Ebook Reader Fury

[d351r3d]

I've uploaded a Epub that I'm trying to finish. For some reason Moon+ Reader just seems to do whatever it wants and splits each heading into a separate page. Lithium just fails to apply line height while Moon+ Reader does it but splits each heading into an entirely new page, as in each part of the Qur'an in the epub is a single page, each verse is a lower heading in that page. I don't understand it.

Any and all epub / ebook reader on Android is just a failure. They all seem to not just apply the formatting of the epub from the epub but they apply their own separate formatting which is why I don't see any reason to apply much formatting at all. If anyone can give me guidance about why Moon+ Reader does this it would be great as the developer never responds to any emails whatsoever and there's no option to not act a fool when viewing epubs. Who wants to view epubs as 200+ individual pages just because it's a different heading?

[pdurrant]

This book is the Quaran in Arabic and English, and I'm going to assume the English translation is also in the public domain unless someone knows differently.

[d351r3d]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

This book is the Quaran in Arabic and English, and I'm going to assume the English translation is also in the public domain unless someone knows differently.

I'd also assume it's in the public domain.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahih_International

https://archive.org/details/QuranSah...MainArabicText

https://legacy.quran.com/4

[pdurrant]

Since that translation was by people who are still alive and published in 1997, it's certainly still in copyright. I can find no mention of the authors placing it in the public domain, and they appear to sell copies themselves. I've had to remove the file.

If you can find a statement from the authors that non-commercial distribution is allowed, please upload again.

[jackie_w]

I've always found Android's PocketBook app (by Obreey, and it's free) does a good job with CSS. I only read in English, left-to-right, though.

Here's a screenshot from my phone. Does the Arabic look OK?

[issybird]

Moved to the Android forum as a Moon+ Reader issue.

[d351r3d]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I've always found Android's PocketBook app (by Obreey, and it's free) does a good job with CSS. I only read in English, left-to-right, though.

Here's a screenshot from my phone. Does the Arabic look OK?

The moonreader.jpg is the one where it only shows 1 part of the entire page which is beyond odd and I have no idea why it does that or how to make it not do that.

The other image is Lithium in the 2nd chapter of the Qur'an and Lithium just epic fails to set the line height correctly.

The epub is filled with filler english.

[DiapDealer]

One of Moon Reader's primary features is its ability to customize/override everything that can be customized. Its very reason for existing is to provide the reader full control over how pretty-much everything looks. As such, there is no true "show me how the publisher wanted it to look" setting (not one that works well anyway). That's actually fairly true for any epub reading app on any platform, honestly. And to be perfectly honest, most readers who are using non-traditional (meaning no mainstream, retail-ebook-store-integration) android/iOS epub reading apps don't really care what the ebook creator/publisher wanted it to look like in the first place. They're more interested in bending things to their will. Otherwise, they'd be using Kobo or Kindle devices (or apps) to read their purchases.

[d351r3d]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

One of Moon Reader's primary features is its ability to customize/override everything that can be customized. Its very reason for existing is to provide the reader full control over how pretty-much everything looks. As such, there is no true "show me how the publisher wanted it to look" setting. That's actually fairly true for any epub reading app on any platform, really. And to be perfectly honest, most readers who are using non-traditional (meaning no mainstream, retail-ebook-store-integration) android/iOS epub reading apps don't really care what the ebook creator/publisher wanted it to look like in the first place. They're more interested in bending things to their will. Otherwise, they'd be using Kobo or Kindle devices (or apps) to read their purchases.

Very true. I just want to know why Moon Reader is displaying each heading separately and why most other epub readers won't render line height properly. I just want the Arabic to be spread out because it's right on top of each other and impossible to read. I think that Moon Reader's problem is that I'm using h4 headings instead of 1,2, or 3 but I'm not sure.

Even by changing the headings from h4 to h2 has no effect in Moon Reader. It still wants to display each heading as a separate thing even thought they're 1 page. I think to have Moon Reader not behave like this I'd have to not have different headings on 1 page. I don't understand why it's doing what it's doing. or why.

[DiapDealer]

In the ebook creation world, line-height is considered to be solidly in the renderer/user-preference camp. Many reading apps will ignore an ebook's attempt to dictate its own line-height if it conflicts with its own defaults (or explicit user choices).

[d351r3d]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

In the ebook creation world, line-height is considered to be solidly in the renderer/user-preference camp. Many reading apps will ignore an ebook's attempt to dictate its own line-height if it conflicts with its own defaults (or explicit user choices).

So don't apply line height because why fight the apps?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by d351r3d

Very true. I just want to know why Moon Reader is displaying each heading separately and why most other epub readers won't render line height properly. I just want the Arabic to be spread out because it's right on top of each other and impossible to read. I think that Moon Reader's problem is that I'm using h4 headings instead of 1,2, or 3 but I'm not sure.

Even by changing the headings from h4 to h2 has no effect in Moon Reader. It still wants to display each heading as a separate thing even thought they're 1 page. I think to have Moon Reader not behave like this I'd have to not have different headings on 1 page. I don't understand why it's doing what it's doing. or why.

It may be that Moon Reader just assumes that any headings should come at the top of the page. Make them <p> paragraphs and apply a CSS style to them instead?

[d351r3d]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It may be that Moon Reader just assumes that any headings should come at the top of the page. Make them <p> paragraphs and apply a CSS style to them instead?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=330356
If you read #3. I don't know how to link to the post in the thread.

He suggested that I use h1-6 because it'll be easier for people to access the different part of the Qur'an in the TOC which I think is a great idea. This is why I like Lithium because it doesn't go all derpy because Moon Reader just decides not to have a setting to just display the full page.

I was going to do the same thing with the Bible so people can use the TOC to quickly go from book -> chapter -> verse.

I don't see why we have to work around sub par apps that dictate how we make things because they lack options.

Without the headings I have no idea how to do that and yeah you could do it with another html page and then have all of the verses or whatever there but it's way easier to put the heading next to something and it's just the way it's made to work.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by d351r3d

I don't see why we have to work around sub par apps that dictate how we make things because they lack options.

Clearly I've misunderstood what you're trying to achieve.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by d351r3d

I don't see why we have to work around sub par apps that dictate how we make things because they lack options.

You don't have to. That's pretty-much the point.

Make sure it's neat; make sure it validates; make sure it looks clean on mainstream retail devices/apps, and move on. Trying to micromanage the typographical experience every single reader has on every single device or app when looking at your work is pointless: it can't be successfully done (and quite often isn't at all appreciated if it's forced upon them with no option to override). Let the user/renderer decide what font, font-size, line-height, margins, etc... to apply and move on.