Calibre Shows Pseudo-Italic for Regular Custom Font - Page 2

Slevin#7 · 06-08-2025, 04:59 PM

That's pretty the way it should look like, thanks for checking.

So I think, since nobody seems to have stumbled across a similar issue during their eBook coding time, I will leave it at that - although I have to confess, I'd still prefer to know the reason why^^.

Thanks to everyone for helping.

And for documentation's sake, the issue visually as attachment.

RbnJrg · 06-08-2025, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slevin#7

Italic was never the problem, it is that regular text (font-style: normal) is displayed as pseudo-italic, not even showing the proper italic font but skewing the text somehow.

All is ok with the epub you uploaded; this is how it looks in Calibre Viewer 8.4.0 under Linux:

Click image for larger version

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DNSB · 06-08-2025, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slevin#7

Thank you for your effort, I really appreciate that. Your attached eBook unfortunately doesn't have embedded fonts, maybe you've mixed them up?

Because of that, Calibre displays your eBook font-wise correctly, since it uses the Literata font system wide installed.

I've taken the liberty of embedding the Literata (3.103) fonts to your book, with the usual weird outcome of skewed chars for regular style (normal and bold-normal).

Maybe you wanna take a quick look? Many thanks again.

My screwup. I imported the ePub into calibre to add the cover and the embedded fonts got removed.

I've re-added the fonts and uploaded it here. Just a bit bigger file.

JSWolf · 06-09-2025, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slevin#7

That's pretty the way it should look like, thanks for checking.

So I think, since nobody seems to have stumbled across a similar issue during their eBook coding time, I will leave it at that - although I have to confess, I'd still prefer to know the reason why^^.

Thanks to everyone for helping.

And for documentation's sake, the issue visually as attachment.

I have an idea for something you can try. QT sometimes has problems with your video driver. There is a way around it that may work. Set the following code as an environment variable in Windows and then reboot and see what happens.

Code:

QTWEBENGINE_CHROMIUM_FLAGS="--disable-gpu"

If it still fails and the view shows the font incorrectly, try booting into safe mode and try the viewer again. If it then works, then it's something that runs on startup that's the problem.

Jellby · 06-10-2025, 10:20 AM

Forgive me if this has been discussed already, but have you ruled out some user-specific config? Have you tried on a new user account? Does it only happen with the calibre viewer? What about the calibre ebook editor's preview?

Slevin#7 · 06-11-2025, 01:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Code:

QTWEBENGINE_CHROMIUM_FLAGS="--disable-gpu"

Thanks for the tip, I've tried but without any change in the result. Anyhow, at least I now know this specific flag and can rule out QT using GPU as a culprit.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

Forgive me if this has been discussed already, but have you ruled out some user-specific config? Have you tried on a new user account? Does it only happen with the calibre viewer? What about the calibre ebook editor's preview?

I don't know what you mean with new user account. Regarding the other questions:

I haven't set any specific user flags, and it only affects fonts loaded from Google Fonts.

Yes, it only shows this issue with Calibre 3.48, I havent tested other Calibre versions, but will do when I have the chance to. It also shows the issue in the ebook-edit preview, so both tools are affected, the regular viewer and the editor's previewer.

My best guess is, that Google adds/changes/manipulates the meta data of the fonts they provide - maybe to being able to track/recognize them as coming from them - and maybe these specific off-standard settings are responsible for Calibre's weird behavior. Just a guess, but sometimes some bugs only occur in specific combinations of specific things which usually work well all day long in everybody's normal world...

JSWolf · 06-11-2025, 04:02 PM

Try viewing your ePub in the calibre viewer in safe mode.

theducks · 06-11-2025, 08:36 PM

you have a URL( ..\fonts

I think it should just be URL(\fonts

In calibre, you can select the book and tap 'U' to unpack, then explode and look at the top level structure .
I think yoy backed up (the ..) too far and the font was not found, thus default

Slevin#7 · 06-12-2025, 12:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Try viewing your ePub in the calibre viewer in safe mode.

I'll give it a try and report back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

you have a URL( ..\fonts

I think it should just be URL(\fonts

In calibre, you can select the book and tap 'U' to unpack, then explode and look at the top level structure .
I think yoy backed up (the ..) too far and the font was not found, thus default

I don't know which eBook's structure you've attatched to your post, but it doesn't seem to be mine nor DNSB's. However, the issue is not, that Calibre won't find the font, it does and displays the correct font as well, the issue is, that Calibre skews the regular fonts by itself for whatever reason. And this affects, at least as far as I could find out, only fonts downloaded from Google Fonts. If there were a structural problem, Calibre would not only not find the Google Fonts (and magically materializes them somehow skewed), it would also not find Liberation, which it does and displays it as expected.

