Seeking the next most readable font after Lexend

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by Apache

Unless the font is unreadable and throws me out of the book I read on the default font.
Apache

Me too. On my Sony reader occasionally the gaps between font sizes would be too big and I could get a slightly different size by choosing a different font.

I don't know how to strip fonts and wouldn't bother with anything like that anyway. I mostly read library books and as long as it's readable for the one time I'm going to read it, that's good enough for me.

[droopy]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Perhaps you noticed that there is no bold, bold-italic or italic variant of Lexend? Actions speak louder than words.

What's interesting is that in Google Docs, I can turn regular Lexend Deca font into bold (ctrl-B) or italics (ctrl-I) or both. So wonder why bold, italics, bold+italics aren't available on my Kobo reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by droopy

My device is a Kobo Forma. I don't think that qualifies as a "small display with low resolution", does it? I ask because I wonder if Roboto would be a good choice for my Kobo Forma.

A lot of MR users use ChareInk. Please try it. I would like to know what you think of it. Use the one that has added weight. Thanks.

As for Roboto, I find it to be just an ordinary sans-serif font. Not one I would use as my main font.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by droopy

What's interesting is that in Google Docs, I can turn regular Lexend Deca font into bold (ctrl-B) or italics (ctrl-I) or both. So wonder why bold, italics, bold+italics aren't available on my Kobo reader.

You cannot simulate proper italics. It just isn't possible.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by droopy

Can you give some examples of fine or light-grey fonts?

A common font used in some eBooks is Adobe Garamond Pro. It's too light for an eInk screen.

Fonts that do not have enough weigh for an eInk screen are not suitable. Also, some fonts even if they have enough weight might not be something I'd like to read with.

I use the Calibre editor to delete the fonts and all the font code in the CSS that I do not want.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by droopy

What's interesting is that in Google Docs, I can turn regular Lexend Deca font into bold (ctrl-B) or italics (ctrl-I) or both. So wonder why bold, italics, bold+italics aren't available on my Kobo reader.

Google Docs fakes the bold and italic (more correctly should be called oblique) variants. Your Kobo ereader does not have that capability and uses the font variants.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You cannot simulate proper italics. It just isn't possible.

You can't read books printed on microscopic plastic particles. It's just not possible.

You can't ride a giant flame spewing beast and expect the stewardess to serve drinks.

We've been doing the impossible for so many millennia I didn't realize that was still an issue.

Barry

[kacir]

Originally Posted by droopy

My device is a Kobo Forma. I don't think that qualifies as a "small display with low resolution", does it? I ask because I wonder if Roboto would be a good choice for my Kobo Forma.

Well, 8" at 300PPI is much better than early e-ink devices that had half the resolution, but it is still not high resolution when comparing with a printed page.
Roboto was optimized to look good on a small, relatively low resolution displays, but it doesn't mean it has to look bad at better displays. It is still one of the default fonts on high-end Android phones and tablets.

Do give it a try.
You can download a bunch of fonts from fonts.google.com and try them out on your Kobo. There are so many high quality fonts available nowadays to try. There are even fonts that our fellow mobilereaders modified and uploaded for us to try.

I think that installing a new font is as easy as creating "fonts" directory on your Kobo and copying the new fonts there. You probably already created the fonts directory if you installed Lexend font.

[rem736]

no matter what new fonts come out and claim to be better, after trying them out, i almost always end up defaulting back to good old Georgia as my font of choice. not all these elements are in Georgia, but i believe that the perfect font would distinguish:

1. the number 0 (zero) from the letter O (oh)
2. the upper case I (eye) from the lower case l (el)

everything else is in the eye of the beholder.

lots of font sets distinguish upper case I (eye) from lower case l (el).
but few distinguishes 0 (zero) from O (oh).
and none i've encountered but Consolas does both of these.
but unfortunately, Consolas is a monospace font and just uses up too much space.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by rem736

lots of font sets distinguish upper case I (eye) from lower case l (el).
but few distinguishes 0 (zero) from O (oh).
and none i've encountered but Consolas does both of these.

Checking a dozen or so fonts by typing "Il 0O", every single one made the distinction zero and "O" VERY obvious, and most of the san-serif fonts distinguished between "I" and "l" by making the "l" appear fractionally taller. It wasn't as easy to spot as the "O" vs "0", but the difference is clearly visible

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Checking a dozen or so fonts by typing "Il 0O", every single one made the distinction zero and "O" VERY obvious, and most of the san-serif fonts distinguished between "I" and "l" by making the "l" appear fractionally taller. It wasn't as easy to spot as the "O" vs "0", but the difference is clearly visible

On the other hand, I've seen fonts where "1", "l", and "I" are pixel identical (as well as "0" and "O". I imagine hell would be to have to debug a computer program whose variable names consist of only combinations of those 5 characters and only those fonts are available.

[Pajamaman]

Cécilia bold all day.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Cécilia bold all day.

Have you tried ChareInk? On a Kindle, it gives a lot of benefit. It gives you more text per line and more lines per screen as with ChareInk, you have less line height space. So give it a go and see what you think.

[BookCat]

@JSWolf, I tried ChareInk some time ago. It was enormous on my paperwhite's screen. I may have done something wrong when installing it. Is the font suppose to be that big?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BookCat

@JSWolf, I tried ChareInk some time ago. It was enormous on my paperwhite's screen. I may have done something wrong when installing it. Is the font suppose to be that big?

I had created a larger version of Charis SIL some time ago. But I decided to start over and created ChareInk. Download ChareInk and put it in your Kindle's fonts directory. If there is a version of ChareInk or any other Charis SIL fonts, remove them first. Then rebook the Kindle and try again. ChareInk should not be too large.