06-22-2010, 01:06 PM | #1 |
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Embedding .symbol font?
Okay, here's the issue...
We're just using basic fonts for all of our epub ebooks, because I know some readers don't have the capabilities to read the embedded fonts, and also a lot of readers these days allows the user to over-ride the fonts used anyway... So to keep it simple, we made the decision to stick with basic system fonts for ALL of our ebooks and not embed them. But then there's the suit symbols... So far, ALL of the readers that we have tested, namely: Sony reader, iPad, Kobo, etc... So far, ALL of the readers have capability to display the suit symbols properly when the font is NOT embedded to the .epub file. I'm very confused and not sure which direction we should go. 1) Should we embed the fonts? Why, when they are just basic (default) fonts (just like you would design for a web page)? (Times, Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif, serif, Symbol). 2) Can I embed a font AFTER the fact? I mean, after the .epub has already been exported, fixed in Sigil, edited, etc. Can I embed the font without going back to the InDesign source file? 3) If your answer is "Yes, embed the fonts", then: Using InDesign, how can I embed a True Type font? I would appreciate any feedback on this subject. Thanks in advance, Luise |
06-22-2010, 01:52 PM | #2 | |||
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Quote:
Pardon my ignorance but what exactly is a suit symbol? Quote:
Quote:
2) In Sigil you can do it easily If you want to embed fonts with Sigil just import the fonts you want to use with the epub into the font folder of sigil, declare the fonts in the css and use them in a style. For example if I want to use X font family on the whole book i'd use this to declare it Code:
@font-face { font-family: "x family name"; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; src: url(../Fonts/x-Regular.xtf); } @font-face { font-family: "x family name"; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; src: url(../Fonts/x_Bold.ttf); } @font-face { font-family: "x family name"; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; src: url(../Fonts/x_Bold_Italic.ttf); } @font-face { font-family: "x family name"; font-weight: normal; font-style: italic; src: url(../Fonts/x_italic.ttf); } Code:
body { font-family: "x family name"; } If you can I say yes embed the fonts in the worst case scenario the ePub rendering engine that does not support embedded fonts will ignore the fonts and just use what it regularly does, but in the best case scenario you'll have an ePub that looks how YOU want it to look. This page should tell you how to embed fonts with indesign : link No Problem |
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06-22-2010, 02:45 PM | #3 |
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06-22-2010, 02:48 PM | #4 | |||
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Thanks Catire for the quick response. A few follow-up comments:
Quote:
Code:
p.TF { font-family: "Times", "Times New Roman", "Palatino", "Minion", serif; } p.H1 { font-family: "Arial", "Helvetica", sans-serif"; } span.suitSymbol { font-family: "Symbol", sans-serif; } Quote:
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I could be wrong on that though |
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06-22-2010, 05:19 PM | #5 |
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I'm pretty sure Apple does not want or allow embedded fonts.
Others, I don't know about. There could be copyright issues if you aren't careful which fonts you use, of course. |
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06-22-2010, 05:28 PM | #6 |
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06-22-2010, 06:03 PM | #7 | ||
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Quote:
From the Apple "iTunesConnect Publisher User Guide: Quote:
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06-23-2010, 05:54 AM | #8 | |||
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Quote:
The iPad natively supports a much wider range of characters, and also includes those characters, there's a thread on it here. Quote:
InDesign will only embed fonts if the appropriate permission bits are set, but the majority of fonts allow PDF embedding (which is not the same thing as embedding in an epub) and so will allow this. An increasing number of fonts allow @font-face embedding though, and there are threads about this in the epub forum. Quote:
If that's true then Apple is being very, very naughty, but that sort of arrogance wouldn't surprise me. |
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06-23-2010, 10:39 AM | #9 | |
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I guess I can add the truetype font after using Sigil... but now you've all got me worried that Apple will reject our files if I embed a font. It's probably safest just to assume that I don't NEED to embed the font since the spade, heart, diamond and club glyphs are supported. I'm even more confused than I was when I started this thread... |
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06-23-2010, 12:01 PM | #10 | |||
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Quote:
Quote:
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If you want to get confused, take a look at the terms for font licensing for epubs. |
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06-23-2010, 01:39 PM | #11 | |
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06-23-2010, 08:14 PM | #12 | |
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Quote:
May I ask a simple question? Is this entire discussion over naught more than the symbols? The suit symbols? You've decided to use html-supported basic fonts like TimesNewRoman and Arial, all that, right? You said that at the beginning of the thread? Are you using any "symbols" that are spectacularly arcane? Because, if you are NOT, just using the plain old plain old html codes for them works fine, at least it has so far in every epub & mobi I've put out. I use the trademark (tm) symbol all the time, and a bunch of typographical conventions (like tildes). I simply use the ™ version for trademark and that ilk. I'm pretty sure that you can use anything you can find here: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_symbols.asp In an epub and have it work on every reader and there's absolutely no reason to embed the "symbol" font that I know of. I certainly haven't embedded any fonts and my symbols work fine. Does this help at all? Hitch |
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06-23-2010, 09:03 PM | #13 | |
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I suppose if the market changes substantially, then we may need to make a change later down the road. But for now, I think we can be fairly safe to continue down our current path. |
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06-24-2010, 01:35 AM | #14 |
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My take on that is, if it changes down the road (the standard, for whatever reason), great, change the accursed things then. For the time being, like Occam's Razor, the simplest answer is usually the right one. Embedding symbol fonts for something that can be accomplished with plain old vanilla html is, I think, just over-the-top. PLUS, you don't have the pesky 1.05 epub validation thing to worry over, at least about this.
Good luck! |
06-24-2010, 10:24 AM | #15 | |
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You still need a font with the required glyph to render a non-ASCII char. There is no "HTML" font. |
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