2 ms·

I've looked at this device and I wonder how good the layout engine is. Screenshots never show text with any hyphenation going on which makes me wonder if it eve

I've looked at this device and I wonder how good the layout engine is. Screenshots never show text with any hyphenation going on which makes me wonder if it even supports hyphenation. One of the images on the Amazon page for the reader has somebody holding one beside their laptop and if you look at the screen, it looks terrible. There are even words jammed together ("would be most suitable forthe job"). I love that it has physical buttons though. My reader is the Kindle Oasis and the buttons are one of my favorite features of the device. The Oasis layout engine and typography are both pretty good and I wonder if the X4 would end up feeling like a big downgrade.

lisnake 4mo ago
Custom firmwares support hyphenation
bouk 4mo ago
The alternative firmwares give you a lot more options in this, stock is OK in layout
azertify 4mo ago
The layout engine is limited. It does flow text quite well, but when I had mine (the screen broke a few months ago) I was working on adding more features to the rendering engine. It's easy to write a HTML & CSS layout engine to support most of the epub spec, but hard to do it well on such a constrained chip. Even things like nested lists and inline code snippets are a challenge.
- criddell 4mo ago
  That must be why Amazon does a lot of pre-processing on their server. They know what device they are sending to and can tailor the file for that device. Maybe expecting the X4 to look great is asking too much. It took Amazon years to get it right on Kindle. Hyphenation is a difficult task.
- mapontosevenths 4mo ago
  Flash Crosspoint. I reflows much better than stock. It also fixes the lack of space between paragraphs.
  - criddell 4mo ago
    Sounds like it’s still pretty early days then. I’ll probably hold off for a year or two and check again.
    - deleted 4mo ago
      [deleted]
    - __float 4mo ago
      Even a year from now you're still likely to need a custom firmware. The custom firmware today is more than good enough, and the devices often sell for under $70.
- Finnucane 4mo ago
  >t's easy to write a HTML & CSS layout engine to support most of the epub spec And yet reading systems fail to do that.

lisnake 4mo ago

Custom firmwares support hyphenation

bouk 4mo ago

The alternative firmwares give you a lot more options in this, stock is OK in layout

azertify 4mo ago

The layout engine is limited. It does flow text quite well, but when I had mine (the screen broke a few months ago) I was working on adding more features to the rendering engine. It's easy to write a HTML & CSS layout engine to support most of the epub spec, but hard to do it well on such a constrained chip. Even things like nested lists and inline code snippets are a challenge.

criddell 4mo ago
That must be why Amazon does a lot of pre-processing on their server. They know what device they are sending to and can tailor the file for that device. Maybe expecting the X4 to look great is asking too much. It took Amazon years to get it right on Kindle. Hyphenation is a difficult task.
mapontosevenths 4mo ago
Flash Crosspoint. I reflows much better than stock. It also fixes the lack of space between paragraphs.
- criddell 4mo ago
  Sounds like it’s still pretty early days then. I’ll probably hold off for a year or two and check again.
  - deleted 4mo ago
    [deleted]
  - __float 4mo ago
    Even a year from now you're still likely to need a custom firmware. The custom firmware today is more than good enough, and the devices often sell for under $70.
Finnucane 4mo ago
>t's easy to write a HTML & CSS layout engine to support most of the epub spec And yet reading systems fail to do that.