mobi vs azw3

[Bigo2]

Hi - when I convert epub to mobi (old), using the setting I prefer on my Kindle 3 I always see 29 lines per page.
However, when I convert epub to azw3, with the same setting, I only see 25 lines.

I would like to start using azw3 for my conversions, the conversion seems to be more accurate - except for this problem with the smaller number of lines.

Is there any explanation and more important: is there any setting in Calibre or Kindle which would give me 29 lines I prefer?

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Bigo2

Hi - when I convert epub to mobi (old), using the setting I prefer on my Kindle 3 I always see 29 lines per page.
However, when I convert epub to azw3, with the same setting, I only see 25 lines.

I would like to start using azw3 for my conversions, the conversion seems to be more accurate - except for this problem with the smaller number of lines.

Is there any explanation and more important: is there any setting in Calibre or Kindle which would give me 29 lines I prefer?

There are many things that affect hat you see with AZW3, at least ther is on the K4NT.

First of all there is the Kindle setting to use/ignore the 'Publishers Stylesheet. Mobi did not even have a stylesheet. to ignore The default is ignore use K internals)

then, in no particular order, things, if used that could affect your view

If you are using the 'Publishers styles', In the books stylesheet:
line-height
font-size
padding-top
padding-bottom
margin-top
margin-bottom
font-family (@font choice) because of the fonts metrics

Your Kindle has settings (and defaults) that override or supplement the stylesheet. (I actually hand edit a file on my k4 to reduce the minimum value to one BELOW what the K4 uses to base the Right+Left margins.)

IMHO
Use Calibre-editor to see what values are used in the AZW3 to see which of the items above are in use in your book (if not set in your book, the K3's AZW3 style defaults may be coming into play)

[Bigo2]

Thanks theducks - I tried azw3 conversions of some of the books which I converted to mobi over the last 3-4 years.

In mobi all the books show 29 lines on my Kindle 3, and all of them when converted to azw3 (using almost the same conversion setting as for mobi) have only 25 lines... This is when the Publisher Font is NOT selected. The default font is good in both cases - mobi or azw3. The number of the characters per line in azw3 is the same, so perhaps the characters are slightly bigger and also spaces between the lines would be slightly larger, so the result is 4 lines less - which I hate.

When I choose to embed some font family when converting, and DO select the Publisher Font on my Kindle 3, I always get something I don't like on the screen - ugly thin characters, possibly more than 25 lines but ugly. I tried many fonts, Lucida Bright was slightly better than others but still nothing like the default font when using the old mobi or when the Publisher Font is not selected...

Thanks
Regards

[Bigo2]

Here are the values in the azw3. If they are wrong, how to change the defaults?

0001.css:

margin-bottom: 5pt;
margin-top: 5pt
}

0002.css:

font-weight: bold
}
.calibre {
display: block;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.2;
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
text-align: justify;
margin: 0 5pt
}
.calibre1 {
border-bottom: 0;
border-top: 0;
display: block;
margin-bottom: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-indent: 0.8em
}
.calibre2 {
border-bottom: 0;
border-top: 0;
display: block;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-indent: 0.8em;
margin: 0
}
.calibre3 {
font-size: 1.66667em;
line-height: 1.2
}
.calibre4 {
border-bottom: 0;
border-top: 0;
display: block;
height: 1em;
margin-bottom: 0;
margin-top: 0;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-indent: 0.8em
}
.calibre5 {
display: block;
list-style-type: disc;
text-indent: 0;
margin: 1em 0
}
.calibre6 {
display: list-item;
margin-top: 0;
text-indent: 0
}
.calibre7 {
display: block;
list-style-type: circle;
text-indent: 0;
margin: 0
}
.calibre8 {
display: block;
list-style-type: square;
text-indent: 0;
margin: 0
}
.calibre9 {
color: blue
}
.calibre10 {
border-bottom: 0;
border-top: 0;
display: block;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-align: center;
text-indent: 0;
margin: 0
}
.calibre11 {
border-bottom: 0;
border-top: 0;
display: block;
padding-bottom: 0;
padding-top: 0;
text-indent: 0.8em;
margin: 0 0 0 14pt
}
.italic {
font-style: italic
}
.underline {
text-decoration: underline
}

[theducks]

You could try changing those line-height: 1.2 to 1.1 which will push all the lines closer together (1.2 is the default and is changble on the conversion Look and Feel: minimum line-height)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by theducks

You could try changing those line-height: 1.2 to 1.1 which will push all the lines closer together (1.2 is the default and is changble on the conversion Look and Feel: minimum line-height)

Get rid of the line-height. They have no meaning in AZW3. AZW3 defaults to a large line height and there's no way in the CSS to reduce that. Amazon's firmware does not allow that. The only way to reduce the line height of KF8 is to use a font that's got the metrics adjusted for a smaller line height on the Kindle. My modified CharisSIL is just such a font since I did tweak the metrics so it has a smaller line height.

