|
|
 |
« on: January 13, 2010, 05:08:14 AM » |
|
1) Adobe Acrobat Professional is a high end ebook creation software that converts word documents, html, text and drawing to a format called Portable Document Format or simply known as PDF. To read a PDF file, readers need an Adobe Reader which is downloadable for free from Adobe website. The PDF is a very popular format for publishers because of its ease of use, it cannot be edited and you can insert active hyperlinks in the document. You can further protect your document by password protecting it and even prevent the document from being printed. Therefore it is not a surprise that most ebooks that are published nowadays are in PDF format. Another good reason to use the PDF format is that it is readable in Windows, Linux and Mac platforms, thus your readers are not limited by their computers' Operating System platform.
2) Online PDF converter - There are a few online PDF conversion sites that are able to convert word, excel, powerpoint, images and html documents for free. Freepdfconvert.com for instance provides free conversion to the PDF format and produces satisfactory results. However, there are limitations to the service provided by this website. Firstly, it does not convert huge files. This may be a problem if you are writing a 30-page document laden with graphics and images. Secondly, it allows you to convert one file every 30 minutes unless you subscribe to the service. And lastly, it does not offer a comprehensive security and protection like Adobe Acrobat Professional.
3) Activ E-Book Compiler is another form of ebook creation software. It is a self extracting Windows Program (".EXE") which a reader can download and open without any additional program. A publisher can restrict access to parts of the document by password protecting it, include links to websites, or sell advertising spots in it. The disadvantage of this compiler is that the source document must be in html format and therefore you need html editor to compose your document before converting it using this compiler. Nevertheless, this obstacle can be easily overcome by composing your document using the latest Microsoft word processor and "save" your document in html format. Unfortunately, this compiler can only be used in a Windows platform and there is uncertainty of the software stability in Windows Vista.
4) E-Book Maestro is a program that also converts html pages to a stand-alone EXE document. This ebook creation software offers full support of multimedia contents (HTML Pages, Java Scripts, Flash Files, VB Scripts, Graphic Files, Video Files Style Sheets, Sound Files and etc). This program also has the ability to password protect your document from copyright violators and the capability to add 'trial limitation' which require users to register to have full access to the manuscript.
If you are looking for a software that is able to do a simple conversion with no frills, there are plenty around. But, if you want added protection to your document, you should try the recommended desktop ebook creation software mentioned above.
|
