Fonts with Greek characters

pbw · 02-13-2012, 06:54 AM

I have an e-book which includes some formulae, embedded as images, and a number of individual Greek characters. The most common are sigma (σ) and rho (ρ). The text has apparently been scanned to create the e-book. because the isolated occurrences of sigma (referring to standard deviation) are rendered as the number 6. I would like to correct these instances to their proper Greek letter. That requires a font with a Greek alphabet, which I can expect to be present in common e-book formats like epub and mobi.

Do the underlying xhtml files of epub support Greek entities? What other possibilities exist?

Rob Lister · 02-13-2012, 07:43 AM

I see no reason your book could not include and reference a different font set (see caveat)...

But if the letters are not rendering, then clearly it doesn't.

...

Caveat: They are actually a number or reasons your book -- or really, any book -- might not include different fonts. Scanned converted books rarely would as the automated software that does that sort of thing isn't smart enough to recognize the need or resourceful enough to obtain the font. Another issue, more applicable to epub original works, pertains to licensing. There may be costs and restrictions related to re-rendering a particular font in an electronic medium.

dwig · 02-13-2012, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbw

...
Do the underlying xhtml files of epub support Greek entities? What other possibilities exist?

Its not so much whether or not the xhtml files support the Greek entities (BTW, they do) but rather whether the particular reader's (device or app) fonts support the characters.

I did a quick test using your post (saved "source" from my browser and trimmed it to just the post's text along with a minimal HTML document structure), converting it to both ePub and MOBI using calibre v0.8.39 on WinNT. The resulting ePub displayed the Greek characters correctly in both Sigil and ADE (I don't have an ePub device to test with). The MOBI displayed properly in both Kindle Previewer v2 and on my Kindle3. In all cases, there were no special fonts added or specified. The files are attached (the ZIP file is my HTML edited version of the post's "source").

You should be able to edit your ePub using Sigil to replace the incorrect characters with the proper Greek characters, copying them from my ePub if need be.

pbw · 02-13-2012, 06:03 PM

Thanks Rob and dwig.

I've been editing the epub version in Sigil, and Sigil is happy with either σ or σ, and seems to frequently and spontaneously convert the former to the latter.

I'm encouraged by your tests, dwig. The file was originally on Kindle, and my hope is to get a cleaner version back to the publisher.

CazMar · 02-13-2012, 06:07 PM

Keep us posted with your progress as I have a few books with ancient Greek I would like to redo in Epub, but at the moment it drives me nuts having to virtually embed each character as a symbol.

02-13-2012, 06:54 AM	#1
pbw Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Fonts with Greek characters I have an e-book which includes some formulae, embedded as images, and a number of individual Greek characters. The most common are sigma (σ) and rho (ρ). The text has apparently been scanned to create the e-book. because the isolated occurrences of sigma (referring to standard deviation) are rendered as the number 6. I would like to correct these instances to their proper Greek letter. That requires a font with a Greek alphabet, which I can expect to be present in common e-book formats like epub and mobi. Do the underlying xhtml files of epub support Greek entities? What other possibilities exist?

02-13-2012, 07:43 AM	#2
Rob Lister Fanatic Posts: 532 Karma: 3293888 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Virginia Device: Nook Simple Touch	I see no reason your book could not include and reference a different font set (see caveat)... But if the letters are not rendering, then clearly it doesn't. ... Caveat: They are actually a number or reasons your book -- or really, any book -- might not include different fonts. Scanned converted books rarely would as the automated software that does that sort of thing isn't smart enough to recognize the need or resourceful enough to obtain the font. Another issue, more applicable to epub original works, pertains to licensing. There may be costs and restrictions related to re-rendering a particular font in an electronic medium. Last edited by Rob Lister; 02-13-2012 at 07:49 AM.

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02-13-2012, 06:03 PM	#4
pbw Member Posts: 21 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: Kindle	Thanks Rob and dwig. I've been editing the epub version in Sigil, and Sigil is happy with either σ or σ, and seems to frequently and spontaneously convert the former to the latter. I'm encouraged by your tests, dwig. The file was originally on Kindle, and my hope is to get a cleaner version back to the publisher.

02-13-2012, 06:07 PM	#5
CazMar Book Geek Posts: 596 Karma: 1499085 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Adelaide, Australia Device: Kobo Touch, Asus MemPad 7" tablet, Nexus 5, Asus 10" tablet	Keep us posted with your progress as I have a few books with ancient Greek I would like to redo in Epub, but at the moment it drives me nuts having to virtually embed each character as a symbol.

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