Minor problem that bothers me with Kobo

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm trying to figure out how it is "user error" to expect the chapter headings to be centered when reading with justified text. I always read with justified text. I haven't noticed this. Does it depend on the book?

User error is using the justification setting for KePub.

It sounds like the OP wants to read in KePub left justified and the CSS is set to full justify. The solution is to download ePub, remove DRM (if there is any), and convert to KePub via calibre and the KoboTouchExtended driver.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I'm trying to figure out how it is "user error" to expect the chapter headings to be centered when reading with justified text. I always read with justified text. I haven't noticed this. Does it depend on the book?

When reading a kepub, if you set the force justification to left justified, it overrides other text-align directives. One of the very few times, Kobo ereaders will override an epub's styles. So if the chapter heading is set to centred, that gets overridden and the chapter heading will show left aligned.

[CyberPaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

User error is using the justification setting for KePub.

It sounds like the OP wants to read in KePub left justified and the CSS is set to full justify. The solution is to download ePub, remove DRM (if there is any), and convert to KePub via calibre and the KoboTouchExtended driver.

What does this solve? Would you have the ebook left or full justified?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CyberPaul

What does this solve? Would you have the ebook left or full justified?

If the eBook is left justified, I'll edit the CSS to make it full justified. I don't like left justified.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the eBook is left justified, I'll edit the CSS to make it full justified. I don't like left justified.

Unless maybe Poetry, Play scripts and similar. I do prefer a novel full justified. Calibre is great.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If the eBook is left justified, I'll edit the CSS to make it full justified. I don't like left justified.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Unless maybe Poetry, Play scripts and similar. I do prefer a novel full justified. Calibre is great.

And that is the nice part with ebooks. The user can change the justification to suit their tastes.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Do you read kepubs or epubs? AFAIK it's a kepub issue.

I mostly read ePubs. But if this is a KePub issue, how is that a user error? Wouldn't it be a KePub issue?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I mostly read ePubs. But if this is a KePub issue, how is that a user error? Wouldn't it be a KePub issue?

Yes, it is a kepub issue. Changing alignment between left and justified shouldn't change anything that's centered. Unfortunately it does and has apparently done so for many years, perhaps since the days of the first Kobo models (I noticed it immediately when I bought my first Kobo in 2019). The only working solutions are to change the alignment in the css of individual books, use epubs instead of kepubs or patch.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

And that is the nice part with ebooks. The user can change the justification to suit their tastes.

But not with KePub on a Kobo as it doesn't work properly. Not without editing the CSS.

[Anak]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would you buy it again for your Kindle instead of converting? The problem is user error and not your Kobo.

It is not a user error. It's a bug or other issue.
I have noticed this problem many times with other books. The text-alignment settings (for example: 'text-align:center') are not respected when one of the Justifications Options in the Reading Menu is used to override the default css value.

Justication Options in the Reading Menu:
off: no issues (text will be aligned to the left in most cases; the default publisher setting)
left: all text is aligned to the left
on: text will be justified but (css defined) centered text will be aligned to the left.

This problem occurs when the default alignment option in the css is set to left. Left is what most publishers set as the default.
When the justification override option is used text will be displayed as justified but (css defined) centered text will be displayed to the left.

IMHO the easiest fix is to edit the css and change the default text alignment (global, for all body elements) from 'text-align: left' to 'text-align: justify' and
leave the Justification Options in the Reading Menu set to off.


When you enable the justification options in the reading menu
left: all text will be aligned to the left
justify: all text will be aligned as justified (no change) but centered text will be aligned to the left.

In short, the Justifiction Option in the Reading Menu doesn't work properly because it doesn't respect centered text alignment.
Centered text should be rendered as centered regardless if justification override in the Reading Menu is set as off, left or justified.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Anak

In short, the Justifiction Option in the Reading Menu doesn't work properly because it doesn't respect centered text alignment.
Centered text should be rendered as centered regardless if justification override in the Reading Menu is set as off, left or justified.

That behaviour would be expected since you are overriding the ePub's justification settings. Perhaps you are expecting it to be more granular but that would require inspecting each chunk of text. Considering that I've seen multiple epubs which use <div> instead of <p> tags for the paragraphs and that use <p> tags instead of <hx> tags for the headers, that is going to be a PITA to implement in a fashion that most would find useful. Then we have the outlier ePubs where the justification was set to centered for the body paragraph style (I've seen that on 6 occasions from a quick perusal of my notes).

As for the headers becoming left aligned? Most justification schemes try to avoid short single lines such as those in most chapter headers or at the end of paragraphs being stretched across the entire line. So an expected behaviour.

I personally would not prefer seeing Chapter (with some intercharacter spacing) on the left margin and 20 (again with some intercharacter spacing on the right margin rather than seeing Chapter 20 left aligned.

[TheSmitty]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

This cannot be fixed with patching. It can be fixed by editing the CSS to set the justification as you want.

Thanks for all the info.