any way to make prs text look like kindle?

[oncdoc]

When i compare the font and text on my prs 650 to the kindle, I envy my wifes cheaper K3.

i have bought epub from sony store. I read at Medium and smaller setting is tooo small. I wish they had a setting for "look like the Kindle text"

seriously, I wish I could do this. Otherwise I like the reader and touch screen.

any ideas?

[wallcraft]

It is relatively easy to add on-device fonts to individual DRM-free ePubs via Calibre (ePub custom Fonts on all Sonys) but, unlike earlier Sony's, you have to hack the device to get userStyle.css support on the PRS-650 (Is it possible to replace Sony font? [350 & 650]) which allows you to replace the fonts for almost all ePubs (even if they have DRM).

The actual font used by the Kindle isn't free, and Amazon seems to be using a mash-up of several font weights. However, I'm sure you will be able to find a font that is better for you than the default.

[Coops]

The Boroda hack worked fine for my 350 - gives me my epubs in my preferred (free) Fontin font. Charis Sil is another good free one.

I've formatted my epubs in html in Word on my Macbook with Fontin at 10pt, line spacing at exactly 10.5pt (to spread them slightly) - then leave Calibre at defaults except for the margin setting which I reduce to 2pt.

Works great, and size is just right for me (making the ridiculously huge Sony small-to-medium font size jump irrelevant).

[Rizla]

This link explains very simply how to create epubs with new fonts:
http://dminoz.posterous.com/on-the-m...r-the-sony-650

The Kindle font is not free. It's called Caecilia. The commercially available Caecilia is not the same as the Kindle Caecilia font which has been customized.

See:https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=115774

Lexia DaMa is similar and free:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=101748

[mcrmama]

If you do this and want to use the same code for every book, go to preferences in calibre, then choose common options and paste the code into the extra css box. Now, if you convert a new book, it will automatically put that code into the extra css box for you so when you click convert you can then click ok right away. You can also play with the font default size here too. I use 13 as my base font size with Verdana as my font in the extra css. I like the size of it on small.

Originally Posted by Rizla

This link explains very simply how to create epubs with new fonts:
http://dminoz.posterous.com/on-the-m...r-the-sony-650

[Bookworm_Girl]

I've been using Lexia DaMa as the alternative to Caecilia. I typically set font size somewhere in the range from 11 to 13 pt depending on which font I am using. I did not want to hack my 950's firmware. I also use the calibre Extra CSS method which works for non-DRM books.

Here is a linked post. See the attached PDF at the bottom of the post. Jswinden has written a very detailed (but easy to follow) guide to writing the extra CSS and modifying your EPUB either with calibre or an editor such as Sigil. Sometimes it's not as easy as just modifying the body tag and converting in calibre.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=1109504

[Coops]

The other free font I meant to mention wasn't Charis Sil but Sorts Mill Goudy - you can get an epub of "The Book Of Tea" here on mobileread which had embedded fonts (so will display with that font)
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=97542

shows the font and also the excellent formatting available with epub - really good looking layout with the Chapter headings, and Initial Large Cap and so on....

Well worth a look - i'm going to see if it's possible to use Fontin with the general layout.

Coops

[Bookworm_Girl]

Charis SIL is my favorite alternative to the Sony default. I certainly recommend it, but it's worth noting that it doesn't look like the Kindle font.

[oncdoc]

thanks I will check out the links. Seems like I got work cut out for me. Darn sony, you should put this as a firmware update.

[delphin]

Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl

Charis SIL is my favorite alternative to the Sony default. I certainly recommend it, but it's worth noting that it doesn't look like the Kindle font.

Charis SIL is one of my favorites as well.

Due to the fact that this font is freely available, I have found that quite a few commercial EPUBs now come with this font embedded right in the file.

With the font embedded in the EPUB, you don't have to do anything at all to change the type face, the Sony just loads it automatically from the EPUB.

I am sure the popularity of the Charis SIL font has a much to do with it's freedom from licensing encumbrances as its aesthetic appeal.

My guess is the publishers want to be on the safe side, though I don't see how Microsoft or Adobe could come after you for embedding one of their fonts in a commercial EPUB. Embedding fonts into PDF's and MS Word documents has been common practice for many years, and no one said anything about folks not being able to commercially market something like a MS Word or PDF formatted newsletter, simply because it includes "Ariel" or "Times".

The way the fonts portion of most license agreements reads, the only relevant issue seems to be whether the font in question is being sold as a product itself, or as part of a competing publishing package (which is NOT allowed), or simply being embedded pursuant to rendering a derived commercial work (which IS allowed).

I guess the big publishers just don't want to take chances, because they have 'deep pockets'

The only downside (or upside depending on your point of view) to the Charis SIL font is that it is a full Unicode font that supports a HUGE set of characters, so embedding it bloats the EPUB file from a few hundred K bytes, to a couple of Megabytes for a typical title

As has been suggested here, the way around this is to put the font in a dedicated folder on the Sony and edit the CSS in your EPUBs so they point to it, but this has the disadvantage of having then created a EPUB that is specific to your modified reader, and which will not display properly on another reader unless it also has that font available and loaded in exactly the same location.

Personally, I prefer to embed the required fonts directly into each EPUB, and have a large collection of old TTF fonts that are much smaller than Charis but still look quite nice.

These came with various draw packages which have permissive licenses allowing their use in so-called 'derived works', so if I do self publish any EPUB titles, I plan to use them freely.