 |
||
Ebook software comparisons |
||
|
Ebook software comparisons become essential when you are going to publish material for your clients and customers to down load from the web. What format or system are you going to use to do this? Suppose you, or your customers, are not satisfied with you just putting your material up as web pages that can be read by anyone with web browser software on their computer (such as Netscape, Internet Explorer, Opera etcetera). That is the commonest way, for sure. And it is readily enhanced with the freely-available plug-in or add-on software that enable videos to be watched or music to be played. But if you primarily want to send documents (text or pictures or videos or music) in a secure format, so that you have some control of their distribution you have a range of choices. The choices broadly divide into either using the PDF (Portable Document Format) or the compressed/executable HTML formats that are usually referred to as e.books. Either kind can be fitted with encryption/security.devices. Perhaps the most widely known is the PDF format for text and pictures. One of its main attractions is that PDF files can be read on both PC and Mac machines. Among alternatives are: Adobe Acrobat, Ghostscript, PrintToPDF andPdf995 Adobe Acrobat is a robust user friendly package. The software to convert documents into PDF files is fairly expensive (though excellent) but the PDF reader is freely available. Ghostscript is a free alternative devolving out of academia that is rather less user-friendly. Both Acrobat and Ghostscript have encryption capabilities as extras. In addition to providing the Reader free of charge, Adobe also provides Create Adobe® PDF Online, which is a free Web-hosted service that lets you convert a variety of documents into Adobe PDF files that anyone can view using the free viewer. However, after converting 5 documents you have to pay monthly charges. Pdf995 quickly creates professional-quality documents in PDF file format. Its easy-to-use interface allows you to create PDF files by simply selecting the "print" command from any application, creating documents which can be viewed on any computer with a PDF viewer. pdfEdit995 provides greater flexibility in PDF output. You can include links and bookmarks, automatically attach your PDFs to email messages, easily combine two or more files into one, set preferences for page orientation and naming conventions, create stationery files, embed fonts, extract text, etcetera. Signature995 gives encryption and digital signatures for secure transfer of your PDF documents. All three products are available as free downloads. The free versions display a sponsor page in your web browser each time you run the software. If you would prefer not to see sponsor pages, you may upgrade by obtaining individual license keys for each product for a small charge. The HTML approach is exemplified by EbookGOLD, EbookPRO, DigitalPageAuthor, etc. DigitalPageAuthor produces a product with pages that attractively turn, just like a book, when you click on them. Text and static images, but not video/animation, are very easily incorporated and packaged as either .exe or .dnl files. The latter are smaller, safer and delivered with a cookie to enable reading. EbookGOLD and EbookPRO provide extremely versatile yet still user friendly ways of incorporating just about anything that you can find on web sites, including music, videos and flash animations, into secure HTML-based files for easy delivery. Neither is available free, but then, you certainly get what you pay for. There is little to choose between these programs, although my own personal preference is for EbookPRO because it integrates so well with the way I work. You can restrict the lifetime of the book, music or whatever, prevent screen capture and prevent printing. The packaged products are small enough to send by email in automated response to email orders. One way to really enhance the distribution of your e.book is to give it one of those attractive box-like covers that you may have seen around. There are several software programs designed to do just that. Some provide a wide range of templates such as "e.book cover templates" by Quentin Brown and Tom Hua and some really help you to design your own, like "Professional Cover Creation Tutorial" by Tom Dahne. Whereas "Dynamite Covers" from Simon Grabowski does both with more features. |
||