pdf ereader optimizations?

[pluma]

Greetings,

What are PDF best practices for ereaders?

I am particularly interested in avoiding the device do post processing.

Do things like type of font matter for best performance? Should I use built in pdf fonts or let the device render them? Are pdfs adjustable to device DPI? Are there some internal PDF options during the creating time that can improve the reading experience?

I am planning to have plain pdfs without multimedia stuff.


thanks.

ps: if there some other less known tricks i'd like to hear about them.

[rkomar]

My only tip is to use a fat font. I've made PDFs using pdflatex, and using the Palatino fonts over the default ones made it much easier to read them on E-Ink devices.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by pluma

Greetings,

What are PDF best practices for ereaders?

...

Many would say "don't do it, use ePub or MOBI instead", but if you must do PDF then:

• use a common font or fonts in case the reading app want to use its own.
• embed the font(s).
• sub-set the embedded font(s).
• set the page size to the size of a typical ereader screen, ~4"x5".
• set a reasonable, but perhaps slightly large point size for the text, ~12-14pt, to cover for those using smaller screen (e.g. phones, ...)

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by dwig

[*]use a common font or fonts in case the reading app want to use its own.

Are there apps that allow that? The documents are usually kerned for specific fonts, so the character spacing would get messed up with other fonts.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Are there apps that allow that? The documents are usually kerned for specific fonts, so the character spacing would get messed up with other fonts.

I've not run across an app that substitutes fonts except when there is either no embedded copy or for some reason it can't use the embedded copy. The latter case would be very rare. Failure to embed the necessary fonts is the main cause for substitutions, and substitution can lead to very ugly results.

Generally, embedding the fonts used prevents substitution issues. Keep in mind that some fonts are not licensed to allow embedding or must be obfuscated when embedded to prevent their being extracted for use elsewhere.

[pluma]

Anybody got an idea how to do all these recommendations in latex?

thanks.