FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

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jedbryan@hotmail.com
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FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by jedbryan@hotmail.com »

Hi,

This is a bit off the wall, but I used High Logic to create substitute characters in an existing font for ebook application use. (The characters represent diacriticals,etc. for Navajo.) Has anyone tried to submit to Kindle using such a font? At first, I used a Palatino version with a spec char suffix. That didn't work. Kindle only takes a few fonts, including New Times Roman, Garamond, and one other. Their program automatically shited my text to New Times Roman (default). I redid another font Times New Roman (True Type) and kept its original name. No results yet. What I need to know and can't get from anyone at Amazon, is if you use one of the accepted fonts, do they automatically accept your font version (whether you have embedded it or not) or do they automatically use their version of the font and ignore yours? In the past, they have accpted the font but it comes out in gobbledegook (the original key characters, not the created replacements. Kindle has sold who knows how many copies of this trash version. If anyone out there has experienced a similar experience with Kindle (or Nook for that matter), could you please explain to me the ins and outs. This trial and error acceptance/rejection with bad results is giving me untold grief and ruining the reputation of my publisher and myself. Support from Amazon is non-existent.` Too big to care.

Jed
Bhikkhu Pesala
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

We're at a disadvantage here, as we do not know what accents are required by the Navajo language.

The limited experience I have of producing Ebooks has been testing them in Calibre, which is not the same as testing in an actual E-reader. Sample E-book that uses characters from the Latin Extended Character Sets. ā ī ū ḍ ṃ ṇ ṅ ṭ, etc

I don't see how special fonts can be used unless they are embedded. If you're using a standard Unicode encoding, then as long as the E-reader's built-in fonts support those character sets, then substituting a different font should not cause any problems.

If you're using a non-standard encoding of your own invention, then I would expect all kinds of problems.
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by jedbryan@hotmail.com »

Thanks for your quick response to my problem. Perhaps I have gotten in over my head on this one. The accents in Navajo are various vowel diacriticals. I didn't imagine there would be a problem as they are just labeled special characters replacing unused keys. I have a bit of a problem understanding why they matter at all. If the font name is the same and the information (data) is taken from a PDF file to an E-Pub file, why would a program like Kindall even look inside the font? Unless somehow, it detects a difference or simply always substitutes its own version of the font no matter whether you used one it also uses. If that is so, there is no chance for a variant font to sneak by.

I did create a version of my own, and as you say, that could be part of the problem, but the font works everywhere else. It translates to PDF, MOBI, EPub with no problem. I have downloaded several version to Kindle and they all show up fine. It's when my publisher/editor tries to upload to Kindle, it ignores the new characters, which means that it ignores the new font. If anyone were available to intercede on the Kindle side and allow the font through, it would be okay, but Kindle (Amazon) doesn't seem to believe in hiring extraneous personnel like support people.

Anyway, thank you so much for trying.

Jed Bryan
William
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by William »

I remembered reading that Source Sans Pro has support for Navajo.

I found the post where I read about that.

http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/201 ... s-pro.html

There have been later posts about Source Sans Pro in the blog.

http://blogs.adobe.com/typblography/

I hope that this helps.

William Overington

10 February 2013
jedbryan@hotmail.com
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by jedbryan@hotmail.com »

Once again, thanks. This article has opened a new world of font production and application for me. I haven't yet found the answer, but I'm off into the ether of new information. I probably won't be back down and consious to the outside world for a while.

Jed
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by William »

You might find the following links useful.

http://www.unicode.org/

http://www.unicode.org/consortium/distlist.html

http://www.unicode.org/consortium/distlist-unicode.html

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicod ... index.html

If you register for the Unicode Public Email List: unicode@unicode.org you will then be able to post to unicode@unicode.org whereupon your message will (subject to the note below) be forwarded to everyone on the list and placed in the web-based archive.

The note below, which is this note, is that new users are often, maybe always, put on MODPOST status, which means that one or more early posts will need the manual authority of the moderator before the post is circulated. Please do not be concerned by that.

One point though, the email address that you use will then be viewable on the web if you post to the list, so it can be a good idea to use an email address that could be thrown away if you start getting spam and the spam level gets out of hand.

William Overington

10 February 2013
William
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by William »

I started a thread about Navajo on the Unicode mailing list.

There have been two replies already.

http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicod ... index.html

William Overington

11 February 2013
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Re: FontCreator use in Kindle or Nook

Post by vanisaac »

I have made some PDF documents with PUA characters and using graphite features through OpenOffice, and the Kindle has imperfectly, but nevertheless with all features intact. I would imagine that the PDFs of simple accented Latin characters will not pose an undue burden, at least on the Kindle.
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