The thing to change is...

.calibre {
display: block;
font-size: 1em;
line-height: 1.2;
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
text-align: justify;
margin: 0 5pt
}

to...

.calibre {
display: block;
padding-left: 0;
padding-right: 0;
text-align: justify;
margin: 0
}

As the XML will have <body class="calibre">

Another change is to change text-indent: 0.8em to text-indent: 1.2em. .8em is too small for an indent.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

G
Another change is to change text-indent: 0.8em to text-indent: 1.2em. .8em is too small for an indent.

Amen
why bother (and waste power consuming cpu cycles) when you can't see it.
I use 1.2 (to 1.5 for variety, but never in the same series)

[Bigo2]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Get rid of the line-height. They have no meaning in AZW3. AZW3 defaults to a large line height and there's no way in the CSS to reduce that. Amazon's firmware does not allow that. The only way to reduce the line height of KF8 is to use a font that's got the metrics adjusted for a smaller line height on the Kindle. My modified CharisSIL is just such a font since I did tweak the metrics so it has a smaller line height.

Hi JSWolf - this is interesting, the line-height has no meaning in azw3, so why the Calibre azw3 conversion puts it there?

I changed css as you recommended - no difference on my Kindle...

Could I possibly borrow the CharisSIL font you modified?

Hi theduck, I tried to change the line-height to 1.0, then when viewing it using Calibre the lines are close together (actually too close for my taste), however it does not make any difference in my Kindle 3...

In my Kindle "reader.pref" settings, the LINE_SPACING=1. I tried to change it to 0.5 but it does not work, I actually finished with LINE_SPACING=5. If this could be set to less then 1 it would probably be the solution to my problem...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bigo2

Could I possibly borrow the CharisSIL font you modified?

Nope, you cannot borrow, but you can have to keep. Here is the URL to my CharisSIL Modified Hinted.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/om...L+-+Hinted.rar

I also have a version that's slightly larger. It's my CharisSIL Larger Modified Hinted.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/ga...r+-+Hinted.rar

The larger one somewhat matched the size of Caecilia with the better line height.

[Bigo2]

JSWolf - I am verry verry happy. Both fonts are exactly what I’ve been looking for!
The smaller one – CharisSIL – gives me 32 lines on my Kindle 3 with the results pretty similar to the character setting I am used to:
Character size - 3rd from the left
Publisher font - on
Line spacing - small
Words per line - fewest (I have specified smaller margins by setting it in "reader.pref" to HOROZONTAL MARGIN=18)
The larger font – CharisSIL Larger – gives me 29 lines, which is pretty much the same as the default mobi (old) with the above character setting (no Publisher font).
Now I will have a dilemma which I should use because both are beautiful – first I probably try to use the smaller one…

Again - thank you very much JSWolf

Regards

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Bigo2

JSWolf - I am verry verry happy. Both fonts are exactly what I’ve been looking for!
The smaller one – CharisSIL – gives me 32 lines on my Kindle 3 with the results pretty similar to the character setting I am used to:
Character size - 3rd from the left
Publisher font - on
Line spacing - small
Words per line - fewest (I have specified smaller margins by setting it in "reader.pref" to HOROZONTAL MARGIN=18)
The larger font – CharisSIL Larger – gives me 29 lines, which is pretty much the same as the default mobi (old) with the above character setting (no Publisher font).
Now I will have a dilemma which I should use because both are beautiful – first I probably try to use the smaller one…

Again - thank you very much JSWolf

Regards

You are very welcome. The hinted version displays better and doesn't have the thin lines because of the hinting. When using a small font size, the font looks very nice. On a Kindle, the one thing I really like is that the line space is not too big and that makes things more comfortable to read (to me). I don't own a Kindle, but many on MR do and It's nice to be able to fix up the font so it works well with Kindles and ADE and most ePub readers.