kepub: why does it exist?

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Adobe's renderer does objectively support a wider range of font features.

What other features?

I switched to Kindle since last October. I find that the text set to justified looks a bit better.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

As far as I know, and from what I've read on the web from other users, KePub are faster and more accurate about the time left in chapters, among other benefits. I don't see why people are still using ePub with Kobo. Everyone have some esoteric reasons like the fonts looks better. I've never seen any difference.

My "esoteric" reason for preferring ePubs over KePubs is because I like consistent page numbers on different brands of eReaders. You don't get that with KePubs.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Adobe's renderer does objectively support a wider range of font features. OTOH, if Kobo were to update webkit to a more modern version, there wouldn't really be any advantage of RMSDK anymore (plus they wouldn't have to keep dealing with web stuff breaking...).

PocketBooks pages look good in ePub 3. I think they do use a newer version of RMSDK.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by rcentros

My "esoteric" reason for preferring ePubs over KePubs is because I like consistent page numbers on different brands of eReaders. You don't get that with KePubs.

IIRC there used to be a patch to fix that, but Kobo broke it with a firmware update?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

As far as I know, and from what I've read on the web from other users, KePub are faster and more accurate about the time left in chapters, among other benefits. I don't see why people are still using ePub with Kobo. Everyone have some esoteric reasons like the fonts looks better. I've never seen any difference.

Out of the box, RMSDK does kerning, better word spacing, hyphenation, ligatures, and better font rendering. The program used for KePub has display issues. It does not display nearly as well and if the line height is too small, you can get part of the top line of the next screen at the bottom of the previous screen. Also, with hyphenation and ligatures turned on, you can get the occasional weird spacing in a word or set of words. Also, turning on enhanced typesetting with KePub is not obvious and unless you know how, it cannot be done.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by geek1011

Adobe's renderer does objectively support a wider range of font features. OTOH, if Kobo were to update webkit to a more modern version, there wouldn't really be any advantage of RMSDK anymore (plus they wouldn't have to keep dealing with web stuff breaking...).

Kobo needs RMSDK for the DRM. Otherwise the only place to get DRMed eBooks would be from Kobo and those that were DRM free would not work.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

What other features?

I switched to Kindle since last October. I find that the text set to justified looks a bit better.

I find a Kindle looks worse then RMSDK. On a Kindle by default, you have wide L/R margins and a wide line height. With KF8 you have no kerning, no ligatures, and no hyphenation. With KFX, you have kerning, ligatures, and hyphenation. But you also have wide L/R margins and a wide line height. There is an override for the large line height in KF8 using font metrics. But KFX does not respect that and overrides it with a large line height. With KF8 you can override the large L/R margins with negative margins and you can use the calibre's Polish or the Hyphenate This! plugin to add soft-hyphens which do work well. But you still cannot enable kerning and ligatures. Also, on a Kindle, fonts look better if they have hinting.

On a Kobo, hinting is not needed. Fonts look the same hinted or not.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcentros

PocketBooks pages look good in ePub 3. I think they do use a newer version of RMSDK.

Pocketbook does use the latest version of RMSDK.

[Jane Eyre]

Good topic, very interesting!!
I have just uploaded in the two screens about the rendering of modified Andika font (by Barty user https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...ght=andika+ink) on my Clara 2E.

Same ebook, epub on the left. The epub version seems awful to me..and, it happens exactly the same with my kindle paperwhite, where andika looks softer and muche more definite, elegant while using kfx converted ebooks.
I also see some little differences among them about font size and line height. In the overall, I prefer kepub format too though Epub is standard and kobo format is a proprietary one...it's a shame!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Jane Eyre

I also see some little differences among them about font size and line height. In the overall, I prefer kepub format too though Epub is standard and kobo format is a proprietary one...it's a shame!

One minor nit is that a kepub ebook is an ePub ebook with added spans and a few other bits and bobs. You can use a kepub on your Pocketbook or other ePub ereader with very few if any noticeable differences from the ePub version. The added spans basically do nothing when not using the Kobo WebKit based renderer.

[Jane Eyre]

Does Pocketbook read Kepub? I did not know it.

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I find a Kindle looks worse then RMSDK. On a Kindle by default, you have wide L/R margins and a wide line height. With KF8 you have no kerning, no ligatures, and no hyphenation. With KFX, you have kerning, ligatures, and hyphenation. But you also have wide L/R margins and a wide line height. There is an override for the large line height in KF8 using font metrics. But KFX does not respect that and overrides it with a large line height. With KF8 you can override the large L/R margins with negative margins and you can use the calibre's Polish or the Hyphenate This! plugin to add soft-hyphens which do work well. But you still cannot enable kerning and ligatures. Also, on a Kindle, fonts look better if they have hinting.

On a Kobo, hinting is not needed. Fonts look the same hinted or not.

Ah, the esoteric master. Normal users don't fiddle around with their ebooks. They buy them from Amazon book store, which give them great features on an ebook, or they upload their ePub to Send to Kindle. Others will also convert to KFX and transfer the file on their Kindle trough USB-C. That's about it.

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Out of the box, RMSDK does kerning, better word spacing, hyphenation, ligatures, and better font rendering. The program used for KePub has display issues. It does not display nearly as well and if the line height is too small, you can get part of the top line of the next screen at the bottom of the previous screen. Also, with hyphenation and ligatures turned on, you can get the occasional weird spacing in a word or set of words.

To me, everything you say here is a matter of taste and opinion.

With Kobo, people will buy from Kobo book store and they will have a great experience with Kepub. Others will have the choice to buy from almost any other stores. ePub or Kepub? Kepub has more options with Kobo. Why go with less when you can have more?

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Also, turning on enhanced typesetting with KePub is not obvious and unless you know how, it cannot be done.

What?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

Ah, the esoteric master. Normal users don't fiddle around with their ebooks. They buy them from Amazon book store, which give them great features on an ebook, or they upload their ePub to Send to Kindle. Others will also convert to KFX and transfer the file on their Kindle trough USB-C. That's about it.

None of the dedicated ereaders other than Amazon's natively support azw3/KF8 or KFX. They all support epub, which Amazon doesn't support on their ereaders.

Loads of normal users do not use a kindle App or a Kindle ereader.

Also Kobo users can buy epubs from every dedicated ebook store except Amazon, without conversion. B&N is tied to Nook and has physical stores. Apple doesn't have an ereader, only an App.

[deleted2]

Originally Posted by Quoth

None of the dedicated ereaders other than Amazon's natively support azw3/KF8 or KFX. They all support epub, which Amazon doesn't support on their ereaders.

Loads of normal users do not use a kindle App or a Kindle ereader.

By normal users, I mean normal users of their dedicated ereader, and in my comment, I was talking about Kindle users.

But you already knew that, right? You just like to mess around?