to be few and far between at the moment. There are a lot more patch requesters than patch creators (i.e. 2) and even patch creators deserve some leisure time to read books.

On a slightly more positive note, I have found some of the code which styles the header's chapter name and the footer's book title (see your 2nd image). However, it doesn't seem to control the progress text (right-half of the header/footer). Nor can it be used to un-force the UPPERCASE. A new patch may become available for this, but not yet.

In the meantime, if the current appearance is too ugly, you could take the sweep-it-under-the-rug options in libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml:

enable 'Remove title from reading header/footer' leaving only the progress text visible in header/footer
enable both 'Custom header/footer page number text' and 'Custom navigation menu page number text' to show '10 / 20' instead of '10 OF 20'

Chaplan · 09-25-2019, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geek1011

I have tried making it as low as the driver will allow without kernel modifications, and it is a bit dimmer, but not by much. There wasn't any noticable flickering.

About a quick setting for invert screen, there is the replace adobe page numbers patch to put it in the reading settings. It's not possible to add a toolbar button because of how it's implemented.

Thanks for the input.
I will check that adobe page numbers replace patch and use that to invert the screen. it's one page away, same number of steps once you are already reading. Well done.

As for the lower brightness, must I enable a patch or is the config default?

Sorry to be asking but I am very new to kobo and the scene (bought my Clara HD one month ago), I am overwhelmed with such level of moding the official FW.
I kinda like KoReader to, but nickel tailored with the patches is even better for my personal usage TBH.

geek1011 · 09-25-2019, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaplan

Thanks for the input.
I will check that adobe page numbers replace patch and use that to invert the screen. it's one page away, same number of steps once you are already reading. Well done.

As for the lower brightness, must I enable a patch or is the config default?

Sorry to be asking but I am very new to kobo and the scene (bought my Clara HD one month ago), I am overwhelmed with such level of moding the official FW.
I kinda like KoReader to, but nickel tailored with the patches is even better for my personal usage TBH.

I haven't written a patch for it yet

Chaplan · 09-25-2019, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geek1011

I haven't written a patch for it yet

Oh, I'll keep this thread under the radar, if it drops i'll be here to check it out for sure.

Vetchy · 09-26-2019, 02:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

In both your images I believe all those highlighted fields are default coded as Avenir sans-serif. There is probably special code to cater to other Kobo-supported languages (e.g. Japanese/Chinese) It looks like Avenir is unsuitable for Cyrillic and, no doubt, many other not-officially-supported languages.[/LIST]

Thank of this detail response.

But I have one hypothesis. Can we got some font, like Georgia and rename it to Avenir, after it create patch wich replace Avenir by new font in firmware?

jackie_w · 09-26-2019, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vetchy

But I have one hypothesis. Can we got some font, like Georgia and rename it to Avenir, after it create patch wich replace Avenir by new font in firmware?

If I've understood you correctly, the problem with this theory is

the Kobo looks inside the font files for the font's name not just at the filenames
Kobo's built-in fonts are either encrypted, obfuscated or some other locking method

so, unless someone knows otherwise, simply trying to "fool" it isn't going to work.

When I tried to replicate your images from post #319 I got a different result. I still saw a problem with the Avenir fallback font used for the Cyrillic characters, but I didn't get Georgia as the fallback. My result was even uglier than yours because the fallback font (probably one of the CJK fonts) did show the Cyrillic characters but they were double-spaced.

This leads me to ask whether you have any other font hacks installed? I have a vague memory that a long time ago some Cyrillic users had a hack to physically remove these problematic built-in fallback font(s) so that Georgia would be used instead.

This is just an idea, but if you are using that hack without problems, then maybe extending it to also physically remove the Avenir fonts would automatically default to using Georgia as fallback whenever one was required. I must stress that I haven't (and won't be) testing this myself. I've no idea whether it could cause chaos.

In the meantime, if you want to try a more benign, but only partial, solution you could try the attached simple patch. In your image 2, it should force to Georgia, the chapter name/book title parts of the new header/footer respectively. It's not what you wanted but it's the best I can come up with right now. It won't be added to the kobopatch standard pack in it's current form but it's generic enough that it may survive across firmware updates.

Put it in nickel.yaml or wherever you store any other custom patches for nickel.

New header/footer font-family - beta

Spoiler:

JSWolf · 09-26-2019, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

If I've understood you correctly, the problem with this theory is

the Kobo looks inside the font files for the font's name not just at the filenames
Kobo's built-in fonts are either encrypted, obfuscated or some other locking method

so, unless someone knows otherwise, simply trying to "fool" it isn't going to work.

