i have sung the praises about the Kobo Libra 2 since purchasing it almost two years ago, shortly after its release—replacing my Kindle Oasis as my daily driver for consuming digital content.

Both ereaders use a 7” eink display but it is Rakuten’s Nickel software that elevates the Kobo past the Kindle IMO—its intuitive UX, more granular control of page layout and font control, and Calibre integration vastly distancing itself from its Kindle competition (for those interested in more than simply being served up books from Amazon’s store).

As someone obsessed with typography and readability—if not apparent from this site’s obsession with mono-dyslexic fonts—kobopatches completed the refinement of the Kobo Nickle UX for me. Until..

TL;DR Kobo Nickel provides a very polished ereader UX. For the ultimate control of econtent on the Kobo, however, KOReader can handle publisher corner cases that elude even kobopatches’ capabilities whilst providing more connectivity options and gesture controls to create an even mone fluid ereading experience—or depending on one’s point of view, deeper, if one savours delving into reading progress statistics and charts.

UPDATE: to gesture assignments (as personal reading habits dictate).

fast forward

and today i am firmly in the KOReader camp now. KOReader is often only cited for PDF content consumption on the Kobo—improving upon Kobo’s inbuilt PDF viewer—because its price of entry (learning curve, due not so much to difficulty as to breadth) seems unwarranted given Kobo Nickel’s already robust and intuitive UX.

What prompted this change was time (on my hands), Calibre integration with KOReader and the desire to add swipe control of the warm light (in addition to the stock front light control)—swipe control of the backlighting being a killer feature of the Kobo IMO, finding the automatic brightness control of the Kindle Oasis unusable. Time would later reveal a plethora of publishing control tweaks for the odd ebook which defied my preferred layout theme settings.

All it took was giving myself a day to wrap my head around KOReader’s organization. Yes, it took me a day to grok KOReader—to become familiar with the nested organization of menus to set the global defaults to achieve the “look” and workflow i desired. What took a lot of time going back and forth through menus until i had everything set up the way i wanted—with more refinement to be made, no doubt, as i log in the reading hours—has now produced an ereader UX that is ultimately transparent in use and even more streamlined than Kobo Nickel, nimbler (with Calibre too) and more powerful.

why

For the casual ereader user, this sort of investment is probably too steep to warrant the effort. But there is an audience for which KOReader can enhance both the delivery and consumption of digital content. In short, anyone reading this far might do well to consider KOReader, especially if you, like me, enjoy multiple books in your reading rotation.

This write-up’s length is not intended to emphasize KOReader’s complexity—it just sort of grew (as i returned to update it)—but it is easy to see how its breadth would test the impatient (myself included). As i hadn’t come across any single source covering a KOReader configuration use case, i figured i would do well just for my own reference—much of the length simply being tabular descriptions of the various settings that, once configured, produce an ereader transparent for my use case.

This document will be a useful reference (for me) for any future KOReader updates/installs.

the top menu system

after KOReader is installed and first launched from NickelMenu a quick guide will be presented illustrating the basic functionality of the app. Opening the file browser and selecting a book is straightforward enough but delving into the menu system to utilize KOReader’s full potential is daunting—mainly because, unlike the stock UI of a Kindle or even a Kobo, KOReader’s breadth is exhaustive.

What this requires is patience and a willingness to familiarize oneself with its menu structure—and not be distracted by all the functionality and extended capabilities it provides. It is laid out logically enough—just overwhelming in its granularity—the topmost icons (when opened while reading a document**) covering..

• current document**
• document settings**
• KOReader settings
• tools
• search settings
• file browser
• system

**The document related menus only show if the menu system is accessed from within a document. Logical but initially confusing until one is familiar with KOReader’s context oriented functionality.

Getting used to KOReader’s menu organization is key. It is the depth of these menu lists that challenges familiarity. If not for gestures, navigating KOReader would otherwise be repetitively painful but if one is willing to persist and slowly set KOReader up, it can become even more streamlined in operation than the much more limited Kindle or even stock Kobo device.

theme profiles

one of the features i missed on the Kobo was Kindle’s themes—document layout templates that could be applied to a document on the fly to change various fonts/size/contrast, header/footer content and margins/line spacing. Useful for switching between favourite setups for varying content.

From the bottom menu the document’s layout can be set..

• orientation
• margins
• rendering (line spacing)
• font size/spacing***
• font contrast (weight/kerning)
• publisher settings/optimizations

***The font typeface is selected from the top menu document settings. Custom fonts sideloaded to the Kobo fonts folder are available.

KOReader returns user themes to the Kobo platform. After tweaking the bottom menu font/layout settings, from the top menu tools, the current settings may be saved as named themes—useful for switching the “look” of a document simply by applying (“executing”) a theme.

global defaults

for many of the settings may be set with a long press of the menu item setting. These settings are applied to any newly opened document—each document retaining its own settings and adjustments separate from others on subsequent opens. This is a hugely useful persistent state when one has many books in one’s reading rotation.

As someone who has a particular “look” (font, margins, etc.) applied to all reading material, global defaults generally format the document as desired. When needed, top menu document settings may be applied to override publisher settings to “force” the desired look.

There are simple overrides for font sizes and line heights, as well as the ability to apply custom epub CSS formatting for even finer control—i have only had to resort to the simple overrides when the need arises. These simple overrides are a godsend for the pixel peeper, sparing much time that otherwise would be spent tweaking the font and line spacing to override publisher settings to match one’s default theme settings.

gestures

the left side Kobo brightness swipe control is one of my favourite features of the Libra 2. i was always curious why Rakuten did not implement a right sideswipe feature for controlling the warm light. Seemed logical to me.

Luckily, by default, KOReader adds warm light control just as one would expect. To those defaults i have added..

one finger swipe (dialogues - actions)..

The KOReader defaults for left/right side up/down swipe to adjust the frontlight/warmlight intensity have been kept—logical, convenient and one of the compelling reasons for using KOReader (in Kobo’s case for the warmlight control and in jailbroken Kindle’s for both). Similarly, the diagonal swipe across the screen in any direction to (default) refresh the screen of any ghosting artefacts has also been kept—a very handy shortcut (though, i will say that KOReader appears less prone to ghosting than the stock Nickel firmware).

All gestures can be configured/overwritten as one pleases to suit one’s use case—and easily tuned to meet one’s workflow. Gestures i have currently set (subject to change :)..

tap (actions)..

****Finger pinching/spreading allow on the fly (default) font resizing—useful for in book font changes. Restoring the default font size is much less frustrating to do with taps than the reverse finger action :) Note that multiple actions may be triggered by a single gesture.

long press (dialogues)..

Kobo implemented quick access to the last three books opened for multi-book readers. With one press into my book history, i can cycle through my usual rotation of three dozen books with just three finger presses (two if i didn’t read so many books at a time! :) Similarly, i can search for a book from my current book with just one finger swipe (see one finger swipe—it doesn’t get more streamlined than this.

two finger tap (dialogues / actions)..

i happen to prefer taps and presses versus finger swipes but there are many gesture methods available—double tap, two finger swipe, spread and pinch and multi-swipe. For power users with better memories and more complex use cases, one could probably eliminate navigating the menu system altogether!

NOTE: these assignments were previously double tap gestures but i found the timing somewhat tricky to get used to—the timing interval is user definable—often inadvertently triggering the single tap corner action instead. That said, the general population may find the default (or custom) interval settings work perfectly for them :)

double tap (dialogues / actions)..

Gesture shortcuts are absolute game changers. No more messing with multiple taps to start the next book, clear eink ghosting, etc. This available nimbleness just adds immeasurable delight to the e-reading experience and, ironically, hides the initial impediment of KOReader’s deep menu system.

NOTE: double tap gestures must be “enabled” from the settings -> taps and gestures menu.

dictionaries

are not by default installed so must be downloaded. A number of common stardict formatted dictionaries are available from KOReader’s top menu search for downloading.

While this may seem a step back from the Kindle and Kobo built-in dictionaries, it is in fact a boon. KOReader’s dictionary handling is superlative—allowing not only multiple dictionaries to be easily added (and side loaded) but displaying the search results across multiple dictionaries (versus the single dictionary allowance of the native ereaders). Useful for concurrent language handling and etymology buffs!

Furthermore, highlight searches of words within the dictionary search results allow endless lexical exploration.

status bars

KOReader provides extensive customization of the top and bottom status bars. They can be filled with numerous data fields (and disabled altogether) but i prefer a more minimalist look..

top bar (left / right)..

• author and book title
• time
• book page count
• battery
• progress bar with chapter ticks

bottom bar (centered)..

• chapter pages left
• wifi icon (displayed only if connected)
• chapter title

A customizable progress bar can be presented in the bottom status bar instead—i prefer the top bar’s pencil thin marker.

While the informational content i have chosen may look like a lot, it is, in fact, only a small selection of the information elements available. As minimalistic as what i had set up under Kobo Nickel/Clock but with a more reductionist presentation.

user customization

as KOReader is written in lua script, one may further customize its behaviour by modifying its installed source code. While this may sound daunting, pretty much the worst one can do is render KOReader inoperable, requiring a hard reboot into Nickel and reinstall of the application (though, i have not attempted to bork my device this way!).

To date i have changed (from the .apps/koreader/frontend directory)..

• both buttons to act as page forward in portrait orientation (independent of button side). This is a feature of kobopatches to the Nickel UX that i have become fond of for flexible single-handed ereader operation (preferring to use a screen tap for the rare occasion to page back)

• the highlight display duration of words—from 0.5 to 1.5 seconds—after the dictionary window (which often covers the word) is closed to relax the time available to spot my last reading position on the page

• change status bar “no separator” to double space for a more relaxed visual separation of information elements (versus distracting separator glyphs :)

• lower font size range minimum from 12pt to 11pt
• increase line height range maximum from 200% to 300%

As can be seen, i tend to tweak around the extremes—small font sizes with a touch of extra line spacing. My initial defaults started at 12.5pt font size with 200% line spacing—exhibit above—but has since been tweaked to 11.5pt at 205% for monospaced dyslexic fonts (for ease of highlighting).

Note: Editing the settings.reader.lua or profiles.lua file directly is an alternate way (and simpler for a single set of fixed values)—to set global/profile defaults outside the default ranges (which will persist as long as the settings are not subsequently altered via the bottom menu and saved as theme and/or set as global defaults).

Update: Line height from the above image has since been increased to 210% to further ease eye movement to the beginning of the next line (from the end of the previous). It is a highly personal setting but having been focused on typeface readability and reading effort, noticed a reduction in line hunting (which may be purely be an age related issue :)

This is just a sample of what can be done to tailor one’s ereading experience—thanks to the responsive KOReader community i was able to dig under the hood and locate the relevant lua scripts to modify. These changes only required editing a few lines of code with a text editor.

Note: These changes will require re-applying if/when KOReader is updated on the device—the application scripts being subsequently overwritten. There is a mechanism to apply “user” patches from a “patches” folder—which is not affected—but i have not yet invested the time clone to the relevant lines of code into functions for such a purpose. Regardless, for the few lines changed, it is still much less effort than the previous maintenance cycle required with my kobopatches customizations and each Kobo firmware update cycle.

history

the history view lists books that have been opened for reading. i remove books from the list on completion—a simple long press on the entry to pull up its action menu is all it takes—yielding a list of books in my reading rotation.

Whereas Kobo Nickel has a drop down of your last three books opened, i now with a swipe gesture can access my rotation of dozens of ebooks. It is a rotating list, the last book opened appearing at the top of the list. A single tap takes me to the last page of my list and i am good to go to select my next book. Easy peasy but bears mentioning for those who read multiple books or switch between multiple references.

Again, an example of how you can integrate the various views into your particular reading workflow.

calibre

When KOReader is first launched, books are accessed via the file browser by filename. But books sideloaded via Calibre can be accessed via their Metadata—by author, title, series and collections (tags).

Under Nickel the Calibre plugin KoboUtilities syncs the metadata and reading progress (if set up) automatically—the downside being the reading progress data taking a minute or so of time to upload if one’s on device catalogue is large (every book being scanned over usb). With KOReader, syncing is much faster due to reading progress stats of only “opened” unfinished books needing to be manually resynced.

Newly added books under Nickel are automatically added to Nickel’s UI—books, authors, series and collections—upon usb disconnect from Calibre*****. With KOReader, however, the Calibre database on the device must be updated after adding/updating books/metadate from Calibre’s device/update cached metadata action—KOReader access to the metadata must be setup once, via the top menu tools/calibre/search/manage/scan action.

The Calibre plugin KOReader Sync must be manually triggered to transfer the reading progress stats to Calibre’s database. There is a sync to the device—which i have not had need to test as of yet (waiting for the next gen Kobo Sage to be released where the library will be copied to :)

*****If books are added from Calibre from KOReader’s usb connection, Nickel’s catalogue must be manually updated via the books/import action—just to keep it synchronized (otherwise, the side loaded books, while visible to KOReader, will not show as having been sideloaded to the device the next time Calibre is launched).

screensaver

there are many different types of screensavers available to KOReader—book covers, image files, reading statistics..

But it stands worth pointing out one hugely beneficial and easily configured setting..

• personalized screensaver message

This allows you to place contact information on your screensaver should your precious device ever be lost, heaven forbid! Why this is not available on every ereader (not to mention portable electronic) device is puzzling. Just one more way KOReader focuses on the user.

Note: Nickel allows custom screensaver images placed in its screensaver folder—KOReader has its own screensaver folder. KOReader’s custom screensaver message is a great timesaver but i highly recommend one edit a screensaver image with contact information for Nickel so this image is available upon device reboot.

stability

Kobo users have reported on occasion, random device freezes/reboots with the Nickel UI related to sideloaded epub content. i have experienced this as well with some firmware releases seeming to be more stable than others—this has always been difficult to ascertain with ever changing epub/kepub reading material.

KOReader’s epub engine appears to be much more robust and immune to internal ebook CSS violations. Rock solid in fact. While only weeks since installation, i have not experienced a single hiccup with the software—and that is reading 3 to 5 hours daily with a rotation of 30 ebooks.

The added benefit is no longer needing to convert epubs to kepubs to obtain advanced ebook statistics (under Kobo Nickel)—keeping on device file sizes to a minimum and saving computer conversion time. Win win all around.

android

anticipating Ratta Supernote adding KOReader to their Android enote platform (at some point), i installed KOReader onto my Pixel 7 Android phone..

Custom fonts, dictionaries.. everything worked as expected. The customizations described for the Kobo are a bit more involved for the Android platform—the APK file needs to be unpacked (unzip), the appropriate files edited or added, then the directory tree repacked and the resultant APK installed.

i did this stock install and layout setup just to see how KOReader would look, and it looked exactly as expected. i did not attempt to implement my source code customizations simply because i would not personally use my phone for reading—despite its form factor, the smartphone with Corning Glass, metal body and protective case weighs significantly more than my Kobo Libra 2 ereader making single handed usage more awkward and less ergonomic. YMMV. But it can be done!

There are eink devices with this form factor but they currently cost significantly more than even the Kobo Sage (which also can be used as an enote device) so only meet a very specific use case. Now, if Rakuten were to issue a Kobo ereader in this form factor with better ergonomics and priced accordingly within their product offerings.. :)

early closing thoughts

After just a few weeks i can honestly say KOReader has elevated my ereading enjoyment beyond my wildest dreams. And this off-the-cuff write-up only scratches the surface of what is possible with KOReader. i have not touched upon the various views KOReader provides into reading progress statistics, document skimming, vocabulary review, bookmarks, epub CSS formatting, connectivity features (wireless Calibre, news feeds, ssh), etc. i doubt very much there is any feature missing for even the most hard core reader (though, obviously, ongoing development reflects ever expanding user functionality and refinement).

The beauty of the application is that one only needs to start using it—as initially daunting as it may be—and gradually discover the useful power one simply never had available on any other stock ereader.

And then there is the dev community and the frequent updates to refine and optimize the application—i can’t say enough about how “open” this software truly is. If you’ve ever thought that the promise of eink was in becoming your own epublisher—consuming econtent to your own layout design preferences and UX—then KOReader just may fit your bill.

i highly recommend it.

kindle oasis

since the initial draft of this post, i was able to jailbreak my Kindle Oasis—if one can avoid updating their recent Kindle’s firmware, eventually means are published to jailbreak the device before Amazon pushes out yet another firmware update patching such a security hole. It is an involved but straight forward process and, for anyone wishing more control over the UI, well worth the effort (although, one does give up direct device integration to their Amazon account).

KOReader functionality for Kindle hardware is slowly getting there. It is not as well integrated as on Kobo devices—for example, USB access requires exiting KOReader altogether and gesture control of the backlight/warmlight feels less responsive. (i am uncertain about some of the more “advanced” features of KOReader as the Kobo Libra is my primary ereader).

Launching KOReader on the Kindle requires navigating to the “Library” and opening (launching) the KUAL document. From there, one selects the “KOReader” and, voila, you now can enjoy the best ereading software.

The folder structure of KOReader remains identical, so fonts and patches can be applied similarly.

production environment

platform

• Debian Linux
• Alpine Linux

the darnedest thing

• Sinatra web application DSL
• kramdown markdown syntax converter
• Slim template engine
• XapianFu full text indexing library
• Magnific Popup
• lightbox

comments processing

• Ruby Mail library
• Gmail spam filtering

web server

• Nginx HTTP server
• Caddy HTTP server
• Phusion Passenger application server
• Puma web server

hosting services

• Servarica VPS provider
• FatCow Domain Name registrar

development environment

platform

• Debian “sid” Linux
• Arch Linux, testing repos
• Alpine Linux
• Notion window manager
• Xmonad window manager
• bspwm dynamic tiling window manager
• herbstluftwm manual tiling window manager

mail processing

• OfflineImap IMAP synchronization
• mbsync mail agent
• Dovecot IMAP Server
• IMAPFilter mail filtering
• Notmuch mail indexer
• sup mail client
• Notmuch-vim mail client plugin
• alot mail client
• aerc mail client

writing tools

• helix** editor
• vim editor
  • vimwiki wiki/markdown plugin
  • vimroom distraction free mode plugin
  • LiteDFM distraction free mode plugin
  • Goyo distraction free mode plugin
  • Limelight visual hyper focus writing plugin

**Transitioning to the helix modal editor as my daily driver with its object/action editing model (versus vim’s action/object approach). It’s good to exercise the neural pathways :)

walk about journalware

tools

• Fuji XPro-3 digital camera
• Fuji X100T/X100, Sigma DP1 digital cameras
• Olympus LS10 pcm recorder
• Canon 10x30IS and 12x36IS II binoculars
• Acer D255E netbook
• Supernote A5X

thoughtware

• Kyuseido Kakari FS Titanium with Sankukusen (Naginata Togi) nib—this writing instrument is my grail
• Gravitas Pocket Dropper and Opus 88 Demonstrator fontain pens—eye droppers with translucent ink reservoirs :)—with Franklin-Christoph S.I.G. nibs
• Pelikan Souverän fountain pen
• Moleskine notebooks
• Galen Leather notebooks
• mapachos, pipe, zippo
• Kali girl
• Daisy girl

koreader is a comprehensive ereader app. There is very little to want for it. The degree of end user control it provides is so vast, many who install KOReader are quickly overwhelmed by the plethora of menu options, only to return to their device’s much simpler and familiar native ereader platform. (i can be counted in as one myself, having installed and uninstalled it many times before affording it a deeper look).

Before KOReader, i merrily updated my kobopatches customizations with every Kobo Libra 2 firmware update—kudos to the devs who manage to roll out the updated kobopatches the same day the firmware updates roll out. KOReader changed all that because the margin, font and line spacing tweaks i made with kobopatches were unnecessary with KOReader.

If i could do nothing with KOReader, i would not feel my ereading experience lacking. It exceeds all the expectations one can have of an ereader application (certainly for me—there are many features i have yet to use. The screenshot below is a first time use)! But its LUA code foundation does allow one to look under the hood. So the inevitable happened..

lua changes

there were several items i wanted to tweak to further refine my personal ereading experience with KOReader..

• Often times, the highlighted word for a dictionary lookup is hidden by the dictionary popup window. i wanted to increase the highlight delay so that after the popup clears, these senior eyes have sufficient time to relocate the highlighted word.

• i like both my page turn buttons to page forward. This allows changing hand positions over the course of long reading sessions and using either button for advancing the page no matter which hand is being used or how the device is being held. The odd time i need to go back a page, i leave to tapping the screen.

• i like to read at small font sizes with suitable line spacing for maximum readability, so needed to extend the ranges available to tweak the “proofing” layout i prefer to read with—from 12pt to 10pt for fonts and from 200% to 300% for line spacing.

• And from a UI perspective, i wanted to apply my reading font to the statusbar and alt-statusbar for visual uniformity. i also prefer the statusbar separator to be spaces (versus glyphs for minimal visual noise) and wanted to control its width to clearly separate the information elements.

After poking around the code (with some help from the devs and others more intimate with the code) i was able to identify and modify the following source files..

The bulk of the effort spent was actually consumed in locating the relevant source code files—tools like ack, ag (the silver searcher), etc. for doing string searches through folders of source code are your friend. The code changes themselves were trivial :)—the changes are more self-evident in the user patch explanations below.

drift font book and statusbars

As before with kobopatches, i found myself updating the requisite source code files after each KOReader update. Updating KOReader was not as pressing since the application was already fulfilling everything i could have asked of it. But just to keep current and take advantage of any performance improvements..

It became quickly apparent that my customizations touched only stable areas of code which remained unchanged after subsequent updates (save for one syntax change in the latest update). Enter..

user patches

which provide a mechanism to override or add even, functionality to KOReader and are not overwritten by software updates. Anything that breaks is apparent at KOReader relaunch identifying the patch in question—i still check the updated sources and, so far, have come across only one syntactic change which i could have ignored.

The biggest challenge i found was identifying the lua “requires” modules (sources) that define the KOReader functions called within the patch. Most often, these references are easily pulled from the original source whose function is being modified. Sometimes, though, culling the source code base with a string search engine for a function or data element keyword is necessary to identify the possible candidates. (It gets easier with each additional user patch one is inspired to create)!

It is initially daunting, the code base being so large. But soon the branch of code relevant to one’s needs becomes apparent. In my case, with everything being UI related, all the changes resided in the “frontend” branch. The only head scratcher that tripped me up was a reference to a “settings.reader.lua” file. Search as i might on the KOReader git source, this file could not be found! Turned out, it is created on the device on launch. Doh!

Some patches merely required overriding a data element. KOReader would take care of the rest. Other patches required bundling the whole function that had a single hard coded setting i wished to override.

The following user patches may look complicated but very few statements are modified or added by me. Note the “requires” statments and the functions they reference. The numeric source code prefix designates triggering after the KOReader UIManager is ready—see the wiki.

2-dictionary-close-highlight-delay.lua

a simple copy of the original KOReader function with the hard coded delay increased from 0.5 seconds..

local Event = require("ui/event") local UIManager = require("ui/uimanager") local DictQuickLookup = require("ui/widget/dictquicklookup") DictQuickLookup.onClose = function(self) for menu, _ in pairs(self.menu_opened) do UIManager:close(menu) end self.menu_opened = {} UIManager:close(self) if self.update_wiki_languages_on_close then if not self.results.no_result then self.ui:handleEvent(Event:new(“UpdateWikiLanguages”, self.wiki_languages)) end end if self.highlight and not no_clear then local clear_id = self.highlight:getClearId() UIManager:scheduleIn(1.5, function() <– from 0.5 seconds delay self.highlight:clear(clear_id) end) end return true end

The patch may appear disproportionate to the single hard coded value that could otherwise be edited directly in the original source code. But it is a one time effort and well worth it IMO. It is the same for all the other user patches.

