![]() |
#1 |
Junior Member
![]() Posts: 3
Karma: 10
Join Date: Apr 2024
Device: none
|
How to prevent any ereader from forcing hyphenation on an epub
We publish ebooks in Scottish Gaelic and for the most part that works fine but there's an issue we just can't seem to get a grip on, which is that while certain ereaders (like Google Play) seem to only apply automatic word breaking IF there is a hyphenation dictionary installed for a language, others (ReadEra is top of the list) just force block text on the whole title and break words anywhere they like. Is there something we can do, maybe to the CSS (there's currently nothing set that touches on hyphenation), that ALL ereaders are likely to obey?
Related to that - does anyone know if ereaders in general can handle the non-breaking hyphen as a character? We have words like t-aran which ereaders love to break at the hyphen (and I get it why) but there's a language specific rule in our language that says you shouldn't. In normal word processing we use non-breaking hyphens but we've had issues in the past with typesetting software doing strange things to those so we're not sure about how good ereaders are with them? |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#2 | |
frumious Bandersnatch
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 7,531
Karma: 19000001
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Spaniard in Sweden
Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura
|
Quote:
![]() Many (probably most) ereaders and apps are broken in some way or another. They all have their quirks, weird defaults, missing support, etc. You could try adding "hypens: none" (and vendor-specific properties like "adobe-hyphenate: none", but I'd bet there is some reader that either chokes on it or ignores it. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#3 | |
the rook, bossing Never.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 12,247
Karma: 89531599
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11
|
The non-breaking hyphen might work.
Or an en-dash or minus-dash might work. Quote:
Excessive hyphenation is a problem on a small screen like a phone with a larger font. I personally read on an 8″ screen so hardly see much hyphenation. The TTS is also an issue, even with Irish installed and proper spans on the irish content in the mostly English novel, the TTS is rubbish. The problem is that any unicode character that looks like a hyphen but isn't (so it won't wrap at it) might render as [?]. I shall investigate what hyphen or hyphen-like character doesn't wrap. "-adobe-hyphenate: none" should work on ADE and be ignored by other renderers? At least the Celtic languages* work better on ereaders than Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic and most Asian ones. Even the very oldest mobi only Kindles, which might also manage Icelandic ð Ð þ Þ ö and ø etc, but only some Greek letters. Edit [* Maybe Cornish has some tricky letters?] Last edited by Quoth; 04-21-2024 at 05:42 PM. |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#4 | |
Wizard
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,582
Karma: 7043711
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Rosario - Santa Fe - Argentina
Device: Kindle 4 NT
|
Quote:
Code:
<p>The following word must not be <span class="ib">hyphenated</span></p> Code:
.ib { display: inline-block; } |
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#5 |
the rook, bossing Never.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 12,247
Karma: 89531599
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11
|
I thought "inline-block" was for defining a fixed size of inline block so an element can sit beside other elements.
How portable is that for Amazon mobi/KF7, azw3/KF8 and KFX conversions of epub by Amazon for KDP, or for preventing hyphenation on epub based ereaders in general inc older ADE on many eink ereaders without other side effects? Also what if "display: inline-block;" is applied to html, body or p? What happens if a long word in a larger font on a small screen doesn't fit? Is it truncated? |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#6 | ||||
Junior Member
![]() Posts: 3
Karma: 10
Join Date: Apr 2024
Device: none
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Code:
<p>The following word must not be <span class="ib">hyphenated</span></p> ![]() Quote:
So basically, the answer is you can't, at least not in an efficient manner from the publishers point of view and if the hyphenation of a particular ereader is driving you nuts in your languages, you have to hunt around for one which is marginally less bad? LOL how can an entire industry operate on such a shoogly peg? And we thought VHS was bad! The Google reader and Kindle don't seem to obey non-breaking hyphens but they don't seem to box them either, so I'm going to leave those in and pray that nobody complains. Thanks for all the responses! Last edited by akerbeltz; 04-22-2024 at 09:42 AM. |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#7 | ||||
Wizard
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,582
Karma: 7043711
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Rosario - Santa Fe - Argentina
Device: Kindle 4 NT
|
Quote:
![]() Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
![]() Last edited by RbnJrg; 04-23-2024 at 09:08 AM. |
||||
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#8 |
Wizard
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 1,582
Karma: 7043711
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Rosario - Santa Fe - Argentina
Device: Kindle 4 NT
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#9 |
Bibliophagist
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 39,095
Karma: 153098470
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Vancouver
Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos
|
My workaround for avoiding hyphens to read left justified (AKA ragged right).
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#10 |
A Hairy Wizard
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 3,161
Karma: 18843349
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Charleston, SC today
Device: iPhone 15/11/X/6/iPad 1,2,Air & Air Pro/Surface Pro/Kindle PW & Fire
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#11 |
Resident Curmudgeon
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 75,754
Karma: 134321338
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#12 |
Junior Member
![]() Posts: 3
Karma: 10
Join Date: Apr 2024
Device: none
|
Even left aligning is no guarantee. ReadEra seems to be the worst - maybe I should just stop using it to test - it breaks stuff whether it's block aligned
![]() or left aligned ![]() it puts hyphen it totally messed up places (ealainte just shouldn't break and if you have to break fear-càraidh, then at the word hyphen pretty please)... Though perhaps there's a sick poetry to Sha-kespeare ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#13 | |
Resident Curmudgeon
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 75,754
Karma: 134321338
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
Quote:
|
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#14 |
the rook, bossing Never.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 12,247
Karma: 89531599
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Ireland
Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11
|
Readera is one of the poorer apps.
Bluefire, Aldiko Basic, Lithium, Pocketbook apps are far better. A lot of Android ereader apps are poor. Also having the correct language defined doesn't help if the ereader doesn't support it. |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
#15 |
Resident Curmudgeon
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Posts: 75,754
Karma: 134321338
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts
Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3
|
But it doesn't help if the wrong dictionary is being used because the language is incorrectly defined.
|
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Tags |
hyphenation, word break |
|
![]() |
||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Cannot get epub to display with hyphenation | intrelis | Conversion | 4 | 09-04-2022 06:33 AM |
Prevent ereader from opening web browser | Leonatus | Recipes | 2 | 04-26-2022 09:30 AM |
Can I prevent hyphenation in a block of text? | AlexBell | ePub | 7 | 03-15-2019 08:09 PM |
i62HD Hack: forcing hyphenation into cr3 internal folder | rfog | Onyx Boox | 1 | 08-14-2012 10:02 AM |
Prevent titles hyphenation in iPad and iPhone | fante1998 | ePub | 0 | 02-24-2012 05:43 AM |