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Old 09-18-2012, 07:19 AM   #1
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Thumbs up Font size problems with KF8 - solved

There is a problem with some books where the fonts on KF8 devices are too small to read comfortably even at font size setting 6. Increasing the size setting to 7 on the Kindle then makes them too large. There is no setting that makes them acceptable to the reader.

Now that Kindle 3 Keyboards are also getting the KF8 upgrade, this may develop into a widespread problem.

I came across this when trying out the Amazon InDesign Plugin to create .mobi files. The files it creates all have this problem. To be fair to it, it is a beta, v0.971.

This problem might easily apply to other source files created in other ways, so it is worth knowing about.

Before KF8, font sizes were specified in the html and were set to a number between 1 and 6. That worked.

With KF8 the font size is set in the css file, and it can be set in many different ways. I am simply going to tell you what doesn't work and how to fix it. A full explanation would require a book on css.

The problem
The file initially has the font sizes set in points. A standard 12 point book produces a tiny font on the Kindle. The Kindle device can be set by the user to 8 font sizes. Even at size 6 it is still too small for some users. The moment you go to size 7 it jumps to being far too large. This leads to complaints from readers.

The solution
Edit the .css file.
Wherever a size is specified in points, divide the number by 10 and specify it in ems. For example "font-size: 12pt" becomes "font-size: 1.2em"
Now the fonts will be sensible sizes and the size settings on the Kindle will work correctly.
If you have a text editor with macros you can automate the process.

I hope you find this helpful.

Last edited by Tugger; 09-23-2012 at 11:56 AM.
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Old 09-18-2012, 01:46 PM   #2
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yes, this is a problem with some ePub readers as well. What is happening is they are interpreting points incorrectly as pixels which of course is quite small. Using ems is a good idea or just removing font sizes entirely usually works also.
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Old 09-19-2012, 08:54 AM   #3
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For body text or normal text, the correct practice is to not specify a font size at all, for epubs or Kindle ebooks.
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Old 09-19-2012, 11:43 AM   #4
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Yes, the best thing to do is not to specify the size of the body text at all, and to specify all other sizes as percentages of the default. That way the reader will use its default sizing.
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Old 09-23-2012, 11:58 AM   #5
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What you say is correct, but doesn't help those who are starting with a generated css file, (in my case from the Amazon InDesign plugin), which specifies sizes in points all over the place.
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Old 09-23-2012, 01:49 PM   #6
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If the tool has this flaw, I'd suggest not using it. Generate an ePub (which I'm guessing doesn't have this bug), then use KindleGen to convert the ePub to Mobi.
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Old 09-23-2012, 06:41 PM   #7
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If the tool has this flaw, I'd suggest not using it. Generate an ePub (which I'm guessing doesn't have this bug), then use KindleGen to convert the ePub to Mobi.
The tool is already impressive. Once it is debugged (it is still in beta) it will be a way for publishers to create a Kindle edition of an existing high quality print book while knowing nothing about html, css, opfs or anything else, and without having to get an expert to do it. It does everything for you, and supports pretty much all the features of KF8. Drop caps, embedded fonts, tables, and so on, all are easy. It is Amazon's most advanced method of making Kindle books, and could make existing skills redundant. So I have no wish to abandon it, I want to learn to use it for everything, even if I have to work around some issues at the moment. My font fixing now takes only a minute or two and requires no thought.
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Old 09-24-2012, 12:55 AM   #8
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Have you reported the problem to Amazon?
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Old 09-24-2012, 05:42 AM   #9
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Have you reported the problem to Amazon?
Yes.

I had a reply which said they were working on improving their product.

It was written in a vague way which sounded like it was from a preprepared list of ways to politely get rid of the user.
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Old 09-25-2012, 03:57 PM   #10
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I'm curious: what does the Kindle plugin give you that you don't get with export to ePub and then converting that with kindlegen (perhaps after adding appropriate media queries, etc)? Seems like with the latter you at least get some source you can crack open and tweak, but you can't do that with a .mobi generated by Kindle plugin in the same way. Especially if you want to do ePub also.
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Old 09-25-2012, 05:05 PM   #11
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It automatically gives you both the mobi7 and KF8 versions (packaged together). And it does give you all the kindlegen source, in a zip file. It is quite easy to unpack and then unzip, make any changes, and then put the revised version through kindlegen again. But once it is fully debugged that should not be necessary.

I don't know enough about using InDesign to make an epub and then converting that for Kindle to say how it compares. What additional work is needed if one uses this method? Does it support all the KF8 features as well as the usual - toc, images, footnotes, hyperlinks, styles, fonts etc.