2-fontsize-linespacing.lua

two sources are referenced in this user patch wrapper. The first part sets the new fontsize and linespacing ranges..

local min_fontsize = 10 <-- point size local max_linespacing = 300 <-- percent local CreOptions = require("ui/data/creoptions") CreOptions[3].options[4].more_options_param.value_max = max_linespacing CreOptions[4].options[2].more_options_param.value_min = min_fontsize The second part updates the corresponding UI popups and their allowable input values to the new ranges.. local Screen = require("device").screen local Event = require("ui/event") local Notification = require("ui/widget/notification") local T = require("ffi/util").template local _ = require("gettext") local ReaderFont = require("apps/reader/modules/readerfont") function ReaderFont:onSetFontSize(size) size = math.max(min_fontsize, math.min(size, 255)) <– from 12pt min self.configurable.font_size = size self.ui.document:setFontSize(Screen:scaleBySize(size)) self.ui:handleEvent(Event:new(“UpdatePos”)) Notification:notify(T(_(“Font size set to: %1.”), size)) return true end function ReaderFont:onSetLineSpace(space) space = math.max(50, math.min(space, max_linespacing)) <– from 200% max self.configurable.line_spacing = space self.ui.document:setInterlineSpacePercent(space) self.ui:handleEvent(Event:new(“UpdatePos”)) Notification:notify(T(_(“Line spacing set to: %1%.”), space)) return true end

2-page-forward-buttons.lua

this user patch simply redefines the mapping table for button actions in their corresponding 360 degree portrait/landscape device orientations..

local logger = require("logger") local Device = require("device") Device.input.rotation_map = { [0] = { RPgBack = “RPgFwd” }, <– from {} [1] = { Up = “Right”, Right = “Down”, Down = “Left”, Left = “Up”, LPgBack = “LPgFwd”, LPgFwd = “LPgBack”, RPgBack = “RPgFwd”, RPgFwd = “RPgFwd” }, <– from RPgFwd = “RPgBack” [2] = { Up = “Down”, Right = “Left”, Down = “Up”, Left = “Right”, LPgFwd = “LPgBack”, LPgBack = “LPgFwd”, RPgFwd = “RPgFwd”, RPgBack = “RPgFwd” }, <– from RPgFwd = “RPgBack” [3] = { Up = “Left”, Right = “Up”, Down = “Right”, Left = “Down”, RPgBack = “RPgFwd” }, <– from default RPgBack = “RPgBack” } logger.info("Hardware button rotation disabled by user patch")

2-statusbar-font.lua

this patch sets the statusbar and alt-statusbar font to the document’s default font..

local DataStorage = require("datastorage") local G_reader_settings = require("luasettings"):open(DataStorage:getDataDir() .. "/settings.reader.lua") local fontface = G_reader_settings:readSetting("cre_font") The alt-statusbar requires just the font family name be set.. local CreDocument = require("document/credocument") CreDocument.header_font = fontface <-- alt-statusbar font The statusbar requires the corresponding font source and locates the matching filename from KOReader’s fonts folder.. local Font = require("ui/font") names = { "-book.ttf", "-book.otf", "-regular.ttf", "-regular.otf" } for _, n in pairs(names) do local f = io.open(DataStorage:getDataDir() .. “/fonts/” .. fontface .. n, “r”) if f ~= nil then <– font source exists io.close(f) local fontsource = fontface .. n <– statusbar font filename for k, _ in pairs(Font.fontmap) do if k == “ffont” then Font.fontmap[k] = fontsource elseif k == “smallffont” then Font.fontmap[k] = fontsource elseif k == “largeffont” then Font.fontmap[k] = fontsource end end break end end

NOTE: KOReader’s .sdr file for the opened document contains the current font settings for the document. The alt-statusbar font may require a reset of the document settings (from the top menu) to re-initialize the settings to the desired font.

2-statusbar-separator.lua

this final patch simply bypasses KOReader’s function and returns the desired separator, in this case, a single space—this pads KOReader’s default spacing for “no separator”. It could easily be modified to return any glyph string..

local ReaderFooter = require("apps/reader/modules/readerfooter") ReaderFooter.get_separator_symbol = function(self) return “ “ end

NOTE: This patch overrides any glyph choices made with the statusbar separator UI dialogue.

The result of all this..

Examined closely, the statusbars reflect the document’s reading font. (i admit, one has to be, perhaps, more than a touch anal to object to a contrasting header/footer font.. :)

koreader portability

Is this effort worth it? i feel so. KOReader continues to be enhanced and updated regularly. But there is more!

On tha Kobo and jail broken Kindle, KOReader’s lua source code is accessible for direct modification—useful for testing before deciding whether or not to create a user patch. On Android devices, however, user patches are the only means for implementing such customizations, short of rebuilding the Android apk altogether.

With the exact same user patches in Android’s KOReader patches folder..

Voila!

You might have noticed the wide left/right margins used on the Oasis. As a result of trying out a similar line width as might be expected on a candy bar shaped device (looking at you, Boox Palma) i went to a 50 character line width for acclimatization—at the lower end of the 45-75 character width spectrum for optimal reading consumption—and discovered i quite like that newspaper like column format (remember when news was leisurely consumed over a morning coffee and a folded paper?).

This opens the door to exploring reading on other platforms exactly the way i want. KOReader never ceases to impress. And i, for one, am truly indebted to those involved who have created this application for dedicated ereaders eveywhere.

repos

the above user patches may be found in my dotfiles under the koreader folder.

following hot on the recent cell width tunings for the serifless capital I and lower case l, comes the adrift font with cell width adjustments for the lower case hooked glyphs..

adrift is essentially the drift font with the descending capital I unique to the typefaces produced on this site—its name at six characters to differentiate it from the regular I cap height of the other fonts in my rotation.

The descending capital I adds an anchor point to the font and makes the letter stand out even more, especially in first person narratives. In headings it takes some getting used to—but each to their own.

More importantly..

cell widths

as an advocate of monospaced fonts for the uniform visual cadence they provide for reading, glyph set combinations have largely settled down in this exploration of high readability fonts using non-mirrored asymmetric glyph shapes.

This culminated in the base set of fonts drift, draft, stria and patio. With glyph sets combinations having possibly come to an end(!), attention has returned to the visual density of these (largely) monospaced fonts.

With the subtle refinement offered by the extended width upper and lower case M W and the narrowed width of serifless capital I and serifless lower case l, serifless and hooked glyph spacing for combinations of the lower case i and l began to stand out more. Thus, the following cell width adjustment for the above fonts..

**See adrift below

These subtle cell width adjustments render a more uniform visual density while maintaining the overall visual cadence afforded monospaced fonts (perhaps marking the conclusion of this font journey! :)

The proportions are derived purely from visual experimentation at the very small font sizes i happen to read at. Future eye sight requirements for reading at larger font sizes may necessitate revisiting the values applied.

repos

These cell width adjusted fonts may be found on OneDrive.

The previous font sets have been moved to the “archive” folder.

Kindle specific fonts with wider line spacing adjustments (to accommodate Kindle’s limited layout control) are no longer generated—finally jail broke my Oasis and installed KOReader. These fonts may still be used on Kindles, just limited to the devices’ line spacing options.

adrift

is offered in the repos with the more common serifed capital I as well (rather than differentiating this glyph set from the descending capital I variant with yet another font name—the rationale being that preferences will be for one glyph set or the other and, most likely, the more familial serifed flavour).

In a way, from a nomenclature perspective, adrift derives itself more directly from the drift and draft fonts, adding the serifed capital I from draft to drift :)

tired eyes are an effective test of typeface readability. Even a favourite font gets more closely scrutinized under less than ideal reading conditions in the wee hours of the night.

And so it was with the licht. i favour this font for its clean geometric simplicity and optimal air between letters. It is a monospaced font (for the most part) with slightly tuned side bearing for its vertical stroke i l glyphs to yield a very unforced typeface.

However, at the very small font sizes i read at, and under less than ideal lighting conditions, the serifless lower case i often looks less distinct. Context, of course, is never a problem comprehending words but the visual impact causes visual jitter.. like a double take. It is for the most part unnoticeable but there—at least, i perceive it to be.

The remedy: to tweak the font, of course! Now, the grote font addresses this very effectively but i have developed a fondness for the radically unique reversed asymmetric t of the licht font. So enter the..

lucid font

which is simply the grote font with a reversed asymmetric t..

The change from the serifless lower case i back to the serifed glyph which has been present in all the fonts created (until licht) is sufficient to restore its legibility in i l letter combinations—the forest for the trees—when small font sizes challenge visual acuity. There is no denying the dot separation afforded by the glyph’s hook.

This simple fix led to another, in this case, influenced by recent changes to my coding font. The..

drift font

breaks my recent predilection towards the unique descending capital I with a standard height serifless I and the addition of the serifed hook lower case l..

similar to the serifed hook of the lower case i. The upper hook of the l adds air to its base and adjacent letters (unlike the lower tail used with prior fonts). With the reversed asymmetric t, these three glyphs all “point” in the same direction, imparting a sense of flow or direction and movement to the printed text. Hence, its name :)

The serifed l also allows the re-introduction of the standard height serifless capital I (a big bonus for those all caps headings and those who find the unique descending capital too radical). Despite my general aversion to serifed glyphs, this combination works surprisingly well, providing maximum visual separation from the serifless capital I.

This font is highly readable—i would rank it the equal of stria (or even a hair above it with the added air of the glyph set. YMMV)—with its additional distinctive serifs. My current source code font differs little from this glyph set—adding a serifed capital I, vertical-crossing Q and serifed 1 (one) for the maximum legibility required of coding fonts.

Its high readability may very well elevate it to the top of my font list for the palm readers i am considering, on which i would use even smaller font sizes.

draft font

it didn’t take long and after less than two weeks another capital I lower case l combination emerged..

The draft font with its serifed capital I and the serifless lower case l (el). This font is the static counterpart to drift and yet another typeface with a standard height capital I.

Its “look” feels almost transparent in character as essentially the lucid font without the distinctive descending capital I. Perhaps it is the change up after such a long period of descending caps that i find this font quite refreshing. It has a very neutral character yet retains all the subtle non-mirrored glyph tweaks and is effortless to read with.

Then it was apparent: these two fonts come full circle back to the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font which began this exploration of typefaces and readability. Okay.. maybe a stretch when one considers all the changes since the elimination of mirrored glyph shapes for enhanced readability—the few personal minimalist (stroke) capital glyph choices and the reversed asymmetric t—but the “spirit” is there, even if my personal aesthetic is firmly stamped on these fonts.

It is apropos that its name should be “draft”. Emphasizing the line spacing format that promotes proofing :)

On the readability scale, both fonts score very evenly, though the hooked l of the drift font edges out draft (IMO. Though aesthetics may lean towards the serifless l of draft. YMMV). On KOReader i currently use draft for the header/footer and either for content—though, i am certain the descending I will find its was back into the rotation as well. For now it is a change up to standard height fonts :)

~   ~   ~

repos

These asymmetric font variants may be found on OneDrive. The licht font and similarly serifless tweaked fonts may be found in its separate folder for both the Kindle and Kobo ereaders.

The Kobo set applies a line height spacing of 1x for a more universal application—such as for KOReader. The Kindle set applies a 1.9x line height to achieve an appropriate line spacing for optimal readability.

the visual geometric minimalism and “flow” of the asymmetric lower case t propelled the grote font to the default ereading font with KOReader.

Its geometric form invited experimentation with its orientation—counter to the convention for the glyph—well.. just because i could. The original glyph shape expressed an outward (right direction) flow, especially as the last letter of words, but has a somewhat abrupt edge as the leading letter of words.

Flipping the glyph along its vertical axis reverses this creating a distinct terminator but with a more geometrically satisfying (IMO) lead in character with its x-height horizontal arm (which most lower case letters end in glyph height).

As the second most frequent letter and most frequent bigram and trigram—with th and the—with the added pleasing rise to the lower case h, this single mirrored glyph shape alters the character of the grote font dramatically. Enter the..

licht font

formerly named “lythe” when originally released but since renamed (just because.. fickle) once it became my default reading font..

The lower case i j lose their serifs to increase visual separation from the “flipped” asymmetric t. This bumps the legibility of the font down a notch from the grote font—but in return, creates a geometric dyslexic font with a full sans serif glyph set.

The font suffers on lower resolution displays such as typical computer monitors—with the serifless lower case i j—but excels on 300 PPI ereaders and smartphone displays. Despite this, elements of this font have made their way into the webfonts for this site—licht having become ubiquitous on my desktop system.

NOTE: subsequent releases of these fonts have all moved to a serifless lower case j, its shape being distinct from its flat hook capital.

serifless cell width

the serifless descending capital I and lower case i l show significant side bearing (visual space) due to the letter frequency and especially in combination—being essentially single vertical stroke glyphs within fixed monospaced cell widths.

The licht font marks a departure from its predecessors with a modest 0.85x** cell width applied to these three glyphs in order to render a slightly more uniform visual density which also aids in word separation recognition—with the added benefit of increased page content.

This minor adjustment largely masks the monospaced nature of the font whilst retaining all of its reading benefit. (Variants of the grote, stria and patio fonts have since been created with the appropriate serifless cell widths applied).

**A tighter cell width more in line with the side bearing of the o (oh) glyph was not applied in keeping with the general monospaced character of the font, to maintain the uniform visual cadence of (and illusion of) monospaced fonts.

readability

dyslexic ranking is not determined by measurable metrics—dyslexia itself being a highly personal condition. So.. this ranking of the fonts now in rotation is purely rationalized with a measure of “feel” or experience staring countless hours—cumulative days—at these fonts.

All the fonts sport the baseline of asymmetric glyphs and differ in embellishments to yield their differing “character”..

stria as the first font to introduce the asymmetric t holds the first position with its lower case serifed i j and, hooked and tailed l t y. The hooks and tails, in particular, aid in anchoring their letters to the character floor. The serifed letters emphasize the “dot” and add sufficient width to the glyph to fill out its cell width so as not appear isolated from adjacent glyphs.

grote introduces the descending capital I and the serifless lower case l. To my eyes, there is no issue distinguishing between the two letters. YMMV. The geometric asymmetric t further distinguishes the font.

licht with its serifless glyph set will be the domain for those with the visual acuity to distinguish the “dot” of the i j in particular. But i love this font for its utter simplicity of glyph shapes. The modestly tightened side bearing of the serifless capital I and lower case i l maintain the font’s monospaced feel while increasing page word density a smidgen—a win win!

patio has a very early “school” feel to it with its serifed capital I and crossed t. The single storey a loses out to its more common double storey glyph but this yields an otherwise very classic typeface.

***lathe is a recent addition being essentially the licht font with the single storey a. It was created purely for the single storey a—to satisfy a Bauhaus typeface urge—and not for readability :-) The single storey a loses marks for its “o” like glyph shape but its openness is also compelling at times. Not a font for tired eyes but i often enjoy it for the minimalist shape, particularly with many common bigram combinations.

~   ~   ~

As the original asymmetric fonts took some time to adjust to, so does the licht font again, due to its unfamiliar glyph shape—more so, in fact. It took me a good day of reading to get used to reversed asymmetric t—its lead in shape, though, more than compensates and feels almost like a kerned glyph.

i like this font a lot. As a sans serif and geometric font. And for the distinctiveness of the font. The “normal” asymmetric t of the stria and grote fonts feel more natural—and i am certain most will gravitate towards stria, in particular—but i am not certain how much of that is a pattern of familiarity.

With each day, the reversed asymmetric t feels less unusual and it sits well if not better, most everywhere else (IMO). Between the descending capital I and the reversed asymmetric t, there is no font like it. Unique in its glyph set while at the same time being highly readable (and pleasing, to these eyes).

As always, YMMV.

final notes

i hesitate to use the word final but these last changes, especially with the tightened cell width for the serifless I i l glyphs, feel like the end of the font journey is nigh. i say this because i am pleased with these last four fonts and am quite prepared to read with them exclusively for some time to come.

One thing has come to light as these fonts have been shared for feedback: the latter fonts, in particular, have been driven—the asymmetric t especially and the caps selections—by my personal aesthetic versus pure glyph shape readability for the visually impaired. Serifs, hooks, tails and corners can add distinguishing features to a glyph as well as anchoring its orientation—and that my drive towards glyph shape minimalism and a particular aesthetic is not necessarily beneficial towards this readability which was the drive for the earlier font explorations.

It is quite likely, that some of the earliest fonts created—those more closely based on the initial Atkinson Hyperlegible Font glyph set with dyslexic adjustments—are the most readable from a pure glyph shape perspective. In other words, the evolution of fonts on this site has probably been more beneficial for me alone versus the population at large. Certainly, the ever tightening word spacing over time reflects this.

Towards that end, i really do encourage one to play with creating fonts for one’s reading needs. You understand your visual needs best.

repos

These asymmetric font variants may be found on OneDrive. The licht font and similarly serifless tweaked fonts may be found in its separate folder for both the Kindle and Kobo ereaders.

The Kobo set applies a line height spacing of 1x for a more universal application—such as for KOReader. The Kindle set applies a 1.9x line height to achieve an appropriate line spacing for optimal readability.

“flat” fonts and the asymmetric lower case t have become my main focus of late—the increased air between lines taking precedence over earlier typefaces using extended/descending glyphs. A different feel that i have settled on for small font sizes on ereaders.

tl;dr Typeface differences..

asymmetry

The typefaces created on this site applied increasingly, dyslexic glyph choices to eliminate mirrored glyph shapes to enhance readability, culminating in..

For the lower case b d p q..

For the lower case m n u..

For the lower case f t..

The asymmetric lower case t is a glyph choice i would not have made a year ago—it being a radical departure from the ubiquitous cross, so much so, the flat-tailed shape evaded comparison to the lower case f (and probably why, for a time, several font variations favoured the extended f). Its minimalist geometry and air appear to be even easier—to my eyes, at least—to identify. Word recognition feels faster and more effortless. It has a sense of “velocity” versus the more anchored static look of the cross—a preference which is highly personal.

The benefit of non-mirrored glyph shapes not only for dyslexia but for visual processing in general, is most apparent in words containing combinations of what would otherwise be mirrored glyphs shapes. Non-mirrored glyphs do not tax our visual cortex which our mind constantly seeks to find patterns with—fewer neural cycles are consumed to separate their shapes and meaning, subtly relaxing the visual effort and quickening word recognition.

air

For visual air to adjacent letters..

The toothless lower case a was a late discovery—the toothed glyph shape being universally imprinted. The touch of added air to the base of the letter is noticeable when preceding the left vertical stroke of the lower case letters h k m n p r t—especially at small font sizes—lessening the visual density to the eye. (From a dyslexic perspective, the loss of the tooth as an anchor point may be a negative for some—for which case, the earlier typefaces may be preferable).

All told, these dyslexic glyph choices comprise roughly 40% of both the English alphabet and usage by words and letters for a substantial impact to the reading effort and legibility.

Monospaced cell width promotes an even visual cadence for the eyes—the M W glyphs being an exception with their 1.25x cell width to render more appealing proportions (versus their commonly “squished” representations with strict monospaced coding fonts).

Increasing word separation also enhances readability. Starting at double (cell width) Space, the word spacing of subsequent font variations has slowly tightened to 1.15x cell width—the reduction more a matter of aesthetic page density whilst maintaining adequate word separation.

Adequate line height—a minimum of 1.5x line height—is also recommended for maximum readability.

grote font

the grote font with its toothed-hookless capital G, open capitals B P R and 4, and distinctive descending serifless capital I is a nod to sans serif geometric typefaces..

The descender adds presence to the singular glyph stroke of the capital I to easily distinguish it from the serifless lower case l (for these eyes). The downside being the descender in all caps titles, phrases and Roman Numerals—some may find it difficult to get used to (whereas, i find it a unique flair. YMMV).

stria font

stria returns with its flat-tailed lower case l, flat-hook-asymmetric lower case t and straight-turn lower case y and its heritage from earlier fonts, influenced by the embellishments of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font. The former serifed capital I (which was “unnecessarily distinct” with this glyph set—not a bad thing when it comes to dyslexia) is replaced with the serifless capital as the complement to the flat-tailed lower case l..

This font is easy on the eyes with its graceful hooks and tails—and, i suspect, the most accessible of the font trio (even with its asymmetric t).

patio font

a complement to the asymmetric duet is the patio font with its single-storey lower case a. With three simple glyph changes (from grote), this typeface has a very classic feel with its serifed capital I and familiar hookless-cross lower case t and scholastic single-storey a..

The elementary font with its single-storey a was, during its time, one of my favourite fonts for reading. Against the earlier typefaces, it stood out for its airier lines of text, the lower case a letter combinations benefitting from the glyph’s open shape.

While a fan of the asymmetric lower case t, the hookless-cross and serifed capital I with their more anchored presence better balance the static shape of the single-storey a—at least, to these eyes.

All told, the high legibility of this font trio provides a broad typeface style range to choose from. Previous font sets (for me) tended to have a visually dominant font—this trio feels more even, with each font expressing a unique character. YMMV.

~   ~   ~

The capital I glyph shape has always been the difficult design choice—the serifless glyph with its clean geometry, always challenged by the lower case l (and 1) for legibility. Finally, i think! i may have found glyph sets that mate best visually and aesthetically (pour moi, at least) each of the descending-serifless, serifless and serifed expressions of this letter.

Add to that, after exclusive use of the Atkinson Hyperlegible font’s flat-hooked lower case t over many generations of fonts, this font trio further separates itself with the glyph in cross, hooked- and hookless-asymmetric shapes—making these fonts feel very different from their early predecessors.

i’ve stated far too many times that i have reached the end of this dyslexic font exploration. Barring a complete glyph set direction, however, i may “finally finally!” have found a font trio that will remain untouched on my ereaders for the months to come (though, my kids always roll their eyes when i ship my latest font releases to them for their ereaders :).

As always, YMMV.

repos

These asymmetric font variants may be found on OneDrive.

still more font changes. Though, it feels like the journey has finally reached an end, near full circle to a geometric sans serif font.

While the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font played a large role in the various typefaces created here, it is the abandonment of the various hooks towards starker strokes—of the grote font—that now find favour with my ereading.

A return to the Bauhaus geometric tradition. Some glyph anchoring provided by hooked strokes is lost but added air is gained in the monospaced cells. The asymmetrical lower case t completes this minimalist expression. (Only the serifed lower case i j remain, the top serif more clearly emphasizing the glyphs’ dot).

While a somewhat stark font, i have found it to be a highly legible font, seemingly easier to read at speed—due to its air and minimalist glyph shapes which lessen the visual effort. (The web font here differs with the vertical crossing capital Q due to the lower resolution of computer monitors).

It has been a year of changes under this visual surface. A move to Alpine Linux for the server and development platforms. And to Helix from the Vim editor—this may not seem like much, but for someone who has written with Vim forever for everything, it is a huge shift (welcome in the change it brings with its unfamiliarity and new tricks to learn). A good year of changes.

this topic will be short—a strong indicator that the dyslexic font variants presented on this site is coming to an end :)

When the dyslexic font exploration began, a word spacing of Space 2x was used for maximum word separation. This spacing in subsequent font generations narrowed to 1.667x 1.5x 1.333x and finally Space M with the introduction of the quasi-extended monospace fonts. This site currently uses Space M word spacing.

Introducing..

space 1.15x

which is tighter still than Space M (which is the equivalent of Space 1.25x). To my eyes on 300 PPI ereaders, this feels a more natural word spacing whilst keeping a measure of dyslexic word separation—the visual line scan has a more even cadence with less of a jump to the next word. This appears to be resolution dependent, as i still find Space M on the site comfortable.

This works for me and presents a more “normal” page density. But depending on individual dyslexia, the wider word spacings may be preferable.

The repos now carry a set of fonts with Space 1.15x. The Emdash and Ellipsis have also been tightened to Space 2.15x widths for these fonts.

font names

with the recent introduction of the groot font, i have for the Space 1.15x fonts, renamed the umu and upsilon fonts to mudra and tundra respectively—the lower case a for these two fonts is clealy distinguished in the font menu facsimiles.

These three fonts along with the mu font comprise my ereader font rotation. groot is the “flattened” typeface with only** the traditional lower case descenders g j p q y. mudra and tundra are the descending typefaces with their descending caps I J T Y and extended lower case f—differing only in their toothless double-storey and single-storey lower case a. The mu font sits between with its descending caps I J and extended lower case f. These four fonts all use the unique hookless capital G and straight Q.

Sometimes i like the clean line spacing emphasis the groot font presents. More often than not, it’s the more distinctive serifless descending capital I of the mu font. Other times, the flourish of the descending caps of the mudra and tundra fonts. As always, YMMV.

**After extended reading with the original groot typeface, the serifless capital I was replaced with the much more distinct and legible descending capital glyph.

repos

The current ereader fonts may be found on OneDrive.

space 1.125x

tightening the word spacing still further are the latest duet of grote and stria fonts with their distinctive asymmetric lower case t glyphs—stria with its hooked glyph and Atkinson Hyperlegible origins and grote with its angular hookless glyph as a departure towards a purer geometric serifless font (sans hooks and other glyph embellishments for a more open and minimalist typeface).

Optimal word separation is highly dependent on the individual reader—some still find the earlier fonts with 2x spacing works best for them. Meanwhile, font development on this site has gravitated towards narrower spacings coinciding with the adoption of quasi-proportional cell widths for the M W glyphs.

As the fonts represented here have evolved towards maximum air between adjacent glyphs and more geometric shapes, tightening of word spacing produces a more familiar page word density whilst still maintaining the needed cognitive separation—for these eyes, at least.

As always, YMMV.

The asymmetrical lower case t of the groot and related fonts is, quite possibly, the final glyph substitution (available from the Iosevka project) to aid dyslexic readability. groot IMO is both a beautiful and highly legible font with its dyslexic glyph choices (though, some may prefer earlier glyph choice combinations that have been created :).

Up until now, all the fonts described here have all been derived from the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, with problematic glyph shapes tweaked for dyslexia. Ever passionate about the early Bauhaus period of font design, in particular, with the Futura font and its contemporary, the Jost font, i decided to create the grote font which edges ever more towards these sans serif fonts with maximal openness and geometric simplicity. Notably, the character cell filling “hook” of the lower case l and t are replaced with serifless glyph shapes to reflect a more grotesque heritage..

Similarly, the straight-turn of the lower case y simply becomes straight—aligning with the Bauhaus flavor of the font, further distancing from its Atkinson Hyperlegible origins. The lower case q does continue to retain its hook as part of the b d p q dyslexic glyph set—dyslexic readability still a focus of the font.

The serifless lower case l which is indistinguishable with the serifless capital I of the Futura font is clearly avoided by the grote font’s unique descending capital I. Strikingly, the familiar serifless crossed lower case t (of Futura) is replaced with the asymmetrical hookless glyph—which is less “dense” than the traditional crossed t, creating an even more open typeface (when combined with the serifless lower case l)—albeit, at the expense of familiarity (though, arguably more distinct).

