What do you actually customize in your reader?

[QuietShelfLife]

We shipped a bunch of appearance controls over the last few releases (1.0.25-1.0.27) and I'm curious which ones people actually use versus which ones just add clutter:

• Font weight slider (7 stops from Lightest to Boldest -- per-font, so the stops match what the font actually supports)
• Paragraph spacing (now defaults to publisher's layout instead of forcing 1.0em, with a slider if you want to override)
• Line spacing (default vs custom range)
• Margins (default platform margin vs custom)
• Justify text toggle
• Scroll vs paginated mode

A few questions for the readers here:

1. Do you set your appearance once and forget it, or do you tweak per-book?

2. Any controls you wish were there that aren't? JSWolf mentioned wanting even finer weight granularity (like Kobo's continuous slider). Is that something others want?

3. Does anyone use different settings for different genres -- e.g. tighter spacing for non-fiction, looser for novels?

The reason I'm asking: I want to make sure we're building controls people use rather than piling on options that make the appearance panel overwhelming. If nobody touches paragraph spacing, I'd rather simplify the panel and spend the effort elsewhere.

[JSWolf]

I use the same settings. Same font weight because I use the same font, same line height, same L/R margins, and same font size.

I'll check my line height setting and let you know. I'll also get a screen grab from my Kobo and post it in this thread.

As to the font weight slider, it's not working properly. It needs to have the fine control so we don't go from not enough weight to too much weight.

[Readirect]

One of the most useful of Calibre features is that it can create a template for format conversions, such that each e-book has the exact same layout and appearance.

At times, you have to also delete the book's css stylesheets, when moronic designers decide to add drop caps and/or codes which otherwise eff with the layout.

BTW, if you are a said designer who does this, don't. And while you're at it, no one wants to see a 5MB color photo of yourself, nor the full-color covers of your other books which eat up a bunch more space. AND (while I'm ranting) eliminate all those fonts you seem to think readers want. They're useless. Finally, run your book through Calibre's error-fixer

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Readirect

One of the most useful of Calibre features is that it can create a template for format conversions, such that each e-book has the exact same layout and appearance.

At times, you have to also delete the book's css stylesheets, when moronic designers decide to add drop caps and/or codes which otherwise eff with the layout.

BTW, if you are a said designer who does this, don't. And while you're at it, no one wants to see a 5MB color photo of yourself, nor the full-color covers of your other books which eat up a bunch more space. AND (while I'm ranting) eliminate all those fonts you seem to think readers want. They're useless. Finally, run your book through Calibre's error-fixer

Deleting the CSS is a really really really bad idea. Instead of that, learn HTML/CSS and edit it to fix what's wrong.

As to the excess images, I delete them. No more images, no more wasted space.