# Celia Font



## kindlematt (Mar 1, 2013)

Sorry if this has been asked before. What do you think of the Celia font, which, Amazon claims, was specifically designed for the Paperwhite? I like it very well. I use it on most books, but I would like your opinions.


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## amyberta (Dec 14, 2009)

kindlematt said:


> Sorry if this has been asked before. What do you think of the Celia font, which, Amazon claims, was specifically designed for the Paperwhite? I like it very well. I use it on most books, but I would like your opinions.


I'm using it now, on a book I'm reading and I like it.


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## kindlematt (Mar 1, 2013)

Do you prefer it to the other available fonts?


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I like Helvetica better because it seems darker and easier to read. Would really like to get some bold fonts, but can't do it. I wonder why Amazon doesn't have a fonts folder where you can add or delete fonts.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> I like Helvetica better because it seems darker and easier to read. Would really like to get some bold fonts, but can't do it. I wonder why Amazon doesn't have a fonts folder where you can add or delete fonts.


Amazon has never, in my opinion, been all that interested in enhancing the rather basic user experience the Kindle reader provides. If you want more control over things, you pretty much have to go to third-party apps on tablets or phones for reading, and the DRM makes that difficult.

Mike


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

jmiked said:


> Amazon has never, in my opinion, been all that interested in enhancing the rather basic user experience the Kindle reader provides. If you want more control over things, you pretty much have to go to third-party apps on tablets or phones for reading, and the DRM makes that difficult.
> 
> Mike


They do enhance the user experience with things like the PW screen. I think they are probably worried that if they had a fonts folder they would get a million calls to custome service questioning why that person's particular font did not work. If they limit your number of choices, they limit the number of things that can go wrong, and thus the number of calls they will get.

Steve


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## amyberta (Dec 14, 2009)

kindlematt said:


> Do you prefer it to the other available fonts?


I just switched to the Helvetia, I think I like that one better too.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It's purely a matter of personal preference.  I prefer a 'serif' style font.  The Cacaelia is nice -- on the basic it's your only choice, really, though you can have it condensed and you can also choose a basic sans serif font.

On the PW, I like the Palatino.  It looks, to me, more like the print in most paper boks.  Baskerville is good, too, in that way, but the lines are a bit thinner.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I have no idea which font I'm using.    I change it every now and then, but that's because I'm doing testing to respond to a question here on KBoards.  And then I can't remember which font I was using before I messed with it.  

Betsy


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> They do enhance the user experience with things like the PW screen.


I'm not sure I was using the term to include physical improvements in the display, but you are correct in that.

I'm thinking more along the lines of control over full- and left-justification, which is an important feature they _removed_ from the Kindle.

Mike


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> On the PW, I like the Palatino. It looks, to me, more like the print in most paper boks. Baskerville is good, too, in that way, but the lines are a bit thinner.


Its like this for me too. I like Palatino but Baskerville is just a tad thin, which makes it a bit harder for me to read than palatino. Celia is what I switch to when it gets darker, the font seems a bit more bold than palatino.

I wish though we had a few more steps in between the sizes. Palatino 4 is just a bit too small and 5 a bit too large. It seems like a big step in between those. 
5 at celia is just about right and I wish palatino was that size, but its larger than celia at 5.

I do know that I had to go up a full size going from my K3 to the PW. I am guessing its the better resolution. I do a 4 in celia on the K3, but it has to be a 5 on the PW. But they aren't exactly matching in size.

I got used to it.

Baskerville I have a similar issue. 5 is barely large enough and the next one up is just huge.

So if anything I wish for it would be smaller steps in the sizes. Especially between 4 and 5. Or 4-6.