It is stark with its geometric emphasis and has a completely different feel to the groot font. The added air emphasizes the sans serif sensation (even if the lower case i j are not—these remain serifed for maximum readability at small font sizes, the serif distinguishing their dot)..

The hookless asymmetric t takes a bit of reading time to get used to, being an uncommon glyph shape. But the increased openness produced with its utter geometric simplicity and the visual motion of its shape impart a heightened sans serif look. The loss of the glyph hooks, turns and crossing strokes which are present in the Atkinson Hyperlegible font—the capital G, lower case l t y and 4—open up the grote font significantly (even compared to the groot font), strengthening its geometric cast—this does come with a somewhat reduced legibility for the visually impaired. The open capitals B P R and 4 complete the modern flair of the typeface.

It is not a typeface for everyone, unlike groot or stria—which is a lovely complement to the grote—which i am certain will have broader appeal. Before these font explorations, Futura was my go to typeface on my ereader. Now it feels like i have come full circle and then some. i’ve been reading with it for several days now nonstop and find it completely interchangeable with groot for ease on the eyes—it is a serendipitous geometric complement to the fonts created to date. If you’ve ever loved Futura and similar open geometric fonts, then this monospaced dyslexia tweaked font may appeal :)

repos

The current ereader fonts—including the asymmetric t variants—may be found on OneDrive.

the groot font has recently found favour as my go to ereading font with its singular descending caps I flair—the signature glyph that dominates my reading and writing typefaces. It was only a matter of time before the single storey lower case a would find its way into this “flat” glyph set. Enter the graal** font..

**Archaic spelling :)

asymmetric t

variants of both the groot and graal fonts now inherit the asymmetric lower case t. This glyph escaped me during the elimination of symmetric glyph shapes—the lower case t being similar (though not as evident as the lower case b d p q and n u glyph shapes) to the lower case f glyph shape (rotated and flipped). Differing x height positioning of the crossing strokes is distinctive but the asymmetric t should hold the edge for impaired vision dyslexia (where the non-descending lower case f is concerned).

It is an uncommon glyph but i have personally taken a liking to it—its non-crossing stroke aligning with my drive for ever cleaner and more minimalist glyph shapes. groot remains my current default ereading font. As always, YMMV.

the stria

variant of the groot font completes the “flattened” trio of lower case asymmetric t fonts—with its short parallel striations—adding the classic serifed serifless capital I to complete the font set for a range of printed materials..

repos

The current ereader fonts—including the asymmetric t variants—may be found on OneDrive.

with the addition of the toothless double-storey lower case a to the descending caps typefaces, i realized i lacked a font with non-descending caps.

Enter the typograffic font variant..

the groot font with the toothless a and a number of other glyph embellishments inherited from the mu/umu typefaces..

It differs from the typograffic font..

This produces, for lack of a better term, a “flatter” font with a minimal number of glyphs with descenders. Line spacing looks more pronounced without the descending caps and extended lower case f. The one exception, the distinctive descending capital I, IMO attains the readability of its serifed counterpart whilst retaining the “clean” lines of a sans serif font. YMMV.

This now returns me to a working font trio of mu, umu and now groot.

repos

The current ereader fonts may be found on OneDrive.

a grail font perhaps? As always, just when i think i am finally done..

The toothless double-storey lower case a of the mu font font and the single-storey a of the upsilon font produce two very distinctive fonts, the latter being the visually more “open” or less dense of the two—especially at small font sizes with its very open single-storey a.

While i generally gravitate towards lean open sans serif typefaces—settling on the descending caps fonts, Iota and Ypsilon, with their single-storey a—i found with this last generation of typefaces, a growing preference for the mu font with its toothless double-storey a—visually adding air to text (when contrasted with the common toothed a) on top of its added readability. So much so, much to my surprise, i found myself more often than not, returning to it after starting reading with the upsilon font.

The symmetry of the descending capitals I T Y (complementing the J) have turned out to be more than a novelty. So, adding the toothless double-storey a of the mu font to the upsilon glyph set merges these two distinct typefaces to create the umu font—its name an intentional (symmetrical) amalgam of the two..

The descending capitals of umu add a subtle flare to fiction material (which i find pleasing). It takes a bit of getting used to but its added readability—now equal to mu’s ranking—with the toothless double-storey a eases the transition.

As always, YMMV.

repos

The current ereader fonts may be found on OneDrive.

this page was created to centralize OneDrive shared links (which i seem to be able to break periodically)..

OneDrive Fonts

Earlier font typefaces and variants can be found in the archive folder.. though i admit their organization may not relate in an obvious manner to their originating site references (never imagined this font journey would be so extensive!)..

descending caps, since becoming enamoured with the descending serifless I variant of the typograffic font (with Iota), had become the focus of the latest font development. The expressiveness rendered to the typefaces by these unique descenders combined with dyslexic readability instantly made these my favourite reading fonts.

Much of the effort has been spent on tweaking the fontforge descender scripts to better render the contrast of the strokes (for the Linux desktop), and position and shape of their italics and, importantly, correct the hinting (position) at small font sizes (to eliminate the need for font size specific font files). Once completed, the family of monospaced fonts in rotation appeared finalized :)

~   ~   ~

After extensive reading usage, two other glyph options have come to light to further refine this set of dyslexic fonts—for better or worse, YMMV—and produce a true “quad” of fonts (the past “trio” of four(!) typefaces included two descending caps fonts which were almost identical).

These two revelations are lower case glyphs which add air to their adjacent characters..

rounded m

a change so obvious that familiarity bias is the only explanation for its omission during the selection of non-mirroring asymmetric lower case glyphs..

Just as the toothless-rounded lower case u replaced its familiar toothed glyph in these fontsets, the earless-rounded lower case m replaces its universally familiar eared-serifless shape.

While the toothless-rounded u is chosen for its asymmetry to the straight lower case n, the earless-rounded m is chosen for its dyslexic distinction from the n (and bigram “nn”)—as well as, reflecting the symmetry of its upper case glyph.

The increased air and distinction between adjacent letters is immediately apparent, especially at small font sizes with bigrams mm mn nm (and words containing both characters in any position, for that matter) and am dm gm um—asymmetrically opening the adjacent vertical strokes, and more so with other glyphs as a result of its earless corner.

The readability this glyph adds i feel warrants applying it to the dyslexic collection of monospaced typefaces.

articulate font

this Atkinson Hyperlegible inspired font is the base font this dyslexic collection. It remains largely unchanged, with its dyslexic adjustments (above), adding the earless-rounded lower case m..

typograffic font

the Universal Grotesk twist on the articulate font similarly remains largely unchanged, save for the addition of the earless-rounded lower case m..

It differs from the articulate font..

toothless-corner a

The toothless-corner double-storey lower case a is perhaps more radical than the rounded m glyph change. The regular tooth arguably “anchors” the letter from a dyslexic perspective and, as such, remains with the articulate and typograffic typefaces.

The toothless-corner glyph is subtly distinct from the standard double-storey a, adding a touch of air between the ah ak am an ap bigrams with their left side vertical strokes and a general air to adjacent letters.

mu font

becomes the most unique addition to the “current” in use (4) font sets, in place of the former iota typeface by adding, in addition to the aforementioned earless-rounded lower case m, the toothless-corner double-storey lower case a and semi-open 4 (much like the usage of the open amphersand)..

It differs from the articulate font..

mu sits nicely between typograffic and upsilon (below) in terms of distinctiveness from the articulate typeface.

The font name “mu” reflects its unique use of these two symmetric lower case letters (in these font sets)—continuing this site’s tradition of naming fonts containing descending capitals after Greek letters.

upsilon font

supplants the Ypsilon font adding the earless-rounded lower case m and open non-crossing numeric 4..

It differs from the articulate font..

Save for the single-storey lower case a and open non-crossing 4, upsilon is largely the mu font transformed with additional descending and open caps. Still, those descenders and the lower case a are significant and make for a completely different feeling typeface.

dyslexic ranking

in terms of dyslexic readability ranking, (Iota successor) mu with its double-storey lower case a enhances its ranking..

The addition of the double-storey lower case a to the mu font separates it nicely from the upsilon font (more so than their Iota and Ypsilon predecessors)—there is a reason for the prevalence of the double-storey lower case a—providing now a distinctive quad of fonts. The font’s side bearing plays a role in the choice of this toothless-corner glyph—looking more pleasing (air) with the tighter ereader side bearing applied.

**Arguably, the mu font might be considered ranked a smidgen higher than typograffic with its more open and airier toothless double-storey A (the counter argument being the tooth anchors the glyph).

~   ~   ~

If you haven’t noticed already, the earless-rounded lower case m has already made it to this site’s webfont.

Whereas before, i had gravitated to the Ypsilon font for its unique character (Iota differing minimally), the distinctiveness of the mu font now has added attraction with its toothless-corner lower case a when paired with the upsilon font.

As always, YMMV—i suspect most will continue to prefer the more classic articulate and typograffic typefaces (if they haven’t found these latest changes already too radical for their tastes)!

repos

The latest ereader font trio quad may be found on OneDrive, along with the earlier typefaces discussed on this site.

For those who prefer the eared lower case m, the former font trios remain available—though these fonts have not inherited the latest fontforge tweaks..

** No longer require separate font files for small or normal/large font size usage on ereaders.

from the Iota font springs the Ypsilon font..

which is its fraternal twin (or complement) with descenders applied to the vertical center strokes of the upper case T and Y—more easily discerned with fontmatrix**..

**The Iosevka font web page does not display the glyphs which are modified with fontforge for these ereader typefaces (not having access to Ypsilon generated typeface. The capital T and Y in the fontmatrix screenshot outline masks where the descending strokes are applied and do not affect the actual font rendering.

Except for these two glyph changes, the remainder of the font is identical to its progenitor. With the added glyphs with descenders—upper case I J Q T Y and lower case f j p q y—the font becomes more visually balanced in the vertical plane (if not, uniquely so).

The descending capitals I J T Y—especially the frequent T—alter the character of the printed page, rendering a less formal but punctuated or rhythmic voice to the text*** (at least, when it comes to familiarity).

A bit of a toss for me personally between the Ypsilon and Iota typefaces, but i have been reading with Ypsilon exclusively for a couple weeks now.. and really like it (so much so, this site’s body text currently uses it) for its unique flair.

***Experiments with descenders applied to the upper case F and P, surprisingly—since their lower case glyphs have descenders—feel disproportionate (to my eyes) with their off center descenders emphasizing their asymmetry.

repos

The Ypsilon font may be found on OneDrive under the font-trio + Ypsilon folder within the Kindle and Kobo folders. The other minor font changes to the emdash and ellipsis are also to be found in this folder.

Iota rapidly established itself as the default font on my ereader. It is a very unique yet highly readable font and sported the single-storey lower case a which i am drawn to for the added openness it renders to the page—further emphasized by the “open” glyph choices of the Iota font.

articulate and typograffic fell into a bit of disuse simply because they were historical points in the progression to Iota—their differences from the font somewhat nuanced.

In this endless exploration of fonts i decided to revisit them—all of them as it would turn out with the return to the serifless lower case j. At 300PPI the serifless glyph is still quite legible and harkens back to its earlier usage, so i revisited the fonts to see what could be done to render them more distinct from each other while retaining the overall dyslexic character of the trio.

dyslexic tunings

the asymmetric glyphs common to all three typefaces remains..

To achieve the “character” differences i was seeking, i decided to revisit the font heritage which influenced the glyph choices to begin with..

atkinson hyperlegible

remains the most influential font, providing the base glyph set that was tweaked for dyslexia. Along the way several of the upper case glyphs were changed, notably the crossed capital Q—my being decidedly biased against dense glyphs.

At 300PPI, however, this is not a legibility issue, so the articulate font returns to..

with..

This is a decidedly highly legible font very closely matching the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font.

univers grotesk

with the serifless capital I and double-storey lower case a, typograffic gets a similar face lift to complement its descending lower case f..

with..

Save for the dyslexic tuned glyphs, typograffic now more closely resembles its Grotesk roots.

Iota

has just a minor change..

with..

Note: The capital I in the exhibit is the serifless glyph from the Iosevka web page—and not the glyph created for the font. Similarly, the lower case q for the three fonts is replaced by the unicode hook-tailed glyph.

All told though, typograffic differs from articulate by 5 glyphs and Iota from typograffic and articulate by 7 glyphs and 9 glyphs respectively. See if you can spot them :)
Note: iota has the descending capital I which is not represented in the screenshot.

i expect to be an outlier in my fondness for the iota typeface. But with the changes made to its predecessor fonts, the articulate and typograffic fonts should find a wider audience with their more familiar glyph sets.

Edit: Recently, i’ve been reading with the previous version of Iota with the serifed lower case j. It just feels more “right” with this typeface (to my eyes) despite my Grotesk leanings—aligning with my non-mirrored dyslexic rule, even though it still is a J. In this instance, the serifed separation of the dot distinguishes the lower case glyph from its descending-serifless upper case counterpart, especially at small font sizes. i am no neuroscientist but i surmise this reflects a visual cortex pattern (memory) expectation of glyph shapes while reading with a specific typeface, hence, the benefit of the contrasting outline—the distinction lessening the visual effort to determine the case of the word and the context it implies.

Edit: Further to the above remark, i have been switching between the sans serif and serifed lower case j versions of the articulate and typograffic fonts. On the one hand is the clean sans serif glyph vs the slightly more legible serifed glyph (despite the distinctive upper and lower case glyph shapes) . Not that it in any way is ugly. One is airier, the other ever a touch more balanced (in relation to its side bearing to leading characters)—a very personal visual bias. It is a tough call—and i am glad that both versions are available in the repos :)

readability

ranking order tightens up between the articulate and typograffic fonts with these changes. Before it was distinctly articulate first and a toss between typograffic and Iota. Now articulate and typograffic are a very very close one two with Iota remaining third on the podium—still a lovely typeface.

The crossing capital Q for the articulate font returns the familiar and distinct glyph. Similarly, the serifless lower case j is restored—albeit its dot loses a bit of separation with the loss of the serif at small font sizes.

The typograffic font gains the most in the readability scale with the return of the double-storey lower case a and the rounded-hooked capital G. The serifless capital I, often a readability issue with geometric fonts, differentiates itself against typograffic’s remaining glyph set.

Iota doesn’t make any gains in readability. Its descending capital I is highly distinct but the thrust of the font with its open hookless capital G and single-storey lower case a for a more open font loses a few points for those with impaired vision—especially at small font sizes—whilst gaining a few (IMO) with its clean minimalist geometry and unique yet understated flair. i adore this font.

For everyone else, the articulate and typograffic fonts offer two highly readable fonts with slightly different grotesk flavourings. (But you still might do well to give Iota a glance—i find it enticingly seductive :)

Note: This web font is a hybrid of the font trio—augmented with vertical-crossing capital Q and serifed lower case j for better readability with the lower resolution of desktop screens in general.

repos

The new ereader fonts may be found on OneDrive under the font-trio folders within the Kindle and Kobo folders.

The j-serifless subfolder contains the fonts described above. The j-serifed subfolder retains the serifed lower case j for those who prefer its extra degree of legibility. The original trio of fonts remain available

As always, YMMV.

acknowledgement

while it has been referenced multiple times in prior font articles on this site, it goes without saying that none of this font exploration would have been possible without the generosity of the creator of Iosevka—both the font generation itself and the glyph screenshot exhibits taken from its home/customization page—and those involved with the opensource FontForge project.

it’s rare to have an entry here. But 2023 appears to be a year of changes.

This all started innocently in 2022 with the acquisition of a Supernote A5X.. the intent, to delve deeper into digital journaling—eink reading being a primary driver for that thought. After a lifetime in technology i find myself gravitating towards the analogue despite my involvement with keyboards and optimizing their layouts for typing. And strangely, digital handwriting has rekindled my love of using fountain pens—i’ve never strayed from them for note taking, but journaling feels more complete with a “real” pen and paper or note book (as amazing as the eink technology of the Supernote represents—more on that later and how it will integrate into this site’s workflow.)

Recent software updates reminded me of the need to upgrade the VPS this site rests on.. an so a migration from a long unsupported Debian Linux release to Alpine Linux—here as well as the home base where Void Linux had previously served me well. Finally one distro to rule them all—the computers i dally with. More on that radical switch later.

Then there is the reorganization of a lot of the material posted that originally resided in colophon—it must have been strange for people perusing this site for information on keyboards and typography to be situated in that corner of the site normally reserved for a basic description of a site’s construction (even if fonts have played an important role in this site’s evolution). But honestly, the road traveled was never planned—these interests just morphed into deeper explorations at the time.

colophon articles were becoming a substantial portion of the site and with the slow personal transition to all things analogue, it feels appropriate to move the interest in eink usage of which the past years have been focused on dyslexic fonts to this corner of the site. So colophon will remain more hardware and technically oriented.

The changes are exciting.. though, in all honesty, they may result in even more diminished activity on this site! Reading and writing are satisfyingly complete activities. A sign perhaps of my age..

typograffic has been my favourite font of late.. the culmination of two years of font experimentation—beginning innocently with a monospaced facsimile of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font (for coding) and expanding into (too) numerous variants as an ereader font with a dyslexic focus—arriving at a very unique and satisfying contemporary ereader font (in my humble opinion).

Save for the short-serifed capital I (inherited from the Atkinson font), typograffic is a clean sans serif typeface. Highly readable at small font sizes on ereaders.

typograffic—with its glyph choices to create a unique and contemporary signature—appeared to be my grail font, there being no other Iosevka glyph variations to increase dyslexic readability and general legibility (IMO). Arriving at a final pair of typefaces—articulate and typograffic—all that was missing (from a personal preference) was a typeface variant with a serifless capital I.

Most of the typefaces produced on this site for distribution have been produced with both the serifed and serifless capital I. Its omission in typograffic (and articulate) was determined by the serifed glyph’s superior legibility. The serifless capital I—at small font sizes in particular—lacks visual distinctiveness in words also containing the lower case l and a few other all caps instances, its readability muddied without inline context.

Enter the..

descending capital i

to uniquely distinguish the glyph from adjacent letters—especially the lower case L—by extending its stroke length.

With fontforge..

# descending serifless capital I Open(<iota.ttf>); Select(0u007c); Copy(); Select(0u0049); Paste(); Transform(100,0,0,105.75,0,0); Move(0,-55); Generate(<iota.ttf>);

..replace the capital I with Bar, lengthening it (to match the vertical length of the descending capital J) and then adjusting its vertical position downwards to align with the tops of capital letters. (The Bar glyph remains distinct with its shorter stroke length and centered position, though, should not be encountered with most ebooks in general).

Note: the vertical positioning is set to render the desired alignment of the glyph by the font rendering engine for small body text (and not for large capitalized headings). Edit: this has been corrected with the latest iterations of these fonts—see mu font.

iota

The new iota variant of typograffic with a serifless capital I..

Note: the capital I in the font file is the length of the descending capital J (and lower case f) as seen below..

Serendipity would have the font name reflect the seemingly trivial change (from typograffic) with this distinctly unique(?) glyph. For many ebooks one might be hard pressed to note the difference between the two fonts but for first person narratives it can be striking.

i don’t expect everyone to find themselves being drawn to this new font, the serifed capital I being the most familiar and comfortable for the vast majority. And it can look odd—unfamiliar—initially within all caps headings—though i quite like the effect in the example at the top of the page.

i am not aware of any other font (within my font space) using a descending glyph shape for the upper case I. But i like it (perhaps for that and) for the added air it imparts to the typeface—yet without appearing isolated from adjacent glyphs—and its distinctiveness as the leading capital in words and sentences.

typograffic, articulate and now iota—three very striking yet highly legible typefaces to satisfy one’s ereading mood and visual needs. As always, YMMV.

repos

iota may be found in the opencaps folders of the quasi mono repos.

the Iosevka font is the source from which all monospaced fonts on this site have been created from. It is one of the most actively maintained fonts available today, whose source code origins have been further expanded to cover a variety of applications beyond coding.

Update: The elementary font has been restored to the more conventional glyph set (without the open upper case letters which now define the new eloquence typeface).
Update: The articulate font has been added as a serif complement to the geometric eloquence font.
Update: The typograffic font has been added to the repos, adopting grotesk’s extended lower case f, elementary’s single storey a, eloquence’s open capitals and articulate’s toothed/serifed flourishes.
Update: To further differentiate the articulate font from typograffic, the single-storey lower case a has been reverted back to double-storey.

catching up

up until now, all Monolexic fonts have been created with Iosevka version 10.x. This was due to minor, albeit visible, changes in subsequent releases which altered the overall proportion of the font—a compression of the character xHeight and ascenders/descenders, in particular. Obviously, i remained an outlier with regards to these evolving changes.

Iosevka has undergone several major releases—currently at version 16.x! In order to stay abreast with Iosevka’s ongoing development to capitalize on its expanding feature set, it was necessary to replicate the output of version 10.x. After many iterations, the following private-build-plans.toml parameters produced the desired results..

... [buildPlans.<family>.widths.normal] shape = 600 ... [buildPlans.<family>.metric-override] # metric-override adjustments leading = '1250' sb = 'default_sb * 0.7500' cap = 'default_cap + 40' xHeight = '530' ascender = '775' ...

From a pure monospaced perspective, there is little to be gained with the latest Iosevka releases for the Monolexic fonts—aside from some new glyphs—but..

quasi-proportional

release 11.x saw the introduction of a quasi-proportional width for the M W glyphs whilst retaining the monospaced cell width for all other characters including the narrow lower case i j and l, effectively maintaining the overall monospaced feel and air of the typeface.

The subtle relaxing (widening) of the cell width for the M and W characters adds much needed separation to the letters’ vertical strokes eliminating their “squished” and darkened appearance. While affecting only four glyphs—two upper and lower case—the overall effect renders a uniform “air” and character contrast whilst preserving the even visual cadence of a monospaced font.

It is IMO a major upgrade to the pure monospaced fonts—so much so, these changes have been promoted to this site’s Monolexic web font variants.

The differences can be seen when compared to the fixed cell width (source code) character exhibits below..

M and m W and w hence "quasimono"

common glyphs

the Monolexic fonts tweak the glyph shapes of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font..

adding a few capital letter flourishes and removing identically shaped lower case characters, notably..

The descending upper case J is an aesthetic choice—complementing its descending lower case letter. This technically violates the “avoid similar shapes” dyslexic rule but.. a J is a j—descenders (and dyslexic adjustments!) a signature of these fonts.

The Atkinson Hyperlegible Font is unique in its use of the hook-tailed lower case q. Most sans serif fonts use identically shaped glyphs for the lower case b d p q. The increased legibility is apparent with words containing multiples of these letters or n u—the visual cortex is not “triggered” by similarly shaped letters.

*Note: hook-tailed glyph U+024b—the glyph shape used by the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font—is mapped to lower case q (supplanting the diagonal-tailed q shown in the exhibits).

unique glyphs

the following typefaces—each with their own “character”—are built upon the dyslexia tuned hyperlegible glyph base set above. Each typeface reflects a progressive “improvement”—personal aesthetic.. or mood—upon the hyperlegible glyphs, driving towards letter “openness” and clarity with modernist flourishes.

The dyslexic font—quasi-proportional of Monolexic—differs with..

the grotesk font—quasi-proportional of Unolexic—differs with..

the elementary font—quasi-proportional of Geolexic—differs with..

the eloquence font—quasi-proportional of Geolexic (elementary variant)—differs with..

The eloquence font differs from the base glyph set—which mirrors upper and lower case glyphs where possible—with a rounded descending-serifless capital J, further accentuating its geometric character and distinguishing it from its lower case glyph.

the articulate font—quasi-proportional of Geolexic (elementary variant)—differs with..

The articulate font is essentially the ielementary font (with the serifed capital I) adding a toothed-hookless capital G—acknowledging my “open” glyph leanings—and serifed lower case j to “fill” in its side bearing from adjacent letters and further distinguish it from its upper case glyph—whose striking economy i still quite like.

With these subtle glyph differences from the eloquence font—notably, the toothed capital G, flat-hook capital J, and the serifed capital I and lower case j—the articulate font presents a distinctly different feel to its geometric counterpart with an increased legibility as a bonus.

Update: The single-storey lower case a has been replaced with the double-storey glyph to more visibly differentiate the typeface from typograffic—these are now my two default typefaces on my ereaders.

typograffic

fuses the most unique “character” attributes of its progenitors (above) to yield an open typeface rooted in grotesque yet, with its dyslexic focus, built upon a unique set of asymmetric lower case glyph shapes (atypical of grotesque)!

typograffic differs from the base dyslexic glyph set with..

As its namesake (phonetically) infers, the lyrical expressiveness of this unique font with its modernist flourishes holds true to its dyslexic foundation for visual character and word clarity.

space character

the distinctly named non-*lexic quasi-proportional font families all apply a 1.3333x cell width to the Space character, yielding a relaxed visual word density whilst still providing a distinct word separation emphasis.

Setting the Space character to the cell width of the quasi-proportional capital M yields a more familiar visual page density—this has little to no impact on the ebook page count but may appeal to those who prefer tighter text. The 1.3333x spacing makes words “pop” more with its marginally wider cell width. YMMV.

For maximum dyslexic word separation, the more popular glyph set of the dyslexic font is also available with the 2x spacing of the Monolexic fonts, hence..

*An “i” prefix to the font names designate font sets with a serifed capital I. It’s confusing, i know.. but hopefully those following these fonts will find the repo organisation abundantly clear :)

line spacing

for the two dominant ereader platforms on the market—Kindle and Kobo—two sets of fonts have been generated with differing leading (line height).

