What's the official line on Italicised versions of Kobo Fonts

[roycymru]

I have noticed, and other are reporting the dissapearance of italicised version of Kobo fonts. Instead of using the italicised version it displays the text in bold instead.

Is this a deliberate move by Kobo, or just some bug?

If a deliberate move I would request he Kobo have a rethink on this. Bold in written text I see as the equivalent of "SHOUTING" which is most distracting. If the author put text in Italics, this is how they should be displayed.

[murg]

I rarely, if ever, read a book without italics.

I rarely read a book with bold text, other than titles, chapter titles, etc.

[murg]

Originally Posted by roycymru

I have noticed, and other are reporting the dissapearance of italicised version of Kobo fonts. Instead of using the italicised version it displays the text in bold instead.

Is this a deliberate move by Kobo, or just some bug?

If a deliberate move I would request he Kobo have a rethink on this. Bold in written text I see as the equivalent of "shouting" which is most distracting. If the author put text in Italics, this is how they should be displayed.

It's possible that what you are seeing is a change in the interpretation of the HTML tags.

In some ebooks, italic text is deliminated by <em> or an emphasis tag. It's possible that someone at Kobo changed the meaning of <em> to be bold.

As far as it being deliberate or a bug, who knows? Kobo's track record on such things suggests that it could be equally either.

[roycymru]

Originally Posted by murg

It's possible that what you are seeing is a change in the interpretation of the HTML tags.

In some ebooks, italic text is deliminated by <em> or an emphasis tag. It's possible that someone at Kobo changed the meaning of <em> to be bold.

As far as it being deliberate or a bug, who knows? Kobo's track record on such things suggests that it could be equally either.

Hi

Perhaps someone who knows how to access these things can check if the "italicised" versions of Kobo Fonts are still detailed in the software, or have been removed. If they are still there, this would indicate a "bug", if not then this would indicate a deliberate move (for some reason!) by Kobo to remove them. If the former, then Kobo should be able to fix, if the later then perhaps we can instigate a campaign to bring them back!

[GoingDown]

I updated my Kobo to version 2.3.1 and I can still see italic fonts correctly on my ebooks. And I don't have any books which have bold text anywhere else than in headings.

Mostly sideloaded books, I have few kepubs as well - both seem to work.

[murg]

Originally Posted by roycymru

Hi

Perhaps someone who knows how to access these things can check if the "italicised" versions of Kobo Fonts are still detailed in the software, or have been removed. If they are still there, this would indicate a "bug", if not then this would indicate a deliberate move (for some reason!) by Kobo to remove them. If the former, then Kobo should be able to fix, if the later then perhaps we can instigate a campaign to bring them back!

What fonts are you using?

[roycymru]

Originally Posted by murg

What fonts are you using?

Kobo Nickel

Get bold instead of Italic as well with:

Avenir
Gill Sans
Ryumun

Ones that work correctly are:

Amasis
Caecilia
Georgia
Malabar

[vlad59]

On the book I tested the behavior is like that :

Italics are renderer as bold with :
* Averia sans (sideloaded font)
* Gill Sans
* Avenir
* Nickel

Italics are correctly rendered with :
* Caecilia
* Amasis
* Georgia
* Malabar
* Rockwell

[murg]

I experimented with an eBook I know uses <i> tags.

Amasis - italic
Avenir - bold
Caecilia - italic
Georgia - italic
Gill Sans - italic
Kobo Nickel - italic
Malabar - italic
Gothic MB - italic
Ryumin - italic

Glo running 2.2.1.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by murg

I experimented with an eBook I know uses <i> tags.

Amasis - italic
Avenir - bold
Caecilia - italic
Georgia - italic
Gill Sans - italic
Kobo Nickel - italic
Malabar - italic
Gothic MB - italic
Ryumin - italic

Glo running 2.2.1.

Ahh... Avenir. That one has had screwed up italics since day 1.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Ahh... Avenir. That one has had screwed up italics since day 1.

Thanks for that ..... I've got Avenir on at the moment because I like it - but it does awful things to text on the same page, not every page though:

some words bold
some words font small
some words font large

This is a fiction book without links to notes, and nothing special about the format (The Lewis Man, Peter May).

[stewacide]

Does anyone know if there's any point to adding any other than the -Regular -Bold -Italic and -BoldItalic versions of fonts to the Kobo? Will other weights be used under any circumstance?

Edit -- p.s. I got Avenir working with Italics by side-loading it and making sure the file name matched the font name exactly, including spaces. When I first tried it the name wasn't an exact match and I got the same result as with the bundled Avenir: bold in place of italics. Could this long-standing bug be as simple as Kobo not having their internal fonts named properly?

[0x55]

Have two Glos here, one is 2.1.5, one is 2.3.1. Using Kobo Nickel, the same ePub is rendering italics on 2.1.5 and bold on 2.3.1.

The relevant CSS is "font-style: italic" and renders as expected in other readers.

- - - - -

Interesting update: Checking with Kobo Nickel, the HTML tags "i" and "em" both render bold as well.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by 0x55

Have two Glos here, one is 2.1.5, one is 2.3.1. Using Kobo Nickel, the same ePub is rendering italics on 2.1.5 and bold on 2.3.1.

The relevant CSS is "font-style: italic" and renders as expected in other readers.

- - - - -

Interesting update: Checking with Kobo Nickel, the HTML tags "i" and "em" both render bold as well.

When I updated to 2.3.1, I did my usual remove uSD card, factory reset, upgrade, restore font and Adobe activation files, quick testing, insert SD card and practice patience for a Glo and a Touch.

Finally got an attack of the brights and removed a couple of side-loaded fonts which duplicated some of the built-in fonts with changed characteristics. After that, the Touch had the usual issues with Avenir plus issues with Gill Sans. The Glo has issues with italic showing as bold for Avenir, Gill Sans and Kobo Nickel.

Oddly, a check of the MD5 checksums on the Gill Sans and Kobo Nickel files shows that the contents do not seem to have changed since the Glo 2.1.4 release and the file names have not changed.

Regards,
David

[murg]

Originally Posted by 0x55

Have two Glos here, one is 2.1.5, one is 2.3.1. Using Kobo Nickel, the same ePub is rendering italics on 2.1.5 and bold on 2.3.1.

The relevant CSS is "font-style: italic" and renders as expected in other readers.

- - - - -

Interesting update: Checking with Kobo Nickel, the HTML tags "i" and "em" both render bold as well.

Does anyone at Kobo test the firmware before they release it?