Instructions for patching firmware 4.32.19501

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by codychan

I'm using Un-Force user font-family in KePubs patch, and I enable Alternative 3 instead of Alternative 1 to make the multiple-font work. It has been working for a long time, I can confirm that it doesn't work for current firmware/patch.

Yes, and I've already told you in the post you quoted back at me that the above patch is working OK. I use it myself.

What is no longer working in fw 4.32 is:

1. the font-family customisation in dictionary patch Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height.
2. coding your kepub internal CSS files with a font-family name if that font has been sideloaded, i.e. it only exists in /fonts. It seems that named fonts in kepubs now must be embedded for you to see them.
   
   I don't know how to explain it any better than I already have done in the post you quoted back at me.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by codychan

I'm using Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height (libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml), I only need to enable it, and the font in my popup sideloaded dictionary works in in prev-v4.32.19501, but it doesn't work for v4.32.19501, and I tried to uncomment
```
# - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia ", Replace: "sans-serif", MustMatchLength: yes}
```

Or replace sans-serif with my sideloaded font, it doesn't work either, some characters won't be displayed in it.

Sorry, hadn't seen this before I replied to your previous post. As I've tried to explain in the post you quoted back at me, *none* of the patches with options to customise font-family work like they did pre-4.32.

The font names you can patch *to* is very limited. I don't think customising to any sideloaded font will work in patches and many of the built-in fonts won't work in patch customisations either.

The following works in patch Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height, but all it does is display your dictionary pop-ups in font 'Avenir Next' rather than font 'Georgia'. It's of limited use.

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia   ", Replace: "sans-serif", MustMatchLength: yes}

What font do you want to use to display your dictionary pop-ups?

[codychan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

Sorry, hadn't seen this before I replied to your previous post. As I've tried to explain in the post you quoted back at me, *none* of the patches with options to customise font-family work like they did pre-4.32.

The font names you can patch *to* is very limited. I don't think customising to any sideloaded font will work in patches and many of the built-in fonts won't work in patch customisations either.

The following works in patch Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height, but all it does is display your dictionary pop-ups in font 'Avenir Next' rather than font 'Georgia'. It's of limited use.

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia   ", Replace: "sans-serif", MustMatchLength: yes}

What font do you want to use to display your dictionary pop-ups?

CJK fonts, it's OK, thanks. I'll keep using `4.31.19086` instead, just wait and see if it will be fixed in the future firmware.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by codychan

CJK fonts, it's OK, thanks. I'll keep using `4.31.19086` instead, just wait and see if it will be fixed in the future firmware.

For the dictionary patch, you could try customising font-family to one of the built-in CJK fonts? e.g.

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia               ", Replace: "'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB'", MustMatchLength: yes}

or

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia              ",  Replace: "'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M'",  MustMatchLength: yes}

Even if you've already rolled back to fw 4.31 you could still test either of the above to see whether your CJK dictionary displays OK. If the patch does work in 4.31 it will probably also work in 4.32.

[codychan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

For the dictionary patch, you could try customising font-family to one of the built-in CJK fonts? e.g.

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia               ", Replace: "'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB'", MustMatchLength: yes}

or

  - ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia              ",  Replace: "'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M'",  MustMatchLength: yes}

Even if you've already rolled back to fw 4.31 you could still test either of the above to see whether your CJK dictionary displays OK. If the patch does work in 4.31 it will probably also work in 4.32.

Thanks. I tried both fonts in both firmwares.

On v4.31.19086 firmware:

'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB' is Japanese font, it lacks some characters for CK books, so the text in the popup dictionary for my books will be displayed with two mixed fonts ('KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB', and `fallback font (Kakugo, I think)`)

'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M' is apparently Japanese font as well, and it is even worse, it removes the characters and the spaces for the characters like there are no characters in those positions at all.

There is another CJK font ub_arudjingxihei.ttf, and I don't know what the string should I use, I tried 'ub arudjingxihei' but it doesn't work as expected, it is the same result as 'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB'

On v4.32.19501 firmware, above two different fonts act basically the same, 'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB' and 'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M' both remove the spaces like 'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M' on v4.31.19086, font styles/families are different of course.

BTW: Another thing about the string for the font you are using, I thought it should be the name from the Aa drop list (which I thought it is the string from the font family in the font manager), take one font as example, the name for KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB is Kobo TsuKkushi Mincho from Kobo Aa drop list, but the font file name from the firmware path is KBJ-TsukuMinPr6N-RB.ttf, so I'm confused, I don't know where KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB which contains spaces is coming from.

KBJ-TsukuMinPr6N-RB.ttf -> 'Kobo Tsukushi Mincho' in Aa -> 'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB' used in patch
KBJ-UDKakugoPr6N-M.ttf -> 'Kobo UD Kakugo' in Aa -> 'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M' used in patch
ub_arudjingxihei.ttf -> 'AR UDJingxihei' in Aa -> 'ub arudjingxihei' is wrong ???

[konstantinus]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I don't understand exactly what you're trying to say. Can you rephrase with more details, please?