When I tried to replicate your images from post #319 I got a different result. I still saw a problem with the Avenir fallback font used for the Cyrillic characters, but I didn't get Georgia as the fallback. My result was even uglier than yours because the fallback font (probably one of the CJK fonts) did show the Cyrillic characters but they were double-spaced.

This leads me to ask whether you have any other font hacks installed? I have a vague memory that a long time ago some Cyrillic users had a hack to physically remove these problematic built-in fallback font(s) so that Georgia would be used instead.

This is just an idea, but if you are using that hack without problems, then maybe extending it to also physically remove the Avenir fonts would automatically default to using Georgia as fallback whenever one was required. I must stress that I haven't (and won't be) testing this myself. I've no idea whether it could cause chaos.

In the meantime, if you want to try a more benign, but only partial, solution you could try the attached simple patch. In your image 2, it should force to Georgia, the chapter name/book title parts of the new header/footer respectively. It's not what you wanted but it's the best I can come up with right now. It won't be added to the kobopatch standard pack in it's current form but it's generic enough that it may survive across firmware updates.

Put it in nickel.yaml or wherever you store any other custom patches for nickel.

New header/footer font-family - beta

Spoiler:

Can I use a font with a longer name that I have in fonts? I would give it a try using ChareInk if I could.

jackie_w · 09-26-2019, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can I use a font with a longer name that I have in fonts? I would give it a try using ChareInk if I could.

Just try replacing Georgia with ChareInk in the Replace string. If kobopatch.bat doesn't fail with some kind of 'too long' error message, it will be fine.

One of the great things about kobopatch/nickel patches is that we don't have to do the exact length string matching anymore. It has some tricks to reclaim cosmetic visual whitespace from the CSS without affecting the Kobo's ability to action the CSS.

If you do get a 'too long' error you can add an extra bit to the patch to delete some of the CSS which won't be used on your Kobo, e.g. the Japanese-locale-specific stuff. For example, adding this line would free up some space for this patch if the new font-family name is too long.

Code:

# free some space
- {Find: "#caption[localeName=\"ja\"] {\n  font-family: Sans-SerifJP, sans-serif;\n  font-style: normal;\n}", Replace: "\n"}

It should be indented with the same number of spaces as in the font-family Find/Replace line.

ETA:
I should add this important general info about customising font-family in the Kobo GUI. It will be particularly relevant to you because you read mainly standard epubs.

After a full reboot the Kobo only has immediate access to a limited number of its built-in fonts, Georgia, Avenir and possibly one or more of the CJK fonts. The rest of its built-in fonts and all your custom fonts are only loaded "as necessary". I don't know the exact rules, only what I've observed.

After a full reboot I've always found that the following will force the Kobo to access all fonts. You won't have these problems if you only put the Kobo to sleep.

Open any kepub. It's as easy as that for users who only read kepubs.
If you open a standard epub and you don't see the custom font you were expecting (in the GUI not the book's text)
- Press the [Aa] font menu button. You don't need to do anything else, just close it again.
- If you still don't see the font, force the Kobo to re-render by paging across a chapter file boundary, then page back again. Or, closing the book and opening a different one might work, too.

JSWolf · 09-26-2019, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Just try replacing Georgia with ChareInk in the Replace string. If kobopatch.bat doesn't fail with some kind of 'too long' error message, it will be fine.

One of the great things about kobopatch/nickel patches is that we don't have to do the exact length string matching anymore. It has some tricks to reclaim cosmetic visual whitespace from the CSS without affecting the Kobo's ability to action the CSS.

If you do get a 'too long' error you can add an extra bit to the patch to delete some of the CSS which won't be used on your Kobo, e.g. the Japanese-locale-specific stuff. For example, adding this line would free up some space for this patch if the new font-family name is too long.

Code:

# free some space
- {Find: "#caption[localeName=\"ja\"] {\n  font-family: Sans-SerifJP, sans-serif;\n  font-style: normal;\n}", Replace: "\n"}

It should be indented with the same number of spaces as in the font-family Find/Replace line

Thank you. Once Geek1011 rewrites the shutdown time patch, I'll give yours as go. But for now, I'll copy your patch and place it in the yaml file for use when it's time.

09-25-2019, 02:59 AM	#319
Vetchy Connoisseur Posts: 52 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2017 Device: Kobo Aura One	Does it possible to create patch, allow set fonts for all menu on Kobo. After last update we got new header and footer where supported only Latin font. With Cyrillic its looks ugly. Maybe it exist? In next photo I'm marked different font family in header and footer. Last edited by Vetchy; 09-25-2019 at 03:27 AM.

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