1250 leading is the default but due to Kindle’s limited three line spacing choices—which i find too tight even at maximum—a set of fonts has been generated with 1875 leading to obtain the line spacing i prefer to read by on my Kindle Oasis. (The FONT_RAMP file in the repos also is needed to overcome Kindle’s coarse font control and obtain the small font size i read at.)

The Kobo has a very wide and granular line spacing control. However, i further customized it via kobopatch with a line spacing range heavily favouring large spacing for the small font sizes i read at—this makes for much easier finger highlighting accuracy as well as providing the visual air between lines.

Which leading font set you use is dependent on your personal preferences—either may be used with any device. (If i didn’t own a Kindle, the default 1250 leading would have been the only choice!)

repos

The new ereader fonts may be found on OneDrive. As always, YMMV.

update

in order to get the Kindle to render the quasimono fonts identically (as far a pixel peeping allows) to the Kobo which has been my daily driver and whose versions of the fonts look better (to these eyes), the following private-build-plans.toml parameters were adjusted to..

... [buildPlans.<family>.widths.normal] shape = 576 ... [buildPlans.<family>.metric-override] # metric-override adjustments leading = '1250 * 1.5' sb = 'default_sb * 0.6450' cap = 'default_cap + 40' xHeight = '530' ascender = '775' ...

Oddly, the shape (cell width) needed to be reduced to produce the desired results, illustrating just how differently the font rendering engines of the two platforms are—at least, with regards to these generated fonts. (i have not examined other typefaces.)

The FONT_RAMP file was also adjusted accordingly to be able to render the small font sizes i read at..

5.435 5.706 5.978 6.250 6.576 6.902 7.282 7.609 7.989 8.424 8.804 9.293 9.728 10.217

As for the Kobo.. i have been reading with the eloquence font of late. Blessed thus far with acute vision, the single-storey lower case a and straight capital Q render an airy typeface, further stylized with its toothless capital G and open capitals B P R—the beauty of being able to roll your own font :)

if BEAKL Wi-v is a variant of BEAKL Wi, then..

beakl wi-x

is the logical extension of it to the extreme, moving the Z to the pinkie home row and the X to the ring finger reach of the pinkie top row. The Stagger key on this layout cycles through the two pinkie staggered variants and the familiar home row BEAKL Wi layout.

It is the logical conclusion of BEAKL pinkie finger avoidance, penalizing the home row as a pinkie reach—from the pinkie stagger position of BEAKL Wi-v—in deference to the ring finger reach to the corner X. This is a layout designed specifically for elbows to side, arms extended, palms down (resting) lap top typing.

This is not to be confused with “laptop” keyboard (computer) typing which would place the keyboard section much closer to the hips when resting on one’s lap, thus, changing the hand position and reach of the pinkies—extending—considerably. BEAKL Wi would be the layout of choice here, illustrating how the slightest changes in hand positioning affect the optimal layout.

metrics

using the same keyboard evaluator, the former pinkie top row penalties are swapped with the variant’s home row weighting assignments..

[weights] 10.0 7.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 4.0 4.0 1.0 1.0 2.0 7.0 10.0 16.0 12.0 1.0 0.5 0.5 1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 1.0 12.0 16.0 9.0 5.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 5.0 5.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 5.0 9.0 // rest pinkie on lower row of corne! 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

and correspondingly mapping the thumb to pinkie row penalties..

[penalties] ,same_row,row_jump1,row_jump2,row_jump3 ii, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 0.0 // same finger im, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 0.0 ir, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 0.0 ip, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 0.0 mi, -1.5, -0.5, 1.5, 0.0 // inward roll mm, 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 0.0 // same finger mr, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 0.0 mp, 1.0, 1.5, 2.5, 0.0 ri, -1.5, -0.5, 1.5, 0.0 // inward roll rm, 1.0, 1.5, 2.5, 0.0 // inward roll rr, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 0.0 // same finger rp, 3.0, 4.5, 7.0, 0.0 pi, -1.0, 0.0, 1.0, 0.0 // inward roll pm, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 0.0 // inward roll pr, 4.0, 5.0, 6.5, 0.0 // inward roll pp, 5.0, 6.0, 8.0, 0.0 // same finger it, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 ti, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 mt, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 tm, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 rt, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 tr, 0.5, 1.5, 0.5, 1.0 pt, 0.5, 0.5, 1.5, 1.0 // lazy pinkie position tp, 0.5, 0.5, 1.5, 1.0 // lazy pinkie position tt, 2.0, 3.0, 2.0, 2.5 // same finger

yielding the following comparison..

Penalizing the home row pinkie severely alters the rankings considerably. The core BEAKL weightings maintain the rankings for layouts that avoid pinkie finger usage, while several other layouts end up placing lower than the QWERTY layouts—again emphasizing the extreme constraints of this layout design.

The keyboard layout evaluator always sets QWERTY as the baseline at 100.00 and all other layouts relative to this. It is interesting that each of the BEAKL Wi iterations further separate themselves from the pack, the scores improving successively—from 45.43 to 42.88 to 38.95. This is due, of course, to the unique weighting and penalty scheme applied for each iteration to reflect the objectives of the layout—but interesting nonetheless. There may, after all, be a correlation to the “comfort” level of the layout.

q roll

in theory, with the above pinkie finger weightings, the Q should have benefited with a move to the upper corner as the X—this does in fact bear out with the even better keyboard evaluator ranking!

However, in practice, the QU pinkie-index finger roll avoids the more awkward ring-index finger roll extension. Hence, the Q remains on the home row for the pinkie finger—an example of biomechanics over calculated numbers. YMMV.

stagger

while there are six possible Z V X character combinations, only Z V X (BEAKL Wi), Z X V (BEAKL Wi-v) and X Z V are suitable layout candidates with the V as the pinkie home position on the home row or stagger (bottom) row.

A simple modification to the keymap file and associated layouts allows toggling all three pinkie finger combinations with keycodes..

enum keyboard_keycodes { BASE = SAFE_RANGE ... ,STAGGER // cycle pinkie home row stagger 0 -> 1 -> 2 ,HOME3 // <pinkie> ,HOME2 // pseudo GUI_T(<pinkie>) ,HOME1 // <pinkie> ,KEY3 // <pinkie> ,KEY2 // <pinkie> ,KEY1 // <pinkie> ,SHIFT3 // SFT(<pinkie>) ,SHIFT2 // SFT(<pinkie>) ,SHIFT1 // SFT(<pinkie>) ...

referencing a keycode array..

static uint16_t pinkies[][3] = { {KC_X, KC_V, KC_Z}, // ZVX beakl wi (row 3 -> 1) {KC_V, KC_X, KC_Z}, // ZXV beakl wi-v {KC_V, KC_Z, KC_X} }; // XZV beakl wi-x static uint8_t stagger = PINKIE_STAGGER; #define PINKIE(r) pinkies[stagger][r - 1] bool process_record_user(uint16_t keycode, keyrecord_t *record) { switch (keycode) { ... case HOME3: mod_roll(record, 0, PINKIE(3), 9); return false; case HOME2: mod_roll(record, KC_RGUI, PINKIE(2), 9); break; case HOME1: mod_roll(record, 0, PINKIE(1), 9); return false; case KEY3: send(record, NOSHIFT, PINKIE(3)); break; case KEY2: send(record, NOSHIFT, PINKIE(2)); break; case KEY1: send(record, NOSHIFT, PINKIE(1)); break; case SHIFT3: send(record, SHIFT, PINKIE(3)); break; case SHIFT2: send(record, SHIFT, PINKIE(2)); break; case SHIFT1: send(record, SHIFT, PINKIE(1)); break; ...

whose letter combinations can be cycled from the Stagger key..

case STAGGER: if (KEY_DOWN) { stagger = stagger == 0 ? 1 : (stagger == 1 ? 2 : 0); } break; ...

with an initial config.h setting..

// initial pinkie stagger position (0) beakl wi home row (1) wi-v stagger (2) wi-x stagger #define PINKIE_STAGGER 2

Cycling through the three pinkie letter combinations allows tuning the layout dependent on one’s hand positioning for typing. The left hand pinkie column remains fixed—the J already in the stagger position (bottom row) and the QU bigram roll favouring the Q on the home row.

final thoughts

the Z on the home row is strikingly unusual. While the path to this layout long ago placed the Q on the opposite hand pinkie home row, there is a pleasing unintentional symmetry to this arrangement of the two least used letters.

It is an interesting experiment. And if anything, illustrates how many variables there are to keyboard layout design when one considers keyboard placement, single or split, column stagger (angle and tenting), hand separation and individual biomechanics. Not to mention the “feel” keyboard hardware components—keyswitch design, spring resistance, keycap material and profiles—impart.

Quite obviously, this layout only works for hands which find the ring finger corner reach for X preferable to a pinkie finger reach to the home row for the letter—with palms down typing i find the ring finger reach avoids the subtle upward hand position shift required for the pinkie reach, as well as, being the naturally stronger finger. YMMV as to whether this layout feels better than BEAKL Wi or its variant BEAKL Wi-v.

This layout is growing on me but given the frequency of the X and Z letters it is hardly an obvious choice—which is also reflected in the metrics above—though, for this set of hands, the increased comfort level is unmistakable. A typing corpus emphasizing these letters renders the distinction. Of the small set of words containing Z, there are a number containing ZZ which clearly illustrate how much weaker the pinkie is to the other fingers. The X by comparison does not suffer such words (in English) unless one is in the habit of typing Roman numerals.

i am using this layout now. It capitalizes on the finger memory instilled by BEAKL Zi, so feels strongly familiar.. only better this second time around. Barring further tweaks to this layout (who am i kidding :-), i may finally have found a layout for all seasons..

todo

migrate sources for BEAKL Wi-x to BEAKL Wi-v and BEAKL Wi. All that is required is to set the STAGGER in the config.h accordingly for each.

for anyone who has stumbled upon this site’s discourse on fonts and readability, this page attempts to graphically summarize the evolution of these monolexic fonts.

See also quasimono for the quasi-proportional variants.

monospaced atkinson hyperlegible

this whole journey began with the discovery of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font developed by the Braille Institute. After settling on it as my ereader font of choice for its superior readability attributes, i then began the search for a monospaced version of this font.

Finding none, i customized the Iosevka font i used for programming to create this facsimile..

While the original intent was purely to create a better source code font, this font eventually found its place on my ereader. And, much to my surprise, displaced the original Atkinson Hyperlegible Font which inspired it as my favourite font to read with—which, i surmise, was due to the uniform visual cadence of its monospaced cell width.

Kerning facilitates beautifully tight character spacing, maximizing line word density. However, this also places an additional onus on the visual cortex and language facilities to uncompress this information—insignificant as it may seem—which may explain why monospaced fonts appear to be easier to read in general*.

*Data is very sparse regarding the readability of monospaced versus proportional fonts. In the end, one can only determine one’s personal predilection which will also be heavily influenced by one’s aesthetic. The uniform air around individual letters, though, does appear to benefit dyslexia.

dyslexia

as a result of ereader usage, further investigation into font legibility—and the inherent compromise a fix cell width imposes on a character set—led to an exploration of dyslexia and readability..

..namely, the issue of dyslexic mirroring and/or rotating glyph shapes. The OpenDyslexic font addresses this by weighting (thickening) the base of its glyphs to “anchor” the letters horizontally—and for some dyslexics, this may be the optimal solution (albeit, the font loses the clean geometric glyph shapes we are accustomed to).

For the Monolexic fonts described on this site, a less radical but more aesthetic approach (IMO) is taken by eliminating the mirrored glyph shapes used in almost all typefaces for the lower case b d p q and n u glyphs.

The Atkinson Hyperlegible Font already has a unique hook-tailed lower case q, so taking this into account (along with a few more “open” glyph choices) the base Hyperlegible glyph set becomes..

..and the unique (and more open) glyph shape substitutions..

These two glyph sets together form the Monolexic font set—with its unique 2x cell width word spacing to further improve dyslexic readability—which became my default ereader font for several months.

grotesk glyphs

adding the descending lower case f to Monolexic creates the Unolexic font set, reminiscent of Univers Grotesk. Adding the vertical-crossing capital Q (and alternate word spacings) create the grotesk variants for a maximum legibility typeface..

elementary glyphs

adding the single-storey lower case a to Monolexic creates the Geolexic font set, reminiscent of our elementary school alphabet. Adding the straight (angled) capital Q and open capital B P and R (and alternate word spacings) create the elementary variants for a distinctly more open typeface..

fonts

a variety of font sets with capital Q G and open glyphs, and alternate word spacings are available in the repos. Specific permutations may created from source. As always, YMMV.

The font files may be found here.

among other things, this is an attempt to normalize the various MonoLexic fonts created on this site, removing redundant alias font naming and, instead, assigning custom Space cell widths to those font names—i still harbour a fondness for those names :)

geolexic

is now assigned to the former elementary font in honour of geometric fonts such as Futura with their distinctive single storey lower case a. The *Lexic postfix name now consistently represents dyslexic fonts with a double cell width Space separator for maximal word separation. And Grotesk is no longer an alias for Unolexic, yielding..

*An “i” prefix to the font names designate font sets with a serifed capital I (see fonts).

word separation

Why the new elementary and grotesk fonts?

After considerable time on my ereaders with the 2x Space cell width dyslexic fonts, i found for myself, that a slightly narrower cell width spacing maintained adequate word separation with a slight increase in reading (scan) speed—along with a visually appealing page density.

The full page columnar alignment is lost by the partial word spacing reduction—the visual benefit of which, appears to be dependent on one’s spatial predisposition.

i originally thought it beneficial to have a columnar—vertical letter alignment—layout for the visual cortex to absorb in full but now i am uncertain whether unaligned “noise”—non-vertical letter alignment—may be less distracting to the visual center. No doubt, people will be found in both camps.

Responses from the community who have found the original dyslexic spacing beneficial, still appear to prefer the 2x spacing—the neural parameters being very individual. i may be the outlier here :)

single storey a

Interestingly, while the double storey lower case a is the more legible of its lower case representations, i have been finding myself drawn to elementary as my default ereader font. At 300PPI, it renders clearly and distinctly (for my eye sight) and i like the increased air the open glyph presents on the printed line.

For web browsers and computer monitors, the double storey glyph still looks more legible to my eyes. This is largely a function of PPI and current browser font rendering—this opinion may change tomorrow.

It is these personal aesthetics that create the beautiful typeface variations available to us. Whatever works for you :)

even tighter

after acclimating to the 1.6667x cell width Space character and finding it quite agreeable, i revisited a 1.5x cell width which i previously discarded at the time—finding the jump too jarring after a lengthy tenure with the default 2x Space character.

To my surprise, this no longer seemed out of place (for me—i still recommend the default 2x Space character for maximal dyslexic benefit). This cell width staggers the columnar format of the page with a high degree of vertical character alignment along with increased page density.

Taking this further, a 1.3333x cell width provides an even more familiar visual page density while still retaining a wider Space cell width than other fonts. For those seeking maximum legibility and word density who do not require the extra dyslexic word separation, this setting may fit the bill.

So there are now several word spacing options available in the repos..

capital q’s

two more capital Q glyph variants have been added to the elementary and grotesk font families..

• a capital Q with a vertical-crossing stroke—the crossing stroke closing the glyph somewhat (making it appear narrower and longer) and imparting a symmetric profile to the glyph
• a straight (angle tail) capital Q which more closely aligns with the Univers Grotesk font character

Convention would dictate the straight capital Q be matched with the grotesk font but its minimalist glyph shape complements the openness of the single storey lower case a and d of the elementary font, while the tall vertical-crossing Q complements the descending lower case f of the grotesk font, hence, the contrary pairing!

The MonoLexic fonts remain with the open and highly legible detached-bend-tailed Q along with their 2x word spacing.

open capitals

the trajectory of the elementary font as a more visually open typeface, adds the following stylized glyph variants..

• a toothless-corner-serifless-hookless capital G minus the universally applied horizontal hook stroke found in other typefaces
• open capitals B P and R add a hint of air to the closing strokes of the glyphs

The default toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked G remains the more legible and familiar of the two glyphs but at small font sizes the hookless glyph is much more open (albeit, does look unusual at first glance—this is very much a YMMV glyph choice which further distinguishes the elementary font variants)..

**Note: the lower case diagonal-tailed q (displayed in the screenshots) is merely a placeholder for the curly-tailed q (UTF-8 glyph U+024b) used in the actual font files.

fonts

a variety of font sets with alternate word spacing and capital Q G and open glyphs—but not all possible permutations—are available in the repos. As always, YMMV.

The font files may be found here.

a random collection of code fragments used to solve various *nix installation problems encountered over time, after upgrades, etc.

I have been meaning to keep a journal of little fixes but, up until now, never have had the discipline to do so. That’s because most of these little fixes are that: little. Either a quick command line action or an enhancement to a script. They seem trivial at the time of resolution but often required pulling up a manpage or a little digging to resolve.

My analogue memory is porous, as is evidenced by the fact that I am certain there are plenty of anecdotal gems but can remember naught. So, without further adieu, time to start recording these maintenance forays as I (re)stumble across them..

warning

a word of warning: some gotchas may be dated (read, as in, no longer relevant or work with the latest release of software). i have not made any effort to update notes for tools i no longer use. The same can be said for much of the colophon content.

404

when the Archlinux repository databases do not match the actual packages residing on the servers, pacman errors out with..

error: failed retrieving file '<package>.pkg.tar.xz' from <url> : The requested URL returned error: 404

This can result from having a stale dated pacman database installed which can be updated with..

pacman -Syy

While infrequent, it is also not uncommon for..

pacman -Syu

to fail because, while the database may be up to date, the packages themselves have not yet finished being updated on the servers. Patience is a virtue. Try again later.

authentication errors

google has a nasty habit of turning off access by third party applications. It is a measure intended to prevent account breaches, something that plagues the internet ever increasingly. It is a double edged sword and can cause disruptions to legitimate server setups.

When authentication connection errors suddenly appear on unchanged setups, the first thing to check is whether google has disabled the account’s “less secure app access” option. Turn ON “Allow less secure apps”.

btrfs

RAID 10 scrubs sometimes report space cache does not match inode errors.

To correct, unmount the RAID and run for each drive in the RAID..

sudo btrfs check /dev/sd<device>

Then, mount and rerun scrub of RAID.

calibre

by default, calibre creates device folders by author_sort by title (sort) and authors. From the ereader device UI, it is of little consequence as the sorting—by author surname and title (ignoring leading “A” and “The”)—does not affect the book author and title listing itself.

A strict alphabetical naming convention can be imposed on the side loaded files by changing the Preferences -> Tweaks to..

title_series_sorting = 'strictly_alphabetic' save_template_title_series_sorting = 'strictly_alphabetic'

The first tweak merely applies the same strict alphabetical order to the calibre UI.

Pro-tip: for the Kobo ereader, configure the following plugin KoboUtilities -> Driver -> KoboTouchExended template..

books/{authors}/{title} - {authors}

to place all side loaded kepubs in the books (any path name) folder for a less cluttered root folder—makes locating the fonts (for adding custom fonts) and .kobo folder (for applying kobopatches) much easier.

chrome

css float:right does not render in the “Gravity Well” custom TT-RSS theme. Current fix is to disable

Enable LayoutNG

in chrome://flags.

cups remote

to access a printer on the local network, from the cups browser http://localhost:631 add an ipps printer referencing..

ipps://ip-address-or-hostname/printers/name

where, name is the cups name given the printer on the hostname computer.

Continue configuring the printer with the appropriate drivers. This new printer may be assigned the same printer name so that its printer destination value remains the same for lp commands on either computer.

curl

allows you to pull down the URL content of a website which is useful for scraping information. If nothing appears to be downloaded, most likely, the webpage has been relocated. This can be verified with..

curl -silent -v http://..

which will list the message “.. Moved Permanently”.

To have curl follow the link to the webpage’s new location..

curl -silent -L http://..

dash

shell is my scripting shell of choice. I used to write bash and zsh scripts for their syntactical richness but now script in dash because of that. Without all of the syntactical shortcuts, dash runs circles around bash and zsh. Its usage for window management was the reason for switching back to this streamlined shell.

Aside from the POSIX language restrictions, using eval to simulate the occasional array, printf for enhanced echo commands, and enclosing variables within double quotes for tests (to handle embedded Spaces) are the most common differences. As an added benefit, POSIX conformity ensures platform portability and keeps your shell scripting skills honed.

dbus

does not inherit the DISPLAY environment on window manager startup. This will cause daemon notifications such as that issued from udiskie to fail. For Arch Linux, in .xinitrc source..

. /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/50-systemd-user.sh

fish

shell is a non-POSIX interactive shell which has been my daily terminal driver despite the fact that I code all shell scripts for POSIX compliant dash. A benign startup test index error message occurred after a recent update which curiously affected only one computer! This was ultimately caused by a file which had an errant keybind function reference whose cause remains unknown. Its recurrence was cleared by..

rm $HOME/.config/fish/fishd.(hostname)

fontmatrix

if the font family list is corrupted—missing or unlisted fonts, including blank entries, showing deleted fonts, crashes when fonts are selected, etc.—purge the fontmatrix database and restart..

rm -rf $HOME/.Fontmatrix

Be patient.. it takes a moment for fontmatrix to rebuild its font database.

freetype2

to approximate infinality like font rendering, enable the following configurations..

sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-sub-pixel-rgb.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d

goyo

clears the statusline by default for a distraction free presentation of the page. Even if you set the statusline in a call to your own initialization function..

autocmd User GoyoEnter nested call <SID>GoyoEnter()

To prevent Goyo from overwriting your attempts to set a minimal statusline (why would you be using Goyo otherwise!), edit the plugin autoload/goyo.vim file..

function! s:hide_statusline() let &l:statusline = &statusline endfunction

group and passwd

systemd boot message: “Failed to start Verify integrity of password and group files”.

A package removal can orphan group and passwd file settings. Check and correct with..

sudo grpck sudo pwck

gtk pixbuf

the error message..

Gtk-WARNING **: ..: Could not load a pixbuf from icon theme. This may indicate that pixbuf loaders or the mime database could not be found.

may indicate /usr/share/icons/ permission or mime errors. But can also be an indicator of an incomplete icon set causing the current GTK application to throw the warning for a needed icon e.g. the Paper icons is missing the down arrow menu button (at the time of this reporting).

Installing a more complete icon set resolves the issue.

html

shell scripting allows for unquoted string (single word) assignments. A questionable practice.

This is fatal with HTML. Class and identifier names must be “quoted”. Or, like me, you will spend lots of head scratching time wondering why your CSS template doesn’t work!

infinality

freetype2 is slowly integrating the subpixel hinting of the infinality patches bringing it closer to the rendering provided by infinality. Switching back and forth between these font rendering packages, depending on the platform, can result in the replacement of an installed video card specific mesa library with the generic xorg mesa-libgl. This can cause the X desktop environment to appear broken with infinality—with conky graphics not displaying, fonts not appearing, text input not registering, etc.

The solution is to reinstall the necessary video card specific mesa library, such as nvidia-libgl. The caveat is to always pay attention to what libraries are replaced when switching back and forth between packages.

Note: deprecated, no longer supported in favour of freetype2.

inotify watches

if inotify watches become exhausted, applications such as pulseaudio can fail to load completely and Xorg can appear stalled (while waiting for subprocesses which are hampered by inotify resources). Messages in related logs and the systemd journal will identify that the inotify resources are exhausted.

To verify the current maximum number of inotify watches and set a new session limit..

cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches=32768

To increase the value to a suitably large number..

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=32768 | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysctl.conf

on Archlinux..

echo fs.inotify.max_user_watches=32768 | sudo tee /usr/lib/sysctl.d/90-override.conf

lg g8x

not a linux issue but an Android device issue. My phone got laggy taking a second or more to respond to a screen gestures (typically, launching an app). A quick fix to recover some available RAM is to remove an LG tracking app. With Android developer options enabled, from Linux station..

adb devices # list devices adb shell # open session pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.lge.mlt

lightline

has useful colour schemes matching available vim color theme plugins, such as solarized. To get a bit more contrast with the light solarized theme command mode field, edit the plugin colorsheme/solarized_light.vim file..

let s:p.normal.left = [ [ s:base02, s:blue ], [ s:base3, s:base01 ] ] let s:p.insert.left = [ [ s:base02, s:green ], [ s:base3, s:base01 ] ] let s:p.replace.left = [ [ s:base02, s:red ], [ s:base3, s:base01 ] ] let s:p.visual.left = [ [ s:base02, s:magenta ], [ s:base3, s:base01 ] ]

offlineimap

a recent openssl update (version 1.1.1) may cause subsequent SSL errors connecting to gmail.com due to SNI (Server Name Indication) and certificate authentication failure with TLS 1.3. Add to .offlineimaprc to force TLS 1.2..

ssl_version = tls1_2

pacman

the latest major upgrade to pacman 5.0 broke package-query which is a dependency of many Arch Linux package management utilities. The option for my package management workflow was to either wait for upstream to correct the problem or rebuild the packages to use the new libalpm library..

pacaur -S --rebuild cower pacaur -S --rebuild yaourt package-query

On rare occasions, a keyring update can hang on a deadly embrace with itself. This can be rectified with..

pacman -S archlinux-keyring

or failing that..

pacman-key --populate

before continuing with the remaining package updates.

pacaur

can be fooled into thinking a development git-latest package needs updating even though the –devel flag is not enabled. It is actually a cower related issue which can be identified with..

cower -u

There is not much that can be done with the offending package other than –ignore‘ing it until a new github release of the package is available.

pango

controls Gvim’s double width UTF-8 font rendering of glyphs on the statusline. pango-1.44.x breaks this and rendering of vertical extenders. Until fixed, downgrade to pango-1.42.x.

passenger

major ruby 2.x language updates will break the nginx passenger application—namely, this website. Updating the ruby environment requires updating the ruby gems, including passenger, and rebuilding the nginx server and passenger client with..

gem update $[HOME/.gem/ruby/2.x.0/gems/passenger-x.x.x/bin/passenger-config](http://thedarnedestthing.com/HOME/.gem/ruby/2.x.0/gems/passenger-x.x.x/bin/passenger-config) compile-agent $HOME/.gem/ruby/2.x.0/gems/passenger-x.x.x/bin/passenger-install-nginx-module

Update the nginx.conf passenger root reference with..

passenger_root ~/.gem/ruby/2.x.0/gems/passenger-x.x.x;

qt

themes are defined in the .config/Trolltech.conf file. If this file is removed, QT will regenerate it.

