Clearest Serif Fonts

[LDBoblo]

Hi, I think the topic of favorite font has been touched on here and there, and I don't want to flog a dead horse too much, but since I got my reader, I've always felt that I'd like the text to be a bit clearer.

I've changed the default fonts numerous times and have done a lot of pdf tests with the fonts I've got installed, and have had little luck with 8-9pt serif fonts. The screen's resolution is a little bit of a limitation, as is the built-in anti-aliasing algorithm, but I'm still hoping there's a font that will turn up nice and clear on the PRS-505 screen.

So far, I've been using Chaparral Pro (converted to TTF), and Centro Pro (slab/serif) with pretty good results. Georgia is OK but not as good...don't really get good results with Constantia. My favorite on paper is a Garamond, but none of my Garamonds play well with the reader. I'm not a fan of sans serif fonts for reading novels...so it'd be great to find a serif that plays nice.

Contrast itself isn't so much the issue; it's more a matter of how the font plays out on the screen's resolution with the screen's anti-aliasing effects.

Anyone out there find a font that really sits well on the reader? Or do you all just ignore the fuzziness and pixellation?

[JSWolf]

Fontin sits well on the Reader.

[DanielCoffey]

You will have probably seen that Caecilia has been discussed (not a free font however - you will need to purchase it)

[kacir]

The clarity of the font depends very much on antialiasing and hinting. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinting
Hinting is basically forcing the outline of the font into the pixel grid.
Have a look at the picture on following page
http://www.daube.ch/docu/glossary/font_hinting.html

The sanserif font in Sony Reader PRS-500 is very strongly hinted and that means it is very, very readable. It also means that any other font you load up into your reader has small chance to look nice, because it is not tailored exactly for the pixel grid of your reader.

There are quite a few threads about fonts. Some people were very happy with PMN Caecilia 55 Roman font http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/pmn-caecilia/ . Caecilia is not strictly serif, it belongs to the slabserif family, with serifs that are big and blocky so they can be very nicely "forced into the pixel grid" - hinted. Caecilia was designed specifically as a serif font for digital displays.
Caecilia, however, is a commercial font owned by Linotype and is quite expensive for private use. Especially if you do not know if that 30Eur purchase will look satisfactory to you.

I think that Kindle uses Caecilia.

[LDBoblo]

Thanks so far for the input.

I'm pretty well-versed on hinting and anti-aliasing (design background), but it's hard to predict the results on the PRS-505 without trying them out.

I agree on the slab serifs so far, as Chaparral Pro, Centro Slab, and Grandesign Neue Serif all seem to work reasonably well, with the sweet spot being around 10pt. My default font is Chaparral Pro so far. Haven't tried Archer yet, but maybe I will give it a go later.

Fontin works alright, but not great, as with Gentium Book.

I don't seem to have a copy of the Caecilia font, and yeah I don't think I'll be going out of my way for a copy.

I am not a sans-serif kind of guy, but I did find Candara remarkably readable at modest font sizes. One of my favorites so far on the PRS-505.

It really is too bad that I can't get the most out of my Garamonds or Caslons.

I suppose it doesn't really take away much from the convenience and portability, but it'd still be nice to get more visually out of the fonts, rather than just an expensive generic text reader.

I'm gonna keep looking, hope more people can chime in too with their experiences :

[dpierron]

I made a post with a collection of font-testers (ePub files with embedded fonts) and I added screenshots so you can see when Caecilia looks on the Reader.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by dpierron

I made a post with a collection of font-testers (ePub files with embedded fonts) and I added screenshots so you can see when Caecilia looks on the Reader.

Thanks for this. I've been thinking about changing the font again. Right now I use Georgia, base size 13 (because I prefer largeish text). I kept away from some of the other suggestions I saw at the time I changed the font, because they looked hard-edged and sort... "squarish" and I prefer softer, rounder look, and definitely serif over sans serif. Also tried out Fontin, but while it looks nice on the computer screen, I thought it wasn't all that on the Reader after all. Fontin Sans, now, looks quite nice. Same soft-look features, but perhaps better fitted for the Reader's screen.

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by dpierron

I made a post with a collection of font-testers (ePub files with embedded fonts) and I added screenshots so you can see when Caecilia looks on the Reader.

Thanks! I recall searching up that link before, but it's good to see what Caecilia looks like. It likely behaves similarly to some of the other slab-serif options available. That said, it is probably pretty good, though I don't think it'll be all that amazing.

I took some quick snaps of my e-reader screen with a few different fonts on it as well.

1. Arno Pro (not perfect and not a slab-serif, but plays pretty well at 10pt and is very readable)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...rdaen/Arno.jpg
2. Grandesign Neue Serif (free font I stumbled across, a bit oversized but pretty clean looking on the reader)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...Grandesign.jpg
3. Chaparral Pro (decent and consistent)
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s.../Chaparral.jpg

I was going to show more, but I've only set that pdf file up for those 3 fonts at the moment. Centro Slab (also called Agora Slab) is another very good font, but it's a little square for my tastes.