Doitsu · 06-12-2025, 01:33 PM

When I opened your test book with Calibre Viewer on my Windows 11 machine, I didn't see cursive text on the last test page.

Slevin#7 · 06-13-2025, 12:18 AM

Thanks Doitsu, yes, it seems that this is an issue I'm the only one blessed with. Thank you lord, for your amazing mysteries...

Jellby · 06-13-2025, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slevin#7

I don't know what you mean with new user account

This is Windows, right? Don't you have a username/password for Windows? Maybe it's called "profile" or something else instead. My suggestion is creating a new test user (for Windows itself, not for calibre) and trying calibre from there. But it's been a long time since I last used Windows, I'm not quite sure how it works nowadays.

JSWolf · 06-13-2025, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slevin#7

Thanks Doitsu, yes, it seems that this is an issue I'm the only one blessed with. Thank you lord, for your amazing mysteries...

Have you tried safe mode yet? Also, is there any reason you can't upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit?

Quoth · 06-13-2025, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

This is Windows, right? Don't you have a username/password for Windows? Maybe it's called "profile" or something else instead. My suggestion is creating a new test user (for Windows itself, not for calibre) and trying calibre from there. But it's been a long time since I last used Windows, I'm not quite sure how it works nowadays.

Some versions of Windows have account creation removed from control panel and use only the online MS account. However if you open a console / terminal as administrator:

https://www.windows-commandline.com/...-command-line/

This has always worked in Windows NT. Windows 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and 11 are really Windows NT,

Slevin#7 · 06-14-2025, 01:39 AM

I wanna thank everyone here again for their help — an overall very helpful and friendly bunch of members here

I will now put the problem aside and ignore it gracefully, especially since it seems to only affect myelf in a very specific setup. Since Calibre is not my default viewer and the tech-stack causing the issue is not my everyday environment, this bug doesn't affect me personally. For now, it is enough to know that there is no need for action and that I can safely embed fonts as intended.

If I will stumble upon any interesting information in the future, I will post it here. Until then, let's enjoy the weekend.

:

Thanks again.

06-08-2025, 04:59 PM	#16
Slevin#7 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2025 Device: iPad	That's pretty the way it should look like, thanks for checking. So I think, since nobody seems to have stumbled across a similar issue during their eBook coding time, I will leave it at that - although I have to confess, I'd still prefer to know the reason why^^. Thanks to everyone for helping. And for documentation's sake, the issue visually as attachment. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Slevin#7; 06-08-2025 at 05:03 PM.

06-11-2025, 08:36 PM	#23
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,011 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	you have a URL( ..\fonts I think it should just be URL(\fonts In calibre, you can select the book and tap 'U' to unpack, then explode and look at the top level structure . I think yoy backed up (the ..) too far and the font was not found, thus default Attached Thumbnails

06-12-2025, 01:33 PM	#25
Doitsu Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,725 Karma: 24031401 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: Kindle PW2	When I opened your test book with Calibre Viewer on my Windows 11 machine, I didn't see cursive text on the last test page. Attached Thumbnails

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06-10-2025, 10:20 AM	#20
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,546 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Forgive me if this has been discussed already, but have you ruled out some user-specific config? Have you tried on a new user account? Does it only happen with the calibre viewer? What about the calibre ebook editor's preview?

06-11-2025, 04:02 PM	#22
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,657 Karma: 145864619 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Try viewing your ePub in the calibre viewer in safe mode.

06-13-2025, 12:18 AM	#26
Slevin#7 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2025 Device: iPad	Thanks Doitsu, yes, it seems that this is an issue I'm the only one blessed with. Thank you lord, for your amazing mysteries...

06-14-2025, 01:39 AM	#30
Slevin#7 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2025 Device: iPad	I wanna thank everyone here again for their help — an overall very helpful and friendly bunch of members here I will now put the problem aside and ignore it gracefully, especially since it seems to only affect myelf in a very specific setup. Since Calibre is not my default viewer and the tech-stack causing the issue is not my everyday environment, this bug doesn't affect me personally. For now, it is enough to know that there is no need for action and that I can safely embed fonts as intended. If I will stumble upon any interesting information in the future, I will post it here. Until then, let's enjoy the weekend. : Thanks again.