I'm looking for an html compiler with security features to publish some of our quilting and embroidery books in an ebook format. I intend to to make them available as pdf also but want both options.
ebook compiler
Short URL: http://fsmsh.com/2219
Most forwarded
Interview with Dave Mohyla, of DTIDATA
Dave Mohyla is the president and founder of dtidata.com, a hard drive recovery facility based in Tampa, Florida.
TM: Where are you based? What does your company do?
DTI Data recovery is based in South Pasadena, Florida which is a suburb of Tampa. We have been here for over 10 years. We operate a bio-metrically secured class 100 clean room where we perform hard drive recovery on all types of hard disks, from laptop hard drives to multi drive RAID systems.
Anybody up to writing good directory software?
Since the very beginning, directories (of any kind) have had a very central role in the internet. (I have recently grown fond of Free Web Directory. Even Slashdot can be considered a directory: a collection of great news and invaluable user-generated comments. As far as software is concerned, doing a quick search on Google about software directories will return the free (as in freedom) software directories like Savannah, SourceForge, Freshmeat and so on, followed by shareware and freeware sites such as FileBuzz, PCWin Download Center and All Freeware (great if you're looking for shareware and freeware, but definitely less comprehensive than their free-as-in-freedom counterparts).
Interview with Mark Shuttleworth
Mark Shuttleworth is the founder of Thawte, the first Certification Authority to sell public SSL certificates. After selling Thawte to Verisign, Mark moved on to training as an astronaut in Russia and visiting space. Once he got back he founded Ubuntu, the leading GNU/Linux distribution. He agreed on releasing a quick interview to Free Software Magazine.
Is better education the key to finding better software?
I read David Jonathon's article Anybody Up To Writing Good Directory Software? the other day, which got me thinking about software directories in general. As David mentioned, many of the software directories one finds when doing a quick google search are free as in beer, not as in freedom. But what interests me is the software directories that already exist, providing a combination of both free as in beer software, and open source software. Sites such as Freeware Downloads and Shareware Download don't advertise themselves as providing free as in liberty software, but each of them have a good selection of open source software available... if you know where to look.
Most emailed
Free Open Document label templates
If you’ve ever spent hours at work doing mailings, cursed your printer for printing outside the lines on your labels, or moaned “There has got to be a better way to do this,” here’s the solution you’ve been looking for. Working smarter, not harder! Worldlabel.com, a manufacture of labels offers Open Office / Libre Office labels templates for downloading in ODF format which will save you time, effort, and (if you want) make really cool-looking labels
Creating a user-centric site in Drupal
A little while ago, while talking in the #drupal mailing list, I showed my latest creation to one of the core developers there. His reaction was "Wow, I am always surprised what people use Drupal for". His surprise is somehow justified: I did create a site for a bunch of entertainers in Perth, a company set to use Drupal to take over the world with Entertainers.Biz.
Update: since writing this article, I have updated the system so that the whole booking process happens online. I will update the article accordingly!
So, why, why do people and companies develop free software?
More and more people are discovering free software. Many people only do so after weeks, or even months, of using it. I wonder, for example, how many Firefox users actually know how free Firefox really is—many of them realise that you can get it for free, but find it hard to believe that anybody can modify it and even redistribute it legally.
When the discovery is made, the first instinct is to ask: why do they do it? Programming is hard work. Even though most (if not all) programmers are driven by their higher-than-normal IQs and their amazing passion for solving problems, it’s still hard to understand why so many of them would donate so much of their time to creating something that they can’t really show off to anybody but their colleagues or geek friends.
Sure, anybody can buy laptops, and just program. No need to get a full-on lab or spend thousands of dollars in equipment. But... is that the full story?
Fun articles
Santa Claus - the most successful open source project
It dawned on me the other day, as I was shopping for the dozens of gifts it seems I have to buy every December, that Santa Claus is the most successful open source project in history. (Bridget @ Illiterarty would agree with that). Santa Claus is essentially a marketing development that is embodied by everyone who stuffs a sock, gives a gift, hosts a dinner or wishes Merry Christmas over the holiday season.
Most emailed
Editorial
When I first started thinking about Free Software Magazine, I was feeling enthusiastic about the dream. I had Dave, Gianluca, and Alan willing to help me, I had established members of the free software community willing to help me out, I had writers volunteering their time and energy for free, and I had a generous offer from OpenHosting for servers, all before I'd proved myself. There was a sense of excitement in the air, and I thought maybe, just maybe, I could make this work.
Which format are the books in right now?
Hi,
Which format are the books in right now?
Have you seen Openberg?
Merc.
reply to merc
James Cummings
www.quiltersmuse.com
Thanks merc. The books are currently in open office native format. I'll keep an eye on Openberg as it develops.
Follow up...
Hello,
Hey, I might be wrong, but isn't an e-book just a PDF file?
Look here for a list of possible ebook formats...
Are you trying to create a PDF with a password?
Merc.
re: formats for ebooks
James Cummings
www.quiltersmuse.com
An ebook can be done in several formats. A pdf file with a password can be created using Pdf Creator or with Pdf extender for open office. I will use one of these, but I also want to use a compiler which creates a book using html files, which can be read with a browser. This makes it much easier to add media if one desires, in addition to hyperlinks, navigation bars and other goodies. There are a number of these on the market, but I'm hooked on the open source concept. I want to be able to make both formats available.
Jim
HTMLDOC
Hi,
Have you tried HTMLDOC? http://www.htmldoc.org/
It's what we are currently using to reinstate the PDF for Free Software Magazine. It works well, but it doesn't support CSS...
Bye,
Merc.
OpenBerg
There's no security in OpenBerg yet. At some point, we will add protection against modifications (i.e. digital signatures), but chances are that we will never implement any DRM.
Cheers,
Yoric
HTMLDOC
James Cummings
www.quiltersmuse.com
Thanks, I'll look into this option also.
Jim
CHM?
Do you mean a CHM compiler? If so, it's probably not available for GNU/Linux. Windows has a FLOSS app called WordDoc to CHM Converter, but only works with .docs.
I personally HATE the CHM format. Not because of moral reasons. Just because it's the most clunky format on the Internet. PDFs are much better for reading eBooks.
--
Andrew Min
http://andrew.timstown.net/dock.htm
CHM
I would agree on both counts - CHM is a Windows-only abomination. Only IE can open it as far as I can tell.
I did find a CHM to HTML converter, but it produced the most appallingly inefficient tag soup I've ever seen.
I won't mention its name: mostly because I've forgotten, but it doesn't deserve even the slightest publicity.
----
pavium
Ebook software
I am looking for software to do an ebook also. I have adobe pdf and was wondering if that will work? I don't understand if it will keep the html code or how that works in the conversion. Also there are several people selling software like ebook generator. Is this necessary and does it make it easier to make the graphics for the cover?
Thanks,
Annie
James
James Cummings
www.quiltersmuse.com
Annie: Most of the ebook generators either allow you to write within the program, producing html or you write the book in an html editor and load the files into the ebook generator. Some will handle pdf files. You can write the book totally as pdf files and allow your customers to download the pdf books. There are a number of software packages that will allow you to generate pdf files. As for graphics, you need an image editor to create the graphics so that you may load them into the book files. We decided not to create ebooks for sale but to place our ebooks online for free viewing and use an advertising model, i.e. Amazon and Google links, to generate revenue. You may view these books at http://www.quiltersmuse.com
Jim Cummings