Kobo H2O - solution to footnotes

[Percivale]

Hello
I have just purchased Kobo Aura H2O.
I updated to 3.18 firmware. I am a little confused since it is my first e-reader.

Can You please help me to solve some problems with the reader
1)I read in this valuable forum that Kobo has some serious problems with reading footnotes in epubs. I have just added some epubs with footnotes and it’s terrible to press any footnote. The only solution is to convert into kepub? Am I right?
2)However, after converting into kepub I read that the book gets this awful header which completely wastes the space. Can I get rid of this header and at the same time lower the bottom margin with the latest patch?
3)Is it possible to somehow read these footnotes without conversion?

I really like the bigger screen but I bought Kobo since I didn't want to convert epubs to mobi. Now I realise that that I was wrong and I will have to convert epubs instead of mobi to kepubs.

I will be very grateful for any help

[davidfor]

The problem is the size of the link. In a paper book, having a little superscript number to indicate the footnote is OK. But, if you just wrap that number with tags to link elsewhere, you have this tiny spot on the screen to press to trigger the link. The kepub reader app handles this making the link larger. The epub reader doesn't do this. The only thing to do is make the link larger. Increasing the font size works but is probably not practical. I tend to edit the epub and change the footnote link to cover the word or phrase the footnote refers to. Or I convert to kepub.

If you don't want to manually convert the books to kepub, you can use the KoboTouchExtended driver in calibre. It will convert the books on the fly during the send. But, it doesn't save a copy of the kepub in the calibre library.

[Percivale]

Thank You very much for your quick reply.

Originally Posted by davidfor

The only thing to do is make the link larger. Increasing the font size works but is probably not practical. I tend to edit the epub and change the footnote link to cover the word or phrase the footnote refers to.

Is there any easy way to increase the font size? Why is it not practical?
How do you change the footnote link to cover the word or phrase?

Originally Posted by davidfor

If you don't want to manually convert the books to kepub, you can use the KoboTouchExtended driver in calibre. It will convert the books on the fly during the send. But, it doesn't save a copy of the kepub in the calibre library.

How to manually convert epubs to kepubs? Will it be possible to remove the header in the kepub after conversion (Will the patch do it?)?

[Desdinova]

Percival - https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=263315


hope it helps!

[Percivale]

Thank you
Now I realise that the extra space 0,8" that is gained in Aura H2O (in comparison to Kindle) is lost because in kepub the header can only be removed in full screen reading mode.
That means that there is no info about reading progres either.

[Desdinova]

Originally Posted by Percivale

Thank you
Now I realise that the extra space 0,8" that is gained in Aura H2O (in comparison to Kindle) is lost because in kepub the header can only be removed in full screen reading mode.
That means that there is no info about reading progres either.

even with the header there is more reading space ... that 0.8" extra size is 46 square inches compared to 36 square inches on the kindle, so an extra 30% screen area..

I had a Kindle and I far prefer the Kobo

Plus you can get the reading progress in full screen mode by just touching the screen

[Desdinova]

Can I also second the suggestion of Calibre. Whatever reader you own, it makes uploading etc absolutely seamless and makes it very much just point and click..

[Percivale]

Originally Posted by Desdinova

even with the header there is more reading space ... that 0.8" extra size is 46 square inches compared to 36 square inches on the kindle, so an extra 30% screen area..

I had a Kindle and I far prefer the Kobo

Plus you can get the reading progress in full screen mode by just touching the screen

Can I somehow adjust the patch settings to have a very tiny header and a small bottom margin with reading progres?

[Desdinova]

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...84&postcount=5 is the footer details for patching, but to be honest I just use a tight line spacing with a font like Linux Libertine and don't even notice.

Font Squirrel (website) has some great fonts, I find Cantarell is a good one

[Percivale]

Originally Posted by Desdinova

Can I also second the suggestion of Calibre. Whatever reader you own, it makes uploading etc absolutely seamless and makes it very much just point and click..

I don't understand in what way Cailbre can help me.

[Desdinova]

You mentioned earlier the epub/kepub issue. Calibre abstracts that away from you.

[Desdinova]

One issue is that Kobo Nickel, (which tends to be the default) has a rather wide line spacing set. The font Rockwell is KN like, with better line spacing - or even Cecilia.

KN is nice, but the line spacing is wide. Running the patch enables you to reign it in a bit

[Percivale]

Originally Posted by Desdinova

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...84&postcount=5 is the footer details for patching, but to be honest I just use a tight line spacing with a font like Linux Libertine and don't even notice.

Font Squirrel (website) has some great fonts, I find Cantarell is a good one

I really like the footer in second picture. It is quite acceptable. However, what about the header? Can I get rid of it in kepub?

[Desdinova]

Originally Posted by Percivale

I really like the footer in second picture. It is quite acceptable. However, what about the header? Can I get rid of it in kepub?

Not sure. May be worth asking on the thread, as to the guy who writes the patch. He may be able to do it.

[GeoffR]

I think the way to fix ePub footnote links has been discussed somewhere else, and I don't usually bother to fix the footnotes myself because at the font size I use I don't usually have a problem activating them, but roughly:

The sort of footnote style that usually gives problems is where a tiny superscript is used as the link. You can use a much larger area for the link without changing the appearance of the text by seperating the footnote link from the footnote decoration.

e.g. if the footnote is done something like:

a.footnote { text-decoration: underline; }

<p>... blah blah something<sup><a class="footnote" id="fn1" href="#note1">1</a></sup> blah blah ...</p>

Use something like this instead:

a.footnote-link { text-decoration: none; }
sup.footnote-decoration {text-decoration: underline; }

<p>... blah blah <a class="footnote-link" id="fn1" href="#note1">something<sup class="footnote-decoration">1</sup></a> blah blah ...</p>

Edit2: Or a simpler way, if you don't mind the whole word being decorated as a link:

a.footnote { text-decoration: underline; }

<p>... blah blah <a class="footnote" id="fn1" href="#note1">something<sup>1</sup></a> blah blah ...</p>

Edit: Part of the issue with ePub links might be just a matter of getting used to them. I don't usually find it a problem to activate ePub links, which I think is mainly because I know I have to be very precise with my touch. I actually have more problems with accidentally activating links in KePubs, in some cases the hotspot for the link extends across a page break so tapping the bottom of the screen in a KePub can activate a link on the next page.