Eye strains when reading on my Kobo

[RobertJSawyer]

If, like me, you have astigmatism, you may find a sans-serif typeface (such as the built-in Avenir Next or Gill Sans) easier to read than a serif one. Serif ones don't bother me on printed books, but they are harder for me to read on E-Ink displays or computer screens.

My current favorite is Noto Sans, which is free from Google:

https://www.google.com/get/noto/

From the Noto Sans zip file, you want these four files:

NotoSans-Regular.ttf
NotoSans-Italic.ttf
NotoSans-Bold.ttf
NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf

Put them in a folder named "fonts" -- all lower case below the root directory on your Kobo, and give them a try.

Best of luck!

Rob

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Put them in a folder named "fonts" -- all lower case below the root directory on your Kobo, and give them a try.

Best of luck!

Rob

One other item, after you place them in a folder and safely eject your ereader, make sure you power cycle your Kobo.

[bastringue777]

Originally Posted by stumped

it should be good for ~2 weeks even reading 4 hours a day with the light

Are you sure? Maybe there is a difference between light at 10% and light at, let's say, 50%?

I read for about 4 hours today with light at 30-40%, and went from battery at 100% this morning to 89% tonight. And so far from what I have seen it seems to go faster when going below 25%... and I always charge at around 20%.

[bastringue777]

Originally Posted by stumped

it should be good for ~2 weeks even reading 4 hours a day with the light
even if its only 1 week, its no big deal to recharge it overnight, weekly.

better that, than put up with eye strain, surely

Things were better today when reading with more light. I read with frontlight between 30% and 40%, with Georgia font, and with medium font size (about size 12 in Word). Usually, when reading a paper book, I read a page with one eye (the other one shut) then the other page with the other eye. I tried to read with both eyes and it helped.

My last cell phone... I charged it overnight and after a while it couldn't last even for a full day. I calculated at first I charged it after 3 days for two years, then every day. Bottom line, after 200 charge the battery wasn't as good

I'd like my Libra to last 5 years, so if I charge every week at first I wonder if it wouldn't be overnight then and battery going south as well. From what I understand, you can't replace such a battery because it is waterproof hence all built-in a special resin (sorry for my poor formulation; English isn't my first language).

[bastringue777]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

My eyes are quite light-sensitive too (blue-gray color and nocturnal lifestyle for the last 30 years, plus rather extreme myopia since early childhood).

I use LexiaDama. My Kobo is patched, including custom font sizes patch, so the size seen on the photos is not one of the defaults.

I always have the frontlight on. The warm light is on in an artificially lit environment, but off in the daylight.

What do you mean when you say your Kobo is patched?

At what % do you use your frontlight?

I'd like to read in the day without any frontlight. I tried, tried, tried again. But it seems the background is too dark and the font not dark enough. I read below a lamp and still, it's too dark. Maybe I should try outside?

[bastringue777]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

I'm very farsighted since early childhood and very sensitive to light (always wearing sunglasses outdoors, no matter the season), and LexiaDama is one of my favorite fonts as well. Another that is very close but a bit fatter is RobotoSlab.

Another thing I do is make my favorite fonts display bold always. Simply make a copy of the -Bold and -BoldItalic fonts, rename the copies to the -Regular and -Italic names and the reader will always display the bold fonts.

I agree with Sirtel that you probably just need to find the right font style, thickness and spacing for your eye comfort.

How do you add the LexiaDama? I don't have it as a choice on my Libra.

[bastringue777]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

If, like me, you have astigmatism, you may find a sans-serif typeface (such as the built-in Avenir Next or Gill Sans) easier to read than a serif one. Serif ones don't bother me on printed books, but they are harder for me to read on E-Ink displays or computer screens.

My current favorite is Noto Sans, which is free from Google:

https://www.google.com/get/noto/

From the Noto Sans zip file, you want these four files:

NotoSans-Regular.ttf
NotoSans-Italic.ttf
NotoSans-Bold.ttf
NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf

Put them in a folder named "fonts" -- all lower case below the root directory on your Kobo, and give them a try.

Best of luck!

Rob

Thanks, will try!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by bastringue777

What do you mean when you say your Kobo is patched?

The patches add lots of customization options. The instructions for patching are here:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=328052

The descriptions exactly what each patch does are in the same files you use for enabling. Just read each description and change NO to YES with a text editor (I use Notepad) if it's something you'd like to try. You can always disable it again.

At what % do you use your frontlight?

Depends on the environment. Less than 10% in a very dim room, over 50% in the broad daylight under a window (I don't read outside).

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by bastringue777

Usually, when reading a paper book, I read a page with one eye (the other one shut) then the other page with the other eye.

Umm... that's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. Why would you do that?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by bastringue777

Usually, when reading a paper book, I read a page with one eye (the other one shut) then the other page with the other eye.

