[Script] Koboify Fonts

[rtiangha]

Originally Posted by zertyuiop

Can you please share your notes again as well as fix-panose.py?

I backed them up.

EDIT: If you're going to use that fixfont script to Koboify your fonts and have no intention to make the ascenders/descenders consistent and reduce the line gap to zero, then comment out lines 6 and 7 (else, input the values you want; I was too lazy to modify the script to take in command line options). Otherwise, it expects fonts to be named in the form of FontName-Regular.ttf, FontName-BoldItalic.ttf, etc. and I think it'll work with otfs as well with the modifications I made (they seem fine to me).

It'll work on all fonts in the directory, but if you're changing stuff like the ascenders, make sure to only have one font family in the directory at a time.

There's also a limitation with nametable-from-filename where it'll take fonts that are acronyms (ex. STIXTwoText-Regular.ttf) and treat each letter of the acronym as a word (i.e. it'll change the internal name of the font to S T I X Two Text) which is annoying (basically, it starts a new word once it hits a capital letter in the filename). If you're certain your font is named correctly internally and just want to change PANOSE values, you can comment out lines 8 and 9 as well.

And remember, it's a zsh script; if you don't want to install zsh, you'll need to port it to bash, sh, python, etc. yourself.

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by zertyuiop

Can you please share your notes again as well as fix-panose.py?

Replace *both* instances of trac in the URL by svn, and drop the leading /browser/niluje path .

(e.g., https://svn.ak-team.com/svn/Configs/...tches/REMINDER)

Less fancy UI, but the repo is still there .

EDIT: I haven't run this in a while, so, here be dragons. The last build I did was posted here: https://github.com/koreader/koreader...ion_r443823529

IIRC, it's still up to date (in the sense that it's still my daily font, I haven't checked if upstream Literata was updated since).

[rtiangha]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

IIRC, it's still up to date (in the sense that it's still my daily font, I haven't checked if upstream Literata was updated since).

The Literata instructions are still fine. For Source Serif, the sed instructions need an extra */ to work with version 4.

[NiLuJe]

Originally Posted by rtiangha

The Literata instructions are still fine. For Source Serif, the sed instructions need an extra */ to work with version 4.

On that note, I barely actually ever used Source, so, take all that with a grain of salt ^^.

[CerealAssassin]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

Replace *both* instances of trac in the URL by svn, and drop the leading /browser/niluje path .

(e.g., https://svn.ak-team.com/svn/Configs/...tches/REMINDER)

Less fancy UI, but the repo is still there .

EDIT: I haven't run this in a while, so, here be dragons. The last build I did was posted here: https://github.com/koreader/koreader...ion_r443823529

IIRC, it's still up to date (in the sense that it's still my daily font, I haven't checked if upstream Literata was updated since).

Thank you for posting your build! I really like it!

I was just wondering if you preferred to use this font with ePubs or KePubs on your kobo (so ACCESS or RMSDK) since I remember reading that each one handles hinted fonts and typography differently and I was curious which you preferred, if any (KoReader exists too ofc).Thank you!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CerealAssassin

Thank you for posting your build! I really like it!

I was just wondering if you preferred to use this font with ePubs or KePubs on your kobo (so ACCESS or RMSDK) since I remember reading that each one handles hinted fonts and typography differently and I was curious which you preferred, if any (KoReader exists too ofc).Thank you!

ePub (RMSDK) is going to give you better typography then KePub (Access).

[NiLuJe]

I don't actually read in Nickel (at all) anymore, so I really wouldn't know which of Access or RMSDK handles it better.

[CerealAssassin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ePub (RMSDK) is going to give you better typography then KePub (Access).

Hmm I was curious why that is exactly, like does it have to do with Kerning or just formatting such as widows and orphans or what is it exactly that makes RMSDK be known as the “better typography” engine? Cause it does feel a bit weird using a very old, unlikely to be updated reader (RMSDK) when Access is being continuously improved albeit at a slow pace.

[CerealAssassin]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

I don't actually read in Nickel (at all) anymore, so I really wouldn't know which of Access or RMSDK handles it better.

So, if you don’t mind me asking, what have you been reading in & what do you recommend for Kobos?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CerealAssassin

Hmm I was curious why that is exactly, like does it have to do with Kerning or just formatting such as widows and orphans or what is it exactly that makes RMSDK be known as the “better typography” engine? Cause it does feel a bit weird using a very old, unlikely to be updated reader (RMSDK) when Access is being continuously improved albeit at a slow pace.

RMSDK is from Adobe who is known for typesetting. The RMSDK that Kobo is using is not the latest version. So maybe someday Kobo will update RMSDK to the latest version.

[CerealAssassin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

RMSDK is from Adobe who is known for typesetting. The RMSDK that Kobo is using is not the latest version. So maybe someday Kobo will update RMSDK to the latest version.

Interesting. In the meantime, do you think the typesetting differences are significant enough to warrant using ePubs over KePubs? Cause you’d be giving up the KePub specific features like image zoom, faster searching, etc and I assume ACCESS is only gonna get better with time as Kobo update it vs RMSDK which it seems like they’re never touching again & only keep for Overdrive books.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by CerealAssassin

Interesting. In the meantime, do you think the typesetting differences are significant enough to warrant using ePubs over KePubs? Cause you’d be giving up the KePub specific features like image zoom, faster searching, etc and I assume ACCESS is only gonna get better with time as Kobo update it vs RMSDK which it seems like they’re never touching again & only keep for Overdrive books.

There is a much better way to answer that question than asking anyone on this forum. Test it yourself. Really, only you can make that decision.

