eBooks
Terence Cavanaugh
What?
eBooks are books or other forms of text that have been converted into digital
format.
eBooks can be ordered online or downloaded for free.
It's just a book without the paper.
Why
Many eBooks allow you to control the look of the text.
Some eBooks can be read aloud with Text-to-Speech.
Portability: eBooks are digital, and they are usually read in handheld
devices.
Distribution: eBooks can be copied and sent via the Internet.
Ease of use
Adaptable: eBooks can contain helpful enhancements, and the text size and
colors may be adjusted for comfort.
Accommodations: Factors such as controlling text size and color, and having a
book read aloud meet many special needs.
MOBIPOCKET READER
Devices: PalmOS, WindowsCE /Pocket PC, Franklin eBookman, Epoc32
Formats: .prc, .txt, .html, .doc files
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/HomePage/default.asp
Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader
Features:
Advanced
navigation and viewing options. Bookmarks. Accurate printing of complete
eBook.
Devices:
Any
operating system including Win, Mac, Unix, Linux (not for handhelds)
Formats: .pdf files
Palm Reader
Features: Various fonts and sizes, navigation system, appearance control.
Devices: Palm OS systems
Format: .pdb files
http://www.peanutpress.com/
Franklin eBookMan
Features: font size, bookmarks (works with MobiPocket Reader)
Format: .prc files
http://www.franklin.com/
Microsoft Reader
Features:
ClearType,
Search, Advanced Navigation, Highlighting, Bookmarks, Personal Library, Drawing,
Notes, Dictionary Interaction.
Devices:
Windows
& Pocket PCs
Format:
.lit
files
http://www.microsoft.com/reader/default.asp
Create Your Own Microsoft Reader eBooks from MS
Word
Microsoft® Read in Microsoft Reader 1.1
Create eBooks from Microsoft Word version 2002 files at the click of a
button. The Read in Microsoft Reader (RMR) add-in for Microsoft Word enables you
to convert any Word document into a Microsoft Reader format eBook in just a few
simple steps.
Highlights:
IMPORTANT DOWNLOAD INSTRUCTIONS
- Ensure that Microsoft Word is not running.
- Click the download
link.
- In the File Download box, select Save this program to disk.
- Save the file named "WordRMR.exe" to your hard drive.
- When the download is complete, locate WordRMR.exe on your hard drive and
double click the file to begin installation.
- During the installation of the Read in Microsoft Reader add-in, you may be
prompted to restart your PC. Be sure to do so. After the restart, the
installation will continue.
- Start Microsoft Word, after you reboot your computer. You will see a
Microsoft Reader icon on the Word toolbar and a Read command on the File
menu. After opening a document in Word, use either of these to convert to
Microsoft Reader format.
http://www.ebookexpress.com/
Sources --> Reader
DOC, .RTF, .HTM/.HTML, XML, .TXT, .WPS, .WPD, .WRI and ASCII changes to
.lit
Creating eBooks with eBookExpress
- Go to site.
- Enter title of eBook.
- Enter author name as it is to appear on eBook.
- Attach the source file to be converted to a
Microsoft Reader eBook.
- Attach the JPEG or PNG file for the eBook cover
art.
- Click to publish.
- Then download your new eBook from the site.
Creating eBooks with ReaderWorks
- Get or create your text.
- Change it in Word or any HTML editor until it’s just the way that you
and ReaderWorks like it.
- Save the soon-to-be book in its own folder somewhere (ReaderWorks creates
a number of files; you really need each book and related files in a single
folder) as an HTML file.
- Open ReaderWorks.
- Add the book file.
- Set the Properties.
- Make the Table of Contents.
- Save your work using Save As and the .rwp extension.
- Choose Build eBook from the File Menu.
Images
Microsoft Reader currently supports three types of images:
JPEG, GIF, & PNG.
Any image embedded within an HTML file, will automatically be included in the
eBook.
The following is a list of recommendations when adding images to an your eBooks:
· All images should be at 72 or 100 dpi resolution or standard screen resolution for your target device (desktop or Pocket PC).
· Images should be in either JPEG, GIF or PNG formats.
· Use either RGB color or Black and White.
· Use RGB color for full color images, photographs, and shaded tables.
· Use Black and White for line drawings and text tables. When in doubt, use RGB color.
· Maximum image height – 500 pixels
· Maximum image width – 400 pixels
IMPORTANT: When resizing an image, keep the original image size ratio so the picture does not become distorted.