A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever.
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Old 09-25-2012, 06:50 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tugger View Post
It automatically gives you both the mobi7 and KF8 versions (packaged together). And it does give you all the kindlegen source, in a zip file. It is quite easy to unpack and then unzip, make any changes, and then put the revised version through kindlegen again. But once it is fully debugged that should not be necessary.

I don't know enough about using InDesign to make an epub and then converting that for Kindle to say how it compares. What additional work is needed if one uses this method? Does it support all the KF8 features as well as the usual - toc, images, footnotes, hyperlinks, styles, fonts etc.

A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever.
Thanks, I haven't had time to do much with the plugin (apart from installing it). Did not realize it generated source, so using it makes more sense to me now. Looking forward to playing with it more.
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Old 09-26-2012, 07:03 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tugger View Post
It automatically gives you both the mobi7 and KF8 versions (packaged together). And it does give you all the kindlegen source, in a zip file. It is quite easy to unpack and then unzip, make any changes, and then put the revised version through kindlegen again. But once it is fully debugged that should not be necessary.

I don't know enough about using InDesign to make an epub and then converting that for Kindle to say how it compares. What additional work is needed if one uses this method? Does it support all the KF8 features as well as the usual - toc, images, footnotes, hyperlinks, styles, fonts etc.

A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever.
Well, in response to your last sentence---apparently not. K8 simply does not support "everything" that is supported in print--for example, vertical and horizontal alignment, which is used extensively in INDD (InDesign). That's why something as simple as dropcaps in a print book are a giant PITA in ePUB and MOBI--because the human reader can override the publisher fonts and suddenly, all that painstaking vertical alignment just goes straight to Hades. And that's just one example, the one that comes most quickly to mind. I won't even get into the issue of setting image sizes manually for the K7 version with K8 fallbacks if you have the images floating (or text-boxes, pull-quotes, etc.)

tomsem is asking you his question because dropping a clean ePUB onto Kindlegen or Previewer gives you the "master mobi" you are talking about--a K7 and K8 file. What you're running is some add-on that runs between INDD and KG, as you're getting a master mobi. I can guarantee you that your "tool" is running Kindlegen. And there's nothing that K8 has (not discussing fixed-formats here) that ePUB does not; it's the other way around.

I think--and granted, I'm biased here--that having seen hundreds of epubs output by INDD thus far, it's likely that ebook makers will be around for print publishers for quite a while yet. K8 can look a lot like print--but K7 certainly doesn't. If a K8 book is made with floating images, and exported that way, it certainly won't look like that in K7. As far as I know, Amazon's been working on "improving" that plug-in for quite a while.

As I said, the reality is that no ebooks support all the features of print, and I see this all the time with ePUBs handed over to me "for a little fixing," as if I had a magic wand to fix ePUBS that were made with INDD, (and a cheap magic wand, mind you) and I actually end up having to go back to the client and tell them it's cheaper if I use their PDF than to try to clean up the horror that INDD outputs. You, Tugger, may well be happy with the mobi's that you're getting, but mobi is a far simpler format (even K8) than ePUB. I've seen the INDD output, and it ain't pretty. That the plug-in works as well as it does is a miracle, IMHO.

(And I'll only say one snarky thing about print designers with INDD who obfuscate and tell their publisher clients that they "can't" output their INDD file to RTF. There, I said it. Not directed at the OP--just one of those weeks where I heard it 3 times already, and it's only Tuesday.)


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Old 09-26-2012, 08:56 AM   #14
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Well, in response to your last sentence---apparently not. K8 simply does not support "everything" that is supported in print--for example, vertical and horizontal alignment, which is used extensively in INDD (InDesign).
I never said KF8 supported everything in a print book. I said "A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever." Well it is true, if you accept that some features will be resticted. But as I said, the vast majority of the work is carried over into the Kindle edition. For example footnotes work brilliantly.

I can imagine a set of guidelines for designers using InDesign, telling them what to watch out for when making the print book, so that the Kindle conversion will work beautifully, without effort.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch View Post
tomsem is asking you his question because dropping a clean ePUB onto Kindlegen or Previewer gives you the "master mobi" you are talking about--a K7 and K8 file. What you're running is some add-on that runs between INDD and KG, as you're getting a master mobi. I can guarantee you that your "tool" is running Kindlegen. And there's nothing that K8 has (not discussing fixed-formats here) that ePUB does not; it's the other way around.
Calling Amazon's plugin "some addon" is not fair to it. They have been making it better and better and with luck it will continue to improve. And why not?

I am well aware that it runs Kindlegen, why shouldn't it?

