NickelTypeFix: a mod for better typography and typesetting (kepub only) - Page 3

JSWolf · 08-29-2026, 05:43 AM

I want to thank you! It's much better.

It's not perfect, but it is much better. If I have the line height small enough, I still get the broken line. If I have the line height one step larger, I get the letter descenders ever so slightly cut off like in your photo on your git. If the top margin can be reduced a tiny but, that may push the rest of the descenders back where they belong on the previous page.

There one other thing I would really like if it can be done. I have no idea if ti can be done or not. Would it be possible to change the page numbering so it uses the same page numbers as RMSDK?

MrSilverstrike · 08-29-2026, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I want to thank you! It's much better.

It's not perfect, but it is much better. If I have the line height small enough, I still get the broken line. If I have the line height one step larger, I get the letter descenders ever so slightly cut off like in your photo on your git. If the top margin can be reduced a tiny but, that may push the rest of the descenders back where they belong on the previous page.

There one other thing I would really like if it can be done. I have no idea if ti can be done or not. Would it be possible to change the page numbering so it uses the same page numbers as RMSDK?

You're welcome! Can you make a screenshot of your exact use case? And mention what font you're using? Perhaps there's still something I can do about this!

As for pagination: I have no idea! I'd need to look into that...

JSWolf · 08-29-2026, 05:34 PM

Here is how the two pages look in KePub. The first screen is at minimum line height and the other two are one step up.

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MrSilverstrike · 09-01-2026, 05:35 PM

I've discovered that basically, at very tight line spacing, there isn't a way to reliably fix the problem, unfortunately.

I did do another deep dive into book loading. Long chapters should load 2-3x as fast as before. A long chapter that took 11 seconds on my Kobo Clara BW to load now loads in 4 seconds...

If you want to help me test the latter, take a look here.

JSWolf · 09-01-2026, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

I've discovered that basically, at very tight line spacing, there isn't a way to reliably fix the problem, unfortunately.

I did do another deep dive into book loading. Long chapters should load 2-3x as fast as before. A long chapter that took 11 seconds on my Kobo Clara BW to load now loads in 4 seconds...

If you want to help me test the latter, take a look here.

Thanks for taking a look and doing what you could. I'll be happy to test this.

JSWolf · 09-01-2026, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

I've discovered that basically, at very tight line spacing, there isn't a way to reliably fix the problem, unfortunately.

I did do another deep dive into book loading. Long chapters should load 2-3x as fast as before. A long chapter that took 11 seconds on my Kobo Clara BW to load now loads in 4 seconds...

If you want to help me test the latter, take a look here.

I've installed the beta and guess what? The broken lines are fix at the small line height. Well done!

MrSilverstrike · Yesterday, 02:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've installed the beta and guess what? The broken lines are fix at the small line height. Well done!

Even better, great to hear!

Also, did you notice a speed-up when opening a book? It should be quite noticeable if you happen to have a book with a lengthy chapter (e.g. many pages). Subsequent book opens (so closing and re-opening) a book should also be noticeably faster, and page turns may be affected too.

On my Kobo Libra Colour the effect was quite pronounced. I'd been testing on a Clara BW first and I was surprised by how quickly my (slow, before!) book loads now.

JSWolf · Yesterday, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

Even better, great to hear!

Also, did you notice a speed-up when opening a book? It should be quite noticeable if you happen to have a book with a lengthy chapter (e.g. many pages). Subsequent book opens (so closing and re-opening) a book should also be noticeably faster, and page turns may be affected too.

On my Kobo Libra Colour the effect was quite pronounced. I'd been testing on a Clara BW first and I was surprised by how quickly my (slow, before!) book loads now.

About the same load time. But then I don't have any really large eBooks handy. I'll get a screen grab of how it looks at the same two line height settings as I took before so you can see,

fogice · Yesterday, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSilverstrike

I did do another deep dive into book loading. Long chapters should load 2-3x as fast as before. A long chapter that took 11 seconds on my Kobo Clara BW to load now loads in 4 seconds...

Ooh, that sounds exciting! The Libra 2 gets bogged down with long chapters. Is the 11 seconds with your older NickelTypeFix, or with an unmodified Kobo?