Unfortunately my tripod is a bit oversized and to get in really close would involve a lot of extra work, so I didn't get to show very closely how the edges look, but they're not too bad.

Oh, and woops! I didn't realize that replacing the font would wipe all the italics!

[Xenophon]

I suggest looking at fonts from the (rather broad) "Schoolbook" and "Bookman" groups. Most such fonts are based on originals designed specifically for easy readability. I've had good luck with ITC Bookman and New Century Schoolbook, both commercial fonts from Adobe. I believe that these fonts come pre-installed on modern Macs (although I'm not certain).

Xenophon

[gregcd]

Stay away from PDF's if you are looking for clear text. The resizing algorithm slightly distorts the font. If you reflow a pdf (with the zoom button on the sony) the font will be shown properly (but you will likely lose formatting). Use adobe epub's for proper display.

[Abecedary]

Originally Posted by gregcd

Stay away from PDF's if you are looking for clear text. The resizing algorithm slightly distorts the font. If you reflow a pdf (with the zoom button on the sony) the font will be shown properly (but you will likely lose formatting). Use adobe epub's for proper display.

Actually, custom-made PDFs (tailored for the 505's screen) are the only way you can have real typographic control on the 505. I'm talking about hyphenation and proper justification, true italics(!), appropriate leading, actual kerning between letters (instead of the random 'smushing' that the 505 seems to like to do with certain character pairs at times), ligatures, hanging indents that actually work, no widows/orphans, no rivers, drop caps/raised caps that work (actually, raised caps are about the only thing that epub can currently handle, although half the time they're apparently supposed to be drop caps), mixed character sets, and on and on. Of course, this all comes at the expense of having to take the care that a book designer would put into a print book. And it also comes at the expense of not being able to use the resize/reflow features of the ereaders. But if the file is custom-tailored for the screen/device, that shouldn't be much of an issue anyways.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 505 and have spent far too much time reading on it in the month that I've had it. But from a typographic perspective, ebook readers and the various ebook formats have a really long way to go. It's like Gutenberg just invented the press and we're all still marveling at having printed words on a page. A huge majority of the typographic finesse that's occurred in the past 600 years is still missing with ebooks. That's not to say that it won't eventually come. But it's a huge disservice to the art of typography to pretend that it doesn't exist. And whether many of you realize it or not, all of those things do add up and do make a considerable difference to the appearance and readability of a book.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Abecedary

Actually, custom-made PDFs (tailored for the 505's screen) are the only way you can have real typographic control on the 505. I'm talking about hyphenation and proper justification, true italics(!), appropriate leading, actual kerning between letters (instead of the random 'smushing' that the 505 seems to like to do with certain character pairs at times), ligatures, hanging indents that actually work, no widows/orphans, no rivers, drop caps/raised caps that work (actually, raised caps are about the only thing that epub can currently handle, although half the time they're apparently supposed to be drop caps), mixed character sets, and on and on. Of course, this all comes at the expense of having to take the care that a book designer would put into a print book. And it also comes at the expense of not being able to use the resize/reflow features of the ereaders. But if the file is custom-tailored for the screen/device, that shouldn't be much of an issue anyways.

All you need to have all those features is some $800 to plonk down for an Abobe Indesign license an a few select professional fonts from Linotype - like PMN Caecilia - that come at $30 a pop. You are not going to use Microsoft Comic Sans to create a typographically perfect book. Are you?
EDIT: There is another font that might be great for a display with limited resolution - Droid. It can be downloaded legally, search the forum
Then you would have to rip the pdf into series of bitmaps with exact resolution that represents the *visible* space on the reader. This ripping would be necessary, because the antialiasing algorithm used for pdf files leaves big room for improvements. Then you use those ripped bitmaps to create The Perfect Document for your reader.

Ever since I got my Reader I was planning to find out what is an actual resolution of visible screen space. The only way to do that is to create a set of white - black pixels and see what number of pixels does not produce moire. It means creating 550 black/white pixels, then 551, 552, all the way to 600.

Another way to create perfect document without purchasing Adobe in-design would be to use LaTeX. Learning LaTeX has been high on my ToDo list for ages as well. ;-)
I wonder if local LaTeX gurus have a good template they could provide for us - almost total LaTeX ignorants?


In the meanwhile I will continue to use rtf documents using PRS-500 built-in sanserif font at 16 point size, left justification.
There are several reasons:
- formatting of the book only takes a few minutes
- the built-in sanserif font is extremely well hinted and is very well suited for a very low resolution medium. And 166dpi IS an extremely low resolution from typographical point of view

[UncleIvor]

No one's mentioned Palatino Linotype, which is what I use (10.5 point).

I have a template for OpenOfice Writer with correct styles and page size [so no resizing needed], and when I have everything formatted correctly, save as PDF. Works fine for me.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by UncleIvor

No one's mentioned Palatino Linotype, which is what I use (10.5 point).

I have a template for OpenOfice Writer with correct styles and page size [so no resizing needed], and when I have everything formatted correctly, save as PDF. Works fine for me.

Could you please upload the template?

[UncleIvor]

Sure. Forgive my ignorance, but exactly where should I upload it to?