However, if the file is regenerated, the QT application Amphetype will not recognized any Gtk theme changes. Restoring the original file from backups solves the problem. So..

Do not delete this file, unless you are running a QT desktop environment(?)—possibly a limitation of window manager environments.

raspberry pi

media playback can suffer from audio stuttering over NFS. To solve this, adjust the buffering in /etc/fstab..

luna:/net /net nfs4 rw,noatime,rsize=32768,wsize=32768,nolock,_netdev 0 0

sed

allows modifying file content with the –in-place flag. However, if the file referenced is symlinked, the symbolic link will be broken and a file by that name created. To update the linked file instead..

sed -i --follow-symlinks ..

vim

some plugins and colorscheme themes alter the statusline fillchars resulting in the expected Space characters of the statusline being filled with a non-blank character such as a Caret or Period. Yuck!

To set spaces on the statusline, add to the fillchars..

set fillchars+=stl:\ ,stlnc:\ "

Note: a Space character follows each Backslash character. The DoubleQuote is simply a comment insertion to highlight the trailing blank.

A more reliable method, in case multiple specifications are defined in the string for the same character, is to explicitly redefine (reset) the fillchars with..

set fillchars=stl:\ ,stlnc:\ "

or remove the conflicting specification with (for example)..

set fillchars-=stl:.

vimscript

user defined commands which accept an argument and allow a bar ‘|’ separator, must escape the bar, e.g…

command! -nargs=? -bar WaitFor call <SID>waitFor(<f-args>) autocmd ui VimEnter,VimResized,FocusGained * WaitFor | Background command! RedrawGui silent! ToggleGui | WaitFor 50m \| ToggleGui

Setting the syntax for an ftdetect’ed file setting its filetype cannot be easily done within ftplugin due to vim’s runtime Syntax autocmd which overrides any attempt to set the syntax—the source of years of head scratching and overly complex workarounds. A generic fix is possible for common filetypes within the .vimrc configuration file, post ftplugin..

autocmd Syntax <buffer> execute 'set syntax=' . &filetype

vimwiki

in order to be able to use the Tab key for snipmate expansion, remap vimwiki’s use of the key for tables in the plugin ftplugin/vimwiki.vim file..

if g:vimwiki_table_mappings inoremap vimwiki#tbl#kbd_tab()\ inoremap vimwiki#tbl#kbd_shift_tab()\ endif

void

ran into on an attempted system update..

Transaction aborted due to unresolved shlibs.

Resolved with

sudo xbps-remove void-repo-nonfree sudo xbps-install void-repo-nonfree sudo xbps-remove -Oo # beware.. this removes /var/cache/xbps packages sudo xbps-install -Su

xorg

the message upon exiting a X11 session (stopping X)..

X server lost bad font path element.. Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions

is a benign warning and most likely results from user fonts in $HOME/.fonts. This warning can be corrected with..

cd $HOME mkfontdir mkfontscale

Similarly, the message..

couldn't access control socket: /run/user/1000/keyring/control: No such file or directory

is a benign gnome-keyring-daemon warning and can be corrected with..

sudo sed -i '$asession optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start \ auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so' /etd/pam.d/login sudo sed -i '$apassword optional pam_gnome_keyring.so' /etc/pam.d/passwd

After making these changes, restart the X server.

completes the evolution of the monospaced dyslexic fonts and their unique set of asymmetric glyphs and double cell width characters—adding a tweaked cap height to the Unolexic font.

By increasing the cap (capital) height—a very small amount without significantly affecting the monospaced character cell proportions—at small font sizes, with a line spacing of 1.4 or more (YMMV), font legibility is enhanced and the typeface edges more closely to the vertical stroke proportions of Grotesque fonts—hence, the adoption of the Grotesk family name from the Universal Grotesk influenced Unolexic font.

Characters stand out with the taller ascenders (and extended descenders) and improved gaps (noticeably with the hook of the lower case f and g). Capital letters look less compressed with the added cap height, as well—the J gaining a touch of authority, the P loop more air (height-wise) and the D a fuller proportion.

build settings

Differences between the font rendering engines of the Kindle and Kobo platforms also become more evident, calling for..

cap = 'default_cap * 1.055' sb = 'default_sb * 0.7150' # for Kobo sb = 'default_sb * 0.6150' # for Kindle

As can be seen, only a very subtle increase to the default cap height is applied to the Iosevka configuration file.

The side bearing differences between the two platforms, however, illustrate just how different these two ereaders are “under the hood” (which comes as somewhat of a surprise considering how both are built on the Linux platform).

typeface character

the hallmark of the monospaced dyslexic fonts developed on this site are the asymmetric glyphs and judiciously applied double width characters (notably the Space). Doing so, offers a different approach to the more familiar dyslexic font design with their heavy irregular anchoring strokes—which some Dyslexia conditions may require.

Grotesk presents an alternate approach applying asymmetric glyphs (to counter dyslexic mirroring of the commonly symmetric lower case b d p q and n u characters, thereby, increasing legibility with the aesthetically pleasing strokes of a geometric typeface) along with some upper case embellishments (to improve the “air” within the monospaced cell restrictions) and monospaced cell width for uniform visual separation and cadence..

The lower case b f u and capital J Q emphasize a modern geometric heritage, while the remaining asymmetric glyph choices maximize side bearing “air” (character separation)—for dyslexic identification and legibility.

Altogether, a distinctive yet seductively beautiful (IMO) typeface results with a strong modern feel—despite the asymmetric glyphs. i am biased, of course. YMMV (but to these eyes Grotesk offers a very clean maximum legibility font for 300PPI eink screens).

files

This has worked out so well for the small font sizes i use on my ereaders, that i have similarly applied this cap height adjustment to the Monolexic and elementary typefaces (Unolexic is identical to Grotesk)—at larger font sizes, the standard issue of Unolexic, Monolexic and elementary may suffice.

Dyslexic ranking remains the same: first is Grotesk, followed by Monolexic, then elementary. Serifed (“i” family name prefix) for maximum legibility, as well as, serifless capital I typefaces have been created.

The font files may be found here.

birders are a broad community, captivated by the flight and fancy of feathered creatures and enchanted by their complex song. The number of bird varieties is endless yet we rarely are aware of their presence and beauty in the city. And often take them for granted in the countryside.

I have come to birding late—which is probably not all that uncommon given my superficial observation of the average age of the demographic. It differs greatly from the temptation to capture images of these winged apparitions on digital film. Instead, you are called to observe this family of creatures and observe their nuanced behaviour and features. It challenges the power of observation.

Sometimes you can observe the intimate parenting of juveniles or the love shared between lifelong mates. Sometimes, it is a fleeting glance of a silhouette passing out of view.

Here is my local backyard list—both literally and the surrounding area which includes jaunts to the local parks in the city with Kali, mere kilometres from our home. Save for the waterfowl, most of the birds listed were feeding, perching or spotted from my backyard which has been groomed to be as bird-friendly as possible. Started arbitrarily but a reminder of the wonder of wonders that awaits us, if we take the time..

tuesday, 20 february 2024

• Barred Owl

monday, 12 june 2023

• Double-crested_Cormorant (juvenile)

thursday, 16 june 2022

• Red-breasted Merganser

tuesday, 10 may 2022

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak

wednesday, 01 december 2021

• Cooper’s Hawk (juvenile)

thursday, 07 january 2021

• Turkey Vulture (feeding in field)

tuesday, 05 january 2021

• Peregrine Falcon (backyard perch)

monday, 24 august 2020

• Wood Duck

thursday, 23 july 2020

• Black-crowned Night-Heron

thursday, 20 june 2019

• Double-creasted Cormorant

saturday, 25 may 2019

• Wilson’s Warbler (migration)

friday, 26 april 2019

• Red Breasted Nuthatch

wednesday, 3 october 2018

• Peregrine Falcon

wednesday, 21 june 2017

• Killdeer

tuesday, 11 october 2016

• Chestnut-collared Longspur

saturday, 1 october 2016

• White-throated Sparrow (migration)

sunday, 17 april 2016

• Fox Sparrow (migration)

thursday, 7 april 2016

• Common Redpoll (migration)

sunday, 30 august 2015

• Merlin

thursday, 4 june 2015

• American Redstart

friday, 8 may 2015

• Tree Swallow

wednesday, 6 may 2015

• White-crowned Sparrow (migration)

wednesday, 15 april 2015

• Broad-winged Hawk (juvenile)

thursday, 19 march 2015

• Barred Owl

monday, 8 december 2014

• Pileated Woodpecker

wednesday, 22 october 2014

• Cooper’s Hawk

monday, 20 october 2014

• Field Sparrow

tuesday, 14 october 2014

• Hermit Thrush

tuesday, 7 october 2014

• Vesper Sparrow

friday, 3 october 2014

• Bay-breasted Warbler

thursday, 2 october 2014

• Gray Catbird

sunday, 28 september 2014

• Dark-eyed Junco

friday, 26 september 2014

• White-breasted Nuthatch

thursday, 25 september 2014

• Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

wednesday, 24 september 2014

• Northern Flicker

thursday, 11 september 2014

• Canada Warbler

wednesday, 10 september 2014

• Chestnut-sided Warbler

tuesday, 9 september 2014

• Magnolia Warbler
• Eastern Phoebe

monday, 8 september 2014

• Blue Jay (calling)

sunday, 7 september 2014

• Wilson’s Phalarope

saturday, 30 august 2014

• Turkey Vulture (feeding on road kill)

sunday, 17 august 2014

• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

saturday, 9 august 2014

• Eastern Wood-Pewee
• Palm Warbler

friday, 8 august 2014

• Mourning Dove

tuesday, 5 august 2014

• Mallard

monday, 4 august 2014

• Great Blue Heron

saturday, 2 august 2014

• Canada Goose (classic V flight formation)

wednesday, 30 july 2014

• Common Raven (calling)

friday, 25 july 2014

• Barred Owl (calling)

wednesday, 23 july 2014

• Eastern Kingbird

thursday, 17 july 2014

• Common Grackle

monday, 14 july 2014

• Savannah Sparrow

friday, 11 july 2014

• Lark Bunting

sunday, 6 july 2014

• Cedar Waxwing

thursday, 3 july 2014

• Rock Dove
• Red-winged Blackbird (singing)

monday, 30 june 2014

• Eastern Kingbird
• Ring-billed Gull

sunday, 29 june 2014

• House Wren
• Yellow Warbler
• Common Raven
• Blue Jay
• American Crow

saturday, 28 june 2014

• Red-winged Blackbird
• Great Crested Flycatcher

friday, 27 june 2014

• Black-capped Chickadee
• House Sparrow
• Chipping Sparrow
• Song Sparrow (singing)
• European Starling
• Northern Cardinal (singing)

thursday, 26 june 2014

• Northern Cardinal (juvenile)
• American Goldfinch
• Downy Woodpecker

wednesday, 25 june 2014

• House Finch
• Red-tailed Hawk
• Great Blue Heron (in flight)
• American Robin (juvenile)

monday, 23 june 2014

• Baltimore Oriole
• American Robin

sunday, 22 june 2014

• Red-tailed Hawk (soaring)

saturday, 21 june 2014

• Northern Cardinal
• American Kestrel (feeding on perch)
• Song Sparrow

for the interested, this entry encapsulates the machinations and rationalizations that accompanied the development of the dyslexic fonts for ereaders (and my reading enjoyment in particular) as described on this site.

design

Typefaces such as OpenDyslexic address dyslexia by anchoring glyphs (with weighted strokes) to resist dyslexic rotation and reversal of the letter, along with unique shapes to reduce letter confusion. While effective, these specialized typefaces arguably lack the visual aesthetic we generally associate with typography.

Enter Unolexic (and Monolexic), a font based on the coding font Iosevka which approaches dyslexia and reading legibility from a different approach with..

• monospaced cell width
• legibility
• double width characters
• asymmetrical glyphs

albeit, with perhaps less effectiveness for certain dyslexic conditions—who benefit from the odd thickened strokes to anchor the letters. For the remainder of us and those even without a hint of dyslexia, Mono/Unolexic may be the ticket to a more legible and readable font—which also happens to be a beautiful typeface with hints of Grotesk heritage.

monospace

cell width avoids the letter density of proportional fonts. Proportional letter spacing and kerning produce beautifully dense letter sequences which can be difficult for the visually impaired and dyslexic.

Monospaced fonts provide a uniform reading/visual cadence and when used with 1 1/2 (or more) line spacing promote ease of horizontal tracking.

The vertical columnar alignment of monospaced text also renders a page more visually organized at a glance—echoing a simple pattern to our visual cortex.

legibility

outside of dyslexic adjustments—and a few distinctive deviations, see unique to—the bulk of the Mono/Unolexic character set relies on the glyph shapes of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font—a font designed to maximize character recognition and readability—capitalizing on its modern Grotesk sans serif forms for the visually impaired.

Dyslexic fonts need not lack the appeal of clean geometric strokes.

double width glyphs

are unique to Mono/Unolexic, made to improve character recognition and word legibility. In particular..

• the Space character for distinct (and uniform) word separation
• the Emdash (made more distinct from Dash) and Ellipsis for clarity and emphasis
• ligatures for readability (which are otherwise overly compressed within a single monospaced cell)

asymmetric glyphs

mirroring of the lower case glyph sets b d p q and n u are common properties of beautiful typefaces, especially the classic Grotesk fonts.

Unfortunately, dyslexia can misread the multiple use of common shapes—perceiving a glyph in a rotated or reversed orientation and mistaken for another letter. Choosing distinctly different shapes for these commonly mirrored glyphs improve word recognition, especially when these letters are combined within the same word—it is a subtle but noticeable benefit.

the road

from monolexic to Unolexic saw several asymmetric glyph set iterations—while a visual improvement for the author, may be less so for a particular dyslexic condition (hence, the trail of available Monolexic font sets).

n u

The lower case n u glyph set with the..

• familiar straight n
• highly uncommon but symmetric toothless-rounded u

remains common to all the Mono/Unolexic font sets.

Its obvious clarity and beauty in the common “un” pairing surprises me that this is not a more frequent glyph shape pairing amongst typographic designers. (The toothed u arguably has the visual toothed anchor point—though, i feel the toothless-rounded shape’s beautiful distinctiveness more than compensates.)

b d p q

the lower case b d p q glyph set has a more storied history—with the distinctly unique lower case hook-tailed q of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font being the only permanent fixture, avoiding the dyslexic pitfall of most other typefaces.

The progression of lower case glyph choices precluded (with one exception) the use of serifed variants and evolved as visual familiarity with each typeface invited further exploration of alternate asymmetric glyph combinations..

• the toothless-corner b which retains a similar shape to its more familiar toothed variant anchored the early glyph set combinations
• the tailed d harboured a pleasing repetition of the vertical stroke of the lower case l—paired with the eared (serifless) p
• subsequent return to the toothed-serifless d was paired with the serifed p
• finally, adopting the toothless-rounded b allowed the (serifless) earless-corner p for maximal font set air (eliminating serifed corner bumps)

producing the following font set combinations..

The tailed d and serifed p ultimately were replaced for the increased adjacent character air of the toothed-serifless d and earless-corner p. The return to the toothed-serifless d for the high frequency letter re-aligned itself with the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font.

The toothless-rounded b was inspired by the Universal Grotesk font and worked out (IMO) surprising well, much like the toothless-rounded u. Despite the radical departure from its more familiar toothed glyph shape, it adds a unique geometric flair further distinguishing the typeface. YMMV.

unique to

several other deviations from the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font set distinguish the Mono/Unolexic fonts. Notably the capital letters I J Q and the descending lower case f.

capital i j q

First and foremost, these fonts are available in either serifed or serifless capital I. Many will prefer the serifed capital I for its distinct recognition. (i am biased towards serifless as a matter of my geometric leanings.)

The descending capital J and detached bent-tail capital Q further distinguish these fonts. Along with their uniquely added flair, these glyphs stand out better within the monospaced cell width with a cleaner and more open presentation.

descending f

is unique to Unolexic—uncommon for a non-italic glyph—and adds the final flair to the font. Its descender aids in legibility but perhaps as importantly, adds an informal “look” to the font—not obtrusively (more like an accent) as the letter is a low frequency letter.

Like many things, familiarity breeds acceptance. A former aversion to descenders has now become an aesthetically pleasing alternative. Monolexic remains the more formal typeface. Unolexic its more relaxed cousin.

YMMV. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

elementary

moral of the story: never say you’re done. Enter elementary.

elementary doesn’t inherit the lexic family postfix as its single-storey lower case a is less distinct (from o and to a lesser extent the g and d for the visually impaired) from its more universally recognizable double-storey variant—which the Atkinson Hyperlegible and dyslexic fonts adopt for maximum legibility. Its name instead is derived from the primary or elementary school font which introduces the single-storey lower case a and g glyphs as easier to print letters in introductory reading and writing curriculums.

Why this typeface variant? It is counter-intuitive but at small font sizes it actually (to my eyes) works, albeit in a different manner than expected. The high frequency letters a e and s with their crossing mid-x-height stroke make certain words (and page) look ever so subtly denser—due to the frequency of these bisected x-height cells. The single-storey glyph lessens this—countering the e’s frequency—with its open outer cell width outline. What is lost perhaps in glyph distinctiveness is gained in more “airiness”.

Hence, the trio of fonts at the bottom of the list are now in my rotation based on my preferred lower case b d p (with hook-tailed q) dyslexic glyph set for maximal side bearing air..

As such, fonts enhance the character of the material being read or displayed. elementary adds its playful voice to the formal and informal tone of Monolexic and Unolexic—providing a good font selection for the material i consume.

In the end, it comes down to aesthetic and vision. Dyslexic conditions may mandate the more distinctive double-storey glyph—some may continue to prefer the earlier b d p glyph variant combinations. With my eyesight (despite needing reading glasses) and 300PPI eink displays, i have been finding elementary a very nice font to read with—made all the more familiar, perhaps, by those critical formative years learning to read and print with those single-storey glyphs. As always, YMMV.

dyslexic ranking

in terms of dyslexic ranking or readability from best to less we now have..

Those with mild or no dyslexia have the luxury of choosing a font which suits the material they are reading, including earlier typeface variants.

~   ~   ~

the font files may be found here.

is an homage to the Universal Grotesk font—possibly the first geometric sans font. With Uno constucted from its name to echo its firm relationship to Monolexic. :)

Monolexic, having long morphed from its original Atkinson Hyperlegible monospaced heritage—Iosevka Hyperlegible—coincidentally shares Universal Grotesk’s spurless lower case b and u (albeit in reversal, using the toothless-corner versus -rounded b and toothless-rounded versus -corner u—see unolexic adjustments note).

Monolexic’s latest changes incorporated the descending capital J, leaving just one obvious untested descender, Universal Grotesk’s lower case..

descending f

up until now, i have exercised a general aversion towards the descending f, even for italics where it is quite commonly applied—an aesthetic bias from decades of source code font preferences.

Ereaders have changed this stance. Instead, i have quickly become a convert of the descending f for reading with Unolexic—the informal flair it imparts adds a typeface with a distinctly different “feel”.

This is due to a combination of its increased legibility (even if uncommon descender) and the accent it adds to the overall page (complementing the more dominant ascenders)—much like the descending capital J, further adding to the distinctiveness of the typeface. Both of these infrequent descenders together soften Monolexic’s more formal presentation and add a pleasing script like flair to the text. YMMV.. fonts being such a personal aesthetic.

i have been reading exclusively with the *Monolexic fonts using the toothed-serifless lower case d set of dyslexic b d p q glyphs. So only two Unolexic typefaces distinguished by the serifless and short-serifed capital I have currently been produced (see dyslexic rankings below).

atkinson hyperlegible

font provides the base character variant glyph set for the Unolexic (similar to the Monolexic) font..

A B C D E F G H I ◌ K L M N O P ◌ R S T U V W X Y Z a ◌ c d e ◌ g h i j k l m n o ◌ q r s t ◌ v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) ! ◌ ◌ $ ◌ ^ ◌ * ( , . / ; ' [ ] \ ` - = < > ? : " { } | ~ _ +

with “◌” denoting the characters differing from the Atkinson Hyperlegible glyphs.

unolexic adjustments

add the asymmetric lower case character variants and distinct alternate capital letter glyph choices (better suited to their monospaced cell width)..

◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ J ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ Q ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ b ◌ d ◌ f ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ n ◌ p q ◌ ◌ ◌ u ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ @ # ◌ % ◌ & ◌ ◌

The lower case d q and n are shown to illustrate the dyslexic asymmetry—which contrasts much more clearly on 300PPi eink screens.

Note: Unolexic is now available in an alternate asymmetric lower case b d p q glyph set, adding Universal Grotesk’s toothless-rounded b and replacing the serifed with earless-corner p. This improves the adjacent character air of the p, particularly noticeable at small font sizes whose serif could bump up to the preceding letter.

dyslexic ranking

of the Monolexic and Unolexic typefaces for dyslexia readability from best to less (there is no bad—says bias :) is..

based on..

• serifed capital I (distinctiveness) over serifless
• toothed lower case d (maximal adjacent character air for a high frequency letter) over tailed
• lower case corner** p (adjacent character air) over serifed
• extended lower case f (higher legibility, especially at small font sizes)

**Newly added alternate Unolexic asymmetric lower case b d p q glyph set

Historically it all started with e_Monolexic—originally named eMonolexic before this latest re-organization of the font families—which quickly established itself as my default ereader font (until my “making things better” compulsion asserted itself :). The serifless capital I typeface variant subsequently addressed my predilection towards sans serif fonts.. followed by alternate asymmetrical glyph combinations.

While ranked above, individual dyslexia conditions may find one typeface more effective than another, not to mention personal preferences for a particular glyph variant over another.

From a dyslexia perspective there is little to choose between the Unolexic and Monolexic fonts—the vertical stroke length of the lower case f not altering the general glyph shape itself. Choosing between the two will ultimately be a matter of personal aesthetic.

There is no deficiency in Monolexic that needed addressing AFAIAC. Unolexic instead is its complement. i expect most to lean towards the more familiar and formal Monolexic typeface. Either way, both fonts provide different “feels” for the content one is consuming. YMMV.

So there you have it. Monolexic. Unolexic.

Done! :)

~   ~   ~

this site has also been migrated to Unolexic to illustrate it—though, the best results are to be had on a 300PPI ereader and their dedicated font engine. Quite honestly, i am of two minds about the font in this browser application. Monolexic feels appropriately formal for the more technical colophon topics, Unolexic for the remainder of the website.

Though, perhaps the more informal flair of Unolexic is a good reminder in this age of uncensored web consumption that the content of this site is the personal perspective of this author only. Nothing more.

files

the font files and associated build files may be found at..

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Kindle fonts and FONT_RAMP
• Kobo fonts and kobopatch
• Font building scripts

Kindle Users: Unless you are setting very small font sizes, i suggest you install the Kobo fonts (Monolexic or Unolexic) first for the higher legibility of the lower case hook-tailed q (which matches the Atkinson Hyperlegible glyph). If the glyph’s x-height does not render to one’s liking (it can render a smidge lower at small font sizes), then you can choose to install the Kindle fonts with the more subtle “tailed-q”.

along the way, the consolidated write-up on the Monolexic font accumulated more revisions than i had anticipated as the original Hyperlegible Font was iteratively tweaked to address dyslexia.

Having “arrived” at this final release of Monolexic (famous last words.. see unolexic and typo’ asymmetry), a less daunting and easier to comprehend description of the font is in order for those uninterested in the technical history of the font and the rationale for the glyph choices.

Quite simply the..

atkinson hyperlegible

font provides the main character variant glyphs for the Monolexic font..

A B C D E F G H I ◌ K L M N O P ◌ R S T U V W X Y Z a ◌ c d e f g h i j k l m n o ◌ q r s t ◌ v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) ! ◌ ◌ $ ◌ ^ ◌ * ( , . / ; ' [ ] \ ` - = < > ? : " { } | ~ _ +

with “◌” representing a differing alpha character glyph for the purposes of dyslexic legibility. Symbol substitutions largely follow the principle of minimal strokes and maximal stroke separation.

Note: Monolexic is also available with a short-serifed capital I and tailed lower case d.

dyslexic adjustments

eliminate mirrored lower case glyphs (in all orientations) to minimize dyslexic confusion..

◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ J ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ Q ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ b ◌ d ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ n ◌ p q ◌ ◌ ◌ u ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ @ # ◌ % ◌ & ◌ ◌

between the b d p q and n u characters—especially when found in combinations within single words.

The capital descending J and detached-bend-tailed Q (also available as detached-tailed) are chosen as more legible and aesthetic monospaced glyphs, a reflection of my preference for minimal stroke maximal “air” glyphs—the monospaced crossing capital Q feels more compressed and lacks the “air” the Atkinson font’s geometric width provides. Like the upper/lower case U, the J echoes a distinctive symmetry to its lower case glyph.

Note: There are now a total of 8 typeface variants to chose from whose combinations are:

Capital I (serifed/serifless) x capital Q (tailed/bend-tailed) x lower case d p pairs (d-toothed p-serifed/d-tailed p-serifless) or 2x2x2 typeface families.

~   ~   ~

the Atkinson Hyperlegible character variants already provide high legibility for the visually impaired. The dyslexic character variant substitutions, while losing some of the Atkinson Hyperlegible glyph symmetry, improve the font’s dyslexic legibility—which is particularly noticeable with words containing combinations of b d p q or n u.

Additionally, Monolexic provides..

• monospace cell width for an even visual (eye movement) cadence
• double width Space character for enhanced word separation
• fontforge tweaks for contrast balancing and double width ligatures
• and when configured with 1.5 line height spacing, a relaxed open draft like reading presentaton

creating a uniquely beautiful font for the mildly dyslexic (in contrast to the heavier stylistic OpenDyslexic which is commonly found on ereaders). YMMV.

files

monolexic font family distinctions..

The font files are organized into two folders based on their lower case d p character glyph pairs—hence, the use of two font family names for the two capital I variants within each folder.

Historically, the popular short-serifed capital I of e_/eMonolexic was the first foray as an ereader font, with the serifless i_/iMonolexic added later (to satisfy my Neo-Grotesque leanings). For those wishing to preview the distinquishing lower case d p glyph variants without installing multiple *Monolexic fonts, these glyphs can be viewed on the Iosevka customize page (by “clicking” on the d p letters to display the available glyph variants).

~   ~   ~

The font files and associated build files may be found at..

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Kindle fonts and FONT_RAMP
• Kobo fonts and kobopatch
• Font building scripts

Note: the Monolexic fonts at small font sizes render much better on ereaders at 300 PPI, than on most computer displays (which are commonly in the 80-100 PPI range).

font creep. completion.

It took awhile but, save for the title font (which is safe for now), all the other fonts used on this site originate from the work done on the Monolexic font and the font families subsequently derived from that for coding and writing.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the Iosevka font upon which these font families are generated from with their own selection of character variants and metric overrides.

i am not a font designer nor an expert on dyslexia. But i am pleased with the font i have created for ereaders and its resultant legibility—it looks much much better at 300PPI on eink screens. That other lovely font families have not been able to displace Monolexic speaks to its legibility.. for my eyes, at least.

Hopefully, this site will yield the same visual ease and seduction for those stumbling onto these pages.

i have sung the praises of the Amazon Kindle Oasis. It is still the flagship ereader in the Amazon line-up despite the recent update to the Kindle Paperwhite.

At the same time, Rakuten Kobo released the new Sage and the updated Libra 2. i jumped on the Sage—having always wanted to give the Kobo a closer look—for its 8” eink screen. But alas, its ergonomics and display were not compelling enough for me to keep it (see hardware).

Fast forward a few months with no update to the Kindle Oasis in the offing, i decided to revisit Rakuten Kobo, this time with the 7” Libra 2. While the same screen size as the Oasis, i was impressed enough with the Nickel UI of the Kobo Sage to want to give it a deeper look.

Caveats: i do not consume mangas, pdf’s or audiobooks.

But first, the..

hardware

for many, the build quality of the Kindle line up has always appeared better in comparison to the Kobo. More solid feeling, higher quality, less “plasticky”, with the Oasis standing above them all, including its cousin, the Paperwhite.

build

first off, i would just like to say the build quality of the Libra 2 compares favourably to the Kindles i have had if the number of times it has survived unscathed from having been accidentally knocked across the room (and not just dropped liked my Kindles) is any indication.

These mishaps occurred on my way to learning how to hold this new device single handedly (coming from the Oasis)—my preferred way of reading—accidentally batting it with the back of my hand after fumbling it, in an unsuccessful attempt to catch it! Many people complain that the metal bodied Oasis is difficult to hold and is slippery. i find it the opposite with the plastic body of the Libra 2 feeling much more slippery (see ergonomics). There are reports that the black version of the Libra 2 is made of a different material whose backing feels more “grippy”—regardless, i prefer the white body for the look of its page like border.

There have also been the odd reports of case cracks and creaks with the Libra 2. Despite the inadvertent abuse from my accidental tosses against tables and hardwood floors, my ereader has not suffered any of these complaints. In fact, the device remains looking brand new. i surmise the sealing required to achieve the IPX8 water resistant rating aids the structural integrity of the device and its components.

buttons

the buttons on the Oasis are undoubtedly of higher quality—both the power and page turn buttons have a silky refined feel, the page turn buttons with a soft shallow but definitive tactile feel. Their thin shape reflects these quality switches.

The power button on the Libra 2 is good (and from what i have read, much improved)—the round suitably large indented button requires slightly more pressure than the Oasis to engage, but is tactile and easily done. Not an issue.

The page turn buttons of the Libra 2 feel more like rocker switches and, depending on the manner one is able to hold the device, may or may not be problematic. The button ends towards the center of the device are very stiff. But if one’s thumb can rest fully on the “top” button (with it assigned as “next” page), it has a very nice soft tactile feel on pressing. (On the Sage, the button placement was just a stretch too far for single handed usage—for me).

On the Oasis, it is not difficult to roll the thumb downwards to go to the “previous” page, the two buttons being suitably close together and togglable from any contact point. This is not possible with the Libra 2—instead, with kobopatch i have assigned both buttons as “next” page, using left screen tap (i hold with the left hand while reading) as the “previous” page when needed.

display

coming from the flush screen of the Oasis to the raised bezel of the Libra 2 feels a bit retro but it is well worth it!

Don’t get me wrong, the display on the Oasis is wonderful. And from what i can tell, its thin glass layer still manages to present text comparable to the latest gen Paperwhite (which has the latest Carta 1200 eink screen under a thicker flush plastic layer).

But the Libra 2 with the bezel minus the unnecessary layer over the eink screen is, in side-by-side comparison, noticeably crisper with blacker blacks—both in regular and dark mode—the blacks a development of the Carta 1200 eink tech. i have never owned a Kindle Voyage, but i can now appreciate the enthusiasm for its display clarity.

The front light evenness is superb on the Libra 2 and matches the Oasis from that regard. Its dark mode is much better, the Oasis background being a more dark gray. And with the latest eink Carta 1200 technology, the Libra 2 does not suffer the ghosting that can occur on the Oasis.

(The Libra 2 also bests the flush screen Sage in front light evenness and text clarity—again, because of the degradation caused by the Sage’s extra layer over the eink screen).

speed

the Oasis has a 1Ghz dual core ARM processor. i am not sure what ARM(?) processor the Libra 2 uses which, reputedly is unchanged from the previous gen Libra.

Regardless, overall performance between the two devices is similar—perhaps the benefit of the Libra 2’s Carta 1200 eink screen. Importantly, page turn refresh times are equally nimble for both devices. Dictionary lookup response times are again identical, although, the Libra 2 has a fractionally longer lag time for the word to actually highlight—this presents more an acclimation issue for me coming from the Oasis, than anything.

Sleep recovery is faster on the Libra 2, the Oasis seeming to do some start up “housekeeping” when turned on from sleep mode. By the same token, the Oasis disconnects from the USB connection and starts up faster. Six of one, half dozen of another as they say.

battery

i haven’t used the Libra 2 long enough to determine how much longer the battery life is over the Oasis (if at all, for the brightness levels and settings i use). And in all honesty, for all the hand wringing that has been directed at the Oasis, its battery life has never been an issue for me despite reading several hours a day/night with varying brightness levels.

i just charge as needed, approximately once a week it feels, and if more, not a big deal. On trips i carry a battery pack for my phone so can always top up the ereader if needed.. which i have never had to. Charging is not something i stress over as long as it does not interrupt reading.

ergonomics

without a doubt, the unique—and controversial—ledge design of the Oasis is a brilliant industrial design, centering the weight of the device over the palm of the hand for single handed usage. The Oasis feels much lighter than the one ounce (lighter) difference should portray because of this. The heavier and less well balanced (evenly weight distributed) Libra 2 is still easily held single handed but the Oasis still remains the premiere ereader in this regard with its button side weight bearing.

Apart from the weight and balance advantage of the Oasis, the ledge also provides a degree of “passive” grip with one’s fingers along the ledge. Attempting to “grip” hold the Oasis (or Libra 2, for that matter) can be fatiguing. Learning to hold the ereader as lightly as possible by balancing the device in one’s hand is the way to enjoy relaxed extended single handed reading sessions.

The button placement for both devices, while different, is ideal for each form factor. The more central (inward) button placement of the Oasis allows access to both page turn buttons with the full pad of the thumb (with fingers along the underside ledge and the corner resting in the cup of the palm). The Libra 2’s button placement towards the curved raised edge aids counter balancing the device’s more evenly distributed weight (torque) against the top thumb button (with fingers loosely flared in the back and the corner of the device resting in the cup of the palm).

(Here, the Sage faired poorly, the added weight (torque) being quite noticeable and overall form factor forcing more of a grip.)

~   ~   ~

hardware wise it is a bit of a wash between these two ereaders—the Oasis with its outstanding ergonomic design and the Libra 2 with its stunning display contrast and clarity. Flat screen versus bezel design is a personal preference—aesthetics aside, some find cleaning a bezelled surface more irksome along the edges. And then there is the choice of colour—or black only, in the case of the Oasis.

And so onto the UI and..

software

it was the positive impression the Kobo Sage left me with of the Rakuten Kobo UI, that prompted me to reconsider what would appear to be a redundant acquisition—the 7” eink display and overall dimension of the Libra 2 being similar to the Oasis.

The months spent after my brief time with the Sage allowed me to investigate kobopatch and determine this was far less daunting than rooting an Android smartphone, and begin exploring Calibre’s Kobo specific plugins.

Both eco-systems are very extensive and having access to both just broadens one’s access. The libra 2 also adds access to the public library here in Canada, which the Oasis does not.

appliance

for the most part, ereaders are used by the majority as reading appliances. i doubt many even side load custom fonts, choosing instead to use a pleasing font from the choices available (of which there are a good selection on both platforms), download a book, open it, adjust display settings (margins, font size, line spacing, footer content, etc.) and simply read.

Nothing wrong with that. In fact, that is the beauty of ereaders. They are barely more complicated than opening a book.

The Oasis is effectively a closed platform with one configuration setting available—the FONT_RAMP file for font size settings—the Libra 2 more open.

The Oasis is, therefore, more stable in this regard (compared to a “patched” Libra 2) but lacks the customizations available to the Libra 2. There is more work entailed to maintain a patched Kobo configuration—which might also introduce “bugs”—but doing so only requires minimal file editing and command line skills.

i am here because of Kobo’s more open design.

menus

without a doubt, the UI of the Libra 2 feels much more refined IMO and this is why i wanted to give the Kobo another look.

While being an exclusive Kindle user until now, transitioning to the Kobo has been effortless—a testament to the UI’s design. i have not had to hunt for settings in random menus, the layout and menu structures being very well organized—compared to the Kindle whose UI at times feels more like a work in progress.

My only current complaints concern the Libra 2’s “dark mode”..

• the “dark mode” toggle should be on the brightness settings menu IMO instead of general settings. This saves one tap—not a real show stopper.
• “dark mode”, which is a relatively new feature, does not extend to the menus and dictionary. This was also true for the Oasis and has since been rectified, so there is little reason to not expect this to be corrected in a future firmware update.

The series and collections organizations are nicely configurable via (see..) calibre—the only way to sanely update this content, IMO—otherwise, the eink keyboard can be used for the masochist—this is the reason i never assigned categories on the Kindle because of the tedium to maintain and reorganize.

fonts

i am a professed font nutter. And much of this site has recently been focused on my Monolexic font development for dyslexia.

Custom fonts are added similarly on the Oasis and Libra 2 by copying the ttf or otf font files to the fonts folder of the ereader’s root directory.

The Oasis recognizes the fonts on disconnect with all font sizing and weighting available. The Libra 2 differs in that the ereader must be reboot (with kobopatch installed and configured to enable the advanced font management features—without which, font weights are not available and added fonts will most likely be too light or thin).

Curiously, the Oasis font engine does not render the lower case hook-tailed q of my Monolexic font properly (at small font sizes for pixel peepers)—altering its x-height—so a version of the Monolexic fonts have been generated specifically for the Kindle with a more subtle tailed lower case q. The Kobo font rendering engine does not suffer this quirk.

In addition, the Kobo font rendering engine has much wider and granular settings for font size, weight (boldness) and line spacing.

themes

the Oasis allows the creation of themes which apply font settings (size, weight and spacing), margins, footers and orientation. This is useful for those who like to quickly switch styles dependent on their reading content e.g. sans serif for non-fiction, serif for fiction, etc.

The Libra 2 has effectively only one theme (current) setting—which is not a problem for me as i read all material with my Monolexic font. The Libra 2 additionally has a more granular margin setting for that perfect tweaking of the display page, along with auto orientation (versus Oasis’ static portrait or landscape orientation).

A bit of a toss depending on one’s reading preferences.

shortcuts

There are two Kobo shortcuts that stand out for me..

• the single tap at the top corner of a page to bookmark it. While the Oasis only requires a second tap to bookmark a page, the extra tap for this function feels glaringly unnecessary. Plus the Kobo bookmark is dog-eared for that extra bit of visual polish (sometimes, features, as in this case for the Oasis, feel like they have been implemented by developers who don’t actually use the device to read on!)
• the sliding brightness level along the left edge of the Kobo display. Auto brightness is available for both devices but i have found this feature unreliable in all but the most evenly lit environments. Being able to simply slide a finger along the edge of the display is so much more accessible than pulling down a menu and moving a slider, then returning to the page at hand. This is a killer feature IMO.

The Oasis autoconnects to the USB port (of a computer), whereas, the Libra 2 presents a prompt. i prefer the prompt in this case for times i wish to read while charging—the Oasis would require disconnecting from the computer’s file manager, diverting one’s attention.

dictionaries

the Oasis wins hands down for ease of adding supplementary dictionaries for roll-over word lookup, accepting all the most common dictionary file formats. Plus, there are many supplementary English dictionaries available.

The Libra 2 requires a special zip file format and has a limited number of supplementary English dictionaries available. That being said, its standard Oxford Dictionary is more current and richer in content than the Oasis’ Oxford Dictionary. Additionally, Kobo allows highlight lookup of words in the dictionary itself—a quite useful feature—which the Oasis does not.

While i miss being able to add the range of supplementary English dictionaries i have on my Oasis, i much prefer Kobo’s dictionary implementation and presentation.

kobopatch

the kobopatch firmware releases maintained by dedicated Kobo users is what further separates the Libra 2 from the Oasis—beyond just making custom fonts usable.

Its installation is straight forward and can be reverted at any time. Also of note, this allows the firmware on the Libra 2 to be rolled back—something that is unavailable on the Kindle platform for users who discover they do not like the changes implemented by the latest firmware update.

By simply..

• installing the downloaded firmware (clean) and rebooting (disconnecting)
• then enabling (editing) the desired features in the yaml patch library
• then building the firmware update
• and finally, installing the new firmware and rebooting (disconnecting)

a personalized Kobo ereader is created. Detailed instructions for the current release at the time of this writing may be found here.

i have enabled and customized..

• custom font sizes
• custom navigation menu page number text
• both page turn buttons go next
• custom header/footer page number text
• enable advanced settings for all fonts
• custom header/footer captions

to further customize the display page format and its header/footer content to satisfy my minimalist aesthetic.

My kobopatch configuration files may be found here.

~   ~   ~

The UI of the Libra 2 differs from the Oasis as is to be expected. And while it feels more refined at the menu level, both in use as readers are very very similar operationally for the main functions of page control and dictionary lookup—the Libra 2 having some shortcut niceties.

Page display appearance and granularity of its control is a personal thing and is probably linked to eyesight as much as preferences—visually impaired readers requiring larger font sizes are probably adequately served by coarser adjustments and may even find the Libra 2’s finer adjustments annoying to discern.

As a small font user with a page layout obsession, i fully appreciate being able to tweak the content and font size of the page header and footer with Kobopatch—and love the unobtrusive progress bar of the naive UI.

calibre

if kobopatch were not enough, the Libra 2 further distinguishes itself with its Calibre (the library manager i use to side load ebooks to the Oasis and Libra 2) integration via plugins using..

• KoboTouchExtended, for automatic kepub generation (and the UI benefits of that format—page and reading stats, estimates and graphs)
• Kobo Utlities, for metadata syncing (in particular, Series, Collections and Read Status) and a host of other utilities

As mentioned above, Series and Collection tags can be mass edited within Calibre and then updated on the Kobo device. Similarly, the ebook read status can be captured in Calibre for restoring on Kobo devices—useful for syncing multiple Kobo ereaders or restoring a library.

This added Calibre functionality is immensely useful for maintaining large libraries on the ereader. Of course, coming from the Oasis meant spending several hours within Calibre to update all the additional columns of information required but once done, maintenance is quite minimal ongoing.

Lazy as i am, the Oasis lacking this update facility is managed with just a few dozen ebooks loaded at a time—manual creation of categories on the Oasis is just too labour intensive for me to warrant the effort.

Calibre integration has changed my opinion about holding a large library of ebooks on the ereader.. not that it appears there will ever be enough time to reread books!

final thoughts

So, if it is not apparent, yes i am a Kobo enthusiast now. i could not be happier with the look of the “printed” page on the Libra 2—tweaked to my minimalist sensibilities, with my favourite font and formatting.

There are numerous other differences between these two devices, notably the (kepub) reading statistics and progress screens—with the Libra 2 winning handily in these areas. i haven’t commented on this because i “just” read and rarely divert my attention to them—the graphical presentation, however, is beautifully executed. The “chapter page/pages” header and “progress bar” footer are sufficient for me and as much reading distraction as i care to tolerate! :)

The Oasis? i still like to pick it up and appreciate its superlative ergonomic design. It’s possible the next gen Oasis, should there be one with an 8” eink screen, may be compelling enough—that is, insanely light—to overcome the software’s shortcomings. For now, it will have to be my backup ereader as i enjoy my Libra 2.

The reason it took so long to put this lengthy write-up together? Well.. i could not break away from the enjoyment of reading on this near perfect ereader that does everything i want and more :)

files

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Kobo fonts and kobopatch

it was inevitable.. from the development of..

• my original monospaced coding font based on the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font for the visually impaired
• to the ereader variant of that font
• further enhanced for dyslexia

that these cumulative enhancements to advance font legibility and readability, would be merged with my coding and system fonts for the computer desktop and applications.. and ultimately, find their way to this web site.

Spending so much time reading these days during Covid on my new Kobo Libra 2, this font has ingrained itself as my de facto standard of fonts. Every other font now looks too tight—needing more air—and oddly, vulnerable to varying degrees to dyslexia.

For first time readers, the Space character may seem oddly wide and the use of a monospaced font for text, unconventional. These are two distinguishing characteristics to the Monolexic fonts (differentiating them from other dyslexic fonts)..

• to improve word separation
• and present a uniform (horizontal) visual cadence
• line spacing is also increased, much like draft copy to further reduce (vertical) content smearing.

Closer inspection of the Monolexic variants will reveal dyslexic specific tuned glyphs—notably the lower case b d p q and n u—to avoid mirrored glyph shapes and the visual (mental) confusion (mapping) they can produce.

One need not suffer from dyslexia to appreciate this font. At least, that is my experience—note words containing combinations of b d p q or n u.

No doubt, this site will continue to be tweaked for legibility (with a sprinkle of my ever tweaking personal aesthetic). i hope your experience of these changes is a positive one.

this page consolidates the various font customizations applied to the Iosevka font used on this site, my Kindle and computers. Essentially, the configuration customizations elucidated in the various articles are relisted here in this single source for ease of reference and currency. tl;dr: see monolexic type

Three major influences occurred to my original Iosevka font settings over a matter of months after years of usage with my Futura like character variant configuration on my computers for coding..

• discovery of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font. This font’s character variants, save for a few characters—notably the substituted “tailed” capital Q and some more “open” symbols—was adopted for its increased “legibility” for the visually impaired and outright elegance.
• usage on my Kindle Oasis as an ereader font. i am an exclusive consumer of books on the ereader. It is all about personalization of content format, fonts playing an important part of that. The Monolegible emulation of the Atkinson font further enhanced legibility (IMO) as a monospaced font.
• investigation of dyslexic fonts. A subreddit thread invited me to investigate dyslexic fonts more closely and prompted adoption of further changes to the Atkinson font character variants—notably the lower case b d p and u—to create the Monolexic font.

The end result of these cumulative changes have been so effective in maximizing legibility, i have incorporated them into my daily source code and desktop font.. and now this website :)

final version

barring the future addition of character variants to the Iosevka library which may further the dyslexic legibility of these created font sets, i am pleased to announce that my work on the fonts and their supporting build scripts is done.

The only pending change at the moment would be the correction of the x-height for the lower case hook-tailed q—its overlapping tail causing the Kindle font rendering engine to slightly misalign the glyph on the line, hence, reverting to the more subtle cell width tailed q for the Kindle generated fonts.

Some of the geometric symmetry of the Atkinson font is lost with the dyslexia adjustments made to some of its lower case characters, notably the b d and p—the q already differing—and u. But what remains, is a uniquely elegant and charming typeface with high readability; a worthy trade-off for eking out that last bit of legibility—though, in my biased opinion, it is even more seductive visually.

i hope some of you may find these fonts of use.

exhibit

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ) ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( , . / ; ' [ ] \ ` - = < > ? : " { } | ~ _ +

The above font is the serifed p iMonolexic or Monolexic (my default of the four variants available) font and that now used as the body text of this site.

~   ~   ~

the Atkinson lower case hook-tailed q renders with a slightly lower x-height at very small font sizes. The frequency of the letter is such that it should go largely unnoticed—but it can be discerned on 300 PPI eink and other high resolution displays if one looks for it—or is an obsessive pixel peeper (guilty as charged).

The build script default replaces the hook-tailed q (now a command line option) with the less exaggerated tailed q whose descender does not overlap into the adjacent character cell. It is uncertain whether this is a specific OS font rendering or font specification issue—but it does occur on Linux based platforms.

Update: The hook-tailed lower case q is rendered properly by the Kobo font rendering engine :)

dyslexic considerations

the font set adopts the character variants of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font with character variant deviations where necessary to enhance dyslexic character recognition, notably..

• the toothed lower case b and d are replaced with the toothless-corner b and tailed-serifless d to avoid mirroring each other and the lower case p;
• the toothed lower case u is replaced with the toothless-rounded u to avoid mirroring the lower case n. This change is surprisingly effective in opening up words containing it;
• the crossed capital Q is replaced with the detached-tailed Q to be more clearly defined within its rectangular monospaced cell.

Additionally, some symbols are replaced with more open glyphs drawn with fewer strokes, notably the..

• ampersand
• at
• dollar
• percent

Dyslexic reading comprehension is further enhanced with..

• the uniform visual cadence of monospaced characters;
• increased word separation by expanding the Space character width;
• the high x-height of Iosevka which improves lower case recognition;
• added line height (leading) to ease visual scanning of text.

~   ~   ~

the character variant deviations from the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font not only aid dyslexic character recognition but impart a unique and beautiful look to the font set..

• the toothless lower case b with its rounded script like form and more open side space;
• the tailed lower case d echoing the rhythmic right sided vertical stroke and tail of the l and t;
• the toothless lower case u echoing the symmetry of its capital with more open side space;
• the detached-tailed capital Q with its distinctive openness within its narrower monospaced cell width (compared to the Atkinson font).

Overall, the lower case characters hold their geometric shape in contrast to the more vertical cell shape of the capitals—a pleasing contrast that maintains a visual monospaced cadence without sacrificing legibility—or too much content density to its proportional counterpart.

The result is a unique dyslexic focused font housed in a clean geometric sans serif design. Not as radical as some typefaces specifically targeting dyslexia.. but perhaps more accessible for a wider audience. And certainly more beautiful to my eyes. YMMV.

~   ~   ~

in contrast to the Atkinson font, the OpenDyslexic font uses the serifless capital I—which for most IMO, is less distinctive than its serifed variant. However, employing this serifless character variant aligns nicely with my bias towards minimal stroke glyphs—echoes of two iconic fonts, Helvetica and Futura— adding a more linear emphasis to the typeface with a subtly different visual “feel”.

Combined with the symmetry and air of the toothless lower case u, it creates a font with a uniquely balanced look—feeling both geometric and warm—whilst retaining high legibility and dyslexic focus. Beauty in the eye of the beholder—two typefaces for varying visual tastes and moods.

configuration

The toml file configuration to generate the hyperlegible and dyslexic character font variants..