But, if you look at the responses to questions about why people use epubs or kepubs, for those who have made a deliberate decision (there are plenty of "can't be bothered" or "there's a difference?" type of responses), it comes down to typography for epub choice or the extra functions for kepubs. The latter group include people who ask "What are ligatures?"

As to future developments for RMSDK vs ACCESS (or whatever it is called now), I don't really agree with your supposition. The RMSDK has been updated to include some of the things that ACCESS does. My understanding is that Adobe is putting the roadblocks up for updating to version 11. And the updates for ACCESS are very slow. The typography changes seem to have hit a point and are not going beyond that.

As to keeping the RMSDK for Overdrive, that's wrong. Kobo's support for Overdrive is through their store. If you borrow a book and download it, the book is a kepub with Kobo's DRM. The RMSDK is not get involved at all. The RMSDK will be used for sideloaded epubs or PDFs that have DRM. That gives them the ability to support books bought from any store that sells epubs with DRM.

And no matter what the future brings, it makes no real difference on what is happening now. You can always change later when there are improvements in the other renderer. Or choose whichever is better for each book you are reading.

[CerealAssassin]

Originally Posted by davidfor

There is a much better way to answer that question than asking anyone on this forum. Test it yourself. Really, only you can make that decision.

But, if you look at the responses to questions about why people use epubs or kepubs, for those who have made a deliberate decision (there are plenty of "can't be bothered" or "there's a difference?" type of responses), it comes down to typography for epub choice or the extra functions for kepubs. The latter group include people who ask "What are ligatures?"

As to future developments for RMSDK vs ACCESS (or whatever it is called now), I don't really agree with your supposition. The RMSDK has been updated to include some of the things that ACCESS does. My understanding is that Adobe is putting the roadblocks up for updating to version 11. And the updates for ACCESS are very slow. The typography changes seem to have hit a point and are not going beyond that.

As to keeping the RMSDK for Overdrive, that's wrong. Kobo's support for Overdrive is through their store. If you borrow a book and download it, the book is a kepub with Kobo's DRM. The RMSDK is not get involved at all. The RMSDK will be used for sideloaded epubs or PDFs that have DRM. That gives them the ability to support books bought from any store that sells epubs with DRM.

And no matter what the future brings, it makes no real difference on what is happening now. You can always change later when there are improvements in the other renderer. Or choose whichever is better for each book you are reading.

Thanks for the long and detailed response. I have indeed followed through on your advice to test each one and I seem to slightly prefer the way ePubs are rendered so I shall stick with that for now. I’ll have to manually resize maps in fantasy books cause unfortunately there’s no image zoom functionality with RMSDK but in general I find the text to be more pleasing with it so it’s worth the trade off in my opinion.

I have one last question for you if you don’t mind, would you recommend that I also download KoReader and Plato (and perhaps any other non-Nickel document viewers) and give them a try as well to see if any of them perhaps handle typesetting as well as RMSDK or is RMSDK just considered to have the best typesetting engine?

As you can probably tell, I’m very new to the eReader scene and all my knowledge comes from pretty much scrolling through these forums for a couple of hours so apologies if my questions seem strange or when answered at some point since most RMSDK vs ACCESS vs Others comparisons I found seem to be from around 2019 or 2020 and I assume they’ve all changed at least a little since then.

Thank you!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by CerealAssassin

Thanks for the long and detailed response. I have indeed followed through on your advice to test each one and I seem to slightly prefer the way ePubs are rendered so I shall stick with that for now. I’ll have to manually resize maps in fantasy books cause unfortunately there’s no image zoom functionality with RMSDK but in general I find the text to be more pleasing with it so it’s worth the trade off in my opinion.

I do a mix of epub and kepub. Though I am tending towards kepub at the moment. For books with maps, I usually wrap them in svg tags to let them size to the biggest they can. But, these are also the books I am more likely to read as kepubs. Anything with a lot of images or footnotes will work better as a kepub.

I have one last question for you if you don’t mind, would you recommend that I also download KoReader and Plato (and perhaps any other non-Nickel document viewers) and give them a try as well to see if any of them perhaps handle typesetting as well as RMSDK or is RMSDK just considered to have the best typesetting engine?

My recommendation is the same as before. Try and see. Personally, I never use them. I think tried KOReader when it first came out, but, couldn't be bothered to do the setup (it's a lot simpler now). And I have I never tried Plato. I have no issue with the Kobo renderers, do like a lot of things about them and hence have never felt the need to try anything else.

As you can probably tell, I’m very new to the eReader scene and all my knowledge comes from pretty much scrolling through these forums for a couple of hours so apologies if my questions seem strange or when answered at some point since most RMSDK vs ACCESS vs Others comparisons I found seem to be from around 2019 or 2020 and I assume they’ve all changed at least a little since then.

Until the last two versions of firmware, I don't think anything changed in that time. Or for a while before. I don't remember when Kobo got the RMSDK V10, but was before 2019. It is only in the last tow firmware versions that things might have change. There have been major font handling changes in them. That has affected the kepub renderer more than the RMSDK. These might mean that it is catching up to the RMSDK in terms of typography, or other features (the supplemental fonts is one big change), but, I don't know. And if I am honest, I don't care that much. If I can comfortably read without the device distracting me, then I am happy.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by CerealAssassin

Interesting. In the meantime, do you think the typesetting differences are significant enough to warrant using ePubs over KePubs? Cause you’d be giving up the KePub specific features like image zoom, faster searching, etc and I assume ACCESS is only gonna get better with time as Kobo update it vs RMSDK which it seems like they’re never touching again & only keep for Overdrive books.

What you give up depends on the eBooks you are reading. If you don't have images or footnotes, there's no reason not to try ePub.

When someone gets a Kobo, and asks which format to read, the answer is always to try both.