No italics on other fonts than Publisher default

[Paul Sprangers]

I downloaded the most recent Bookerly weights from the Amazon website and copied them to the fonts folder of both my Kobo Glo HD and my Kobo Libra 2. But both Kobo's refuse to display the italic weight of Bookerly. Actually, all fonts other than the Publisher default, refuse to display anything but the regular weight, the built in fonts included. Now what?

[Sirtel]

Hello and welcome to MobileRead!

Kobos can be pretty finicky about fonts. I suggest to read this:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kob...play_Correctly

And which firmware are you on? There were font issues with the 4.31 version.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Paul Sprangers

I downloaded the most recent Bookerly weights from the Amazon website and copied them to the fonts folder of both my Kobo Glo HD and my Kobo Libra 2. But both Kobo's refuse to display the italic weight of Bookerly. Actually, all fonts other than the Publisher default, refuse to display anything but the regular weight, the built in fonts included. Now what?

That's because there are problem with the metadata of the italic version of Bookerly and when reading KePub, there can be a problem as you've noticed. It does work with ePub.

[Paul Sprangers]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Hello and welcome to MobileRead!

Kobos can be pretty finicky about fonts. I suggest to read this:
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kob...play_Correctly

And which firmware are you on? There were font issues with the 4.31 version.

Thank you for pointing me at the wiki page. However...
I've done everything exactly as described on that page (using FontForge), for all four weights, but still no italics (or bolds). The thing that puzzles me, is that this is true for ALL fonts, except for the Publisher default, so also the built in ones, that one would expect to behave normally.

Both my Kobo's have the 4.32 version.

[Paul Sprangers]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That's because there are problem with the metadata of the italic version of Bookerly and when reading KePub, there can be a problem as you've noticed. It does work with ePub.

As far as I know, all my books are ePub. But as I don't even know what KePub is, I may be mistaken about the format.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Paul Sprangers

Thank you for pointing me at the wiki page. However...
I've done everything exactly as described on that page (using FontForge), for all four weights, but still no italics (or bolds). The thing that puzzles me, is that this is true for ALL fonts, except for the Publisher default, so also the built in ones, that one would expect to behave normally.

Both my Kobo's have the 4.32 version.

Try the new 4.33 firmware and see what happens for your side loaded fonts.

Also, give ChareInk a try as I know for sure that it works properly. You can download ChareInk at the following link.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=184056'

[Paul Sprangers]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Try the new 4.33 firmware and see what happens for your side loaded fonts.

Also, give ChareInk a try as I know for sure that it works properly. You can download ChareInk at the following link.

Alas... no italics with ChareInk either, although (according to FontForge) all 4 weights seem to have the right tags burdened into their bodies.

How do I download the 4.33 firmware? When I do it manually (from the settings menu), nothing happens. Not that I expect it to fix the italics problem. I never could get italics on fonts other than the Publisher default, no matter what firmware versions were installed (and my Glo HD is about 7 years old!) It's likely me, who is doing something wrong. But what?

[Quoth]

Manual download
Find file here: https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html
Also has older versions to allow going back.

1) Download and unpack zip
2) Connect Kobo, but make sure at least 50% charged.
3) Make sure hidden folders are shown.
4) copy CONTENTS of folder / directory created in 1 to .kobo folder/directory on Kobo
5) Make sure it's done and software eject Kobo. Wait for it to react before unpluging cable. At one stage screen may be blank for a few minutes. It varies.

6) Optionally power off/on, but usually not needed.

[Paul Sprangers]

All right, the Kobo Glo HD is now at 4.33. However, still no italics, not from the side loaded fonts, nor from the built in fonts. What is it that I'm doing wrong?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Paul Sprangers

All right, the Kobo Glo HD is now at 4.33. However, still no italics, not from the side loaded fonts, nor from the built in fonts. What is it that I'm doing wrong?

For all books? Where did you get the books? And the same issue on both Kobos, or only the Glo?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Paul Sprangers

All right, the Kobo Glo HD is now at 4.33. However, still no italics, not from the side loaded fonts, nor from the built in fonts. What is it that I'm doing wrong?

Try the following eBook from the MR library and go to the first chapter titled FUGUE. It starts off with italics. I know there is nothing wrong with this ePub eBook.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=177182

[Paul Sprangers]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

For all books? Where did you get the books? And the same issue on both Kobos, or only the Glo?

Yes, for all books, as well as for both Kobos. The vast majority of books came from Kobo Plus, others were bought from Kobo, and a few were side loaded from other sources. The total amount is 540 books.

[Paul Sprangers]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Try the following eBook from the MR library and go to the first chapter titled FUGUE. It starts off with italics. I know there is nothing wrong with this ePub eBook.

Thanks your for the link, but things are getting weirder and weirder. The Star Trek book does display italics for every font, except for a few that allegedly consist of one weight only.

Now, what's going on here? My first thought was that Kobo Plus books don't offer the possibility of displaying italics, since those are the absolute majority of my collection (540 books). It's a silly thought of course, and a quick test showed that the few side loaded books on my Kobo don't like italics either.

My second thought however, may have been better: Could it be the translation? Nearly all of my books are Dutch translations. So, I quickly tried one of the few original English ones on my Kobo (Nabokovs Pale fire), and hey... italics!

Have I really found a pattern? If so, what happened to all of those translations? Why do they show italics in the Publisher Default, but remain stubborn in all other fonts? Isn't it weird? Do other foreign readers of translations face the same problem? I'm really curious...

[Paul Sprangers]

No, it's not the translation - I'm getting mad. Nearly half of my books are original Dutch ones. It must be something of Dutch Publishers, who perhaps don't support other fonts than their own default, or something like that. Could it be that?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Paul Sprangers

No, it's not the translation - I'm getting mad. Nearly half of my books are original Dutch ones. It must be something of Dutch Publishers, who perhaps don't support other fonts than their own default, or something like that. Could it be that?

If all the books not displaying italics are from Dutch publishers, then yep, the root of the problem probably is with them. It may be possible to fix this by editing the css, but without seeing the code we can't be sure.