I seem to have upset you. I suppose this is because you have a business that depends on what I'm suggesting could happen, not happening. But I am just the messenger, it isn't my fault!

To sum up:
I can see that ePub is better than Amazon's KF8, but KF8 does an awful lot.

I think you will still have a job because traditional publishers don't have a clue about technology and expect perfection, so they will be happy to pay you to sort out their messes and make them beautiful.

I think a variety of tools will develop to help new publishers and writers do the whole job without understanding the underlying technology. In 5 years it will seem ridiculous to have to know about css and html to publish a book. For example the same things were true in the early days of word processors, one had to know all about the underlying technology. I can remember configuring WordStar to handle various printers to get proportional fonts, which required lots of hacking around.

PS. You mentioned getting an RTF out of InDesign. Please reveal how to do that? I can see how to make a PDF, HTML, or an ePub, but not an RTF. (It is easy to put an RTF into InDesign - it takes just one click.)
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Old 09-26-2012, 07:47 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tugger View Post
I never said KF8 supported everything in a print book. I said "A publisher can produce the printed book in InDesign, and then also have the Kindle edition as well with no additional work whatsoever." Well it is true, if you accept that some features will be resticted. But as I said, the vast majority of the work is carried over into the Kindle edition. For example footnotes work brilliantly.
Sorry--my bad shoulder is making me short, typing-wise. I may have sounded more shrill than intended. Personally, I find that footnotes output to HTML pretty spiffily just from plain old Word, myself. I'm not sure, when you say, "brilliantly," what you mean, or what your expectation was, versus what you got, etc. I've never really had any issues with footnotes, assuming that they're created correctly in the first place, whether the source file is RTF, Word, etc. If you'll elucidate, I'd be happy to understand what you mean?

Quote:
I can imagine a set of guidelines for designers using InDesign, telling them what to watch out for when making the print book, so that the Kindle conversion will work beautifully, without effort.

Calling Amazon's plugin "some addon" is not fair to it. They have been making it better and better and with luck it will continue to improve. And why not?

I am well aware that it runs Kindlegen, why shouldn't it?
OK--your original post seemed unclear to me, then. You said that:

Quote:
It automatically gives you both the mobi7 and KF8 versions (packaged together).
which I inferred, apparently wrongly, you to mean that INDD and the plugin did something that KG does not. My mistake.

Quote:
I seem to have upset you. I suppose this is because you have a business that depends on what I'm suggesting could happen, not happening. But I am just the messenger, it isn't my fault!
As I said, given the clients that I see here, I am in serious doubt that I'll be panhandling for change (I mean, more than being in the ebook-making business in the first place, is, given the wee margins) any time soon.

Quote:
To sum up:
I can see that ePub is better than Amazon's KF8, but KF8 does an awful lot.

I think you will still have a job because traditional publishers don't have a clue about technology and expect perfection, so they will be happy to pay you to sort out their messes and make them beautiful.

I think a variety of tools will develop to help new publishers and writers do the whole job without understanding the underlying technology. In 5 years it will seem ridiculous to have to know about css and html to publish a book. For example the same things were true in the early days of word processors, one had to know all about the underlying technology. I can remember configuring WordStar to handle various printers to get proportional fonts, which required lots of hacking around.
Well, they can kinda do that now, with products like Jutoh, but that lacks a few things for more complex books (like Tables, etc.). For $40, it's actually a very good product. I don't know if I'd use it for commercial production on our scale--but for DIY'ers, it's a hell of a product. They can also use iBooks Author to create pretty schnazzy ePUBs--fancier than you see anywhere else. (If you've not seen the McGraw-Hill Algebra textbook, and its brethren, you should). Of course, for this 5 minutes, that only works on iBooks--but it's a drag and drop interface. In theory, books could be designed by clerical workers, in that environment. I have an intern making a book for us that way right now--has Zero HTML and CSS knowledge, and can't even clean a Word file--as an experiment. The results thus far seem to indicate that you and I may have side-by-side panhandling spots on the sidewalk. Of course, that's really true of Jutoh, as well--a person with secretarial training can make books all day long.

Quote:
PS. You mentioned getting an RTF out of InDesign. Please reveal how to do that? I can see how to make a PDF, HTML, or an ePub, but not an RTF. (It is easy to put an RTF into InDesign - it takes just one click.)
It's nice to have a little info! http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign...E05F90F1a.html

And it's that easy.

Pax. It was not my intention for this to be a dog- or cat-fight. It's just been my experience--for what it's worth--that a TON of INDD files that I see are light-years away from being remotely viable for an ebook in either major format.

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