Prior to 4.32, I specified the fonts set in /fonts (several fonts for text, dropcaps, etc.) in the book's CSS file, left them in the Publisher Default font settings, and could use Advanced to fine-tune the body text font. In 4.32 there are two options:
1. Publisher Default, when all built-in fonts are used that cannot be adjusted by Advanced;
2. Fonts from /fonts, which can be adjusted, but one font is used for the book.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by codychan

Thanks. I tried both fonts in both firmwares.

On v4.31.19086 firmware:

'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB' is Japanese font, it lacks some characters for CK books, so the text in the popup dictionary for my books will be displayed with two mixed fonts ('KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB', and `fallback font (Kakugo, I think)`)

'KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M' is apparently Japanese font as well, and it is even worse, it removes the characters and the spaces for the characters like there are no characters in those positions at all.

I guess it was too much to hope that the problem could be solved so easily.

Originally Posted by codychan

There is another CJK font ub_arudjingxihei.ttf, and I don't know what the string should I use, I tried 'ub arudjingxihei' but it doesn't work as expected, it is the same result as 'KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB'

I suspect this is one of the many built-in fonts which can't be used in the patches. Did you already try this in the dictionary patch?:

- ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia         ", Replace: "'AR UDJingxihei'", MustMatchLength: yes}

Originally Posted by codychan

BTW: Another thing about the string for the font you are using, I thought it should be the name from the Aa drop list (which I thought it is the string from the font family in the font manager), take one font as example, the name for KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB is Kobo TsuKkushi Mincho from Kobo Aa drop list, but the font file name from the firmware path is KBJ-TsukuMinPr6N-RB.ttf, so I'm confused, I don't know where KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB which contains spaces is coming from.

Kobo moves in mysterious ways when dealing with their built-in CJK fonts. Throughout the firmware's GUI CSS they are treated as special cases for users who set their locale to Japanese or one of the several Chinese locales.

Inside the fw file libnickel.so.1.0.0 I found human-readable strings KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB and KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M. That's why I suggested trying them in the dictionary patch rather than the names which appear in the [Aa] font menu.

In particular, the former is actually used by another piece of dictionary CSS in libnickel.so.1.0.0 It handles styling of the pronunciation text string for each word definition in the pop-up for some (all???) of the Kobo built-in dictionaries.

-----------------------

On a more optimistic note - I have an idea which I think might work, but I can't be sure because I can't read any CJK language, nor do I have any CJK custom dictionaries or books to fully test it myself. If you want to be a guinea-pig PM me and we can take it from there. You should be able to test it on either 4.31 or 4.32 but, as all hacks come with some risk, it might be better to use your oldest least favourite Kobo ... Don't panic, I wouldn't ask you to try any hack I haven't already tried on one of my own older Kobos. On the other hand, if you're now sick of the whole thing and would prefer not to spend any more time on it, that's OK, too.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by konstantinus

Prior to 4.32, I specified the fonts set in /fonts (several fonts for text, dropcaps, etc.) in the book's CSS file, left them in the Publisher Default font settings, and could use Advanced to fine-tune the body text font. In 4.32 there are two options:
1. Publisher Default, when all built-in fonts are used that cannot be adjusted by Advanced;
2. Fonts from /fonts, which can be adjusted, but one font is used for the book.

I'm still not sure what problem is bothering you. You talk about "using Advanced to fine-tune the body text font". Does this mean you're having problems setting font weight? That's the only reason I've ever had to press the [Advanced] button. If so, whatever problem exists is nothing to do with kobopatch. I don't know what is expected behaviour (in 4.32 or any previous fw) if the selected font is 'Publisher Default' when you press [Advanced].

Or are you reporting a different problem related to reading kepubs and what happens when you select a new font from the [Aa] font menu? If so, what has the [Advanced] button got to do with it?

We don't seem to be getting anywhere with words, perhaps some screenshots, test book, sample HTML/CSS to illustrate your problem would help? Or if I'm being incredibly dense maybe someone else could chip in with an assessment of what problem is being reported here.

[KaizaCorp]

Are there particular fonts that are better suited to testing the optimizeLegibility setting? I've been trying it out with CharInk and it adds some odd/uneccesary spacing for words sometimes (which ironically makes it less legible for me.)

e.g. "been" appearing as "b e e n" (spacing exaggerated but I can post some pictures if this is not clear.)

I was wondering if this is something due to embedded styles in the particular book I was reading? Or ligatures/kerning not playing nice with CharInk? Or something else?

[codychan]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I guess it was too much to hope that the problem could be solved so easily.



I suspect this is one of the many built-in fonts which can't be used in the patches. Did you already try this in the dictionary patch?:

- ReplaceString: {Offset: 54, Find: "Georgia         ", Replace: "'AR UDJingxihei'", MustMatchLength: yes}

Kobo moves in mysterious ways when dealing with their built-in CJK fonts. Throughout the firmware's GUI CSS they are treated as special cases for users who set their locale to Japanese or one of the several Chinese locales.

Inside the fw file libnickel.so.1.0.0 I found human-readable strings KBJ-TsukuMin Pr6N RB and KBJ-UDKakugo Pr6N M. That's why I suggested trying them in the dictionary patch rather than the names which appear in the [Aa] font menu.

