Bugs in new Kindle Previewer v.1.6?

rglk · 05-29-2011, 08:08 AM

=== ISSUE SOLVED, see post #14 ===

On May 23, Amazon introduced a new version of Kindle Previewer (v.1.6), and at some point after that they automatically upgraded present installs of KPV (like mine in Windows XP) from v. 1.5 to v. 1.6, without notifying the user of this upgrade.

After I'd made some edits yesterday in an ebook that I had compiled with Mobipocket Creator to the .prc format, I was puzzled to find that the text of the book in KPV no longer was fully justified throughout. Rather, a few lines on every page no longer were right justified. After I'd wasted an hour troubleshooting my edits and finding no problems, I realized that Amazon had sneeked in an upgrade of KPV to v.1.6 that may well be buggy.

In the same book read in KPV v.1.5 (running in Linux under Wine) the text was fully justified. Thinking that perhaps Amazon's silent upgrade got corrupted because it might have been occurring while I was working on the book in v. 1.5 in Windows, I uninstalled the new version and reinstalled v.1.5 in Windows, with the Internet disconnected. No problem, all text was fully justified again in the older version. Uninstalled v.1.5, and again installed v.1.6 from its installer that I'd downloaded separately, and looked at the same book: the right edge again showed a mix of justified and ragged lines.

This problem is only present in v.1.6 emulations of Kindle and Kindle DX, both in the upright and rotated orientation. In the emulation of Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone, all text is fully justified.

Another thing I noticed is that the bar at the top that shows the book title and wireless and battery status, only shows up the first time the book is opened; as soon as one starts opening other pages, this bar disappears.

What am I to make of this? Have you noticed this?

For proofreading a Kindle ebook before submission, v.1.6 of KPV is useless to me, as I don't know whether the way the emulator presents my text will be the way it appears on a real Kindle.

BTW, Kindle for PC and Mobipocket Reader display the entire text of the book fully justified.

EDIT: Just looked with KPV 1.6 at two Kindle ebooks purchased fom Amazon; same problem: frequent lack of right justification.

DiapDealer · 05-29-2011, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Another thing I noticed is that the bar at the top that shows the book title and wireless and battery status, only shows up the first time the book is opened; as soon as one starts opening other pages, this bar disappears.

What am I to make of this? Have you noticed this?

I would assume this part is done purposely. The disappearing title bar is standard behavior for Kindle devices that have 3.0 (or higher) software on them. So they probably made the simulator match.

I don't know about the justification issues you're having, but that definitely sounds like a bug.

JSWolf · 05-29-2011, 09:04 AM

How do these books look on the actual Kindle? Do they match?

DiapDealer · 05-29-2011, 09:15 AM

Quote:

How do these books look on the actual Kindle? Do they match?

I'm assuming the OP doesn't have a Kindle to test it on... hence the question.

rglk · 05-29-2011, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm assuming the OP doesn't have a Kindle to test it on... hence the question.

Correct.

JSWolf · 05-29-2011, 09:41 AM

Then you'll have no way to know if v1.5 or v1.6 is the buggy version.

Bonex · 05-29-2011, 09:54 AM

On a real Kindle sometimes lines are not fully justified. It's like the software doesn't allow more than a certain amount of empty space between words.
Unfortunately Kindle doesn't have automatic hyphenation.

BTW, with 1.6 you can now use the "Open with..." command on .mobi files in Windows

DiapDealer · 05-29-2011, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonex

On a real Kindle sometimes lines are not fully justified. It's like the software doesn't allow more than a certain amount of empty space between words.
Unfortunately Kindle doesn't have automatic hyphenation.

I hadn't thought of this, but that could very well explain it. Maybe 1.6 was updated to match the Kindle's flaky (due to no hyphenization) justification. If that's true, increasing the font size will make the issue more and more noticeable.

EDIT: Doing some of my own tests with 1.6, I'm seeing the same behavior you are. I don't have version 1.5 to compare, but I truly believe that 1.6 is more accurately portraying the way your text will look on an actual Kindle device than 1.5 was (especially if 1.5 was portraying flawless justification on the Kindle device emulations).

JSWolf · 05-29-2011, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

EDIT: Doing some of my own tests with 1.6, I'm seeing the same behavior you are. I don't have version 1.5 to compare, but I truly believe that 1.6 is more accurately portraying the way your text will look on an actual Kindle device than 1.5 was (especially if 1.5 was portraying flawless justification on the Kindle device emulations).

Have you compared what you see in 1.6 with what you see on your Kindle?

DreamWriter · 05-29-2011, 01:38 PM

[post deleted - image no longer available]

DiapDealer · 05-29-2011, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Have you compared what you see in 1.6 with what you see on your Kindle?

Yes. The text that does not fully justify on my Kindle is exactly the same text that does not fully justify in Kindle Previewer 1.6... without exception*.

* I had to eliminate the custom margins that I had on my Kindle, but once I had default display settings, the kindle version matched what I was seeing in Kindle Previewer 1.6 line for line.

HarryT · 05-29-2011, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Yes. The text that does not fully justify on my Kindle is exactly the same text that does not fully justify in Kindle Previewer 1.6... without exception*.