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## Toby (Nov 25, 2008)

Me too. Need more sizes in between. Need wider/bolder/darker fonts.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

<rant> Speaking of font size, I wish there was a way to turn off the vertical swipe = change font size. I accidentally do it once in a while and it's irritating when it happens, and takes a while to get it back. I mean, once you set your font size, how often do you want to change it? Maybe when you change to a different book at the most, and then you can use the menu. Certainly not often enough to need a dedicated swipe. I'd rather use the vertical swipe to jump to next/previous chapter, or jump 10 pages back or forward. In any case, we need the option to disable it. </rant>

On a calmer note, I prefer Palatino for the reasons Ann mentioned.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I keep forgetting you can change the font size that way.  I actually change it pretty often, depending on the lighting, because I don't turn my light up very bright.

Betsy


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## __Amy__ (Mar 31, 2013)

Thanks for recommending the Helvetia font.  I use the Marvin app on my iPad and it makes
It way better reading

Amy


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Atunah said:


> I wish though we had a few more steps in between the sizes. Palatino 4 is just a bit too small and 5 a bit too large. It seems like a big step in between those.
> 5 at celia is just about right and I wish palatino was that size, but its larger than celia at 5.
> 
> I do know that I had to go up a full size going from my K3 to the PW. I am guessing its the better resolution. I do a 4 in celia on the K3, but it has to be a 5 on the PW. But they aren't exactly matching in size.


That's why I rooted my Paperwhite and my Kindle Touch. I can now change the font sizes to how I want them. Margins, too. So I never turn wifi on, now, b/c I don't want updates to break my hacks.


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## Tabatha (Oct 4, 2009)

stevene9 said:


> I like Helvetica better because it seems darker and easier to read. Would really like to get some bold fonts, but can't do it. I wonder why Amazon doesn't have a fonts folder where you can add or delete fonts.


Might want to check the mobilereads forum for fonts for the paperwhite without hacking. It also shows how to see the alt_fonts folder to show all fonts on PW.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

booklover888 said:


> That's why I rooted my Paperwhite and my Kindle Touch. I can now change the font sizes to how I want them. Margins, too. So I never turn wifi on, now, b/c I don't want updates to break my hacks.


I would never root my PW, or any other device. Just not for me. I use wifi each day to download my stuff so that would never work for me anyway.

Heck, I am too chicken to even do that font folder thing that is talked about on mobile read. I don't know enough about this stuff to be able to fix something if it goes wrong and knowing my luck, something would go wrong.


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Atunah said:


> I would never root my PW, or any other device. Just not for me. I use wifi each day to download my stuff so that would never work for me anyway.
> 
> Heck, I am too chicken to even do that font folder thing that is talked about on mobile read. I don't know enough about this stuff to be able to fix something if it goes wrong and knowing my luck, something would go wrong.


adding a blank file called USE_ALT_FONTS is as simple as creating the file (without txt or other extensions) and dragging it into the main Kindle directory. No hacking needed, you are just allowing fonts already present on your kindle to be available. I use one of them all the time, it's better (for me) than the original ones.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

booklover888 said:


> adding a blank file called USE_ALT_FONTS is as simple as creating the file (without txt or other extensions) and dragging it into the main Kindle directory. No hacking needed, you are just allowing fonts already present on your kindle to be available. I use one of them all the time, it's better (for me) than the original ones.


Now I will show my ignorance. How do you create a file with no extension? I assume then that any fonts I put in that file (assuming someone tells me how to create it) will be available on my PW?


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

stevene9 said:


> Now I will show my ignorance. How do you create a file with no extension? I assume then that any fonts I put in that file (assuming someone tells me how to create it) will be available on my PW?


You don't put anything into the file. It's very presence just sort of opens up a door to use fonts that are already there, but hidden.

Creating it....I don't remember how I did that. I would try to upload it here, but I don't see how to attach a file.

In addition to the empty file, you can put an additional file called "fonts" and add your fonts to that file. (I don't think I tried doing that, yet).

You can read about doing this http://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2013/01/06/how-to-easily-add-custom-fonts-to-kindle-paperwhite-no-hacks/


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

OK I'm still lost. The directions say to 

"Copy an empty unspecified file type with this title onto the Kindle’s drive, the root directory (top level): USE_ALT_FONTS"

Any file I try to copy to the kindle will not be empty and will not be an unspeciied file type. Can anyone explain to this ignorant fool (meaning me of course) exactly how I copy, or create, or whatever I need to do, that type of file to the kindle pw.

