In a DE and depending on the terminal emulator, one could probably set up a profile that uses variable-width fonts and switch to it for Lue. That experience would depend on how well it renders text, particularly typographical elements.

that's a really cool idea! i wonder if it would break the ui though? i should try that.

me, mainly i just look for the most beautiful monospace font i can find that has a nostalgic feel. recently my favourite has been "modeseven" (https://online-fonts.com/fonts/modeseven), which is also featured in the screenshot on the github page.

It does break the border, but that's a two-line fix in ui.py to use a Rich Panel without side borders:

  +  from rich import box
     ...
     book_panel = Panel(
         book_content,
  +      box=box.SIMPLE_HEAD,
         title=f"[{COLORS.PANEL_TITLE}]{progress_text}[/{COLORS.PANEL_TITLE}]",
     ...
Then running lue in an emacs ansi-term or mlterm with a variable-width font configured, it looks like a typical ePub reader.

fantastic! good to know.