Symmetrical button design

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

Well, I have used Nooks for a long time. I’ve had many of them. I am not sure why everyone complains about Nook software. I put books on them and read.

Some people are just fussier and more demanding than others.

I've used a Nook. I could not get used to the software and eventually sold it. It was slow and had too few customization options for my taste. I'm fussy and want my text to look just right for me; for this purpose I need lots of options and the ability to sideload fonts. Kobo readers (heavily patched) satisfy my requirements; Kindles no longer do and Nooks don't either.

KOReader has other faults that made it unpleasant for me to use (no library manager and slowness with large books), so I don't use it.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Some people are just fussier and more demanding than others.

...

Or have different wants/needs. Or priorities. Biases. ...

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

Or have different wants/needs.

Well, if you have any needs beyond simply reading the book as it is, then you qualify as fussy in the opinion of many people here.

Personally, I'm certainly a fussy type even in my own opinion. Not in every area of life, but in several. As to ereaders, I was not really fussy until I started to try different brands; then I found I had specific wishes, of which I had not been aware before...

[John F]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Well, if you have any needs beyond simply reading the book as it is, then you qualify as fussy in the opinion of many people here.

Personally, I'm certainly a fussy type even in my own opinion. Not in every area of life, but in several. As to ereaders, I was not really fussy until I started to try different brands; then I found I had specific wishes, of which I had not been aware before...

Sure. But as you point out yourself, it is a combination of factors. If you were "fussy" about reading parameters that can be changed on the fly, you might pick koreader. If you are fussy about integration with calibre, you might pick Kobo. If you are fussy about symmetrical button design, you might pick a Nook. If you are fussy about the "best" screen, you might pick something else. ...

I wouldn't say you are fussy. What is fussy about wanting an ebook to look the way one wants? I would say it is common sense.

[cgsmom]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Kobo readers (heavily patched) satisfy my requirements; Kindles no longer do and Nooks don't either.

I think it is the (heavily patched) part that has kept me from trying Kobo. Don't get me wrong, I like my ebooks a very particular way. Just the right font, just the right size, just the right line spacing, just the right margins. Nook happens to suit that better than Kindle did. However, every time I look in the Kobo forum, all I see are discussions about patches that sound too complicated for me and I get scared away. One of these days, I swear I am going to buy a Kobo. LOL

[Scoob]

Originally Posted by John F

What is fussy about wanting an ebook to look the way one wants? I would say it is common sense.

I couldn't agree more. If you're going to be reading for a while it should be as comfortable as possible for your eyes. If that means you need your margins or line spacing or fonts for example just right, that's important. It's not like a printed book of one size fits all anymore. Now we're like Prince Adam "By the power of Grayskull. I have the Power(to change layout at my will and pleasure!)

[John F]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I think it is the (heavily patched) part that has kept me from trying Kobo. Don't get me wrong, I like my ebooks a very particular way. Just the right font, just the right size, just the right line spacing, just the right margins. Nook happens to suit that better than Kindle did. However, every time I look in the Kobo forum, all I see are discussions about patches that sound too complicated for me and I get scared away. One of these days, I swear I am going to buy a Kobo. LOL

FWIW, as I recall from my old Nook usage, a unpatched Kobo provides more choices for font size, line spacing, margins then a Nook. And you can side load fonts with a Kobo.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by John F

FWIW, as I recall from my old Nook usage, a unpatched Kobo provides more choices for font size, line spacing, margins then a Nook. And you can side load fonts with a Kobo.

Yes. You don't have to patch, it’s just a bonus. I did it, because it's pretty easy even for a person with no IT knowledge at all (like me), requires no rooting or jailbreaking and there's no danger of damaging your device. I found many of the patches useful. But patching is not necessary and there are plenty of Kobo users who never patch.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I think it is the (heavily patched) part that has kept me from trying Kobo. Don't get me wrong, I like my ebooks a very particular way. Just the right font, just the right size, just the right line spacing, just the right margins. Nook happens to suit that better than Kindle did. However, every time I look in the Kobo forum, all I see are discussions about patches that sound too complicated for me and I get scared away. One of these days, I swear I am going to buy a Kobo. LOL

Whereas for me, the only patch I currently use on my Kobos is the unify font sizes patch so kepub and epub base font sizes are the same. I am fussy about my ebook layout but I feed that by editing the styles before sending the epub to my Kobos so the layout meets my needs.

