What's the official line on Italicised versions of Kobo Fonts - Page 2

murg · 12-18-2012, 04:02 AM

I reran my test with a specially constructed ePub.

Same results. <i>, <em> and css all operated the same for a font.

Is it possible that there is a difference between the sideloaded and kepubs? And for once, the sideloaded epubs are working correctly?

GoingDown · 12-18-2012, 04:38 AM

I found out interesting thing when installing "Averia GWF" font.

If the filenames were (as default) "AveriaGWF-Italic.ttf" etc. the italics did not work.

Then, I opened the font in fontforge, and checked the font family name, which is "Averia GWF" (with the space). Then, I modified all font file names in Kobo to be:

Averia GWF.ttf
Averia GWF-Italic.ttf
Averia GWF-Bold.ttf
Averia GWF-BoldItalic.ttf

And the italics started to work. So, it seems that the kobo uses font family name plus the -Italic or -Bold to select the different versions of the font.

Maybe the same thing could fix the internal fonts too, I need to test more.

GoingDown · 12-18-2012, 04:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stewacide

Edit -- p.s. I got Avenir working with Italics by side-loading it and making sure the file name matched the font name exactly, including spaces. When I first tried it the name wasn't an exact match and I got the same result as with the bundled Avenir: bold in place of italics. Could this long-standing bug be as simple as Kobo not having their internal fonts named properly?

Yes, that seems to be the case, I just saw this too.

0x55 · 12-18-2012, 07:12 PM

All I've had time to test against is Kobo Nickel, but based on my results above and DNSB's report that the font checksum and name are identical, it's sounding like this may be a problem with the rendering engine.

However that guess is questionable based on the fact that some fonts seem to work correctly.

It's tempting to troubleshoot and chase down problems, but I already do that all day in a different realm. What I want from my Kobo Glo is a device that properly displays well-formatted ebooks while remembering my reading location; 2.3.1 does neither.

So it's back to 2.1.5 with ikarus9999's plugin for me.

GoingDown · 12-19-2012, 02:50 AM

I don't have Kobo Nickel font on my touch (is it only on Glo?) but my wild guess is that you may fix it by sideloading the font to fonts folder, and change its name to have space:

Kobo Nickel.ttf
Kobo Nickel-Italic.ttf
....

I got Gill Sans working by that.

And, by the way, why I cannot copy fonts from Glo to Touch. I picked up Glo firmware 2.1.5, copied the Kobo Nickel font from there to my touch, but it does not seem to work, the Nickel font does not show up. Are those fonts somehow encrypted?

Erkhyan · 12-19-2012, 03:44 AM

I keep having erratic behavior from my sideloaded fonts too. I use Charis SIL for example, which displayed italics correctly on my KT with firmware 2.2.1. After the same exact KB updated to 2.3.1 yesterday, and without me changing anything to any other file on the reader, the same exact book on the same exact reader now displays bold text where italics should be used.

GoingDown · 12-19-2012, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erkhyan

I keep having erratic behavior from my sideloaded fonts too. I use Charis SIL for example, which displayed italics correctly on my KT with firmware 2.2.1. After the same exact KB updated to 2.3.1 yesterday, and without me changing anything to any other file on the reader, the same exact book on the same exact reader now displays bold text where italics should be used.

After updating my KT to 2.3.1, I actually needed to "fix" Charis SIL too.
I just did the font rename trick (added spaces) and it started to work:

Charis SIL.ttf
Charis SIL-Italic.ttf
...

If I remember correctly, the Charis font did work on KT 2.1.5 without the spaces.

latepaul · 12-19-2012, 05:07 AM

I haven't done a lot of testing but with a kepub and epub version of the same book I'm getting italics even with Gill Sans. I haven't made any changes to the font file names or anything and I haven't side-loaded any fonts either.

Just checked and the book is using <em>.

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12-18-2012, 04:02 AM	#16
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	I reran my test with a specially constructed ePub. Same results. <i>, <em> and css all operated the same for a font. Is it possible that there is a difference between the sideloaded and kepubs? And for once, the sideloaded epubs are working correctly?

12-18-2012, 04:38 AM	#17
GoingDown Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 1274 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Finland Device: Kobo Touch	I found out interesting thing when installing "Averia GWF" font. If the filenames were (as default) "AveriaGWF-Italic.ttf" etc. the italics did not work. Then, I opened the font in fontforge, and checked the font family name, which is "Averia GWF" (with the space). Then, I modified all font file names in Kobo to be: Averia GWF.ttf Averia GWF-Italic.ttf Averia GWF-Bold.ttf Averia GWF-BoldItalic.ttf And the italics started to work. So, it seems that the kobo uses font family name plus the -Italic or -Bold to select the different versions of the font. Maybe the same thing could fix the internal fonts too, I need to test more.

12-18-2012, 07:12 PM	#19
0x55 userdefined Posts: 36 Karma: 994490 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Vancouver BC Device: Kobo ClaraHD, Kindle Voyage	All I've had time to test against is Kobo Nickel, but based on my results above and DNSB's report that the font checksum and name are identical, it's sounding like this may be a problem with the rendering engine. However that guess is questionable based on the fact that some fonts seem to work correctly. It's tempting to troubleshoot and chase down problems, but I already do that all day in a different realm. What I want from my Kobo Glo is a device that properly displays well-formatted ebooks while remembering my reading location; 2.3.1 does neither. So it's back to 2.1.5 with ikarus9999's plugin for me.

12-19-2012, 02:50 AM	#20
GoingDown Zealot Posts: 114 Karma: 1274 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Finland Device: Kobo Touch	I don't have Kobo Nickel font on my touch (is it only on Glo?) but my wild guess is that you may fix it by sideloading the font to fonts folder, and change its name to have space: Kobo Nickel.ttf Kobo Nickel-Italic.ttf .... I got Gill Sans working by that. And, by the way, why I cannot copy fonts from Glo to Touch. I picked up Glo firmware 2.1.5, copied the Kobo Nickel font from there to my touch, but it does not seem to work, the Nickel font does not show up. Are those fonts somehow encrypted?

12-19-2012, 03:44 AM	#21
Erkhyan Member Posts: 19 Karma: 124040 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Antananarivo, Madagascar Device: Kobo Touch	I keep having erratic behavior from my sideloaded fonts too. I use Charis SIL for example, which displayed italics correctly on my KT with firmware 2.2.1. After the same exact KB updated to 2.3.1 yesterday, and without me changing anything to any other file on the reader, the same exact book on the same exact reader now displays bold text where italics should be used.

12-19-2012, 05:07 AM	#23
latepaul Wizard Posts: 1,270 Karma: 10468300 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: a variety (mostly kindles and kobos)	I haven't done a lot of testing but with a kepub and epub version of the same book I'm getting italics even with Gill Sans. I haven't made any changes to the font file names or anything and I haven't side-loaded any fonts either. Just checked and the book is using <em>.

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