Kobo Libra Color and Calibre - all 1st letters bold

[gisele]

I recently purchased a Kobo Libra Color (firmware: 4.43.23418) to take advantage of the Calibre's Series and Collections. I have A LOT of books - all in both ePub and Mobi formats. When downloading from Calibre to Kobo I use auto-convert to KePub.

Everything looks fine on my PC - I've checked that the KePub has no issues. But on the Kobo - the first and occasionally second letter of every word is in Bold. I created a conversion rule to change all font-style: bold to font-style: regular. It doesn't help.

I've edited the Amazon Ember font to change weight, etc. Loaded several other Kobo recommended fonts (like Minion Pro). Every font gives the same result in
every book.

I've been using Calibre almost since it came out. I had a Kindle Version 1 which I loaded exclusively via Calibre. I've had almost every Kindle version since and have never had any problem with behavior of Calibre-converted books.

Has anyone else encountered this? Suggestions to fix please? I've searched forums and couldn't find this particular bug, but please excuse if this is a duplicate and I simply used the wrong search terms.

[xor_]

Did you perhaps install the Calibre module named KoboTouch Metaguide Driver? It is a speed-reading utility, and it causes that sort of thing. If you did, uninstall it. You don't need it for normal Kobo operations. The normal KoboTouch driver is a different thing.

I've stumbled upon that myself recently, and gave it a shot. It makes the first letters of every word bold, presumably to sustain attention. I found it ugly and distracting.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xor_

Did you perhaps install the Calibre module named KoboTouch Metaguide Driver? It is a speed-reading utility, and it causes that sort of thing. If you did, uninstall it. You don't need it for normal Kobo operations. The normal KoboTouch driver is a different thing.

I've stumbled upon that myself recently, and gave it a shot. It makes the first letters of every word bold, presumably to sustain attention. I found it ugly and distracting.

That's actually Bionic Reading. https://bionic-reading.com

[DNSB]

You will find the calibre plugin at: KoboTouch - Metaguide Driver (intellireading).

It is essentially the same as Bionic Reading® but that name is a registered trademark so not something a third party would want to use.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You will find the calibre plugin at: KoboTouch - Metaguide Driver (intellireading).

It is essentially the same as Bionic Reading® but that name is a registered trademark so not something a third party would want to use.

Bionic Reading is rubbish. So not something you'd want to use.

[xor_]

OP hasn't verified that this is actually what happened. It's just my hypothesis, but it would seem to fit the described symptoms.

Someone looking for Kobo plugins in Calibre, and reading something about KoboTouch and Driver, and just clicking Install. Even though the description pretty clearly says that it's a special interest plugin.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xor_

OP hasn't verified that this is actually what happened. It's just my hypothesis, but it would seem to fit the described symptoms.

Someone looking for Kobo plugins in Calibre, and reading something about KoboTouch and Driver, and just clicking Install. Even though the description pretty clearly says that it's a special interest plugin.

That plugin needs to have KoboTouch removed from the name. I've read of others having a similar problem because of this.

[gisele]

You were absolutely correct - I stupidly installed all Kobo plugins. The MetaGuide, despite being a specialty plugin, did not mention exactly what it did to the text. I do occssionally speed read so I was curious to see how it worked - but I never put 2 and 2 together to figure out that this plugin screwed everything up. I've removed it, re-converted kepubs, and everything is perfect.

Thank you all very very much!

[gisele]

Originally Posted by xor_

Did you perhaps install the Calibre module named KoboTouch Metaguide Driver? It is a speed-reading utility, and it causes that sort of thing. If you did, uninstall it. You don't need it for normal Kobo operations. The normal KoboTouch driver is a different thing.

I've stumbled upon that myself recently, and gave it a shot. It makes the first letters of every word bold, presumably to sustain attention. I found it ugly and distracting.

Yes!!!!! Fixed!!!! Thank you!!!!

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That plugin needs to have KoboTouch removed from the name. I've read of others having a similar problem because of this.

And a warning that the Bionic reading has no scientific basis, but is a scheme to make money.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

And a warning that the Bionic reading has no scientific basis, but is a scheme to make money.

I've read that if you have dyslexia, you are better off reading with some sort of sans-serif font.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've read that if you have dyslexia, you are better off reading with some sort of sans-serif font.

Some of the claims for Bionic Reading were that it allowed you to read twice as fast, allowed you to relax more while reading and helped the reader to stay focused improving comprehension and retention.

Oddly, two 3rd party tests I saw involving Bionic Reading did not match those results. One which had 61 participants showed a 4% gain in reading speed in one test text but averaged over all to -0.1% improvement in reading speed averaged over the 6 test texts while comprehension and retention actually dropped. The other test showed no significant change in reading speed but the same minor drop in retention and comprehension.

Basically, all the differences were below the noise level in the tests.

Much like testing done with fonts claimed to help dyslexics to read better where the results showed that sans-serif fonts and a larger font size showed more improvements for most people compared to using specialized fonts such as Dyslexie, OpenDyslexic, and Sylexiad. Though the results were as usual for any tests involving people where some participants showed improved reading using the dyslexic fonts so they should not be written off but also, they should not be considered a panacea.

To quote the British Dyslexia Association style guide:

Font.

• Use a plain, evenly spaced sans serif font such as Arial and Comic Sans. Alternatives include Verdana, Tahoma, Century Gothic, Trebuchet.
• Font size should be 12-14 point. Some dyslexic readers may request a larger font.
• Use dark coloured text on a light (not white) background.
• Avoid green and red/pink as these are difficult for colour-blind individuals.

And yes, I do find it a bit humorous that most dyslexic guides have Comic Sans as a recommended font.

[JSWolf]

Helvetica Neue is a good font to use for people with dyslexia. The eText version is even better as it's even more consistent.

https://creativepro.com/helvetica-vs...-but-different

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Helvetica Neue is a good font to use for people with dyslexia. The eText version is even better as it's even more consistent.

https://creativepro.com/helvetica-vs...-but-different

Not true. It depends if the Dyslexic person is more familiar with sans or serif. Many may find the clarity of a sans font better. I've read the material and tested people diagnosed with Dyslexia (not self identifying), Size, word/line spacing, clarity and contrast are the important aspects. Too tight or loose kerning (keming) is an issue for everyone, but worse for Dyslexic readers.

Also Dyslexia is nothing to do with Bionic reading which alleges to speed regular reading. I think you are thinking of the Open Dyslexic font, which was a cute art project with no scientific basis.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Not true. It depends if the Dyslexic person is more familiar with sans or serif. Many may find the clarity of a sans font better. I've read the material and tested people diagnosed with Dyslexia (not self identifying), Size, word/line spacing, clarity and contrast are the important aspects. Too tight or loose kerning (keming) is an issue for everyone, but worse for Dyslexic readers.

Also Dyslexia is nothing to do with Bionic reading which alleges to speed regular reading. I think you are thinking of the Open Dyslexic font, which was a cute art project with no scientific basis.

Helvetica Neue is a good font for dyslexia. It has good spacing, good letter forms, and it's sans-serif.