So the efforts of those ebook creators who want to use half a page for the chapter title, create minimum left/right margins that look like those in a pbook, create paragraph styles that remind me of my old essays where double spacing was required, include massive dropcaps, mix indented paragraps with large gaps between paragraphs etc. are given the boot. About 95% of the work is done by my collection of saved searches in Sigil so the average time to fix an ePub is currently in the 5 minute range.

[Sirtel]

I also edit, but even after editing I want more choices in smaller font sizes and narrower line height options than I'd get without patching. I also want to decrease word spacing in kepubs, as I read justified text without hyphenation, decrease top and bottom margin, lose the recommendations from the home screen and many other things.

Editing the css is in no way replacement for patching. I have no idea why one would think it is. They're different things.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I also edit, but even after editing I want more choices in smaller font sizes and narrower line height options than I'd get without patching. I also want to decrease word spacing in kepubs, as I read justified text without hyphenation, decrease top and bottom margin, lose the recommendations from the home screen and many other things.

Editing the css is in no way replacement for patching. I have no idea why one would think it is. They're different things.

For me, my eyes are not that fond of small font sizes. I find setting the line height in the CSS works for me. My only use for kepub is that relatively small set of books that have images that will benefit from zooming. Otherwise, I prefer RMSDK's font handling and layout handling. For the amount of time I spend on the home screen, I can't find any enthusiasm for removing/resizing/whatever items from it.

So for my purposes, anything I might want to do in patching is already handled in my editing. I've attached a sample screenshot of an epub page which I haven't finished with but is close to done.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I've attached a sample screenshot of an epub page which I haven't finished with but is close to done.

I like a progress stripe which is directly on the bottom.
Matter of fact, the Poke5 eats about 5 pixels under the bezel so I do a full bleed.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For me, my eyes are not that fond of small font sizes. I find setting the line height in the CSS works for me. My only use for kepub is that relatively small set of books that have images that will benefit from zooming. Otherwise, I prefer RMSDK's font handling and layout handling. For the amount of time I spend on the home screen, I can find any enthusiasm for removing/resizing/whatever items from it.

So for my purposes, anything I might want to do in patching is already handled in my editing. I've attached a sample screenshot of an epub page which I haven't finished with but is close to done.

I like my side margins a tiny bit larger, but that also increases top and bottom margins, so that those are a bit too large. So I decrease top and bottom margins with a patch.

I don't use really microscopic font sizes, but being extremely nearsighted, I like more options on the smaller side - again, a patch gives them to me. Same with line height - I remove it from the css, but I like more options on the narrower side on my Kobos.

And while I also spend very little time on the home screen, I still don't want to see any recommendations. They're irritating and I can't stand them.

And so on. We all have our preferences - yours are satisfied with Kobo defaults, while I find my perfect layout with the help of patches, in addition to editing.

[Scoob]

All this talk about margins and line heights and type is giving me flashbacks of working on my HS newspaper. I was a decent enough "reporter" but the one time I shadowed our layout editor I realized really fast that I didn't have the eye for it.

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by cgsmom

I think it is the (heavily patched) part that has kept me from trying Kobo. Don't get me wrong, I like my ebooks a very particular way. Just the right font, just the right size, just the right line spacing, just the right margins. Nook happens to suit that better than Kindle did. However, every time I look in the Kobo forum, all I see are discussions about patches that sound too complicated for me and I get scared away. One of these days, I swear I am going to buy a Kobo. LOL

I can't be sure a Kobo will do everything exactly the way you want, but I'd say the chances are very good that it CAN and completely UNPATCHED.

I don't patch my Kobos, and the adjustments you mentioned are all baked into the UI.

You can side-load your own preferred fonts or use the onboard fonts. There is a slider for font size and it's quite a range!

You can adjust the WEIGHT of both the onboard AND side-loaded fonts. You have a slider for line-spacing, a slider for margin size. If the ebook margin is set to zero by the publisher, you can literally use your Kobo screen edge to edge, or make a wide margin, your choice. All of this can be done without patches.

You also get a choice of text alignment. The choices are default (what the publisher set), left-aligned (ragged right), or justified.

Whether or not it will exactly match your preferred rendering in Nook I don't know, but both devices use the Adobe RMSDK engine for reading epub, so the chances are pretty good that you'd be very, very close.

You might see some typography differences if you convert books to kepub, but that is optional, it's not something you have to do. I read epub on my Kobo more often than not.

One caveat, and this is true for most epub readers, including Nook, is that publishers aren't always sensible about ebook formatting. Occasionally, they still do stuff like hard-code margins, or text alignment in ways that an e-reader engine can't override. If you are comfy with DRM removal and a little CSS editing, these annoyances can be overcome.

I highly recommend following your instinct and trying a Kobo out.