Locking Fonts?

FDPuthuff · 09-09-2021, 05:15 PM

Hey guys,

I'm back.

I am formatting an author's book into both an e-book and a print book.

For the e-book, anywhere one specific font is used, I would like to make it where the e-reader cannot change the font to the reader's desire. The other fonts I don't care about. If I have to lock all of them, not an issue.

Is this possible?
Would I fix this in Sigil? (As opposed to Calibre)
If it is possible, what's this called?
How do you do it, or where can I look? I guess, if I knew the name of the tag or whatever, I'd know where to look.

Any help is appreciated. I'd have searched here for answers, but I am not sure what to call it.

FDPuthuff · 09-09-2021, 05:22 PM

OK. I think what I am looking for is Embedding a font.

DiapDealer · 09-09-2021, 05:48 PM

Embedding is still no guarantee an ereader, or an ereading app won't override your font choice. Outright prevention is not a worthy pursuit. Nor is it very feasible.

phillipgessert · 09-09-2021, 07:47 PM

Edit: Disregard. Got my wires crossed!

Tex2002ans · 09-09-2021, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

For the e-book, anywhere one specific font is used, I would like to make it where the e-reader cannot change the font to the reader's desire.

[...]

1. Is this possible?

No. You cannot keep readers from changing.

What you can do is embed a font, then hope readers allow "Publisher CSS". But users can always override with their own selected fonts, font sizes, line spacing, etc. That's one of the fantastic advantages of ebooks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

2. Would I fix this in Sigil? (As opposed to Calibre)

Of course. You can use Sigil, Calibre, any combination of tools.

To learn how to do font embedding/subsetting, check out the step-by-step tutorial I wrote a few months ago:

2021: "Japanese characters not showing up on some devices" (Post #4)

It deals with marking up specific languages in a different font, but the same exact logic applies.

Usage Note: I only use embedded fonts in very select cases when dealing with very rarer/obscure Unicode characters (like Polytonic Greek, Maths Symbols, Gibbous Moons 🌔🌖).

JSWolf · 09-09-2021, 08:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

Usage Note: I only use embedded fonts in very select cases when dealing with very rarer/obscure Unicode characters (like Polytonic Greek, Maths Symbols, Gibbous Moons 🌔🌖).

How do you get someone uisng a Kindle to select the publisher font?

DiapDealer · 09-09-2021, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you get someone uisng a Kindle to select the publisher font?

Not relevant to a thread about epubs and how to embed fonts using an epub editor.

Tex2002ans · 09-09-2021, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

How do you get someone uisng a Kindle to select the publisher font?

It's been discussed hundreds of times before by Hitch.

You can't.

MOBI/Kindles

You can just hope users select that option, but 99% probably don't.

Or maybe leaving a little note in the frontmatter (or a very first footnote) saying:

"Please enable Publisher Fonts on your Kindle to get the best experience"

but not many people even look there either.

The good thing about Kindles though is they have fallback fonts. So as long as you're using the proper Unicode characters, it has a very high likelihood of displaying.

If you try to embed fonts covering the entire ebook though... (applying to <body> or <p>)... there's a very high likelihood Amazon will strip them on upload. Again, see the Hitch link above.

EPUB

EPUB may be a little bit better on the Publisher CSS front, since the majority of devices/reading-programs follow the standards.

If you design your ebook well, and use the embedded fonts sparingly:

rare characters
scenebreaks
only headings
only signs / diary entries

then the embedded font will probably work (and not piss off the user).

But even in EPUB, a portion of users use non-standards compliant readers that completely override everything (Moon+, etc. etc.).

Again, there's no solution. And you definitely can't force a font on the user (this would be disastrous).

* * *

It would be nice if Amazon had some sort of checkbox during upload to say:

"Hey, this book has some rare scientific symbols. Default enable Publisher Fonts when the book is downloaded."

... but I could see that being completely abused by 99% of the authors, especially big publishers. Maybe heuristics would be able to minimize that damage though (maybe only allow it if <10% of the book is in that font).

Side Note: You + me + Hitch even discussed Amazon Publisher Font enabling later in that very same Japanese thread, talking about the B-hat symbol. Most fonts DO NOT display those accents properly, so that's where an embedded mathematical font would be the correct choice.

* * *

Great ebook design though:

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) + get the hell out of the way of the user's preferences.

Don't force the constraints of the Print design onto the Ebook.

JSWolf · 09-10-2021, 05:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) + get the hell out of the way of the user's preferences.

Don't force the constraints of the Print design onto the Ebook.

I've seen way too many eBooks that break these rules. And I've seen a lot of posts asking why some settings cannot be changed that should be able ot be changed.

But as for fonts, on older versions of RMSDK, you could not change the font so the embedded fonts were what you got like it or not. This was the way it was on Sony Readers pre-T series.