I've often thought that Kobo should have programmed 'new chapter display' as follows:

Load new chapter into memory
Calculate first page layout
Display first page layout, but hide "Page 1 of x" message
Calculate layout for remainder of chapter
Update display to show "Page 1 of 38"

MrSilverstrike · Yesterday, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fogice

Ooh, that sounds exciting! The Libra 2 gets bogged down with long chapters. Is the 11 seconds with your older NickelTypeFix, or with an unmodified Kobo?[/LIST]

Load times were ~11s with a Kobo Clara BW (stock, which is the same as it was with the previous version of the mod), and ~4 with the experimental version of the mod installed. To be clear, it's mostly noticeable on larger chapters. Smaller chapters don't have too much overhead for layout/shaping, so they are roughly equally fast because below <1.5s the screen is the bottleneck as it needs to do a full refresh when a book is opened.

JSWolf · Yesterday, 01:59 PM

Here are the screens of my Libra 2 with the newest version of NickelTypeFix. It's one page followed by the next page so you can see that the ever so slight lines in the descender do not show on the next page.

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npr · Today, 07:34 AM

Testing the faster load on my Libra 2
Time to load the first chapter of your test book:
default firmware: time 5.5sec
NickelTypeFix v0.8: time 5.5 sec
Faster Load software: time 5.5 sec

nickel-type-fix.log:
2026-09-03 12:29:00 NickelTypeFix v0.8-7-g6daf3a2: Fast text shaping: enabled=yes, active=yes

Unfortunately I'm seeing no significant improvement here.

xyclonei · Today, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by npr

Testing the faster load on my Libra 2
Time to load the first chapter of your test book:
default firmware: time 5.5sec
NickelTypeFix v0.8: time 5.5 sec
Faster Load software: time 5.5 sec

nickel-type-fix.log:
2026-09-03 12:29:00 NickelTypeFix v0.8-7-g6daf3a2: Fast text shaping: enabled=yes, active=yes

Unfortunately I'm seeing no significant improvement here.

My observation is that the improvement is more pronounced on larger chapters and not noticeable on smaller ones.

optimizeLegibility seem to bog down the device rendering and with the faster load version, there seems to be a significant improvement.

08-29-2026, 05:43 AM	#31
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 84,749 Karma: 153788055 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I want to thank you! It's much better. It's not perfect, but it is much better. If I have the line height small enough, I still get the broken line. If I have the line height one step larger, I get the letter descenders ever so slightly cut off like in your photo on your git. If the top margin can be reduced a tiny but, that may push the rest of the descenders back where they belong on the previous page. There one other thing I would really like if it can be done. I have no idea if ti can be done or not. Would it be possible to change the page numbering so it uses the same page numbers as RMSDK? Last edited by JSWolf; 08-29-2026 at 05:57 AM.

08-29-2026, 05:34 PM	#33
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 84,749 Karma: 153788055 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Here is how the two pages look in KePub. The first screen is at minimum line height and the other two are one step up. Last edited by JSWolf; 08-29-2026 at 05:37 PM.

Yesterday, 01:59 PM	#41
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 84,749 Karma: 153788055 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Here are the screens of my Libra 2 with the newest version of NickelTypeFix. It's one page followed by the next page so you can see that the ever so slight lines in the descender do not show on the next page. Last edited by JSWolf; Yesterday at 02:07 PM.

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09-01-2026, 05:35 PM	#34
MrSilverstrike Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 113630 Join Date: Apr 2024 Location: Belgium Device: Kobo Libra Color, Kobo Clara Color	I've discovered that basically, at very tight line spacing, there isn't a way to reliably fix the problem, unfortunately. I did do another deep dive into book loading. Long chapters should load 2-3x as fast as before. A long chapter that took 11 seconds on my Kobo Clara BW to load now loads in 4 seconds... If you want to help me test the latter, take a look here.

Today, 07:34 AM	#42
npr Zealot Posts: 121 Karma: 37418 Join Date: Jan 2013 Device: H2OE2, Libra 2	Testing the faster load on my Libra 2 Time to load the first chapter of your test book: default firmware: time 5.5sec NickelTypeFix v0.8: time 5.5 sec Faster Load software: time 5.5 sec nickel-type-fix.log: 2026-09-03 12:29:00 NickelTypeFix v0.8-7-g6daf3a2: Fast text shaping: enabled=yes, active=yes Unfortunately I'm seeing no significant improvement here.