Kindle Paperwhite 2nd Gen Font Size Problem

[Aglaia]

Hi!

I hope someone can help me with this. I've been using my Kobo Glo a lot recently and felt like switching to my Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Gen) for a variety of reasons.

I started reading on my Kindle Paperwhite and quickly realised there was no way I could adjust the font size to be comfortable for my eyes (unlike the Kobo Glo). The Kindle Paperwhite has 8 font size settings and they are all too small for me...except for the last one which is so enormous that I can't use it at all. This makes no sense to me and I don't remember it being this way before.

Is this a new problem? My Kindle Paperwhite was updated a few weeks ago, so I'm wondering if that's what has caused this?

Is there anything I can do to change this? I need something that's between the 7th and 8th font size setting.

Unless I can find a way to fix this, my Kindle Paperwhite has suddenly been rendered useless. The font size on all of my Kindle books is too small and there's no way I can use the largest font size as it's just ridiculously large.

Any help would really be appreciated.

[jj2me]

Don't know if this is what yours is showing, but for comparison, my PW2 on 5.6.2.1 (the latest per Amazon) shows 8 lines of text per page at the 8th (the highest) setting and 13 - 15 (depending on font) lines of text at the 7th for an Amazon book. Caecilia seems to be the easiest font to see at the 7th level setting.

Trying a few other Amazon books and web articles I sent to my Kindle gives me what looks like pretty much the same size characters, though one article had slightly bigger text, fitting only 11 lines of text per page at the 7th level setting.

[odamizu]

Not sure if this works on a PW2, but you can customize font-size on a Kindle Voyage that has 5.6.1.0.5 or higher (including 5.6.2.1) with a simple hack that involves copying a text file with 8 numbers into the Kindle's root directory. No jailbreak required. More details here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...12#post3088512

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Not sure if this works on a PW2, but you can customize font-size on a Kindle Voyage that has 5.6.1.0.5 or higher (including 5.6.2.1) with a simple hack that involves copying a text file with 8 numbers into the Kindle's root directory. No jailbreak required. More details here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...12#post3088512

Thanks for the information, it's much appreciated.

My Kindle PW2 firmware is version 5.6.1.0.6. I went to the thread you posted and although some of it was confusing to me, I think I did manage to follow the instructions properly. I tried it over and over again and it just didn't work with the FONT_RAMP text file. I tried using the different values that were posted, but to no avail. I don't know why it didn't work. I'm pretty upset about this because my PW2 is useless to me if I can't fix this problem.

Do you have any idea why the FONT_RAMP hack didn't work?

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Aglaia

Hi!

I hope someone can help me with this. I've been using my Kobo Glo a lot recently and felt like switching to my Kindle Paperwhite (2nd Gen) for a variety of reasons.

I started reading on my Kindle Paperwhite and quickly realised there was no way I could adjust the font size to be comfortable for my eyes (unlike the Kobo Glo). The Kindle Paperwhite has 8 font size settings and they are all too small for me...except for the last one which is so enormous that I can't use it at all. This makes no sense to me and I don't remember it being this way before.

Is this a new problem? My Kindle Paperwhite was updated a few weeks ago, so I'm wondering if that's what has caused this?

Is there anything I can do to change this? I need something that's between the 7th and 8th font size setting.

Unless I can find a way to fix this, my Kindle Paperwhite has suddenly been rendered useless. The font size on all of my Kindle books is too small and there's no way I can use the largest font size as it's just ridiculously large.

Any help would really be appreciated.

Is the problem consistent with various books. Some books don't scale properly and it has to do with the book's formatting. On my Paperwhite 1, I used the third down from the largest and now with my Paperwhite 2, I can read comfortably one font smaller. But, with some books, usually old books, the fonts don't scale properly. I'm often faced with limited choice of too big or too small.

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by jj2me

Don't know if this is what yours is showing, but for comparison, my PW2 on 5.6.2.1 (the latest per Amazon) shows 8 lines of text per page at the 8th (the highest) setting and 13 - 15 (depending on font) lines of text at the 7th for an Amazon book. Caecilia seems to be the easiest font to see at the 7th level setting.

Trying a few other Amazon books and web articles I sent to my Kindle gives me what looks like pretty much the same size characters, though one article had slightly bigger text, fitting only 11 lines of text per page at the 7th level setting.

Thanks for this information.

My Kindle PW2 firmware is version 5.6.1.0.6. It shows 7 lines of text per page at the 8th setting (largest font size) and 12 lines (sometimes 9) of text at the 7th font size setting for an Amazon Kindle book. However, it seems to vary depending on the Kindle book.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Aglaia

Thanks for the information, it's much appreciated.