The_book · 09-11-2021, 07:53 AM

I think there is only one way you can do this.
create the image of characters you use, and replace all characters with link to the image.
by this way, you can force person who read your ebook use you font

Quoth · 09-11-2021, 10:05 AM

I've found that some "popular" Android apps totally ignore embedded fonts, some CAN'T use them at all.
I embed fonts and then check that the book is readable with very limited default fonts.

Quoth · 09-11-2021, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_book

I think there is only one way you can do this.
create the image of characters you use, and replace all characters with link to the image.
by this way, you can force person who read your ebook use you font

Which is quite ghastly and akin to producing a fixed layout image based PDF. It's not a real ebook at all. It will only work on certain screen sizes.

Font size selection to suit eyesight won't work either.

FDPuthuff · 09-11-2021, 06:16 PM

What I ended up doing was setting the CCS for this text to san-serif. I couldn't find an .otf file for the text I wanted anyway. So I passed on embedding and went that direction.
.
What I was dealing with, was representing text on an older computer terminal. It has a very distinctive look. San-serif and mono-spaced.
.
I do appreciate the feedback.

Tex2002ans · 09-11-2021, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

What I ended up doing was setting the CCS for this text to san-serif. I couldn't find an .otf file for the text I wanted anyway. So I passed on embedding and went that direction.
.
What I was dealing with, was representing text on an older computer terminal. It has a very distinctive look. San-serif and mono-spaced.

Source Code Pro is a very good monospace font by Adobe.

Free + open source + SIL license.

They also have Source Serif Pro + Source Sans Pro if you need similar-style matching fonts. (These 2 are now called "Source Serif" + "Source Sans".)

A lot of this monospace + font stuff was also discussed in:

2019: "Font Best Practices"

AlanHK · 09-15-2021, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

What I was dealing with, was representing text on an older computer terminal. It has a very distinctive look. San-serif and mono-spaced.

Try font-family: monospace;
That will probably give you a courier-like font. Also try making it bold.

Or, just try <pre> instead of <p> tags, which should give monospaced text.

Or, if there isn't much text, make and place images.
That's what I usually do for a few Chinese characters, as embedding a Chinese font adds like 6MB to a file, even for a few characters, subsetting doesn't seem to work for them.

If your desired font isn't too large, you could specify it and have monospace, or sans-serif, be the fall back if publisher's fonts aren't allowed

.terminal {font-family: MyTerminal-font, monospace; text-align: left; }

Quote:

Originally Posted by FDPuthuff

What I ended up doing was setting the CCS for this text to san-serif. I couldn't find an .otf file for the text I wanted anyway.

Look for "pixel fonts".
e.g. https://www.fontspace.com/category/pixel

You can use ttf or otf in ebooks.

09-09-2021, 05:15 PM	#1
FDPuthuff Avid Learner Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Charleston, SC Device: Kindle Fire, iPad	Locking Fonts? Hey guys, I'm back. I am formatting an author's book into both an e-book and a print book. For the e-book, anywhere one specific font is used, I would like to make it where the e-reader cannot change the font to the reader's desire. The other fonts I don't care about. If I have to lock all of them, not an issue. Is this possible? Would I fix this in Sigil? (As opposed to Calibre) If it is possible, what's this called? How do you do it, or where can I look? I guess, if I knew the name of the tag or whatever, I'd know where to look. Any help is appreciated. I'd have searched here for answers, but I am not sure what to call it.

09-11-2021, 10:05 AM	#11
Quoth Still reading Posts: 13,854 Karma: 103895653 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	I've found that some "popular" Android apps totally ignore embedded fonts, some CAN'T use them at all. I embed fonts and then check that the book is readable with very limited default fonts. Last edited by Quoth; 09-11-2021 at 10:09 AM.

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09-09-2021, 05:22 PM	#2
FDPuthuff Avid Learner Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Charleston, SC Device: Kindle Fire, iPad	OK. I think what I am looking for is Embedding a font.

09-09-2021, 05:48 PM	#3
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,519 Karma: 204127028 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Embedding is still no guarantee an ereader, or an ereading app won't override your font choice. Outright prevention is not a worthy pursuit. Nor is it very feasible.

09-09-2021, 07:47 PM	#4
phillipgessert Addict Posts: 312 Karma: 3196258 Join Date: Oct 2015 Location: Madison, WI Device: Kindle 5th Gen	Edit: Disregard. Got my wires crossed! Last edited by phillipgessert; 09-09-2021 at 08:59 PM.

09-11-2021, 07:53 AM	#10
The_book Zealot Posts: 100 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2019 Device: none	I think there is only one way you can do this. create the image of characters you use, and replace all characters with link to the image. by this way, you can force person who read your ebook use you font

09-11-2021, 06:16 PM	#13
FDPuthuff Avid Learner Posts: 39 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2020 Location: Charleston, SC Device: Kindle Fire, iPad	What I ended up doing was setting the CCS for this text to san-serif. I couldn't find an .otf file for the text I wanted anyway. So I passed on embedding and went that direction. . What I was dealing with, was representing text on an older computer terminal. It has a very distinctive look. San-serif and mono-spaced. . I do appreciate the feedback.