Thanks, all. The task I'm researching reflects current practices by a department that uses a combination of a web-based quarterly newsletter and its downloadable PDF equivalent. It's thought that hardware eBook readers may become cheap enough and good enough to wean a significant proportion (>10% ?) onto these devices.
A small consulting group produces the content and initial document (including PDF), using Apple Mac. I'm interested to know (Filip) that "hardware has to support re-flowable PDFs. I just convert my PDFs to mobipocket with reasonably good results using Mobipocket creator (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp)". What's the difference between a normal and a re-flowable PDF? I use Foxit's Phantom and have been bombarded with eSlick marketing recently. Mid last year I asked them about support for CHM on the device, but that's not planned. I'm still awaiting some news about Microsoft's new help system (v4) as a replacement for what I think is a great format - .CHM. _____ Ian Thomas Victoria Park, Western Australia _____ From: ausdotnet-boun...@lists.codify.com [mailto:ausdotnet-boun...@lists.codify.com] On Behalf Of Filip Kratochvil Sent: Thursday, 18 February 2010 6:02 AM To: ausDotNet Subject: Re: [OT] eBook formats I purchased CyBook Gen3 from Bookeen which supports number of formats. By far the best format for me is the mobipocket, I have not tried ePub. I believe both are based on HTML hence the re-flow capability. I too have lots of books in PDF but in order for the reader to show them (as PDF) in an "acceptable" way, the hardware has to support re-flowable PDFs. I just convert my PDFs to mobipocket with reasonably good results using Mobipocket creator (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp) I believe the eslick from Foxit already supports re-flowable PDFs. HTH, Filip On 18 February 2010 08:41, Scott Baldwin <carpenoctur...@gmail.com> wrote: I absolutely love my kindle, only problem is it uses a proprietary DRM format for books you purchase from Amazon. It does support PDF natively, although, given that PDF format is meant for A4, it is usually better to get the amazon service to convert it to the proprietary format to ensure it flows correctly. The Amazon service will also convert HTML, word, RTF and mobi pocket formats, but in the last case, only if the mobi pocket file is devoid of any DRM. On Thu, Feb 18, 2010 at 1:14 AM, Stephen Liedig <slie...@gmail.com> wrote: I just bought the Sony Daily Edition and have to say I'm quite happy with it. Have bought books off Manning Publishing which support a variety of formats including ePub, mobi and PDF (you get all three versions with your purchase), and so far the best format I have seen is ePub. PDF is a bit hit and miss (on the reader), but looks great on PC. For the most part it doesn't do well with the scaling of type but its not totally unreadable. I have a lot of PDF documents I have downloaded off Safari and books I've purchased elsewhere they look ok for the most part but are sometimes hard to read. I have bought Apress books in PDF format, but turns out you can't view these because of they password protect their files which the ereaders cannot handle. Lucky I have found a way to bypass that. ;-) I believe Apress are looking into this and considering other options. Oreilly now also support epub and pdf (but only newer titles), so it looks like we have a few major candidates emerging (pdf and epub). Not sure about Kindle format which is popular in US but nowhere else. As for .net converters not sure. Steve On 17 February 2010 12:34, Michael Nemtsev <nemt...@msn.com> wrote: I would wait for the HP Slate, but they say that the Sony eReader has the largest formats support http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId= 10551 <http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId =10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666064650#specifications> &storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666064650#specifications, however not CHM and XPS - need to convert them WBR, Michael Nemtsev, Microsoft MVP http://www.sharepoint-sandbox.com <http://www.sharepoint-sandbox.com/> http://msmvps.com/blogs/laflour From: ausdotnet-boun...@lists.codify.com [mailto:ausdotnet-boun...@lists.codify.com] On Behalf Of Ian Thomas Sent: Wednesday, 17 February 2010 11:30 PM To: 'ausDotNet' Subject: [OT] eBook formats I realise "ebook" is evolving or is a moving target, but maybe someone can shed some light or offer suggestions. I've seen HTML, PDF, and some proprietary formats. Not sure about XPS though. Are there any standardized formats for eBooks, how can text / graphics be put into the formats, and what readers are available (free, so that users can download and then read the stuff)? Lastly: any role for .net coding for the conversion / creation stage? Or, is Adobe PDF the lingua franca (still)? ________________________________ Ian Thomas Victoria Park, Western Australia -- Scott Baldwin Readify - Associate Consultant blog: http://sjbdeveloper.blogspot.com
