PRS-900 Times New Roman and PDF

vxf · 06-17-2010, 04:06 PM

When I try to read a PDF with Times New Roman, I get some weird problems.

First of all, the font is very light and thin, does not look like Times New Roman at all. Very difficult to read. Sure, that might just be poor font design, but...

Second, some words appear in a larger, bold font. I can't figure out why - those words are the same font size and same boldness in the original document.

If I change font size, everything just scales. The larger-font, bold, words, are still large, bold.

I noticed that the same happens if I try to view the file with SONY's software on my PC. But if I open the same file with Adobe, those problems disappear.

Any advice? So far, I have resorted to simply changing font, but I get a lot of documents from other people, and it gets annoying.

Solitaire1 · 06-17-2010, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vxf

When I try to read a PDF with Times New Roman, I get some weird problems.

First of all, the font is very light and thin, does not look like Times New Roman at all. Very difficult to read. Sure, that might just be poor font design, but...

Second, some words appear in a larger, bold font. I can't figure out why - those words are the same font size and same boldness in the original document.

If I change font size, everything just scales. The larger-font, bold, words, are still large, bold.

I noticed that the same happens if I try to view the file with SONY's software on my PC. But if I open the same file with Adobe, those problems disappear.

Any advice? So far, I have resorted to simply changing font, but I get a lot of documents from other people, and it gets annoying.

I haven't had a problem with the same font appearing differently throughout my documents, but I have had a problem with Times New Roman appearing light, not only on my ereader but on all documents. I make my own PDFs (using StarOffice) and I've found that some fonts render darker than others even when they are the same size and general type (serif, san-serif, or monospace).

My solution was to try other fonts and one I've settled on for the main body of my ebooks is Georgia. It appears slightly larger, thicker, and darker than Times New Roman at the same font size. The following font examples will provide an illustration (I increased the size to better illustrate):

Times New Roman

Georgia

Garamond

The only thing I don't like about Georgia is the way it renders numbers (some have decenders). To illustrate:

Georgia - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0

Times New Roman - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0

It is likely that changing typefaces is the best solution to the lightness problem with Times New Roman. My own experience has been that Times New Roman tends to render a bit light.

I hope this helps.

vxf · 06-18-2010, 09:02 AM

Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to find some screenshots to show what I mean - but I do think it is just poor font design, at this point. I am, however, confused as to why some words are bolded.

And thanks for the advice. I have been changing font as well, but it's a bit of a waste of time, especially when you get stuff already in PDF format.

06-17-2010, 04:06 PM	#1
vxf Guru Posts: 944 Karma: 1490348 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Norman, OK Device: Sony PRS 350, 900, 950; Kindles (ALL of them!); Kobo Aura One	Times New Roman and PDF When I try to read a PDF with Times New Roman, I get some weird problems. First of all, the font is very light and thin, does not look like Times New Roman at all. Very difficult to read. Sure, that might just be poor font design, but... Second, some words appear in a larger, bold font. I can't figure out why - those words are the same font size and same boldness in the original document. If I change font size, everything just scales. The larger-font, bold, words, are still large, bold. I noticed that the same happens if I try to view the file with SONY's software on my PC. But if I open the same file with Adobe, those problems disappear. Any advice? So far, I have resorted to simply changing font, but I get a lot of documents from other people, and it gets annoying.

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06-18-2010, 09:02 AM	#3
vxf Guru Posts: 944 Karma: 1490348 Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Norman, OK Device: Sony PRS 350, 900, 950; Kindles (ALL of them!); Kobo Aura One	Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to find some screenshots to show what I mean - but I do think it is just poor font design, at this point. I am, however, confused as to why some words are bolded. And thanks for the advice. I have been changing font as well, but it's a bit of a waste of time, especially when you get stuff already in PDF format.

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