New kobo setup. I can't remember some basic stuff.

[PunkyKoopa]

Hello fellow readers,

I am trying to set up a new Kobo for a close friend.

I have already configured Calibre to sort the books in his library to his liking, and the books are correctly sent to Calibre and both series and collections are working well.

He also wants the KePub renderer to look exactly as mine does. I have already installed the fonts that I have, but I have three main concerns now.

1. When I configured my device, I installed the better hyphens dictionary, and I had problems with it, for example, having hyphens like this

   car-
   

   -s

   I eventually solved it by changing a value in a file but I can't remember how I did it.
   
2. I also changed the webkitTextRendering option to optimizelegibility in the Kobo eReader.conf file. As today, this is still the best way to do it, right?
   
3. I also changed the word spacing value to 0.05em and I remember that it was done by changing a value in a CSS file but I can't remember how it was done.

Can you help me?

Thank you.

[Sirtel]

The word spacing value is a patch, not a css file. You patched your Kobo.

Whether enabling OptimizeLegibility is the best way to read kepubs is a matter of taste. It enables kerning and ligatures, but messes up word and letter spacing. Personally I don't use it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The word spacing value is a patch, not a css file. You patched your Kobo.

Whether enabling OptimizeLegibility is the best way to read kepubs is a matter of taste. It enables kerning and ligatures, but messes up word and letter spacing. Personally I don't use it.

I've not found word spacing to be messed up. It's just sometimes letter spacing is messed up, but not often enough to be too much of an issue. It's better with kerning. Ligatures I can take or leave as I really don't notice them.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've not found word spacing to be messed up. It's just sometimes letter spacing is messed up, but not often enough to be too much of an issue. It's better with kerning. Ligatures I can take or leave as I really don't notice them.

Word spacing is messed up if one doesn't use hyphenation.

I couldn't care less about either kerning or ligatures. I do care about word and letter spacing, so I don't enable the legibility option. YMMV, obviously.

[PunkyKoopa]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

The word spacing value is a patch, not a css file. You patched your Kobo.

The thing is that I never patched my Kobo. I am 100% sure about that. And I am almost 100% sure that I had to create a new file in the root of the device.

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Whether enabling OptimizeLegibility is the best way to read kepubs is a matter of taste. It enables kerning and ligatures, but messes up word and letter spacing. Personally I don't use it.

I didn't notice that, but my question was about the method to enable the setting. I wonder if changing the Kobo eReader.conf file is still the best method or it has been officially implemented or something like that.

Thank you!

[Aleron Ives]

Some people prefer geometricPrecision to optimizeLegibility, as it improves word/letter spacing a bit.

[PunkyKoopa]

There is no need to resend the books if I switch optimizeLegibility to geometricPrecision, right?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Word spacing is messed up if one doesn't use hyphenation.

I couldn't care less about either kerning or ligatures. I do care about word and letter spacing, so I don't enable the legibility option. YMMV, obviously.

I wouldn't know as I do use hyphenation. I do not want rivers of space. So I use hyphenation. That's why I created the better hyphenation dictionaries.

I'm pretty sure that the included English hyphenation dictionary would work well if the left/right numbers were set to 2/2 or 2/3 instead of (I think) 5/5.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PunkyKoopa

The thing is that I never patched my Kobo. I am 100% sure about that. And I am almost 100% sure that I had to create a new file in the root of the device.



I didn't notice that, but my question was about the method to enable the setting. I wonder if changing the Kobo eReader.conf file is still the best method or it has been officially implemented or something like that.

Thank you!

The editing of the config file works, but it's not official as there is no option for it in the settings. You cannot reduce the word spacing of KePub without patching.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by PunkyKoopa

There is no need to resend the books if I switch optimizeLegibility to geometricPrecision, right?

Correct. No need to resend the eBooks.

[PunkyKoopa]

I think that I have figured it out.

I changed the left/right numbers to 3 in the dictionary to avoid starting a line with a single letter. And regarding the word spacing, this is what I did.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=158

Does it look right to you?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by PunkyKoopa

And regarding the word spacing, this is what I did.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...&postcount=158

Does it look right to you?

That's a widows and orphans setting, not word spacing.

[PunkyKoopa]

I know. The setting for the word spacing is:

body {word-spacing: -0.05em}

[Sirtel]

Well, yes, it should work, only this code must be inserted in every ebook. With patching there is no need to insert it in books. If your friend will load ebooks to their Kobo later on without that css value inserted, they'll lose the smaller word spacing.

[PunkyKoopa]

Yes, I know, but I think that patching won't be easy for me, let alone my friend.

I could use both Un-Force user text-align in div,p tags in KePubs and the word-spacing patches, but I fear to brick my device.