Find fallback font?

[Uncle Robin]

I bought a book from Kobo today that won't display properly on my Sage (or in Kobo's own Web Reader), but IS readable in the Calibre viewer. The attached screenshot shows the relevant css and the message that the embedded font is not on my system. If Calibre is using a fallback font, is there a way to find out what it is, and make sure I have it on my Kobo?

[kovidgoyal]

Qt WebEngine the part that renders the text, will use fallback fonts. Unfortunately there is no way I know of to query it for which one they are.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Qt WebEngine the part that renders the text, will use fallback fonts. Unfortunately there is no way I know of to query it for which one they are.

Thanks for the prompt response. I think it will just be easier to read it in the Calibre Viewer, since it works. The free Calibre viewer will read a book that I paid Kobo for and which Kobo can't read. I'd say that's Calibre 1-Kobo 0

[kovidgoyal]

I cant tell from the screenshot what OS you are on, but if its Linux you can use the various fontconfig command line utilities to find fallback fonts for specified text.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

I cant tell from the screenshot what OS you are on, but if its Linux you can use the various fontconfig command line utilities to find fallback fonts for specified text.

Win 10 Pro. I'm quite happy to read it in the Viewer, it's a short collection of Gulzar poems about Partition

[kovidgoyal]

Yes, I saw that in the screenshot. A very sad subject.

[theducks]

You could add alternate fonts (that you know exist on the Kobo) the the @ font Family list.
The render agent is supposed to try those in the order listed .

But 'what were the thinking' to release a book without a required font support

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I bought a book from Kobo today that won't display properly on my Sage (or in Kobo's own Web Reader), but IS readable in the Calibre viewer. The attached screenshot shows the relevant css and the message that the embedded font is not on my system. If Calibre is using a fallback font, is there a way to find out what it is, and make sure I have it on my Kobo?

I hope this helps to find a font that will work for what you want.

https://www.free-fonts.com/shivam-hindi

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by theducks

You could add alternate fonts (that you know exist on the Kobo) the the @ font Family list.
The render agent is supposed to try those in the order listed .

But 'what were the thinking' to release a book without a required font support

What indeed! Unfortunately, the font is not Unicode, so neither my default Sage fallback of Arial Unicode nor the Noto Sans fonts will render it. BUT, but Hooray for Kovid and Calibre!

The Calibre editor showed me the 2 embedded fonts, and I was able to save them first to my PC (where they opened fine in the font previewer) then to my device, where the de-drm'd epub now renders just fine, in both languages. Kovid 1 - Kobo 0

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

What indeed! Unfortunately, the font is not Unicode, so neither my default Sage fallback of Arial Unicode nor the Noto Sans fonts will render it. BUT, but Hooray for Kovid and Calibre!

The Calibre editor showed me the 2 embedded fonts, and I was able to save them first to my PC (where they opened fine in the font previewer) then to my device, where the de-drm'd epub now renders just fine, in both languages. Kovid 1 - Kobo 0

You appear to be saying that the book, as purchased from Kobo, did already have the correct fonts embedded. Assuming you're using one of Kobo's own reading apps (not KOReader) they would also expect you to follow their standard advice of setting the font in the Kobo [Aa] menu to 'Publisher Default' to see embedded fonts correctly. Is that what you did?

Fallback fonts only work in kepub but if the embedded fonts are adequate you shouldn't need fallbacks anyway.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

You appear to be saying that the book, as purchased from Kobo, did already have the correct fonts embedded. Assuming you're using one of Kobo's own reading apps (not KOReader) they would also expect you to follow their standard advice of setting the font in the Kobo [Aa] menu to 'Publisher Default' to see embedded fonts correctly. Is that what you did?

Fallback fonts only work in kepub but if the embedded fonts are adequate you shouldn't need fallbacks anyway.

Yes, the book was set to publisher default.

I think there may have been other issues with the book because I removed it from my reader after being unable to read it, then contacted Kobo to tell them about the problem. During the CSR chat, I was unable to re-download it, despite it still being in "My Books". so the problem could have been at their end.

[ownedbycats]

BabelMap, freeware character map, has a 'font coverage' tool that'll identify the fonts that have all the selected characters. to demonstrate, copying the Urdu characters from this page:



If you're good at recognizing fonts you may be able to identify it that way.

[Uncle Robin]

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I take chance and buy something Hindi from Kobo. For now, happy to have a readable copy on my Sage.

[ownedbycats]

I feel like this is the kind of thing that would've been more useful had I posted it earlier

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I feel like this is the kind of thing that would've been more useful had I posted it earlier

Well, since I've bought 2 Hindi books at Kobo 4 years apart and had issues with both, the odds seem good that your advice will be helpful the next time