epub vs lrf - why choose epub for sony reader?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

Justification would be great, especially as it can be controlled by the styles in each epub, so everyone would be happy - as we could easily format epubs to our own preference.

The ability to control the justification format would be great. I prefer left justification, some prefer full justification. Prior to epub I used a hack on my prs-505 to make it left justification. Having the choice would be perfect.

[justanut]

Agree that the side page numbers bug me but i don't miss justification. No unsightly gaps in a sentence thank you!

I rather they gave us the option to set custom font sizes on the go, 10-26? rather than SML.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by justanut

Agree that the side page numbers bug me but i don't miss justification. No unsightly gaps in a sentence thank you!

The first time I heard about the side numbers I had no idea what people were complaining about. At the time I had read about 10 books in epub format. I had to go back and look close to see the numbers. I set my books to size 16 font and on my reader the numbers appear to be about 1/3 that font size. If I was on a reader with full justification it may have bothered me more.

When you have older eyes and increase the font size to 16 or 18 then full justification is not attractive due to those "unsightly gaps." Having the option to turn full justification on or off would be great.

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by Amalthia

It can't be that hard to roll out a firmware upgrade to fix this, is it?

As a programmer I would say these seem to be relatively simple fixes to code into the firmware of the earlier versions (perhaps justification is a bit more complex). I would think there would be more effort involved in the logistics of testing the new firmwares and then rolling them out. Unfortunately I can't see any real incentive for Sony to do this.

[goaspy]

Originally Posted by mint

I find my PRS505 opens epub files much faster than lrf. Every time when I open lrf, the reader will take a few seconds rendering it. This never happens with epub. I find this odd, you'd think that since lrf is Sony's proprietary format, the Sony reader would be able to render it quickly.

From what I noticed, the delay only happens once for every font size.
After it's cached, book loads and size changes are fast on my PRS600.

I prefer the look and feel of LRF, with the text justified and the S size a bit bigger than ePub S.

The conversion from ePub to LRF with Calibre is almost perfect. I only noticed two problems, when converting book from feedbooks, the rectange surrounding the chapter number is gone, and between chapters there are some empty pages.

[fglaysher]

Originally Posted by user_none

The side page numbers are courtesy of Adobe. Sony is using Adobe's mobile software for EPUB. They are also personal preference. I happen to like them.

I like the side numbers too. Aren't they a way of referring to an original printed text? That's important for researchers and just anyone wanting to cite a source accurately.

[PaladinBL]

I just read my first book on PRS-505 and it was in LRF. Now I reading another book but this time it is ePub, so that I can see and feel the difference.

LRF is nice, page turns are fast. There is an empty space on top and bottom that are sufficient for one more text line at the top and one more text line at the bottom.

ePut does not have that large margins and the font is smaller so books have more text on pages. But I think that page turns are slower in ePub and...I am not very sure about this but it looks like page turns are slower now at 120. page than it was on beginning of the book. I will see how it will be after 200-300 pages.

[rmm200]

I would think one consideration is that LRF is an obsolete format no longer supported by Sony, and not likely to be available on new devices.

Robert

[darkpoet]

Originally Posted by fglaysher

I like the side numbers too. Aren't they a way of referring to an original printed text? That's important for researchers and just anyone wanting to cite a source accurately.

Nope. Way off. They seem to be almost arbitrary. An ePub is composed of HTML files and images. A new "page" seems to occur with a certain number of characters and with new HTML files. For example, one ePub I have packs 5 images on one "page" despite being full-page images. I wish there was a way to track force page numbers in ePub to match the printed version of a book, but there isn't.

[soilwork]

I start to like epub better than lrf mainly because I can get true italics. I did not know that I hated artificial italics in LRF before using epub. Also, jagged right does not bother me so justification is not a problem.

Originally Posted by PaladinBL

ePut does not have that large margins and the font is smaller so books have more text on pages.

About font size of epub, you can modify the CSS files to get larger fonts in epub quite easily. If you are comfortable using command line, you can use a simple batch file that automates the job.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...4&postcount=20

Also, I guess you can change the margin while running ebook-convert.exe by tweaking the following options.
--margin-bottom
--margin-left
--margin-right
--margin-top

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by darkpoet

Nope. Way off. They seem to be almost arbitrary. An ePub is composed of HTML files and images. A new "page" seems to occur with a certain number of characters and with new HTML files. For example, one ePub I have packs 5 images on one "page" despite being full-page images. I wish there was a way to track force page numbers in ePub to match the printed version of a book, but there isn't.

It is not way off. If I choose to distribute Catch 22 to my class in epub format then the page numbers will be the same no matter what font size or reader they use. If one person cites page 84 everyone else will be on the same page.