[buildPlans.iosevka.variants] # inherits = "" # defaults [buildplans.iosevka.variants.design] capital-d = "more-rounded-serifless" # D capital-g = "toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked" # G capital-i = 'short-serifed' # I capital-j = "descending-flat-hook-serifless" # J capital-k = "straight-serifless" # K capital-m = "flat-bottom" # M capital-q = "detached-bend-tailed" # Q or "detached-tailed" capital-w = "straight-flat-top" # W a = "double-storey-serifless" b = 'toothless-corner' d = "tailed-serifless" e = "flat-crossbar" f = "flat-hook-crossbar-at-x-height" i = "hooky" j = "flat-hook-serifless" k = "straight-serifless" l = "flat-tailed" p = "eared" q = "tailed" # see fontforge mod r = "compact" t = "flat-hook-short-neck2" u = 'toothless-rounded' w = "straight-flat-top" y = "straight-turn" zero = "reverse-slashed" # 0 one = "nobase-flat-top-serif" # 1 two = "straight-neck" # 2 four = "closed" # 4 five = "oblique-upper-left-bar" # 5 six = "closed-contour" # 6 eight = "two-circles" # 8 brace = "straight" # {} ampersand = "upper-open" # & asterisk = "penta-high" # * at = "short" # @ dollar = "through" # $ number-sign = "upright" paragraph-sign = "low" # ¶ paren = "normal" # () percent = "dots" # % question = "smooth" # ? ...

settings

configuration settings for the various source code and ereader fonts defined in the build script are..

The big change is the application of the expanded shape cell width to the source code font—common source code programming fonts define condensed or half cell width characters to maximize the monospaced character density or content on displays. Beauty over form in this instance—a luxury afforded by today’s wider computer displays where content density is a non-issue. In practice, my experience has been that the added breathing room between characters plus their more geometric shapes produces a clarity which allows working one font size smaller, ultimately recovering the lost content density with a more pleasing font set rendering—a biased opinion, of course. YMMV.

Side bearing (sb) is a matter of personal preference and has been fine tuned over time. The tighter the side bearing, the more geometric the circular letters, the less air between adjacent characters—so it is a balance of personal aesthetics and readability. Line height (leading) alters the visual impact of side bearing allowing tighter spacing (at least pour moi, hence, the different settings for monospaced source code and markdown text).

Resolution also affects the choice of side bearing. The greater font clarity of ereaders allows tighter side bearing, the space between adjacent characters being so much clearer—looking airier in comparison to computer monitor displays. Source code’s often heavy use of acronyms appears to benefit from a more relaxed side bearing to aid absorbing its more abstract content density—again, a personal preference.

The word focus gained by the enhanced spacing of the Monolexic font has been applied to the other ereader fonts. A slightly tighter shape cell width is used for the Monolegible font with 1.5x spacing—to maintain overall visual columnar alignment. The Quasilegible font applies a similar cell shape with 1.66x spacing—taking into account the visual density of the proportional character cell widths.

geometric variant

the initial Iosevka typeface variant strove to produce a monospaced facsimile of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font for programming and text editing. Tailoring the font for ereaders led to adjusting the character variants for dyslexia—avoiding mirrored glyphs and increasing word spacing (the latter being a unique feature of the generated fonts).

Having a personal affinity towards geometric typefaces—Futura and Jost* in particular—the addition of the serifless capital I and the toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked (since changed to a toothless-corner-serifless-hooked) capital G were added to create an iFamily set of fonts.

All told, the adjustment of the Atkinson character variants with..

capital-g = "toothless-corner-serifless-hooked" capital-i = "serifless" capital-q = "detached-tailed" b = 'toothless-corner' d = "tailed-serifless" q = "tailed" u = 'toothless-rounded'

create a unique geometric flavoured hyperlegible font.

The eFamily typefaces have the most legible capital I with their short serifed variant but the iFamily typefaces adds a subtle geometric flair rendering a different “feel”—both are the only fonts i use on my ereader now. YMMV.

~   ~   ~

because the letter D has a significantly higher frequency in the English language than the letters B P Q combined, a fontset build variant to the above replaces the lower case tailed-serifless d and the (common serifless) eared p with..

d = "toothed-serifless" p = "motion-serifed"

effectively, swapping glyph strokes between the letters—the objective, to replace the lower case tailed d with the more common toothed-serifless d to maximize right side character spacing and shifting the penalty to the much less frequent lower case p with a miniscule left side upper corner serif, whilst retaining dyslexic distinction between the set of similarly shaped lower case letters b d p q.

Adding this to the serifless capital I fontset further distinguishes the imonolexic typeface from the original emonolexic typeface. The impact is immediate with the visual flow created by the tailed verticals now limited to the lower case l and t—but its increased openess quickly establishes itself as an unique complement to emonolexic for the Kindle. As always, YMMV.

(A variant of emonolexic containing these d p character variants has also been generated and is available in the onedrive repository—there now being two variants of each typeface.)

ebook specific

for ebook typefaces the Asterisk is positioned mid line height as this glyph is commonly used in a paragraph separating line, with..

asterisk = 'penta-low'

Interestingly, the Kobo font engine is able to render the hook-tailed lower case q (unlike the Kindle) with proper x-height and so has been used in the fonts generated for the recently acquired Kobo Libra 2 ereader :)

language ligatures

the monospaced double character ligatures are quite compressed as is. Previously, these glyphs were transformed in fontforge to double width, then the weight of the glyph reduced to adjust the resultant fattened stroke thicknesses. This worked best for the proportional font—still not perfect but close enough for the rare occurrence.

For the monospaced ebook font sets, the double character ligature is now exploded into two concatenated letters with any accent glyph centered between the two characters. Voila, a perfect double character glyph :)

fontforge

is used to complete the fonts..

• to add a hook-tailed lower case q (a build option for larger font size usage more closely replicating the Atkinson character variant);
• for ereader fonts, to widen the word spacing (by lengthening the Space character cell width);
• for ereader fonts, doubling the cell width of the Emdash and Ellipsis monospaced characters—retaining the monospaced cell grid of the displayed page.
• for ereader fonts, replace double character language ligatures with concatenated letter pairs, creating a double cell width glyph.

Refer to the above referenced site links to review the fontforge scripting gymnastics.

history

Changes to fonts since this and original article postings..

• 1.66x space width to quasi-proportional font
• differentiation of the cyrillic Ka character from K (affects source code font)
• widen ereader monospaced and proportional Space character
• open side bearing on monospaced ereader fonts
• lower Asterisk to mid line height as paragraph separator (versus mathematical operator)
• add serifless capital I to Monolegible, Quasilegible and Monolexic font variants—build script defaults family name as ifamily
• standardize ereader fonts to 2x space width
• at very small point sizes the lower case hook-tailed q renders with a diminished x-height. The tailed q is now the default for this use case.
• add OpenDyslexic toothless-corner-serifless-hooked capital G to ifamily ereader fonts
• add source code variants with serifless capital I and toothless-corner-serifless-hooked G—most will prefer the serifed characters (but i have been won over by the ereader variants.. spending more time reading than coding :)
• change toothless-corner-serifless-hooked capital G to toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked
• add exploded (character) double width ligatures to ereader fonts replacing the highly compressed monospaced ligatures
• add Quasilexic font sets with expanded shape (cell width)
• add Emdash cell width option to build script for monospaced ebook fonts—with the adjustable Space cell width, the visual balance between these two glyphs can now be adjusted to suit one’s personal preference. The default for both glyphs is 2x the monospaced cell width.
• change toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked capital G to toothless-corner-serifless-hooked. A subtle dyslexic nod from the previous geometric rounded towards the toothed Atkinson variant
• add lower case toothed-serifless d and motion-serifed p fontset variant (build option)
• add flat-arc Parentheses build option
• generate Kobo specific fonts with hook-tailed lower case q
• adjust book weight contrast of W and capital M with regular weight (to correct ereader optical illusion). See fontforge script
• increase side bearing for ereader dyslexic fonts a hair for better serifed p and tailed d separation from adjacent characters at small font sizes
• create wMonolexic (medium weight) font for this site :)
• change capital G from toothless-corner-serifless-hooked to toothless-rounded-serifless-hooked (for maximum air between characters)
• change capital J from serifless to descending-flat-hook-serifless (following OpenDyslexic)
• add unique family names for the lower case tailed d fonts (to allow installation of all the tailed d and serifed p Monolexic font variants)
• add detached-bend-tailed capital Q font family variant—for 300PPI ereaders and other high resolution displays (computer monitors will be font size dependent). The detached-tailed Q remains the cleaner (airier) of the two variants with its shorter tail but the lengthened bent stroke lends a serifed hint for an otherwise more classic feel. YMMV—this is my new default Monolexic font.
• the Kobo font rendering engine does not require the regular weight adjustment applied to the capital MW and lower case w. This is a benefit eliminating the miniscule height reduction of the two letters—this is only discernible in all caps words so rarely, if ever, noticed.
• add flat-hook-extended lower case f to build script for Unolexic font family :)
• add single-storey lower case a to build script for elementary typeface

files

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Kindle fonts and FONT_RAMP
• Kobo fonts and kobopatch
• Font building scripts

Of course, you are encouraged to further tweak these fonts to suit your own pair of “eyes”. The provided scripts should be modifiable to work on most computers by paying attention to and altering the relevant path references. Depending on one’s font configuration, npm, nerd-fonts, fontforge and, of course, iosevka need to be installed.

Check out the *Iosevka customization page—a complete build configuration file sample can be produced interactively!

Note: While the build scripts continue to be updated, changes to the repo “defaults_”—notably, default_leading in release 15.x appears to have been reduced to 1000 emu from 1250—have produced rendering differences for the generated fonts in some applications. For now, the public fonts remain based on release 10.x—the added glyph variants of subsequent releases being unimportant for Monolexic.

klwp allows for endless customization of the android interface. More amazingly, once one becomes familiar with the tool, it is easy to trial changes in an iterative fashion.

With the blank background of my particular wallpaper, it didn’t take long to decide to put a new face to the big black void.

Enter..

gearbox

which adds a watch face to the segments of the analogue clock..

The geometry of the wallpaper remains the same with minor tweaks to the minute hand—width matched to the hour hand—and the second pointer—arrowhead changed to a bar slightly longer than the “tick” marks.

The effect is discrete yet balances the minute and hour hands which previously hung out on the blank background with a varying visual impact. The overall effect is a more classical watch face, though, without the traditional long hands.

orbital

separates the minute hand from the tick marks. But instead of placing it in the orbit of the hour hand, moves it further out onto its own..

Further refinements to the font for the day of the week and the city, make the watch face stand out more clearly—whose hour hand previously competed visually with the bold text at the 10 and 2 o’clock positions and to a lesser degree at the 6. As a Canadian forever obsessed with our changing and extreme weather conditions, the current temperature retains it bold status—adding a hint of visual dynamic to an otherwise symmetric design.

It feels a touch more elegant—the power of the font—and i, today, prefer the “read” of the minute hand orbiting the tick marks. There is an added symmetry when the minute hand is opposite the hour hand.

“Today” is the operative word. i suspect that it is not unusual for klwp users to be constantly refining their Android wallpapers.. or giving their phone a complete make over from time to time in search of that elusive end game. Or just because. :)

planetary

well, tomorrow came and went. With it, substantive changes to the positioning calculations of the clock components so the clock scales properly while adjusting the custom KLWP global clock variable values. Once done and Orbital was tweaked to satisfaction and saved.. it was time to play some more and be creative.

With some simple adjustments—calculation simplifications in this case—and shape changes to Orbital..

Planetary abandons the traditional clock hands completely with circular shapes yielding a pleasing animated abstract design.. that happens to also be a clock, completing the rounded emphasis of the wallpaper.

It was just a playful experiment that grew on me immediately, so is today’s face on my Android phone. No doubt, with further orbit variations to come..

2001

..Homage to Kubrick’s 2001, by adding a togglable clock face with bright, dim and invisible modes and smooth clock movement for that pure faux orbital sim :)

2010

Colours were dominant in the sequel to Kubrick’s iconic movie. In keeping with the celestial theme, the battery percent has been replaced with an orbiting coloured (to separate it from the clock orbits) gauge. 0 percent at the 10 o’clock, 50 percent at the 12 o’clock and 100 percent at the 2 o’clock positions, moving counter clockwise—albeit, imperceptibly.

As a further visual aid, the orbit dims as the battery drains. A global switch sets whether the orbit brightens on charging or is replaced with the previous battery charging information panel.

files

• KLWP wallpapers

a recent thread on reddit piqued my interest and made me ponder how the Monolegible font might be improved for the ereader.

The Kindle already comes bundled with the OpenDyslexlic font which, like many so-called dyslexic fonts, is not a font i could ever see myself using. In fact, i personally find the font yields the opposite effect for me—and not being dyslexic i can’t speak to its efficacy for the condition. This largely stems from the irregular strokes (thickness) and character shapes which rub up against my personal aesthetic for elegant geometric shapes.

Part of my reading pleasure is derived from the inviting nature beautiful fonts impart on the printed page. This affliction is not owned singularly by me as can be seen by the recurring requests for favourite fonts on the Kindle subreddit. Underlying the choices i surmise are the legibility and readability a font imparts to the content being consumed.

Using the Monolegible font as the starting point, enter..

monolexic

a more relaxed monospaced font, with a wider cell width (shape) and more breathing room between letters (side bearing), and increased line height (leading—retaining that previously added to Monolegible to provide double spacing at Kindle’s maximum line space setting).

The font retains the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font character variants with three minor changes..

• The lower case d inherits a “tail” to not mirror the b or rotated p—at huge font sizes, the Atkinson font displays a hint of an outward arc at the bottom of the right stroke but looks straight otherwise.
• The lower case b loses the “tooth” of the left stroke to not mirror the p—this change also improves separation from leading characters.
• The lower case u loses the “tooth” of the right stroke to not mirror a rotated n—similar to above, this change improves separation from trailing characters.

The Iosevka configuration file..

[buildPlans.eMonolexic] ... [buildPlans.eMonolexic.variants] b = 'toothless-corner' d = 'tailed-serifless' u = 'toothless-rounded' capital-i = 'short-serifed' # ** ... [buildPlans.eMonolexic.widths.normal] shape=600 ... [buildPlans.eMonolexic.metric-override] leading = 'default_leading * 1.4185' sb = 'default_sb * 0.6500' ...

Finally, and importantly IMO, word separation is increased by lengthening the Space character using fontforge..

Select(0u0020); Transform(200,0,0,100,0,0);

Doubling the width of the Space character retains the columnar alignment of a monospaced character set. i personally find this exaggerated word separation beneficial which, while odd at first glance and would seem to counter reading cadence, disappears upon actual reading.

~   ~   ~

**The capital I has been changed from the common wide serif of coding fonts to a more polished short-serif. This aligns more closely with the Atkinson Hyperlegible font.

usage

i like this font.. a lot. The added breathing room of the text and increased word separation render effortless reading.

For maximum legibility and readability, line spacing should likely be increased on the ereader—maximum Kindle setting yields double space. Text must be left justified to maintain fixed character and word spacing. If your device supports it, a touch of warm light to ease eye strain wouldn’t hurt either—pro tip: reading with blue-light cancelling glasses achieves a similar effect.

For myself, i use my own FONT_RAMP (font size) settings that allow a suitably small font for my usage. Dyslexia probably demands larger font sizes which the default Kindle settings should suffice.

The font retains the visual cadence that monospaced fonts possess which i surmise is a reason that “draft” copy format is traditionally double spaced monospaced text.

i have tested the font as a night time “tired” eyes reading font and it is quite agreeable. So much so, i haven’t at the moment gone back to my previous go to Monolegible font. YMMV.

~   ~   ~

It has been a good exercise to examine the shape relationships between characters. Several of the changes have been so visually effective, especially for narrower side bearing, that they have been incorporated in my other Iosevka font sets to further improve their legibility.

files

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Fonts and FONT_RAMP
• Font tweaks

i have been living with my mock up of a monospaced Atkinson Hyperlegible font now for some weeks. First, by simply substituting the Iosevka character variants that most closely matched their Hyperlegible counterparts, then a much lengthier concerted effort to tailor their individual shapes as closely as possible—the ascenders and descenders, their heights and roundness.

The end result has been quite satisfying and has exceeded all my expectations and, until an official monospaced font variant is released, if ever, will remain the default font for my development and writing environment for the foreseeable future. It’s that delicious—okay, i am a font nutter.

But it did not remain solely on my Linux desktops for long..

kindle

Portrait, font size 3, bold 3

i had tried previous versions of Iosevka on my Kindle Oasis but found the half cell width density of my coding oriented fonts.. well, flatly technical looking and not engaging for immersive reading. What a change this font presents with its extended width!

Tiempos Text and the Atkinson Hyperlegible fonts still remain my all time favourite serif and sans serif fonts on the Kindle. But these past weeks i have found myself continually returning to this monospaced font.

There is no doubt the Atkinson font is the easiest on the eyes. It imparts the sensation that it is making one read faster (whether you intend to or not!), like running down an incline effortlessly. But this monospaced variant has a charm that is very visually pleasing to my eyes—the fixed cell width giving the letters a uniform geometric presentation.

With a monospaced font one would expect to lose significant word density on the page but this is easily rectified with its incredible legibility at even the smallest font sizes, a trait it holds in common with the Atkinson font. Of course, if you prefer your reading material fully justified, then proportional fonts are the way to go.

But if you have a fondness for typewriters and old manuscripts—i am dating myself here—and left justification, or simply are drawn to fonts that breathe on a page with a subtle airiness around the characters and words, then this may be right up your alley. And with the right line spacing and margins, it feels very much like reading the “draft” of a novel—part of the allure, no doubt, that keeps me returning to it.

font weight

after some time with “Monolegible” on the Kindle, i decided i preferred the “book” weight of the font. It was possible to more closely match the contrast level of the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, the original “regular” font being either a shade lighter or darker on my Oasis—yes, i am that anal, but it also just felt a touch better which should be no surprise from its heritage. Unfortunately there is no means to customize the boldness increments as there is the font sizes to get a match.

Copying over the “book” weights of the font are easy enough, however, their font names effectively disable the “bold” fonts—their being associated with the “regular” and “italic” font names. Enter ttx to convert fonts to XML and back..

fonts='*-book *-bookitalic *-bold *-bolditalic' for i in $fonts ;do file=$i.ttf ttx $file done sed -i -e 's/iosevka Book Version/iosevka Regular Version/' \ -e 's/iosevka[ -]Book/iosevka/' \ -e 's/Book/Regular/' \ *-book.ttx sed -i -e 's/iosevka Book Italic Version/iosevka Italic Version/' \ -e 's/iosevka[ -]Book/iosevka/' \ -e 's/Book Italic/Italic/' \ *-bookitalic.ttx for i in $fonts ;do file=$i.ttx ttx $file done

and rename the “book” fonts as “regular” and “italic” to inherit the “bold” font references.

character tweaks

the capital M of the book weight appears heavier (to my eyes at least) than the remaining character set—this is purely an optical illusion particular to the flat-bottom M and its narrow spacing between the vertical and angled strokes, despite having the same stroke width as the other characters.

Replacing the book weighted character with its “regular” weighted version—and its ever so slightly thinner stroke width—gives its strokes more breathing room to create the balanced contrast (illusion) on the eink page..

echo " Open(\$2); Select(0u004d); Copy(); Open(\$1); Select(0u004d); Paste(); Generate(\$1); " >/tmp/fontforge.script for i in *book*#1.ttf ;do ditto M $i case $i in *italic*) file=*-italic.ttf ;; * ) file=*regular.ttf ;; esac fontforge --script /tmp/fontforge.script $i $file done

Did i mention anal somewhere?

The final adjustment replaces the standard Em dash which closely resembles the Dash due to the fixed width constraint of the monospaced font with the broken or (single character faux) 2 Em dash..

echo " Open(\$1); Select(0u268b); Copy(); Select(0u2014); Paste(); Generate(\$1); " >/tmp/fontforge.script for i in *#1.ttf ;do ditto emdash $i fontforge --script /tmp/fontforge.script $i done

And voila! A font i find myself reading with more and more.

During the hunt for a matching lower case tailed q to match the Atkinson Hyperlegible font, the author of Iosevka stated that “Iosevka is NOT a typeface targeting dyslexia, low-vision legibility, or anti-tampering”. Despite that claim and Iosevka’s focus as perhaps the most powerful coding font platform there is, i think Iosevka manages to address those issues as well as any monospaced font can with the character variants it provides..

Producing IMO a most beautiful monospaced font for both coding, writing and.. reading.

finishing touches

after some time with the above changes, two characters in particular begged for adjustment: the Em dash and the Ellipsis, both which felt too compressed with their single cell width. Breaking the monospaced rule..

The monospaced broken Em dash has been replaced with a double cell width Dash. This is far more legible, providing greater separation of the following clause as well as a longer stroke to differentiate it from the Hyphen. The Dash is used in place of lengthening the Em dash to provide more side bearing spacing to its adjacent characters.

Similarly, the Ellipsis is also enlarged to a double cell width to give the “dots” more breathing room (and match the size of the Period). This transformation requires adjusting the dots’ resultant weight (size) and position..

echo " Open(\$1); Select(0u2012); Copy(); Select(0u2014); Paste(); Transform(200,0,0,100,100,0); Select(0u2026); Transform(200,0,0,200,100,0); ChangeWeight(-100); Move(0,-40); Generate(\$1); " >/tmp/fontforge.script for i in *#1.ttf ;do ditto emdash $i fontforge --script /tmp/fontforge.script $i done

Lastly, an alternate capital Q variant breaks with the Atkinson Hyperlegible font character matching. The “crossing” Q while legible feels similarly compressed (especially at small font sizes) with its crossing diagonal stroke—due to the monospaced cell width preventing a circular shape. In its place, the “detached-tailed” Q feels more rounded (and open), despite the enclosing shapes being identical for both—purely a personal aesthetic choice..

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom.variants.design] capital_q = "detached-tailed" ...

..see Iosevka Hyperlegible.

These last few modifications have firmly established this font as my favourite font to read by. If you are a fan of monospaced fonts—though, technically this font is no longer a monospaced font with its double width character substitutions—and eink readers, this highly legible sans serif font may be worth your look. And those with dyslexia may find its monospaced “spacing” particularly appealing..

font size

Landscape, font size 4, bold 3

not needing the range of font sizes the Kindle defaults set (with no FONT_RAMP defined), i apply these FONT_RAMP values for a more granular font size control (with setting 6 equivalent to the default setting 1)..

5.46 5.72 5.98 6.29 6.60 6.96 7.28 7.64 8.06 8.42 8.89 9.30 9.77 10.24

i like small fonts!

The legibility and appeal of the extended width characters beckoned trialing as a coding font (omitting the double width character and font weight tweaks). It works staggeringly well.. to these eyes. Who knew code could look so good!

epilogue

i have been living with this monospaced font now for several months. The FONT_RAMP settings have proved optimal (for my extra small font size preferences). The only change to my Kindle setup is the addition of a font family containing the crossing capital Q i originally started with—i select it occasionally when the mood dictates, though, my aesthetic still leans towards the more open presentation of the detached tailed Q.

The Atkinson Hyperlegible and Tiempos Text fonts still reside on my device but switching to them always prompts quickly switching back, despite the beauty of these fonts. There is something additionally easing to the way i process text that is particular to monospaced “spacing”—perhaps from years of staring at code or akin to reading draft.

Programmers may prefer the serif variants of some letters common to their favourite coding fonts, notably the lower case l—whose the extra stroke i find diminishes the “air” surrounding the letter. Personal aesthetics and those of the Atkinson font again trump these variant choices. The balance of classic geometric and subtle serif character variants (in line with the Atkinson Hyperlegible font objectives) renders an exceedingly clean typeface that i don’t foresee being displaced on my Kindle (or desktop for that matter) anytime soon.

~   ~   ~

to further heighten the “draft” look, leading has been increased to 1.5x (tweaked below, see note) to achieve something akin to double spacing at the maximum line space setting of the Kindle. This shifts the line spacing for the font effectively from 1 2 3 (the three settings minimum, middle and maximum) to 2 3 4 providing three usable settings—at 1.25x leading the minimum line space setting was too tight for my tastes.

One benefit of double line spacing is wrong word highlighting is now a thing of the past. This was seldom an issue with the former maximum line space setting but now provides an even more generous touch zone above and below words for more relaxed finger placement—tapping for dictionary lookup and dragging for highlighting passages.

Note: Kindle font names are normally listed in their own typeface as a visual aid for font selection. Fonts with a line spacing greater than 1.4185x (for Iosevka) are listed in the default Kindle Bookerly font rather than their own typeface—something that took a bit of hand wringing to figure out! Otherwise, the font displays properly for the book content. (The font in use has ultimately been generated at this setting to preserve its font name typeface—while satisfying the double spacing effect. YMMV.)

files

• Font and FONT_RAMP
• Font tweaks

a quasi-proportional spaced Iosevka typeface. This option has been available for the last several major versions of the font but i did not get the impression that all character variants were available—possibly due to an incomplete or incorrect configuration on my part with earlier attempts.

With version 10.x all the character variants used with my Monolegible font work simply by configuring..

[buildPlans.iosevka-custom] family = 'iosevka-custom' spacing = 'quasi-proportional' ...

