Hebrew Characters

Karellen · Yesterday, 07:01 AM

Hi,

This one has me stumped.

A page in an ebook I am reading has a few Hebrew characters. I have a font embedded in the epub to display them (FreeSerif.otf). The epub is v3

In Calibre viewer and in the Editor previewer, both display the paragraphs correctly.

On my Libra2, the paragraphs are messed up. Part of the paragraph is forced ltr and the other part is rtl. See images.

I've added <p dir="ltr"> to each affected paragraph, but it does not fix it.

In the opf, I've added <spine toc="toc" page-progression-direction="ltr">. This does not fix it either.

What is the trick to getting this to work correctly? I want it to read ltr. Normal English reading, with a couple of Hebrew characters in the paragraph.

Thanks

JSWolf · Yesterday, 07:04 AM

Given that you are reading it in ePub, you cannot use directional commands for the text. It doesn't work.

Can you show your code for that page including the CSS?

KevinH · Yesterday, 08:23 AM

In the old days you used bdi (Bi-Directional Isolation) tags surrounding just the Hebrew char. Or try a span with dir="rtl" around just the Hebrew char, or maybe both.

The presence of the Hebrew char without those is confusing the reader to change the whole paragraph to rtl.

Karellen · Yesterday, 05:25 PM

Thanks @KevinH. I just cannot get it to work on the Libra2. I've used the <bdi> tags, I've tried <span dir="rtl">, nested the rtl and ltr. Any combination I could think of, I tried. None of it worked. I guess the libra2 software needs some tweaking.

I've replaced the characters with svg, so now working ok. Yep a cowards way out, but I've spent a good hour and a half fiddling with this.

@jswolf thanks, but using svg files for the characters instead.

PeterT · Yesterday, 10:06 PM

Just curious; are you using calibre to send content to the Kobo and if so, what format is sending epub or Kobo format epub? This can be controlled within the Kobo driver either globally through the option labelled "Use Kobo viewer for EPUB books" which does an automatic conversion from epub to kepub.

Only reason I ask is that the two renderers on the Kobo handle things differently.

Karellen · Yesterday, 10:24 PM

Hi @PeterT

I don't convert to kepub. I keep the epub format on the Libra2.
Yes, I use Calibre to sideload.

PeterT · Today, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Karellen

Hi @PeterT

I don't convert to kepub. I keep the epub format on the Libra2.
Yes, I use Calibre to sideload.

So just to confirm, you've updated the driver configuration to disable its default for that setting?

Karellen · Today, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

So just to confirm, you've updated the driver configuration to disable its default for that setting?

I don't remember what the default is, but my settings are below.

PeterT · Today, 04:29 PM

Perfect

The default was a check mark for the Use Kobo reader button. Sorry to have doubted you

DNSB · Today, 04:56 PM

RMSDK on a Kobo ereader is at heart at ePub2 renderer with a few ePub3 features. No support for direction, writing-mode. dir, bdi, bdo, etc. To properly support right to left, top to bottom, etc., you need to use an ePub3 renderer—that requirement for Japanese typography is why Kobo went to a dual renderer setup.

Yesterday, 07:01 AM	#1
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,855 Karma: 9600930 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Hebrew Characters Hi, This one has me stumped. A page in an ebook I am reading has a few Hebrew characters. I have a font embedded in the epub to display them (FreeSerif.otf). The epub is v3 In Calibre viewer and in the Editor previewer, both display the paragraphs correctly. On my Libra2, the paragraphs are messed up. Part of the paragraph is forced ltr and the other part is rtl. See images. I've added <p dir="ltr"> to each affected paragraph, but it does not fix it. In the opf, I've added <spine toc="toc" page-progression-direction="ltr">. This does not fix it either. What is the trick to getting this to work correctly? I want it to read ltr. Normal English reading, with a couple of Hebrew characters in the paragraph. Thanks Attached Thumbnails

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Yesterday, 07:04 AM	#2
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 83,871 Karma: 153649587 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Given that you are reading it in ePub, you cannot use directional commands for the text. It doesn't work. Can you show your code for that page including the CSS?

Yesterday, 08:23 AM	#3
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 9,732 Karma: 6774572 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	In the old days you used bdi (Bi-Directional Isolation) tags surrounding just the Hebrew char. Or try a span with dir="rtl" around just the Hebrew char, or maybe both. The presence of the Hebrew char without those is confusing the reader to change the whole paragraph to rtl.

Yesterday, 05:25 PM	#4
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,855 Karma: 9600930 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Thanks @KevinH. I just cannot get it to work on the Libra2. I've used the <bdi> tags, I've tried <span dir="rtl">, nested the rtl and ltr. Any combination I could think of, I tried. None of it worked. I guess the libra2 software needs some tweaking. I've replaced the characters with svg, so now working ok. Yep a cowards way out, but I've spent a good hour and a half fiddling with this. @jswolf thanks, but using svg files for the characters instead.

Yesterday, 10:06 PM	#5
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 14,007 Karma: 82524140 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Just curious; are you using calibre to send content to the Kobo and if so, what format is sending epub or Kobo format epub? This can be controlled within the Kobo driver either globally through the option labelled "Use Kobo viewer for EPUB books" which does an automatic conversion from epub to kepub. Only reason I ask is that the two renderers on the Kobo handle things differently.

Yesterday, 10:24 PM	#6
Karellen Wizard Posts: 1,855 Karma: 9600930 Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Libra 2	Hi @PeterT I don't convert to kepub. I keep the epub format on the Libra2. Yes, I use Calibre to sideload.

Today, 04:29 PM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 14,007 Karma: 82524140 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Perfect The default was a check mark for the Use Kobo reader button. Sorry to have doubted you

Today, 04:56 PM	#10
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 52,575 Karma: 180945220 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	RMSDK on a Kobo ereader is at heart at ePub2 renderer with a few ePub3 features. No support for direction, writing-mode. dir, bdi, bdo, etc. To properly support right to left, top to bottom, etc., you need to use an ePub3 renderer—that requirement for Japanese typography is why Kobo went to a dual renderer setup.