Bottom margin question

[mzel]

After about 8 years of using KoReader, first on Kindle, then on Kobo, I finally managed to RTFM. It did provide useful information!
So I was annoyed with the rendering of some books, where the gap between the last line and the status bar was way too noticeable.
"Reclaim bar height from bottom margin" helped, but I still do not quite understand the logic. The way I read in the manual I should see the status bar overlap (at least partially) the last line when it is on. In my case I see a normal gap of about .3 line height. When it is off I see about 1.5 or almost 2 lines gap.
I understand the "Bottom Margin" and some font features affect this too. I have Bottom Margin at the default 15. I also notice this more with some fonts than with others

[NiLuJe]

The actual dead zone is, by default, simply bottom margin + status bar. "Reclaim" makes that be just bottom margin.

The fact that a line is not displayed if it doesn't fit (actual blackbox + line-height) is orthogonal to that .

(TL;DR: Play with your bottom margin, line height & font sizes settings).

[mzel]

Is the line spacing applied above or below the text in the line?

[NiLuJe]

Depends on the actual font metrics, but on a "sane" fonts, that should be limited to between lines ;o).

(Although some fonts might actually have wonky metrics that inflate the glyph's blackbox on both sides. I wouldn't know, I tweak my fonts to avoid such horrors).

[mzel]

In that case I still do not get the asymmetrical dead zones at the top and at the bottom when margin settings are identical

[Jellby]

I guess text is set from the top, and a new line added only if it fits. So I would expect an apparent bottom margin of anything between the value you set (plus status bar) and that plus one line height, depending on how an integer number of lines fit in the available space.

[NiLuJe]

Ascenders and descenders rarely visually match on typical glyphs, so, no, perfect symmetry is usually not achievable .

But we appear to be talking in circles, so, please simply post a screenshot and your current settings, and we'll just whip up the GIMP's ruler to see that there's just 1px missing to fit a line or something .

(As an example, with a 0 bottom margin, you should expect the descender of a `g` to actually hit the last row of pixels, assuming the combined blackbox for the final line fits. [Also, that CSS doesn't screw the pooch? c.f., widows & orphans]).

EDIT: c.f., this issue for more details.

[mzel]

With the "Reclaim" option On and status bar hidden it does appear symmetrical. With the "Reclaim" Off and status bar shown it is not, and that was what I was confused about. I guess it was just me to expect the symmetry in the remaining text box above the status bar

[NiLuJe]

That's indeed what I would expect .

(Besides me not actually using the status bar all that much, I also find the default status bar effect on all this confusing, which is kind of why I added the Reclaim option ).

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

That's indeed what I would expect .

(Besides me not actually using the status bar all that much, I also find the default status bar effect on all this confusing, which is kind of why I added the Reclaim option ).

I use the reclaim feature and it allows me to get closer to the status bar.