Crappy epub font - any way to change?

thinkpad · 12-03-2010, 05:26 AM

I just bought Effective Perl Programming in epub and the font used on the code sections looks horrible. I've checked the font both on my E.Edge and on my laptop in ADE and it's not very good.

Is there any way to replace the font used for the code sections?

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cuthbert19 · 12-03-2010, 06:35 AM

Are you sure that it's text and not, as it seems to me, actually an image? Especially since the font for "foreach" or "STDIN" in the main text part is different from the one in the code section, and I think it should be the same ...

It's possible that they tried not to go mad about the indenting and preferred to go the screenshot way ....

thinkpad · 12-03-2010, 07:36 AM

Ah, good point. It might very well be that they made the code sections as pictures.

jharker · 12-03-2010, 08:27 AM

Don't forgot, many ereaders don't support embedded fonts. They wanted the code in a monospaced font, and the only way to do that was by embedding it as an image.

That definitely looks like an image to me. It really should have been higher resolution, though. There's no reason it couldn't look as crisp as the rest of the text.

thinkpad · 12-03-2010, 10:12 AM

I just checked and indeed the code parts are made up of pictures. It looks totally crap on my e-reader. To go with pictures was not the smartest choice. Perhaps the easiest but not one that makes the book look good.

Jellby · 12-03-2010, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

It looks totally crap on my e-reader. To go with pictures was not the smartest choice. Perhaps the easiest but not one that makes the book look good.

It's not only uglier, but it breaks copying and searching. You should complain to the publisher (I would).

thinkpad · 12-04-2010, 04:12 AM

Yeah this is something that gets me really irritated. You pay full price and they can't even bother to turn out a decent e-book version.

I might have to ask them to give me the PDF-version instead. The crazy thing is that from ebooks.com you pay for each format, so I can't go and download the PDF-version.

The only publisher I know that does a good job and doesn't screw you over as a customer is O'Reilly. Multiple formats available and you can download the format that suits your needs best without paying multiple times for the same book.

12-03-2010, 05:26 AM	#1
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	Crappy epub font - any way to change? I just bought Effective Perl Programming in epub and the font used on the code sections looks horrible. I've checked the font both on my E.Edge and on my laptop in ADE and it's not very good. Is there any way to replace the font used for the code sections?

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12-03-2010, 06:35 AM	#2
cuthbert19 Enthusiast Posts: 48 Karma: 1916 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Cybook Opus	Are you sure that it's text and not, as it seems to me, actually an image? Especially since the font for "foreach" or "STDIN" in the main text part is different from the one in the code section, and I think it should be the same ... It's possible that they tried not to go mad about the indenting and preferred to go the screenshot way ....

12-03-2010, 07:36 AM	#3
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	Ah, good point. It might very well be that they made the code sections as pictures.

12-03-2010, 08:27 AM	#4
jharker Developer Posts: 345 Karma: 3473 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Device: iRex iLiad v1, Blackberry Tour, Kindle DX, iPad.	Don't forgot, many ereaders don't support embedded fonts. They wanted the code in a monospaced font, and the only way to do that was by embedding it as an image. That definitely looks like an image to me. It really should have been higher resolution, though. There's no reason it couldn't look as crisp as the rest of the text.

12-03-2010, 10:12 AM	#5
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	I just checked and indeed the code parts are made up of pictures. It looks totally crap on my e-reader. To go with pictures was not the smartest choice. Perhaps the easiest but not one that makes the book look good.

12-04-2010, 04:12 AM	#7
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	Yeah this is something that gets me really irritated. You pay full price and they can't even bother to turn out a decent e-book version. I might have to ask them to give me the PDF-version instead. The crazy thing is that from ebooks.com you pay for each format, so I can't go and download the PDF-version. The only publisher I know that does a good job and doesn't screw you over as a customer is O'Reilly. Multiple formats available and you can download the format that suits your needs best without paying multiple times for the same book.

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