Foreign accented characters and libprs500

Stingo · 02-23-2008, 08:41 PM

Gang, I know that this has been addressed before and I'm sure it is easy but I can't figure it out. I am using Libprs500 on a Mac. I am converting an HTML text that has foreign accent marks and characters (Spanish and French). When I convert using lp500 I get question marks in squares for these characters. I read that I needed to embed a unicode font which I did (Arial Uni or Apple Symbol) but that didn't make a difference. I have converted foreign language texts before with BD and the accents came through ok. However, I prefer to work in lp500 if I can.

Thanks.

kovidgoyal · 02-23-2008, 09:37 PM

May be a file encoding detection issue. When you don't embed the fonts and view it with libprs500's inbuilt viewer, do the characters show up correctly?

Stingo · 02-23-2008, 10:34 PM

I tried that. I used lp500's embedding feature and tired first Arial Uni then Times Roman and then Symbol. None of them made any difference although they changed the look of the book on the internal viewer. I get a black diamond with a question mark in the middle where the foreign character should be.

I am going from HTML to LRF. Is there anything else that you recommend?

Thanks.

kovidgoyal · 02-23-2008, 11:09 PM

Try Times New Roman. Also dont embed a font at all and then look at it in the internal viewer.

Stingo · 02-24-2008, 09:49 AM

Here is what I did. I went back to the original doc and changed the font to times roman. I saved the file again as HTML. I deleted the original from lp500 and imported it again. I then told it to convert to prs without embedding any fonts. On the lp500 viewer I still get the black diamond with a question mark in the middle for accented characters.

kovidgoyal · 02-24-2008, 02:03 PM

No no, in the libprs500 conversion dialog you have to specify the embedded font as Times New Roman. But if it isn't working with the inbuilt viewer then it is likely to be an encoding problem. Try to convince your editor to save the file in UTF-8 encoding.

Stingo · 02-24-2008, 07:51 PM

Ok. This really helped.

I opened the file in Word and tried to change from Western European (mac) to UTF-8. This caused my foreign characters to desapear and be replaced by underlines.

So, I went back, saved the html as RTF, reoppened it as rtf, told it to use UTF-8, the symbols were still there so I saved and then told it to save as html again. Bingo. This worked and lp500 loved it and gave me the usual beautiful result.

Didn't even need to embed a font.

Thanks for your patience and help.

02-23-2008, 08:41 PM	#1
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 573 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	Foreign accented characters and libprs500 Gang, I know that this has been addressed before and I'm sure it is easy but I can't figure it out. I am using Libprs500 on a Mac. I am converting an HTML text that has foreign accent marks and characters (Spanish and French). When I convert using lp500 I get question marks in squares for these characters. I read that I needed to embed a unicode font which I did (Arial Uni or Apple Symbol) but that didn't make a difference. I have converted foreign language texts before with BD and the accents came through ok. However, I prefer to work in lp500 if I can. Thanks.

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02-23-2008, 09:37 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,387 Karma: 23798586 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	May be a file encoding detection issue. When you don't embed the fonts and view it with libprs500's inbuilt viewer, do the characters show up correctly?

02-23-2008, 10:34 PM	#3
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 573 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	I tried that. I used lp500's embedding feature and tired first Arial Uni then Times Roman and then Symbol. None of them made any difference although they changed the look of the book on the internal viewer. I get a black diamond with a question mark in the middle where the foreign character should be. I am going from HTML to LRF. Is there anything else that you recommend? Thanks.

02-23-2008, 11:09 PM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,387 Karma: 23798586 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Try Times New Roman. Also dont embed a font at all and then look at it in the internal viewer.

02-24-2008, 09:49 AM	#5
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 573 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	Here is what I did. I went back to the original doc and changed the font to times roman. I saved the file again as HTML. I deleted the original from lp500 and imported it again. I then told it to convert to prs without embedding any fonts. On the lp500 viewer I still get the black diamond with a question mark in the middle for accented characters.

02-24-2008, 02:03 PM	#6
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,387 Karma: 23798586 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	No no, in the libprs500 conversion dialog you have to specify the embedded font as Times New Roman. But if it isn't working with the inbuilt viewer then it is likely to be an encoding problem. Try to convince your editor to save the file in UTF-8 encoding.

02-24-2008, 07:51 PM	#7
Stingo Fanatic Posts: 573 Karma: 1334691 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Miami Device: KH2O, KPW2, KDXG, KPW1, K3, S505	Ok. This really helped. I opened the file in Word and tried to change from Western European (mac) to UTF-8. This caused my foreign characters to desapear and be replaced by underlines. So, I went back, saved the html as RTF, reoppened it as rtf, told it to use UTF-8, the symbols were still there so I saved and then told it to save as html again. Bingo. This worked and lp500 loved it and gave me the usual beautiful result. Didn't even need to embed a font. Thanks for your patience and help.

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