Compared to the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font, the differences between these typefaces are apparent (more so directly with the eink device than these images can convey)..

atkinson hyperlegible

is a beautiful grotesque sans serif font with a slightly thicker stroke, more rounded geometric shapes—especially the (square character cell) capitals—proportional character cell widths and kerning—which maintains a very uniform spacing between the character strokes of adjacent letters.

The characters of words themselves have a bit more breathing space between each letter but the displayed page overall appears denser—a function of stroke thickness, word and line spacing.

quasilegible

has an overall appearance between the Monolegible—retaining its character variant shapes—and the Atkinson Hyperlegible fonts with its quasi-proportional (side bearing) spacing. Save for the M and W whose cell widths are increased, cell widths are noticeably narrowed for the lower case i and l, and to a lesser extent the f, j, r and t—whose hooks and tails are reduced. Lack of kerning can be seen on close inspection but it is not as obvious as Monolegible’s with its monospace cell width.

The thin stroke remains but the “draft” like quality is somewhat lessened due to the loss of the columnar spacing—increasing the line spacing restores it somewhat—and the diminished blockiness of the narrower character shapes. Interestingly, the font size displays smaller than its Monolegible counterpart at the same Kindle font size setting.

comparing

the two fonts one notices immediately the rounder more geometric shapes of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font, especially with the capitals, and the heavier stroke (at its configured font setting)—unfortunately, the font scaling of Kindle’s rendering engine does not facilitate comparison of fonts by point size. The Quasilegible font’s monospaced heritage shows clearly with its more upright fixed rectangular cell width capitals (save for the I, M and W).

With the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font’s kerned proportional characters, Quasilegible requires a slightly smaller font size to achieve the same word density per page—lacking kerning and a limited set of proportional characters.

This particular customization of Iosevka—shape (cell width), side bearing and leading (line height)—yields a slightly flatter (x-height) looking font with tighter character spacing yet greater spacing between words and lines. The overall effect is a very pleasing legibility. YMMV.

~   ~   ~

Font preferences are a very personal aesthetic.

If i were to summarize the major difference between these two fonts (for me), i would say the Quasilegible font produces a different reading cadence to the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font. This i attribute to the slightly more pronounced visual word spacing which makes each word stand out—a result of the tighter side bearing spacing (despite the lack of kerning) and fixed extended cell width Space character. It is a strange perception (and perhaps only exists with my particular vision!) but i quite like it.

For the past four months i have been using the Monolegible font exclusively, preferring the very readable proof or draft like quality it imparts. This hybrid font the past few days has been getting a good look. For those finding monospaced fonts too radical for daily reading, this font may hit the sweet spot.

final thoughts

i like to set up my Kindle Oasis with small font sizes—probably smaller than what most users would consider but doing so allows for maximized content combined with page margins to produce that printed page look.

Playing with various settings to widen character cells and side bearing spacing, i find i always return to Monolegible’s ebook configuration settings to retain that “word” emphasis and separation.

What is clear (albeit untested) is that at very small font settings, eink resolutions below 300 PPI are probably less than optimal (grainy) to resolve the current narrow side bearing spacing between characters to maintain clearly defined letter separation—the shapes of the (Atkinson variant) characters requiring some degree of breathing room to maintain their designed legibility.

i surmise Quasilegible would look even better on a higher resolution eink screen should the technology ever evolve so—and am definitely looking forward to the next generation of ereaders using E Ink’s 300 PPI On-Cell Touch ePaper with its claim of a 30% increase in the contrast ratio.

As for the moniker Quasilegible.. not perhaps the best word blend :o

~   ~   ~

It was easy to set the Quasilegible font as the default font for the past several weeks on my Kindle. It is a beautiful sans serif font and a good complement to the Monolegible font, presenting at a glance the familiar polish of the printed page. It retains much of the elegance of the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font while having its own distinct character—due to its narrower overall cell width (and side bearing) and wider word spacing. i like it a lot.

As stated elsewhere, font selection is very much a personal aesthetic. Reading mood plays very much into this (for me).

At the same (middle) line spacing i tend to prefer Quasilegible. To further distinguish the draft quality Monolegible imparts, i now set it to maximum line spacing—which emphasizes its unassuming simplicity and the focus it renders to content.

Two font settings, two reading feels—not unsurprisingly, having worked so closely with both these two fonts. YMMV.

files

• Fonts on OneDrive
• Github fonts**
• Build scripts

**The FONT_RAMP file has been adjusted to provide a better step selection for the smaller font sizes. Default Kindle font size 1 is now font size 6!—the above images were produced with Atkinson Hyperlegible at font size 6 (maximum line spacing) and Quasilegible at font size 4 (middle line spacing).

a recent thread on reddit raised an interesting topic regarding same finger bigrams. While constituting only a small percentage of common bigrams—two letter combinations—the problem is exacerbated when the letter requires a weak finger double tap, notably the pinkie and to a lesser extent the adjacent ring finger.

Normally this could be addressed with various QMK solutions but with my current usage of DennyTom’s..

chording engine

this is a simple matter of defining a chord sequence for the common character pairs. My first impulse was to designate an easy to reach key on each hand for chording with the opposite hand—the bottom row under the index finger as the quickest non-home row modifier key.

Even better, further examination of the problem domain and the current configuration of the keyboard, found no reason for excluding the home row modifiers, allowing use of the most accessible key on the Georgi’s BEAKL Wi layout—the index finger Shift key..

{ "name": "BEAKL", "chords": [ ... { "type": "visual_array", "keys": ["TOP5", "BOT5", "TOP7", "BOT7", "TOP8", "BOT8", "TOP9", "BOT9", "TOP10", "BOT10", "TOP11", "BOT11"], "dictionary": [ ["X", "X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('gg')"], ["X", "X", "X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('cc')"], ["X", "X", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('bb')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('dd')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", "X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('tt')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('pp')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('nn')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('rr')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", "STR('ll')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", " ", "STR('mm')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", "X", " ", " ", "STR('ss')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", " ", " ", "STR('ff')"], ["X", "X", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", " ", "X", "X", "STR('zz')"] ] }, { "type": "visual_array", "keys": ["TOP4", "BOT4", "TOP8", "BOT8"], "dictionary": [ ["X", " ", "X", "X", "STR('oo')"], ["X", "X", "X", "X", "STR('ee')"] ] }, ...

Voila! Left and right hand Shift-<keycode> chording for the common same letter bigrams.

This works remarkably well with only a bit of finger memory habit needing to be “unlearned” for the stronger fingers. But the benefit to the weak finger same finger bigrams is unmistakable.

sloppy bigram

an unexpected use case came about as a result of this which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. And that is the weak finger bigram pair QU on the BEAKL Wi layout—the Q under the home row pinkie and the U under the top row index of the same hand.

The pinkie being the weakest finger is subject to hand positioning, whether in proper touch type hovering or palms down (on typing surface) lazy positioning. In the latter posture, the finger action for the QU bigram can result in the letters being reversed due to sloppy pinkie finger timing even though it precedes the U—the index finger easily outperforming the pinkie, releasing its key beforehand. (The sequence UQ does not suffer this unintentional reversal.)

Chording again to the rescue..

... { "type": "visual_array", "_comment": "sloppy pinkie bigram", "keys": ["TOP2", "BOT2", "TOP5"], "dictionary": [ ["X", "X", "X", "STR('qu')"] ] }

fixes this timing issue beautifully!

..which raises the valid question whether sloppy fingering should be corrected thusly or with proper technique? i am, well, not the person to answer that question! :)

smartphones have become ubiquitous, penetrating the lives of everyone within the reach of cell towers. At least, eventually as i am probably one of the last hold outs to finally catch up with this century. i did not even own a lowly brick or flip phone for communication.

Covid changed all that, it becoming necessary to be reachable by cell for admittance to what were previously waiting rooms for various services.

i was not completely unfamiliar with smartphone technology. i used my daughter’s passed-down smartphone while traveling for tethering my laptop. Yes, it could have served in its place but.. Linux :) It did not even have a SIM.

So, with my shiny new Covid upgrade, it wasn’t long before i began exploring Android and how to make the device’s UI fit my workflow.

kustom

third party android launchers were the easiest entry into UI customizations beyond the scrolling display of application icons that typically fill the home screen. The immensely popular Nova Launcher was what i settled on.

After iterations of tweaking i was down to a single digital clock widget and a single row of line drawn icons for my most commonly accessed applications and services. Gestures and a set of application folders on a second screen rounded out this easily configured setup. The home screen was my definition of minimal—all black with minimal content and display, text and line graphics.

This setup was “okay” to the extent i was able to utilize the feature set of the launcher itself. Being ever the tinkerer, several months later, i acquired Kustom’s KWGT widget building app and merrily built my first clock/date oriented application whose display content regions also launched related applications.

Adding (blank) widgets to create other trigger zones further extended the scope of the home screen whilst maintaining the uncluttered display.

Then i heard about Kustom’s KLWP live wallpaper maker on subreddits. While i didn’t envision the need for animation capabilities (at the time)—still the minimalist—the thought of a more seamlessly integrated full screen configuration versus disparate widgets seemed like the obvious framework for my purposes in terms of development and backup recovery.

A quick note to Kustom’s offices to transfer my KWGT licence to KLWP was responded to promptly with great generosity and a request to share my KLWP creations. And so, to return in kind..

monochrome

minimal is probably an overused term when it comes to Android home screens. i’m not sure what it precisely means either. Some feel minimal, others don’t (to me)—but obviously to their authors, that “felt” sense must persist.

Monochrome is a first attempt at a minimal home screen, though, minimalism was not a goal. Rather, as a person whose day revolves around daily hikes, i use my phone for date and time, location and weather—or three zones of information..

The touch zones cycle via KLWP switches additional display content and launch related applications..

**Current calendar event will always display regardless of its switch setting (and can be toggled off after display)
***Animations. See below.

As the above table illustrates, these touch zones provide ready access to several applications without the need for separate application icons. Whether all these trigger zones still constitute minimalism is up for debate.

Monochrome with all information elements toggled on..

In practice, i usually enable seconds, gps coordinates and the 3 hour forecast—the day’s current calendar event will always automatically display.

This digital clock home screen satisfied me for several months (constantly cleaning and refining its “code” in the KLWP builder while pixel tweaking the layout) until the itch for..

monologue

an analogue variant of monochrome, discards the digital clock face for simple bars and an animated seconds dot—in a complementary colour to accent to the monochromatic theme. With my usual toggled switch settings..

With a sparse stylized analogue watch face, the only difference operationally is the second hand pointer is always shown and the clock application is launched by tapping the zone below the current/next calendar event (not toggled on, below the date). Otherwise, all zones operate identically as with monochrome.

animations

a picture in this case is not quite a thousand words, as the snapshots do not illustrate the expanding white dot (on a black background or contracting white background on toggling the black dot) to invert the colorscheme of the home page..

nor the upward sliding inverted colour semicircle and its menu icon applications..

Using KLWP’s available text based icon packs easily facilitates the switchable colour inversion of the display (and menus). Note the tasteful contrasting seconds dot :)

Note: the black status bar at the top is dependent on Android’s default background setting which, in this case, is set to black (my default background for AMOLED power savings). Alas, immersive mode to hide the status bar region does not appear possible on my particular device to my knowledge (short of rooting) :(

resources

klwp is an immensely powerful graphical live wallpaper builder. As such, many things a novitiate might wish to implement may not be apparent. i relied heavily on web resources (and poking around available KLWP wallpapers) to quickly become familiar with KLWP’s features and adopt best practices for using the tool, notably..

• CraftMath Tutorials
• Kustom subreddit

Once the basics of KLWP are grasped, endless iterative content and pixel tweaking are easily tested out. A quite enjoyable process actually, to fashion a UI that addresses one’s own particular workflow and information needs.

finishing touches

completing the live wallpaper are a few applications / settings..

Sesame Universal Search integration with Nova Launcher eliminates the need for a search bar, as well as, shortcut access to applications.

adb shell is a one time configuration set from a computer to attached Android phone..

adb shell wm overscan 0,0,0,-<integer> # hide pill adb shell wm overscan 0,0,0,0 # restore pill

Takan launcher attached to a Nova swipe gesture may seem odd but its minimalist text (keyboard) overlay presents a clean (highly configurable one column) list of all applications by first letter—useful for hunting down those seldom used and difficult to remember application names—without the visual clutter of the more traditional array of scrolling application icons.

~   ~   ~

i’m pretty pleased with the results thus far. It remains to be seen whether my workflow will change sufficiently to warrant a new approach to my home screen (no doubt, someone on the web will provide the inspiration and a way of seeing a solution differently).

Whether this qualifies as “minimal” or not is up for debate, not being the arbiter of such things. i like to think of it, at least, as being “elegant”. Black tie and all :)

analogue

adds a dynamic flare to monologue by substituting an angled seconds pointer—the outer edge of the inward facing pointer tracing its circumference—and an outer ring minute sweep, along with subtle colour highlight animations for an even more open look..

As with the other static images, the effect of these simple shape changes is lost. In motion, it imparts a dynamic focus to the analogue clock face, creating a circular illusion as it traces the time. This accentuates the geometric form of the upper half of the wallpaper against the rounded objects of the lower half creating a balanced but visual tension.

~   ~   ~

As can be seen from the above, wallpapers under KLWP are quite malleable with very fine control down to the pixel level. Wholesale changes can be easily tested out, discarded or refined. The tool encourages such.

Given all the wallpaper tweaks i have made along the way i don’t expect analogue to be my last KLWP configuration on the road to my wallpaper endgame, if such a thing even exists..

files

• KLWP wallpapers

sundial further refines analogue by flashing the minute hand on the “fives” and the hour hand on the hour with the second pointer color. Pixel tweaks add a touch of separation between the minute and hour hands—when aligned, the hour hand is coloured for that minute.

Almost done..

for this site was originally inspired by a wiki based web app called Nanoki written in Lua, a scripting language I had been investigating at the time. The clean monochromatic layout of its original example site “Sputnik” (no longer hosted) aligned with my deference towards clean content focused layouts.

This site retains the simple header / content page, text only presentation format of Nanoki minus its revision history recall—of which, articles on this site, including this one, are re-edited and updated accordingly.

Unlike most sites, the darnedest thing has undergone many incremental and substantive changes, as it sought to find its visual “voice”. And much of that influence has been derived from the distraction free editing environment that feeds it.

fonts

spacing and layout all impart a visual “feeling” to a site. But more than anything, fonts express its character. Serifs with their romanticism and sans-serifs with their more clinical expression.

The original site used possibly the most recognizable of fonts, Helvetica throughout—not uncommon and for good reason due to its readability. From that simple beginning, text objects have become differentiated, refining the site’s “look”..

**Slender monospace slab-serif typeface customized as an expanded width grotesque (variant) sans-serif font. subtitle / heading incorporates additional side bearing spacing.

The tabular updates of this article more graphically illustrate the progression of the look from recognizable fonts to the final incarnation based solely on Iosevka generated fonts incorporating the dyslexic font principles used for my ereader fonts.

Note: these web fonts have been further tuned specifically for web browsers—losing the open caps and using the vertical capital Q and double-storey lower case a for better legibility on the lower DPI monitors (compared to eink screens).

embellishments

The thin light headings are rendered in a reddish accent to the otherwise monochromatic layout on a soft paper (vim-duochrome) hued background. The use of light title and heading font weights reflects the distraction free design emphasis.. perhaps to the extreme for those with compromised visual acuity (a bit contrarian in lieu of my ever increasing focus on readability).

bold and italics are now rendered in x-height caps (as well as the three word lead in). This refined embellishment came about as a result of the limited weight selection available with the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font—the bold being far too heavy (for my tastes) and the italic visually looking larger by virtue of the elongated slanted strokes.

A matter of personal aesthetic, this feels much more aligned with the distraction free goals, albeit unconventional (but so is the use of the lower case first person “i”).

~   ~   ~

Not perhaps a web designer’s choice of font groupings, weights and colours, the design hopefully expresses a clean, yet readable, minimalistic distraction free layout with a pinch of style and nimble page refreshes.

with the focus on font type legibility satisfied (on my desktops, ereaders and web site), it was time to address the resultant aesthetic of this site.

So, with some further CSS tweaking and server side magic.. a big face lift!

First and foremost, the former outdented lower case lead in word following all headings—a quirky distinction this site has had from its inception as a stylistic signature—becomes paragraph indented with the leading three first words text transformed to X height upper case courtesy of the site’s Passenger/Nginx application <span></span> insertion and corresponding CSS, producing a less formal presentation—softening in my old age i guess. Paragraph spacing has also been tightened a smidgen in the direction of formatting convention—but not quite.

Next, the glaring bold width and extreme (default) contrast of bold highlights—there being only the regular and bold font weights available with the Atkinson Hyperlegible Font—has been replaced again with an X height all caps rendering and a lower contrast font colour. The X height reduces the stroke width and the font color localizes the emphasis where it belongs (imo), in the content.

Finally, italic highlights—which always look larger with their oblique elongated strokes (correctable with a CSS font size adjustment), to my eyes, just seem visually out of place embedded between words (which i suppose is the highlight intent.. not a big fan of italics obviously!)—get a similar treatment, sans the font weight and color. Not to be confused with but the same as the capitalized lead in words.

All of this serves to soften the default emphasis of HTML character highlighting on the content so one’s eyes are not distracted by visual “shouting”. (But really, only serves my aesthetic.. which is quite possibly very contrary)! In other words, easy on the eyes, hopefully friendlier and more welcoming.. but unexciting. No one has ever accused me of being too colourful. :)

my descent into all things fonts continues..

Unica One, a condensed unicase sans serif typeface which this site has used for awhile for subtitle headings, while adding a unique contrast to the Major Mono Display titles, lacked high legibility which had become the focus of recent musings on my use of the Iosevka font.

Enter Unica One’s natural successor with a custom variant of my monolegible font which is the perfect complement to the Atkinson Hyperlegible font upon which it is based—subtly standing out in its monospaced glory.

Other refinements under the hood also improve the legibility of the sites’ pages—notably, the spaced En dash is now replaced with an Em dash proper and title links for search and article summaries are now displayed in small caps monolegible. Little things that i hope improve readability as well as move the aesthetics bar a little further forward.

The thought had occurred to me to replace the body font with my monolegible font but that would give the site a completely different look entirely. Who knows.. :)

waiting on 15g springs for the Splitography, porting the chorded home row layout to it was inevitable as i further explore this minimal finger travel layout approach and the power of DennyTom’s chording engine.

While my own QMK libraries have been refactored over time to facilitate usage across the several keyboard types i use, i can say unequivocally that the json file parsing approach taken by DennyTom is vastly preferred with its table driven specification eliminating almost all of the keyboard layer and custom keycode C language code whilst improving the readability of the layout design and rendering much easier maintenance. Simply brilliant.

In this particular configuration, the Splitography’s steno number row has been relegated to just that function—those keys are available for a myriad of applications, i just don’t have a use case need for them outside of steno. So the bottom two rows, just like in steno (and the Georgi), it is.

The primary difference lies in the four steno thumb keys (to the Georgi’s six), requiring chording of the keys to allow the same number of thumb layers—a minor change that retains the overall BEAKL Wi layout of the Georgi and is a snap to define in the json file for the parser to do the rest! The other difference is the assignment of the inner (versus outer) columns for the toggle layer keys—this is a function of the keyboard’s different physical design, and thumb and at rest finger key positions..

beakl wi

shift chords

leader capitalization

symbols and regex

numbers and fn keys

shortcuts and cursor

steno

rules.mk

the only gotchas during this port were the NKRO and mouse key configuration options. While enabled for the non-chorded Splitography configuration, these needed to be disabled with the chording engine—at present**.

Not doing so causes a dfu-programmer “Bootloader and code overlap” error. This is a good reminder to always initially turn off ALL configuration options when configuring new keyboards.

Other than that, configuring the Splitography with the DennyTom chording engine could not have been simpler.

**Memory requirements are dependent on the keyboard and its MCU. Future chording engine code optimizations may free up the necessary memory. This use case has no need for these options, the parsing/chording paradigm far outweighing any negatives AFAIAC.

related

• Georgi
• Chording engine
• Json Source

in case anyone else gets the chording engine bug, this is another example of the M() macro for DennyTom’s chording engine adding some dynamic features to the left hand hexpad of the..

number layer

m() macro

the M() macro accepts 3 mandatory parameters of type const..

M ( function, value1, value2 )

where function is the name of the function supplied in the extra_code section of the json file and value are uint16_t const values, typically keycodes or layer references.

This structure works for the leader capitalization, passing the leader characters to the cap function which completes the action with a one shot layer to capitalize the next character.

But for dynamic keycode assignments, static variables must be buried inside the M() macro as they cannot be passed as parameters. For example, for the postfix action to toggle between a G and Space with macros M(toggle, 0, 0) and M(hexpad, 0, 0)..

static uint16_t postfix = KC_G; void toggle(const struct Chord* self) { switch (*self->state) { case ACTIVATED: postfix = postfix == KC_G ? KC_SPC : KC_G; default: break; } } void hexpad(const struct Chord* self) { switch (*self->state) { case ACTIVATED: key_in(KC_LSFT); tap_key(postfix); key_out(KC_LSFT); default: break; } }

code space

each function declaration generates code for parameter passing. By using the value parameters of the M() macro call, a single macro can be used to toggle the dynamic hexpad states and output keycodes..

saving precious EPROM space and the need to declare 6 unique macros, whilst rendering more obvious functional keycode relationships in the Number Layout..

"type": "chord_set", "set": "rows", "keycodes": [ " ", " ", "A", "B", "C", " ", "/" , "4", "5", "9", "*", "M(hexpad, 0, 1)", " ", "LGUI", "KM(D, LCTL)", "KM(E, LALT)", "KM(F, LSFT)", " ", "." , "1", "2", "3", "-", "M(hexpad, 0, 3)", " ", " ", "M(hexpad, 2, 1)", "M(hexpad, 2, 2)", "M(hexpad, 1, 0)", " ", "," , "8", "6", "7", "+", "M(hexpad, 0, 2)", "DF(BEAKL)", " ", " ", "\\", "0", "=" ]

Using switch statements for the above..

static uint16_t postfix = KC_G; static uint8_t postcap = 0; static uint16_t pairs[][3] = { {KC_NO, KC_LBRC, KC_RBRC}, {KC_LSFT, KC_9, KC_0}, {KC_LSFT, KC_LCBR, KC_RCBR} }; static uint8_t bracket = 0; void output(int16_t modifier, int16_t keycode) { key_in(modifier); tap_key(keycode); key_out(modifier); } void hexpad(const struct Chord* self) { switch (*self->state) { case ACTIVATED: switch (self->value1) { case 0: switch (self->value2) { case 1: postfix = postfix == KC_G ? KC_SPC : KC_G; break; case 2: bracket = (bracket == 0) ? 1 : ((bracket == 1) ? 2 : 0); break; case 3: tap_key(KC_CAPS); postcap = !postcap; } break; case 1: output(postcap ? KC_NO : KC_LSFT, postfix); break; case 2: output(pairs[bracket][0], pairs[bracket][self->value2]); } } }

Note: M(hexpad, 0, 3) is defined instead of simply using KC_CAPS alone, in order to produce the upper case postfix G regardless of the CapsLock state.

extra code

combined with the leader capitalization function then, newlines represented with “\n” in the json file..

"extra_code": "void cap(const struct Chord* self) {\n switch (*self->state) {\n case ACTIVATED:\n tap_key(self->value1);\n tap_key(self->value2);\n break;\n case DEACTIVATED:\n current_pseudolayer = CAPS;\n *self->state = IN_ONE_SHOT;\n break;\n case FINISHED:\n case PRESS_FROM_ACTIVE:\n current_pseudolayer = CAPS;\n a_key_went_through = false;\n break;\n case RESTART:\n if (a_key_went_through) {\n current_pseudolayer = self->pseudolayer;\n } else {\n *self->state = IN_ONE_SHOT;\n }\n }\n}\n\nstatic uint16_t postfix = KC_G;\nstatic uint8_t postcap = 0;\nstatic uint16_t pairs[](http://thedarnedestthing.com/3) = { {KC_NO, KC_LBRC, KC_RBRC}, {KC_LSFT, KC_9, KC_0}, {KC_LSFT, KC_LCBR, KC_RCBR} };\nstatic uint8_t bracket = 0;\n\nvoid output(int16_t modifier, int16_t keycode) {\n key_in(modifier);\n tap_key(keycode);\n key_out(modifier);\n}\n\nvoid hexpad(const struct Chord* self) {\n switch (*self->state) {\n case ACTIVATED:\n switch (self->value1) {\n case 0:\n switch (self->value2) {\n case 1:\n postfix = postfix == KC_G ? KC_SPC : KC_G;\n break;\n case 2:\n bracket = (bracket == 0) ? 1 : ((bracket == 1) ? 2 : 0);\n break;\n case 3:\n tap_key(KC_CAPS);\n postcap = !postcap;\n }\n break;\n case 1:\n output(postcap ? KC_NO : KC_LSFT, postfix);\n break;\n case 2:\n output(pairs[bracket](http://thedarnedestthing.com/0), pairs[bracket](http://thedarnedestthing.com/self->value2));\n }\n }\n}\n",

See Json Source

this layout uses the Georgi keyboard and a (firmware) chording engine..

Edit: Added QUIKEY shortcut editing overlay layer

Edit: Added Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right keys to Cursor layer

Edit: Added Comma Period chord

Edit: Swapped GUI (Super) and Alt key positions

Note: Chording engine updated (see georgi dotfiles)

beakl wi