* I had to eliminate the custom margins that I had on my Kindle, but once I had default display settings, the kindle version matched what I was seeing in Kindle Previewer 1.6 line for line.

If that is the case, it sounds as if this version of Kindle Previewer is a more useful tool for matching what the real Kindle displays.

DiapDealer · 05-29-2011, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If that is the case, it sounds as if this version of Kindle Previewer is a more useful tool for matching what the real Kindle displays.

I completely agree.

rglk · 05-29-2011, 03:48 PM

Thank you all for your input, and in particular thanks to DiapDealer for your definitive research. It looks as though the issue has been settled: Kindle devices balk at justifying lines if the resulting white space between words would get to be excessive, and this behavior is correctly indicated in KPV 1.6 but wasn't reflected in v.1.5 which pretended that all lines are fully justified. Good to know that.

bwaldron · 05-30-2011, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

If that is the case, it sounds as if this version of Kindle Previewer is a more useful tool for matching what the real Kindle displays.

It definitely is.

It also finally allows opening mobi files via the command line, so that it can be set as the default application for such files.

05-29-2011, 01:38 PM	#10
DreamWriter Books are brain food. Posts: 2,950 Karma: 4836916 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: U.S. Device: Paperwhite · Fire HD6/HD8/HD10 · Galaxy Tab A7	[post deleted - image no longer available] Last edited by DreamWriter; 01-20-2014 at 11:40 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
TOC works in Previewer but not in Kindle?	Lazer	Kindle Formats	3	05-01-2011 04:30 PM
Problem with images in Kindle previewer	Mountain man	Kindle Formats	3	03-12-2011 08:59 PM
Launching Kindle Previewer from command line?	GRiker	Kindle Developer's Corner	4	01-29-2011 09:00 PM
Amazon: Kindle Previewer for HTML5 Coming	kjk	News	12	07-05-2010 04:44 AM
The Kindle Previewer expected soon	Sheikspeare	Amazon Kindle	2	07-04-2010 01:34 PM

05-29-2011, 08:08 AM	#1
rglk Member Posts: 12 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: PC (Linux)	Bugs in new Kindle Previewer v.1.6? === ISSUE SOLVED, see post #14 === On May 23, Amazon introduced a new version of Kindle Previewer (v.1.6), and at some point after that they automatically upgraded present installs of KPV (like mine in Windows XP) from v. 1.5 to v. 1.6, without notifying the user of this upgrade. After I'd made some edits yesterday in an ebook that I had compiled with Mobipocket Creator to the .prc format, I was puzzled to find that the text of the book in KPV no longer was fully justified throughout. Rather, a few lines on every page no longer were right justified. After I'd wasted an hour troubleshooting my edits and finding no problems, I realized that Amazon had sneeked in an upgrade of KPV to v.1.6 that may well be buggy. In the same book read in KPV v.1.5 (running in Linux under Wine) the text was fully justified. Thinking that perhaps Amazon's silent upgrade got corrupted because it might have been occurring while I was working on the book in v. 1.5 in Windows, I uninstalled the new version and reinstalled v.1.5 in Windows, with the Internet disconnected. No problem, all text was fully justified again in the older version. Uninstalled v.1.5, and again installed v.1.6 from its installer that I'd downloaded separately, and looked at the same book: the right edge again showed a mix of justified and ragged lines. This problem is only present in v.1.6 emulations of Kindle and Kindle DX, both in the upright and rotated orientation. In the emulation of Kindle for iPad and Kindle for iPhone, all text is fully justified. Another thing I noticed is that the bar at the top that shows the book title and wireless and battery status, only shows up the first time the book is opened; as soon as one starts opening other pages, this bar disappears. What am I to make of this? Have you noticed this? For proofreading a Kindle ebook before submission, v.1.6 of KPV is useless to me, as I don't know whether the way the emulator presents my text will be the way it appears on a real Kindle. BTW, Kindle for PC and Mobipocket Reader display the entire text of the book fully justified. EDIT: Just looked with KPV 1.6 at two Kindle ebooks purchased fom Amazon; same problem: frequent lack of right justification. Last edited by rglk; 05-29-2011 at 03:54 PM. Reason: problem solved

05-29-2011, 09:04 AM	#3
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,424 Karma: 136564696 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	How do these books look on the actual Kindle? Do they match?

05-29-2011, 09:41 AM	#6
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 76,424 Karma: 136564696 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Then you'll have no way to know if v1.5 or v1.6 is the buggy version.

05-29-2011, 09:54 AM	#7
Bonex Connoisseur Posts: 63 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: KDXG, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura HD	On a real Kindle sometimes lines are not fully justified. It's like the software doesn't allow more than a certain amount of empty space between words. Unfortunately Kindle doesn't have automatic hyphenation. BTW, with 1.6 you can now use the "Open with..." command on .mobi files in Windows

05-29-2011, 03:48 PM	#14
rglk Member Posts: 12 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2011 Device: PC (Linux)	Thank you all for your input, and in particular thanks to DiapDealer for your definitive research. It looks as though the issue has been settled: Kindle devices balk at justifying lines if the resulting white space between words would get to be excessive, and this behavior is correctly indicated in KPV 1.6 but wasn't reflected in v.1.5 which pretended that all lines are fully justified. Good to know that.

Advert

Advert