Text color problems

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Kindle Previewer is showing me an incorrect text color. The color is:
color: #e7b709;
On the left half of the screenshot is Kindle Previewer and on the right half is Apple Books. Any idea what's going on?

[Quoth]

Real eReaders don't do colour anyway. Only apps do color (Colour).

Both would also look poor on paper. Use Black.

Also the Kindle Previewer is nothing like the real world of actual Kindle eink ereaders or Kindle Apps on iOS, Fire or Android or PC.

We don't even use it at all now.

[jhowell]

This quote is from Amazon's description of Enhanced Typesetting:

Dynamic color contrast: With Enhanced Typesetting, text of any color will be legible above any background color. Font colors will adapt automatically to provide sufficient contrast with either the device color theme chosen by the reader or to the background color of any page-level element.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Real eReaders don't do colour anyway. Only apps do color (Colour).

Both would also look poor on paper. Use Black.

That's like saying don't put color images in ePubs either. Ebooks are not paper books. e-ink device sales are in steep decline, and most people read on phones or tablets with color screens. The converted-to-grayscale version will look fine on e-ink screens for those who have them.

Pretty annoyed at this Enhanced Typesetting "feature." I like to make the accent color the same as the book's title logo image. The image colors are not being changed the same way the text is, so now they don't match.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Peter Ahlstrom

That's like saying don't put color images in ePubs either.

They are pretty irrelevant in colour except for "coffee table" type books that need a 10" tablet or paper.

It's true slightly more than half of ebook reading is on phones and tablets. But it's contentious to claim eink is in decline.

Also I've over 3000 paper books and many art books. None use coloured headings or coloured lead-in text at a paragraph. It looks rubbish.

Even Drop Caps and SMALL CAPS paragraph starts are a bit of a distraction on paper and advised against on ebooks.

It's a mistake just to do stuff just because you can. It's no surprise the feature doesn't preview properly.

Kindle Preview is poor compared to testing on real Kindle Apps or Kindles.
Test on Kindle Apps on iOS, Android and Fire and a real Kindle. Not Kindle Preview.

Also don't be exclusive on Kindle.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I never said I was exclusive on Kindle, and I'm not. However, if 70% of the market is on Amazon, only 30% of readers will get the ideal experience. It's annoying.

Before Enhanced Typesetting, the feature previewed properly, and the result was the same on the Kindle app. As for the accent color, we've never had a single complaint, and the comments we've received that mention it have been positive. We also use an accent color in our premium leatherbound editions, and it's very well received there too.

I'm also annoyed that Enhanced Typesetting has gotten rid of transparent gifs. I personally always read in night mode, so I make sure our images look good against both white and black backgrounds, and these big white rectangles are such an eyesore.

[Quoth]

Transparent or gifs has never been supported. If either worked at all it was by accident.

No version of Kindle Preview was ever accurate for everything. It's only a preview tool for casual ebook creators.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Peter Ahlstrom

I never said I was exclusive on Kindle, and I'm not. However, if 70% of the market is on Amazon, only 30% of readers will get the ideal experience. It's annoying.

Before Enhanced Typesetting, the feature previewed properly, and the result was the same on the Kindle app. As for the accent color, we've never had a single complaint, and the comments we've received that mention it have been positive. We also use an accent color in our premium leatherbound editions, and it's very well received there too.

I'm also annoyed that Enhanced Typesetting has gotten rid of transparent gifs. I personally always read in night mode, so I make sure our images look good against both white and black backgrounds, and these big white rectangles are such an eyesore.

ET didn't get rid of transparent gifs. I don't know what you're remembering, but transparencies have NEVER been supported in any Kindle device. Not ever. The Previewer is "fixed" now, to NOT show them as-if transparent, because they're not. Not now, not ever.

If you're getting comments...well...I suspect the folks giving you the comments haven't bothered to open the file and certainly never bothered to look in night, sepia or green.

Sorry, but I've been doing this commercially for a dozen years and your understanding, via Previewer, is incorrect.

Hitch

[Peter Ahlstrom]

By comments, I was only referring to the accent color.

As for transparency, I stand corrected. It’s a shame the epub will always look better, then.

[Quoth]

What physical epub reader are you getting transparency to work on?
Also eink has either blackish, "white" and two greys or black, whitish and 14 greys. About 1/2 of ebook reading is on eink.

[Notjohn]

>About 1/2 of ebook reading is on eink.

Amazing. I would have thought Fire tablets had the edge, but perhaps that's only because I prefer the tablet.

Thanks as always for the information.

[Quoth]

Fire is simply an Amazon version of an Android Tablet. I'd be surprised if not outnumbered by iPads or Android Tablets in general. But phones are the most popular device to read ebooks outside the home.