Thanks for helping this lowly supplicant.

Steve


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Well I only use Windows at work, so I can't test right now, but I assume you could just open Notepad, then (without typing anything), do a Save As and name the file "USE_ALT_FONTS". Notepad may or may not automatically add a .txt extension to the file name, so if it does, just rename the file and remove the .txt part, then you are set.

On my system (Linux) I can either right-click in my file manager and create a new file with that name (you might try that in Windows explorer), or I can type the command "touch USE_ALT_FONTS". Or I can open a text editor and do what I described above.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

And that file goes into the root, right? Where all the folders are? And if something goes wrong, then just delete that file back out? 
I am tempted, but still chicken.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

So I created a file in notepad as mentioned above. Typed nothing into it and saved it with the correct name, but without the .txt. When I checked the properties of the file it didn't have the .txt, but it did label it as a text file. I copied it to the kindle and nothing changed in my fonts available. I created a fonts folder and put my favorite font, arial rounded mt bold into the folder. Again, nothing happened. I suspect that using noteped did not create the proper file. Could you put your empty file someplace with a link that allows us to download it, or can someone give instruction of how to create this file in windows 7. Thanks.

Steve


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I forgot to restart. I just did the restart and it still didn't work.

Steve


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Steve, I did this using Notepad in Windows 7 and it worked for me. I made an empty .txt file and put it on the desktop, then renamed it without the .txt extension. Then I just copied it to the root of my PW, disconnected and restarted.

When I went into a book to change the font, it brought up all the ones that are already on the Kindle, but not activated, though there wasn't aything there that appealed to me. If you also want your own fonts, you have to put the font files into a folder called FONTS and put that onto the PW too.

Personally, I won't be bothering to add any new ones, since I've always really liked the default Caecilia font.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> So I created a file in notepad as mentioned above. Typed nothing into it and saved it with the correct name, but without the .txt. When I checked the properties of the file it didn't have the .txt, but it did label it as a text file. I copied it to the kindle and nothing changed in my fonts available. I created a fonts folder and put my favorite font, arial rounded mt bold into the folder. Again, nothing happened. I suspect that using noteped did not create the proper file. Could you put your empty file someplace with a link that allows us to download it, or can someone give instruction of how to create this file in windows 7. Thanks.
> 
> Steve


Steve,

I suspect that the extension is still there even though you aren't seeing it. In fact, if the properties are showing it as a text file, I'm certain of it.

Typically in the default Windows settings these days, file extensions for common file types aren't shown, but they're still there. You may need to turn on showing file extensions in order to rename the file to exclude the extension. (I did.)

In Windows 7, you open up Windows Explorer (does anyone else think it's stupid that they used "Explorer" for both their browser and their file explorer?), click on "Organize" in the browser toolbar near the top of the page. 
From the drop-down menu, select "Folder and Search Options." 
From the Folder Options pop-up, select the "View" tab.
You want to deselect "Hide extensions for known file types" which on my netbook, is the next to last visible option when it first pops up, or the 8th main listing from the top. Click in the box to uncheck it, and then click on "Apply" and close the window.

Now when you check the name of your USE_ALT_FONTS file (right-click, Rename), it should show the .txt extension. Delete it.

Copy the file to the root directory of the Kindle and then eject the Kindle from your PC.

Restart the Kindle (Menu, Settings, Menu, Restart).

If you are using a different flavor of Windows, such as XP, I don't have a computer with that OS anymore. I will add a link to the file I created in a bit, though. EDIT: Here's the link to the file:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a8zu1pbgzcoergy/Oc1HHKxqWO (edited after Ann's post, this should work.)

If you try to use the link, and it doesn't work, let me know!

Worked fine for me, as a test, though I'll probaby never use it as I don't much care about the font.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

So. . . being lazy and figuring if Betsy did the work already I'd just use her file   I clicked the link.

