Free E-book: The Infinite Sea, by Jeffrey A. Carver

[Robotech_Master]

I've done the preliminary conversion. Now I'm in the process of reading through it to catch little glitches that my search-and-replace conversion might have caused. (And, naturally, to read through it. )

[JSWolf]

I'm almost done with the LRF edition. I've fixed all the apostrophies and quotes and should be done on Friday sometime.

[starrigger]

Great news, on both PDB and LRF fronts. Glad to hear it.

[billbirchall]

I am new to ebooks. Can someone advise me which is the 'best' format download of this book, for my Sony PRS-505?

[Slite]

Originally Posted by billbirchall

I am new to ebooks. Can someone advise me which is the 'best' format download of this book, for my Sony PRS-505?

I should wait until the LRF version of the book is posted on Jeffrey's page, since that is the native format for the Sony Reader.

I don't think it will be that long before it is up there anyway.

[Robotech_Master]

Conversion complete and emailed in.

And also having finished reading the book, let me just add I'm glad I found these now and not ten years ago.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I'm almost done with the LRF edition. I've fixed all the apostrophies and quotes and should be done on Friday sometime.

That's the one I'm looking for.


Don

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by billbirchall

I am new to ebooks. Can someone advise me which is the 'best' format download of this book, for my Sony PRS-505?

Jeffrey,

The above comment makes me think that this is more the rule than the exception. Most users not knowing what format to download.

You may want to modify your links a bit so that rather than saying "LRF" the link says "Sony Reader (LRF)" and rather than "LIT" do "MS Reader (LIT)". This way less file format savy people will know. You might also want to add "Kindle" and have it linked to the mobi file.

Just a thought. I'm sure it's worth what you paid for it.

BOb

[billbirchall]

Hi
Thanks for your speedy and helpful responses.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Jeffrey,
The above comment makes me think that this is more the rule than the exception. Most users not knowing what format to download.

You may want to modify your links a bit so that rather than saying "LRF" the link says "Sony Reader (LRF)" and rather than "LIT" do "MS Reader (LIT)". This way less file format savy people will know. You might also want to add "Kindle" and have it linked to the mobi file.
BOb

A good point. But the other issue is keeping the page clean and concise and not a hash of wordy links.

Maybe I should replace the current sidebar that gives links to software downloads with one that's basically a key to the different formats. (The links could still be there.)

Alternatively, I've thought of linking each book to its own download page, with fuller explanation of formats on that page. (Which would give me room to credit the folks who did the conversions.) But that would require yet another click and yet another page to read.

Two things most people I know hate are being forced to scroll very far, and being forced to click unnecessarily. That's why I've taken a more spartan approach to the page.

A third option would be to have a single link to a "which format do I want" page.

Opinions?

P.S. As soon as I get to my other computer, the eReader version will go up.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Two things most people I know hate are being forced to scroll very far, and being forced to click unnecessarily. That's why I've taken a more spartan approach to the page.

Ok, I can see that. But, I'm suggesting adding 16 chars to the line.

How about this, replace LRF with Sony and Mobipocket with Kindle/Mobi. That only adds to characters to the list of file formats.

Another option would be to use a hover tool tip on each format and have a line about what device/software it would work with.

Of course it's your page and I know what format to download.

BOb

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by billbirchall

Can someone advise me which is the 'best' format download of this book, for my Sony PRS-505?

I wonder if someone would like to do a test for me. The Sony can read PDF files, yes? Would someone like to try the PDF versions of any of my books and let me know what they look like on a Sony?

I have two different PDF versions, the second pre-tagged to reflow to small screens. I have no idea what the effect of this is on a device like the Sony.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Ok, I can see that. But, I'm suggesting adding 16 chars to the line.

How about this, replace LRF with Sony and Mobipocket with Kindle/Mobi. That only adds to characters to the list of file formats.

Another option would be to use a hover tool tip on each format and have a line about what device/software it would work with.

That's not a bad idea. I'll test it here and see how I like the look. I like the hover tool tip idea even more, but have no idea how to do that. I'm sure Dreamweaver can do it, but there's much that Dreamweaver knows that I don't. :)

[starrigger]

Bob, I liked the way it looked, so I've tweaked the page using your suggestion. Thanks!

The Infinite Sea is now up in eReader format, thanks to Robo (Chris).

[gwynevans]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Would someone like to try the PDF versions of any of my books and let me know what they look like on a Sony?
I have two different PDF versions, the second pre-tagged to reflow to small screens. I have no idea what the effect of this is on a device like the Sony.

Unfortunately, my camera's battery's flat at the moment, so...

Using the Neptune Crossing PDA PDF on the Sony shows the full page that you'd see in Adobe DE, which means the font's too small for the Sony and the margins are a bit large for my liking on an eInk screen. If you press (+), it'll reflow, but the problem then is that it then looses things such as em-dashes at the end of a line (specifically, the em-dash after 'explanations' on page 6, although the earlier one after 'mean' remained. Also the centered '*' is left-justified. It's readable, but I'd choose the LRF in preference.