kepub: why does it exist?

[Aleron Ives]

I use a stylus to avoid tapping in the wrong place (as well as to eliminate the need to constantly clean fingerprints).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also have to mention that the more recent models, especially Sage and Libra 2, seem to be more prone to freezing than some older models. I don't remember my Libra 1 ever freezing - it seems to have been one of the most stable Kobo models. Unfortunately the screen was subpar, so I sold it after buying the Libra 2 with its gorgeous screen.

But yes, Kindles are generally more stable. I prefer Kobos for their customizability and Calibre integration, but they're certainly not the most bug-free devices out there.

My Libra 2 has never frozen.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I use a stylus to avoid tapping in the wrong place (as well as to eliminate the need to constantly clean fingerprints).

Me too.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

My Libra 2 has never frozen.

Well, you do run epubcheck on every book. I don't bother with it; I can live with the few freezes I've had.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If you could use the Kindle 2 for a decade and felt no need to upgrade, then you must be one of the most undemanding ereader users in existence.

I still occasionally read on a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and am still happy with the experience. Years ago, I broke my first Nook screen and replaced it with a Kobo. All the fine grain control Kobo gives me and it's calibre integration is great. But really, I don't use it much.

If I had never broken my original Nook, I might well still be reading on it. (On newer Nooks, they stupidly turned off hyphenation, so I won't read on those. Luckily the ST is too old for them to bother tampering with it any longer.)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I still occasionally read on a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight and am still happy with the experience. Years ago, I broke my first Nook screen and replaced it with a Kobo. All the fine grain control Kobo gives me and it's calibre integration is great. But really, I don't use it much.

If I had never broken my original Nook, I might well still be reading on it. (On newer Nooks, they stupidly turned off hyphenation, so I won't read on those. Luckily the ST is too old for them to bother tampering with it any longer.)

I occasionally charge my two ancient basic Kindles from 2011 and 2012. Every time I wonder how the hell I could happily read on them for years. I wouldn't want to do it now, even in broad sunlight where the unlit screens don't look so bad. But no, no way. They just look ugly in comparison with my current ereaders, especially the Libra 2.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I wouldn't want to do it now, even in broad sunlight where the unlit screens don't look so bad.

Yeah, the first reader I ever bought was one with a lighted screen, so that helps.

And Nook (using RMSDK?) had much better typesetting than those early Kindles. The Pearl screen doesn't look as good as the Cartas, but really doesn't look too bad to my undemanding eyes.

Again, my Clara is better. But considering how simple the task at hand is (laying out text in a readable format) the old reader works pretty well.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, the first reader I ever bought was one with a lighted screen, so that helps.

And Nook (using RMSDK?) had much better typesetting than those early Kindles. The Pearl screen doesn't look as good as the Cartas, but really doesn't look too bad to my undemanding eyes.

Again, my Clara is better. But considering how simple the task at hand is (laying out text in a readable format) the old reader works pretty well.

At the time I had a Sony PRS-650 and I bought a really cheap nook STR. The nook looked terrible next to the Sony. The same font looked like a different font on the nook. Their font handling back then was awful.

[Gone]

I imagine you guys with physical books going crazy after each little word spacing you don't like...

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

I imagine you guys with physical books going crazy after each little word spacing you don't like...

At times it was annoying but the quote below helped. Despite your bringing that up as a complaint, word spacing in modern books was not that much of an issue with microjustification being used and most printers having been exposed to the centuries of previous art so other than occasionally disliking a font, book layout was pretty decent. Unlike ebooks, rivers were seldom to be seen.

You may want to take a look at the two sample columns of text on Text justification – issues and techniques for the very noticeable visual differences that more sophisticated justification techniques can make.

Grant me The Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The Courage to change the things I can,
and The Wisdom to know the difference.

[Gone]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You may want to take a look at the two sample columns of text on Text justification – issues and techniques for the very noticeable visual differences that more sophisticated justification techniques can make.

I see what you mean. But I’ve not really encountered this kind of ugly word spacing when I set the text to justified. It can happen but it’s rare. The worst I came across is left and right margins that I couldn’t move.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

I imagine you guys with physical books going crazy after each little word spacing you don't like...

As DNSB said, printed books, like epubs, do word spacing noticeably better than kepubs. While kepubs aren't quite as bad as the sample in that article, they're not as good as epubs OR printed books in this regard, especially if you disable hyphenation. (I know, your next comment will be about me throwing a paper book against the wall when seeing an occasional hyphen - while not strictly true, I do dislike them and in ebooks I can finally disable them.)

Things look better on a larger screen and with the word spacing patch for kepubs enabled, but still not quite on the level of epubs. There just are a couple of things epubs are better at and word spacing is one of them. As I said earlier, if you read left-aligned or hyphenated text, you may not notice.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

with the word spacing patch for kepubs enabled

Do you use the default value (IIRC -0.05)? I tried it, and it seemed like the words only moved by a few pixels, if that.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Do you use the default value (IIRC -0.05)? I tried it, and it seemed like the words only moved by a few pixels, if that.

-0.06 on the Sage and -0.07 on the Libra. That said, I read mostly epubs on the Libra, the patch for it is just in case.

I'd guess it partly depends on the font you use as well. Some fonts are narrower, others wider. And of course on the font size.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

I see what you mean. But I’ve not really encountered this kind of ugly word spacing when I set the text to justified. It can happen but it’s rare. The worst I came across is left and right margins that I couldn’t move.

It's not that common but for me, it's like having a fork stuck in my eye.

I prefer to avoid the chance of seeing bad formatting if at all possible. That to me, is the joy of ebooks. If you don't like the way the page renders, you can make the changes to make it look better for you. You don't like that the dropcapped ‘“W’ does not display properly when you increase the font size? Just dump the dropcaps (which is one of my standard reformatting choices) or reformat them to a smaller font size.

My personal choices are described by one friend of mine as very boring but they also admit that they make it easy to get absorbed into the book. That is my preference 99.9% of the time.

Anyone else here have fond memories of Liz Castro's Pigs, Gourds, and Wikis?