It opens a web page with nothing there.  Not clear on how one might actually get the file from there?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

OK, let me try again; I'd not actually tried the "Public Folder" option.  (Thanks for testing it, Ann.)

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Try this one, Ann, and I'll edit my original link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a8zu1pbgzcoergy/Oc1HHKxqWO

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

That one worked. . .you click the file and it gives you the option to download.  Arguably, if your kindle is connected at the time, you could probably put it directly there.  I'm on my way out the door so just put it on my computer for now.

Also. . . .I think I'm going to move this whole discussion to tips and tricks as it's getting a bit technical for the general kindle area. . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah said:


> And that file goes into the root, right? Where all the folders are? And if something goes wrong, then just delete that file back out?
> I am tempted, but still chicken.


Yes, it goes into the root folder. And you can just delete if you want, though it seems as if it'll either work or it won't. And if it doesn't work, nothing bad will happen.

You can use the file I made if you want.

Betsy


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Yes, it goes into the root folder. And you can just delete if you want, though it seems as if it'll either work or it won't. And if it doesn't work, nothing bad will happen.
> 
> You can use the file I made if you want.
> 
> Betsy


Nothing bad will happen. Hmmm, can I hold you to that? . Thanks for the file. I downloaded it so now all I need is to stop over thinking and grow some I guess.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah said:


> Nothing bad will happen. Hmmm, can I hold you to that?


Yes. You can. Let me know if I need to buy you a new Paperwhite.



Betsy


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Did you restart your Kindle?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Dragle said:


> Did you restart your Kindle?


Steve or Atunah?

Steve did restart; Atunah hasn't tried it yet.

I'm pretty sure, based on what Steve said, that his file still had the .txt extension on it, as he says the Windows file manager showed it as being a text file in the properties.

Betsy


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Yeah, I am still waffling. Going food shopping first. Then maybe I am bold enough.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Yes, Windows likes to make things difficult and hide the file extensions. You can right-click and view properties to see the full name or go into explorer settings and uncheck the hide extensions option.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Dragle said:


> Yes, Windows likes to make things difficult and hide the file extensions. You can right-click and view properties to see the full name or go into explorer settings and uncheck the hide extensions option.


In Windows 7, at least as on my netbook, you can't see the file extensions under properties UNLESS you uncheck the hide extensions. It only shows you what the file type is. So, if you need to rename the file to remove the .txt, you hae to uncheck the hide extension option. (Also see my earlier post.)


Betsy


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Atunah said:


> Yeah, I am still waffling. Going food shopping first. Then maybe I am bold enough.


You can do it!

I like the MT Chinese Surrogate that shows up on the paperwhite when you add the blank file. It's awesome.

I did add another folder, "fonts" and put a font in it to try it out. I like it. It's nice to have choices.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> In Windows 7, at least as on my netbook, you can't see the file extensions under properties UNLESS you uncheck the hide extensions. It only shows you what the file type is. So, if you need to rename the file to remove the .txt, you hae to uncheck the hide extension option. (Also see my earlier post.)
> 
> 
> Betsy


I don't understand why they hide them when all it does is cause confusion and make things difficult!
And to hide it even in the properties is even more ridiculous.

Edit: I apologize for my last few posts. I'm using my Fire and tapped New, and that jumped me past about ten posts that I hadn't seen. Just realized I was repeating what was already said. Guess I should get Tapatalk!


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## Tabatha (Oct 4, 2009)

OK people, if you had checked back in the mobileread forum thread on fonts, you would have found a download file that did it all for you, blank file for alt_fonts, and the fonts folder. Betsy has posted a link for file she made above in reply #30

This is a NO ROOT/HACK that is super simple, and also works on the Touch. Also, the Charis modified font in Post #700 of that thread is a great dark font which you download, unzip, and then copy into the Fonts folder.

This tip/trick allows you to add about 8 more fonts (copy to Fonts Folder) to the Touch and Paperwhite, to try different ones and delete the ones you don't like after viewing. There are other tips there for how to make fonts darker with a free font adjuster program. Sometimes it pays to read more than the current page of a thread, no matter what forum you are using.