1. Cover Image
Location: Splash page
Proportions: 3:4 vertical
Dimensions: 510 pixels by 680 pixels
Suggested Source of image: Cover or artwork for paper book
2. Library Image
Location: Library
Proportions: 3:4 vertical
Dimensions: 99 pixels by 132 pixels
Suggested Source of image: Either full cover image reduced in size, or publisher's logo, or a fragment of the cover (could be a flat color)
3. Cover Page Image
Location: Cover page
Proportions: 21% width of the full screen
Dimensions: 108 pixels by 680 pixels
Suggested Source of image: Either a sliver of the paper book cover image or artwork, a flat color, or a default image provided by the publisher/author of the title.
4. Pocket PC Cover Image
Location: Pocket PC Book cover page
Proportions: 2:1 horizontal
Dimensions: 480 pixels by 240 pixels
Suggested Source of image: Cover or artwork for paper book, usually needs to be modified for this layout.
5. Pocket PC Thumbnail Image
Location: Pocket PC Library
Proportions: 2:1 horizontal
Dimensions: 90 pixels by 45 pixels
Suggested Source of image: Either full cover image reduced in size, or publisher's logo
USING CSS to make the pages break like you want.
<style>
<!--
H1, H2, H3, H4,
H5, H6 {
page-break-before:
auto; /* the default */
page-break-inside:
avoid; /* no page breaks inside... */
page-break-after:
avoid; /* ... or after */
}
H2 {
page-break-before:
always; /* begin new chapters; overrides previous rule */
}
P {
orphans: 3; /*
default is 2 */
widows: 3; /*
default is 2 */
-->
</style>
Running Palm DropBook
To create a .pdb file readable by the Palm Reader, simply drop a text file
which has been marked up using the Palm Markup Language onto the DropBook icon.
Any errors which occur will be listed. You may be prompted to specify the book's
title as it will be presented on a handheld.
The Palm Markup Language (PML) and Palm DropBook have been tailored to work
in a variety of situations but may not provide the support that your specific
application requires.
(see http://www.peanutpress.com)
Converting to Palm eBooks
Word documents
To convert a Microsoft Word document to Palm Markup format, download this
Word 97/98 template document, word2pml.dot
and unzip it. Then follow these steps:
- Copy the word2pml.dot file to Microsoft Word's "Templates"
folder.
- Run Word. From the File menu, choose "New..."
- From the list of available templates, choose "word2pml". Click
OK.
- You now have an empty document. Paste in the text that you wish to convert
to PML format.
- From the Tools menu, choose Macros from the Macro hierarchic menu item.
- Select word2pml from the list and click Run.
The macro will replace various styles (italic, bold, etc.) with corresponding
PML codes.
After the macro has finished its work, insert appropriate title pages and
chapter tags. Then use DropBook to build the book.
Gutenberg and other text documents
The Gutenberg texts at http://www.gutenberg.net/
are mostly plain ASCII. However, they include returns at the end of each line,
capitalization to represent italics, underscores to represent underlined text,
hyphenated words broken between lines, and other conventions that make
conversion to PML interesting.
The following is a general guideline for converting Gutenberg texts to PML.
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Remove hyphens at the ends of lines (words broken between lines shouldn't
be), but not on lines that end with two hyphens ("--"). |
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Remove line endings except between paragraphs. Some programs may have a
specific command to do this. Otherwise, this can be done with a text editor
by
- Replacing sequences of two line endings with a character that won't
appear in the text
- Replacing line endings with a space
- Replacing the character used in step 1 with two line endings
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Replace sequences of two spaces with a single space. |
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Spell check! |
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Replace backquotes ("`") with a single quote ("'"). |
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Replace "' with "\a160'. A double
quote followed by a single quote looks like three single quotes in the small
font, so a space should be placed between them. The \a160 is a
non-breaking space character; you don't want to allow a line to break
between two quotes. |
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Replace '" with '\a160" for the same
reason. |
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Replace sequences of periods which are intended to represent an ellipsis
with \a133, the ellipsis character code. |
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Keep your eyes open for sequences such as I-95 that should
use a non-breaking dash, \a173. |
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Make sure the quotes "work". A programming editor such as
CodeWarrior will syntax highlight strings, so you can scroll through the file
and easily pick out mismatched quotes. |
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Convert words in all capitals to italics using the \i tag
where appropriate. |
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Convert words with leading and trailing underscores to underline using the
\u tag. |
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Add title pages and chapter tags.
Save as text (.txt) |
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Build the book using MakeBook.
(drop the text onto the icon) |
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Proofread. Scanning a book (as was done to generate the Gutenberg texts)
produces errors that are not necessarily picked up by spell checkers. The
word "close" is sometimes scanned as "dose", for
example. Initial words of chapters are often in an unusual font that cause
them to be omitted from the scanned text. |