Wait, what? If there is something going on with your eyes that is making this necessary (I can't quite think what, but it's an extremely unusual thing to need to do), I strongly suggest getting a thorough eye checkup focusing on functional stuff not just refraction.

Preferring just one eye because of a convergence insufficiency +/- amblyopia is one thing, but I've not really heard of someone who just switches between depending on what page they're on. Have you had a stroke, by any chance? Pretty unlikely at your age. Have you tried setting the font size a little larger and holding the reader further away?

Unless you are away from power for prolonged periods, I'd forget about battery life. It recharges quickly. Adjust to prioritise your reading comfort.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Umm... that's one of the weirdest things I've ever heard. Why would you do that?

Certain variations of lazy eye / squint might be the reason. The fake 3D using stereovision doesn't work well for almost 20% of people because they are not normally using their eyes at the same time. It's usually unconscious. One test is a box and a big dot. Draw box about 1.5 cm square. Put big dot about 3 cm from edge to the right or left. Move paper towards eyes. Dot should move (or even "jump") into the middle of the box. If box or dot vanishes, then one eye is dominant. If you can see either, but only one at at time when the paper is close then you don't have stereo vision.

About 20+ years ago I started getting terrible headaches. It turned out that I was compensating when reading books by holding them further off, but all day at laptop screen was a problem. Reading glasses solved the issue. My eyes also don't use the same power of lens, so with the reading glasses I have stereo vision. I've never had it for further off stuff. I did have corrective surgery as a very small child on one eye (the lazy eye) as I tended to have a squint. Then a year of a patch on alternate eyes. You can go blind in a lazy eye.

[Quoth]

I've never needed the front light above about 15% to 20%. If the lighting is good enough for a yellowed small text paperback, then it's fine for any eink. I'd rarely use the front light at all, preferring to have on a lamp if it's too dim.
I've found that Solitaire on the colour LCD Palm Z22 results in ereader or laptop being blurry for a few minutes, but it is only 160 x 160 pixels on about 2.25" screen. It's a bit mad to read ebooks on. By the time they had a 320 x 320 screen the PDA was nearly dead.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

I've never needed the front light above about 15% to 20%. If the lighting is good enough for a yellowed small text paperback, then it's fine for any eink. I'd rarely use the front light at all, preferring to have on a lamp if it's too dim.

Well, I want my reading experience be enjoyable, not merely good enough. Given that I've paid much more for any one of my ereaders than any paper book I've ever bought, I want the screen to look like it's worth the money. An unlit eink screen just looks ugly, imho much uglier than an average paperback. I didn't cough up hundreds of euros to stare at an ugly screen.

YMMV, of course.

[Quoth]

Maybe you've very poor reading / room lights? Some of the LED COG/COB lamps are very poor as are some CFLs.
I use filament stick LED spots and and bulbs, each of the four sticks has about 20+ sub-miniature low power LEDs. The sticks are about 2" / 5cm long on in the conventional glass spot or globe. We have halogen replacements in the kitchen / dining area for better colour rendition and more light. The higher power LED stick/filament lamps are only recently out and only equivalent to brightness of about 75W to 80W incandescent.
Note that almost all CFL and LED lamp brightnesses are overstated.

I don't have great eyesight, I need a decent amount of light. The lower resolution older eink look a bit ugly, but the PW3, Kobo H2O original and Kobo Libra are nicer to read than the laptop or tablet or phone and as pretty to read as any paper book if the font and room/reading lighting is fine.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Maybe you've very poor reading / room lights? Some of the LED COG/COB lamps are very poor as are some CFLs.
I use filament stick LED spots and and bulbs, each of the four sticks has about 20+ sub-miniature low power LEDs. The sticks are about 2" / 5cm long on in the conventional glass spot or globe. We have halogen replacements in the kitchen / dining area for better colour rendition and more light. The higher power LED stick/filament lamps are only recently out and only equivalent to brightness of about 75W to 80W incandescent.
Note that almost all CFL and LED lamp brightnesses are overstated.

I don't have great eyesight, I need a decent amount of light. The lower resolution older eink look a bit ugly, but the PW3, Kobo H2O original and Kobo Libra are nicer to read than the laptop or tablet or phone and as pretty to read as any paper book if the font and room/reading lighting is fine.

My reading lights are pretty dim indeed (I dislike bright lights), but unlit eink screens look ugly to me even in the daylight. And imho just newer, Carta screens look especially ugly and yellowish when unlit. The old Pearl screens were tolerable (I still have a couple of those and have made side-by-side comparisons).

Possibly under a very bright lamp the screen would look different, but such a lamp would bother me for other reasons. Still, could you perhaps give me a recommendation which bulb would be the best to use for reading, but wouldn't make the whole room bright? I would try it.