Hopes this helps everyone out some.

Here's a link that kinda explains more:

http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2353723#post2353723


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Thanks, Tabatha  for posting that.  I do know some folks are more comfortable just hanging out here, LOL, so thanks for adding the link to the thread!  (And thanks to the folks who figured this out and posted initially at Mobileread.)

Betsy
*who still hasn't actually TRIED any of the new fonts, as she really doesn't care.  It just was a geeky thing to try.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I would like to thank everyone who helped so much, but especially to Betsy. I used your file, and everything worked beautifully. Thank you so much. I now have so many new fonts to plasy with. Oh boy. 

Steve


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## booklover888 (May 20, 2012)

Tabatha said:


> This is a NO ROOT/HACK that is super simple, and also works on the Touch. Also, the Charis modified font in Post #700 of that thread is a great dark font which you download, unzip, and then copy into the Fonts folder.
> 
> Here's a link that kinda explains more:
> 
> http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2353723#post2353723


That's the exact font I am using on my Paperwhite and Kindle Touch today. I think I like it!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

stevene9 said:


> I would like to thank everyone who helped so much, but especially to Betsy. I used your file, and everything worked beautifully. Thank you so much. I now have so many new fonts to plasy with. Oh boy.
> 
> Steve


Glad we could help, Steve! I learned a lot from the other posts here, too, so thanks to everyone. Love KBoards!

Betsy


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Wow, this is fun. So many more fonts to plaay with.

Steve


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Betsy
> *who still hasn't actually TRIED any of the new fonts, as she really doesn't care. It just was a geeky thing to try.


Ditto! LOL


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

Hmmm, I downloaded the file Betsy posted, but it says after I download, in the manager thingy on the bottom .txt after. 

Looking at properties it says its a text document .txt

Not sure if this is a good idea if I can't even get a file without the .txt. 

I may need some more tea first.  

eta: and let me just add that I did try to read the huge long thread over on mobile reads, but most of the talk is so technical and about where to get fonts and how to change them and what programs. I get whiplash from overload. 

I am starting to chicken out already. I'll get used to what I got on the PW. I have so much stress right now going on in my life that this might not be a good idea to try right now. Doesn't take much to push me over the edge at the moment.


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## Dragle (Dec 10, 2011)

Atuna, with as much stress as many of us have these days, I would say this is definitely not something to waste any time or energy on! You can always revisit this later if you get bored with the built-in fonts.


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

Atunah said:


> Hmmm, I downloaded the file Betsy posted, but it says after I download, in the manager thingy on the bottom .txt after.
> 
> Looking at properties it says its a text document .txt
> 
> ...


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Atunah, you might have something set so that when you download and try to open it -- which you can easily do with out completely realizing it -- it opens in a 'defualt' program.  Which might then have put the .txt extension.

I, too was able to d/l betsy's without the .txt extension but haven't put it on the Kindle yet.  I just got home from work and am still in decompression mode.  (And annoyed that I'll have to go in tomorrow when it's normally my day off -- but the End is in Sight so I'll manage.  )


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

So. . . feedback. . . .

I put betsy's file on my kindle and restarted it and, lo and behold, yes. . there are a bunch of new font choices!  Not sure any are a huge improvement to what was there before.  Some are even slimmer and paler I think.  But I'm going to give one or two a try and see what I think.

Most of them are smaller in that to get approximately the same sized print, you end up increasing from, say, size 3 to size 4.


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## Vicki G. (Feb 18, 2010)

I did this several months ago and I'm not great with this kind of stuff so what I did was print out the instructions and then took it step by step.  Somewhere one of the posters had the problem getting the file to save without the extension so someone created a file like that and posted it.  I copied that file and used it and the entire procedure worked as stated.  When my eyes are really tired I use the MT Chinese Surrogate.  My favorite font is still Caecilia and for some reason, it seems darker after adding this.  Who knows!!  But I now have a page full of font choices without a font hack. I still remember the days of the Kindle 2 when the contrast was so bad and I kept the Kindle hacked until the K3 was released!


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