My Kindle PW2 firmware is version 5.6.1.0.6. I went to the thread you posted and although some of it was confusing to me, I think I did manage to follow the instructions properly. I tried it over and over again and it just didn't work with the FONT_RAMP text file. I tried using the different values that were posted, but to no avail. I don't know why it didn't work. I'm pretty upset about this because my PW2 is useless to me if I can't fix this problem.

Do you have any idea why the FONT_RAMP hack didn't work?

Well, hard to say without more information. Also, I'm not positive if it will work on a PW2, but I suspect it will since it works on a Voyage running 5.6.1.0.5.

Are you sure the file was plain text? How did you create it? Also, it should not have any extension (e.g., it should just be FONT_RAMP not FONT_RAMP.txt) Perhaps there is a hidden extension?

Did you copy it straight into the root directory, not in any folder? Did you restart your PW afterward?

You might also try downloading tono1020's sample FONT_RAMP file to see if that works: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...41#post3088641

If tono1020's file works, then the problem is probably with your text editor or a hidden extension.

If none of that helps, try asking for help in the FONT_RAMP thread as there are many in the developer forum who are much more knowledeable than I

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by Aglaia

My Kindle PW2 firmware is version 5.6.1.0.6.

The latest PW2 firmware version is 5.6.1.2. You may have to manually download this firmware from the Amazon support website.

I copied tono1020's sample FONT_RAMP file to the root of my PW2 and after restarting it the font size has definitely changed as you can see in the screenshots that were taken with font size setting #7.

[HarryT]

Worth noting that Kindle font sizes are not "absolute"; they are a "multiplier" applied to the book's base font size. Different books will, therefore, have different font sizes.

This hasn't changed in any firmware update.

[7hir7een]

Originally Posted by Aglaia

Do you have any idea why the FONT_RAMP hack didn't work?

One major pitfall: it doesn't work for mobi files. If you are sideloading, convert to azw3 instead.

----

ETA: I've attached a FONT_RAMP file for you that should work, so you can test. Just unzip, I couldn't upload a file without an extension.

I've taken out the lowest three default sizes and added three sizes between the old 7th and 8th sizes. So #8 is same as default, #4 is the old size 7, and one of sizes #5-7 should hopefully be comfortable for you!

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Well, hard to say without more information. Also, I'm not positive if it will work on a PW2, but I suspect it will since it works on a Voyage running 5.6.1.0.5.

Are you sure the file was plain text? How did you create it? Also, it should not have any extension (e.g., it should just be FONT_RAMP not FONT_RAMP.txt) Perhaps there is a hidden extension?

Did you copy it straight into the root directory, not in any folder? Did you restart your PW afterward?

You might also try downloading tono1020's sample FONT_RAMP file to see if that works: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...41#post3088641

If tono1020's file works, then the problem is probably with your text editor or a hidden extension.

If none of that helps, try asking for help in the FONT_RAMP thread as there are many in the developer forum who are much more knowledeable than I

Thanks for your help, odamizu.

I made sure it was a plain text file that did not have an extension (hidden or otherwise), I copied it to the root directory (not into any folders), and I restarted the PW when I was done. Unfortunately, it didn't work. I even downloaded tono1020's FONT_RAMP file and tried using that. I did all of this repeatedly (to no avail).

I'm going to upgrade the firmware as soon as I have time and see if that helps.

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

The latest PW2 firmware version is 5.6.1.2. You may have to manually download this firmware from the Amazon support website.

I copied tono1020's sample FONT_RAMP file to the root of my PW2 and after restarting it the font size has definitely changed as you can see in the screenshots that were taken with font size setting #7.

I haven't had time yet, but I'm going to upgrade the firmware and see if that makes a difference. I appreciate you taking the time to provide the screenshots, etc. Thanks for the help!

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by 7hir7een

One major pitfall: it doesn't work for mobi files. If you are sideloading, convert to azw3 instead.

----

ETA: I've attached a FONT_RAMP file for you that should work, so you can test. Just unzip, I couldn't upload a file without an extension.

I've taken out the lowest three default sizes and added three sizes between the old 7th and 8th sizes. So #8 is same as default, #4 is the old size 7, and one of sizes #5-7 should hopefully be comfortable for you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to create that FONT_RAMP file for me, 7hir7een! I haven't had time to try it yet (I want to upgrade the firmware first), but I'll let you know what happens when I do.

[Aglaia]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Worth noting that Kindle font sizes are not "absolute"; they are a "multiplier" applied to the book's base font size. Different books will, therefore, have different font sizes.

This hasn't changed in any firmware update.

Thanks, HarryT!

I thought that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. Really helpful information for someone like myself who only has a very basic understanding of how these things work.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Aglaia

I haven't had time yet, but I'm going to upgrade the firmware and see if that makes a difference. I appreciate you taking the time to provide the screenshots, etc. Thanks for the help!

My PW2 has 5.6.2.1. I think the other post has a typo.