Dynamic fonts?

[Ghitulescu]

I wonder whether there is any means to automatically change the .CSS files to fonts or fonts paths according to the eReader?

For instance if the actual device does not have the stock Arial font to point to the embedded (in ePub) one?

I know this is (or should be) possible in ePub 3, but I wonder whether would be this possible with ePub 2.

Thanks for any ideas.

[odedta]

Afaik it's not possible with ePub 2. With ePub 3 you could use media queries to change fonts i think. You could also use javascript but the support for that is limited to a few devices.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Ghitulescu

I wonder whether there is any means to automatically change the .CSS files to fonts or fonts paths according to the eReader?

For instance if the actual device does not have the stock Arial font to point to the embedded (in ePub) one?

I know this is (or should be) possible in ePub 3, but I wonder whether would be this possible with ePub 2.

Thanks for any ideas.

epub2
you use a list in the font-family line of the class
h3 {
font-family:"Arial", "blabla", serif;
}

if it cant find Arial it tries for blabla
if it cant find either, the devices: serif

[Ghitulescu]

Originally Posted by theducks

font-family:"Arial", "blabla", serif;

Thanks,

I knew this from the browsers, but I wasn't sure it will be supported by all eReaders (like not all web browsers supported it, at least at the beginning).

[Jellby]

Which is often a bad idea anyway, because at the end you have to rely on one of the standard font families (serif, sans-serif...), overriding whatever preferred font the user may have selected.

If you are going to distribute the book, use embedded fonts or none at all.

[Ghitulescu]

Well, the story goes as this: I use diacritics (a virgin domain for Englishmen ) and some eReaders actually contain fonts with diacritics, just that their default one doesn't.

I consider a bad idea anyway to mix typeface and sizes and colours in a book - a single font should suffices, add one more (eg serif sans-serif pair of the same typeface) and you're done.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Ghitulescu

Well, the story goes as this: I use diacritics (a virgin domain for Englishmen ) and some eReaders actually contain fonts with diacritics, just that their default one doesn't.

I don't see how that changes the matter. You either leave it to the reader (both device and human) or specify the font yourself, but just using some random names that might or might not available and, eventually, a (serif/sans-serif) font that may be completely deficient and unasked for, is not a good idea, in my opinion.

I use diacritics, I specify a custom default font in my reader, if a book says "Arial, Verdana, sans-serif", it will just default to the default sans-serif font in my reader, which is neither my choice or your choice, and lacks many characters.

[Ghitulescu]

I didn't say "random" and it was not my intention.
Au contraire, I intended to name the fonts that are commonly used in such eReaders, or generic ones, like Arial etc.

[Jellby]

Of course, it's not random, "arbitrary" would be a better word. Even if they are common or generic names, more likely than not they will not be available on the reader or, if they are, they cannot be accessed simply by writing their name in the CSS. In a web browser you can usually access any installed font in this way, but that's not the case in ebook readers.