In particular, the former is actually used by another piece of dictionary CSS in libnickel.so.1.0.0 It handles styling of the pronunciation text string for each word definition in the pop-up for some (all???) of the Kobo built-in dictionaries.

-----------------------

On a more optimistic note - I have an idea which I think might work, but I can't be sure because I can't read any CJK language, nor do I have any CJK custom dictionaries or books to fully test it myself. If you want to be a guinea-pig PM me and we can take it from there. You should be able to test it on either 4.31 or 4.32 but, as all hacks come with some risk, it might be better to use your oldest least favourite Kobo ... Don't panic, I wouldn't ask you to try any hack I haven't already tried on one of my own older Kobos. On the other hand, if you're now sick of the whole thing and would prefer not to spend any more time on it, that's OK, too.

'AR UDJingxihei' works perfectly on v4.31.19086 and almost perfectly on v4.32.19501, all my CJK text in popup sideloaded CJK dictionary can be displayed correctly, I said almost perfectly on v4.32.19501 on since some phonetic symbols for sideloaded English dictionaries won't be displayed correctly, but I'm ok with it. I think this Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height (libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml) can be considered fixed then (or not?).

So for v4.32.19501, my only issue is Un-Force user font-family in KePubs(multiple-fonts), it is not a serious issue either, it is just a small bug instead of being perfect on v4.31.19086.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by KaizaCorp

Are there particular fonts that are better suited to testing the optimizeLegibility setting? I've been trying it out with CharInk and it adds some odd/uneccesary spacing for words sometimes (which ironically makes it less legible for me.)

e.g. "been" appearing as "b e e n" (spacing exaggerated but I can post some pictures if this is not clear.)

I was wondering if this is something due to embedded styles in the particular book I was reading? Or ligatures/kerning not playing nice with CharInk? Or something else?

Kerning doesn't play very well with justified text and kepubs. You could try with left-aligned text.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by KaizaCorp

Are there particular fonts that are better suited to testing the optimizeLegibility setting? I've been trying it out with CharInk and it adds some odd/uneccesary spacing for words sometimes (which ironically makes it less legible for me.)

e.g. "been" appearing as "b e e n" (spacing exaggerated but I can post some pictures if this is not clear.)

I was wondering if this is something due to embedded styles in the particular book I was reading? Or ligatures/kerning not playing nice with CharInk? Or something else?

Try Bookerly, I’ve been using it with the optimize legibility option and I’ve not seen anything too bad so far. Occasionally bigger spaces between words, but I’ve not noticed increased spacing within words. I’ve also installed Jon’s hyphenation dictionary which I believe may contribute as well.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by codychan

'AR UDJingxihei' works perfectly on v4.31.19086 and almost perfectly on v4.32.19501, all my CJK text in popup sideloaded CJK dictionary can be displayed correctly, I said almost perfectly on v4.32.19501 on since some phonetic symbols for sideloaded English dictionaries won't be displayed correctly, but I'm ok with it. I think this Dictionary text font-family/font-size/line-height (libnickel.so.1.0.0.yaml) can be considered fixed then (or not?).

OK, well that's a pleasant surprise!

If you change your mind and decide you'd rather pursue a bigger hack to use Code2000.ttf as your CJK dictionary font let me know via PM. I don't want to post instructions here until I know it definitely works without side-effects in fw4.32.

Originally Posted by codychan

So for v4.32.19501, my only issue is Un-Force user font-family in KePubs(multiple-fonts), it is not a serious issue either, it is just a small bug instead of being perfect on v4.31.19086.

Now, this I have a problem with. This patch (option 3) works as well as it's always worked for me. I can't fix what I can't see. You're going to need to provide more evidence, such as a test epub/kepub or sample HTML/CSS and some screenshots to demo the problem.

[KaizaCorp]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

Try Bookerly, I’ve been using it with the optimize legibility option and I’ve not seen anything too bad so far. Occasionally bigger spaces between words, but I’ve not noticed increased spacing within words. I’ve also installed Jon’s hyphenation dictionary which I believe may contribute as well.

I'm totally fine with some bigger spaces between words, it's the spaces between letters that get me. I noticed it a bit with my version of Bookerly (from GoodReader I think?), but I'll try the hyphenation dictionary! Thanks.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by KaizaCorp

I'm totally fine with some bigger spaces between words, it's the spaces between letters that get me. I noticed it a bit with my version of Bookerly (from GoodReader I think?), but I'll try the hyphenation dictionary! Thanks.

There's also a font pack from Amazon which includes Bookerly ( https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/a...nes/typography ), though I don't know what version is in the pack vs what version is "current". It also does require some tinkering in Fontforge instructions for that here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...81&postcount=9 in order for italic to show properly (as is it'll show as bold italic).

If you REALLY don't want to use fontforge you could also opt to just not install the bold italic version of Bookerly, this SHOULD force the use of the italic version though I can't say for sure if this will work after all the changes in font handling 4.32 brought. Though I'd also say fontforge isn't scary, just follow the linked guide, easy peasy.