Graphical Guide to Using Book Designer

[Andybaby]

[Andybaby]

[Andybaby]

[Andybaby]

[Andybaby]

[pilotbob]

This is some nice work. But it really be better in the Wiki than in the forum.

BOb

[Andybaby]

Im Not so good with Wiki, Though if anyone wants to just embed the first image or two, and post the link, I can read the code and interpolate the Rest, Im good at guessing Code, but writing it from scratch i havent the slightest idea, or if someone can point me to a wiki with alot of images like this one would have. the only wikis ive ever seen have images on the side, and not as the main article

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

Im Not so good with Wiki, Though if anyone wants to just embed the first image or two, and post the link, I can read the code and interpolate the Rest, Im good at guessing Code, but writing it from scratch i havent the slightest idea, or if someone can point me to a wiki with alot of images like this one would have. the only wikis ive ever seen have images on the side, and not as the main article

Check out the visual kindle guide. Most of the topics are similar to what you have done here.

https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Visual_Kindle_Guide

BOb

[Andybaby]

Ahh Cool Thanks. Will Get Right on it. though if someone can proof these Images so i can edit any thing i got wrong. it would be helpful.

[Andybaby]

Finished the Wiki and Added it a Link to the Main BD Article
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Book...raphical_Guide

[HarryT]

This is very nicely done (although it's largely a duplicate of what I've already covered in my tutorial).

I'm afraid, though, that I find the large number of spelling mistakes in your "boxes" to be rather off-putting to read. The errors completely distract one from the actual content.

I'm guessing that English is not your first language? Could you, perhaps, have it checked by a native speaker of the language, and then correct it? It really would improve what's an excellent piece of work.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

This is very nicely done (although it's largely a duplicate of what I've already covered in my tutorial).

I'm afraid, though, that I find the large number of spelling mistakes in your "boxes" to be rather off-putting to read. The errors completely distract one from the actual content.

I'm guessing that English is not your first language? Could you, perhaps, have it checked by a native speaker of the language, and then correct it? It really would improve what's an excellent piece of work.

I know and thanks for Your Tut, I find some people just don't try until they see it.

I tried to have it not take 8 hours to do. It was alot to write, and with all the markup it still took over 3 hours(i honestly didnt expect that considering its a 3 minute process from begining to end for me). all of the spelling errors are just from typing too quickly, and trust me, i know the grammar is horrible because i was writing it off the top of my head and like four steps behind my thought process. Periods and commas all over the place.

and Hey, Feel Free To tell me any corrections. if "ot" instead of to distracts you, perhaps you would be the best person to proof it.

Im just used to reading text that isnt 100% correct, due to reading tons of OCR text (and SMSpeak and other weblanguages and short hand, i try not to type in it, but my fingers type faster than my keyboard), one time i had a book where every 3 'the' became DIE or DLE or DIF etc, i didnt even notice it after the third page.

I should really put the time in to learn Dvorak, the QWERTY keyboard was created to slow typing because early typists broke their typewriters or jammed them because they typed too quickly. i type faster than my keyboard allows me too, atleast with this layout

[JSWolf]

The following are my opinions.... Headers & footers take up too much space on a page and look ugly. Line spaces between paragraphs to seperate paragraphs also are ugly.

Now I am done with opinions. Onto facts that need to be said...
Book Designer has a serious bug in it when it comes to loading text files. When loading text files, BD can mangle the paragraphs. It does not do this when loading HTML or RTF. So if you have a text file to load, use a program such as Word to save it as RTF and load that. But if you have a choice from PG to load text or HTML, always go with HTML.

Next problem is that there is no mention of using Book Cleaner. Without a properly setup Book Cleaner, you will possible have errors in your eBook that you would not otherwise. There is a thread on MR with proper Book Cleaner configuration files and instructions on how to set it up.

Lastly, in the Make Sony Reader file options screen shot, you have two options set incorrectly in misc. toc should be set to full or all and not short. If you have it set to short, you can find missing ToC elements sometimes. Also, dashes should be set to as it is and not short. But setting them to short, you lose any em or en dashes on output.

I personally have nothing checked in book elements or headers/footers. I find that makes a much nicer looking eBook.

[Strether]

This represents a lot of work and I'm sure I wish I'd had it available when I first started working with BD.

I agree with Jon that loading text into BD is something to be avoided if at all possible. Fortunately, Mobileread offers a resource to deal with any text that you download from Gutenburg. It's called Stingo's Macro, a Word program that will insure that any paragraphs in the original document will survive intact when inserted into BD. I also find it easier to do preliminary editing in Word.

Jim

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Now I am done with opinions. Onto facts that need to be said...
Book Designer has a serious bug in it when it comes to loading text files. When loading text files, BD can mangle the paragraphs. It does not do this when loading HTML or RTF. So if you have a text file to load, use a program such as Word to save it as RTF and load that. But if you have a choice from PG to load text or HTML, always go with HTML.

Next problem is that there is no mention of using Book Cleaner. Without a properly setup Book Cleaner, you will possible have errors in your eBook that you would not otherwise. There is a thread on MR with proper Book Cleaner configuration files and instructions on how to set it up.

Lastly, in the Make Sony Reader file options screen shot, you have two options set incorrectly in misc. toc should be set to full or all and not short. If you have it set to short, you can find missing ToC elements sometimes. Also, dashes should be set to as it is and not short. But setting them to short, you lose any em or en dashes on output.

I have never noticed the txt error. but I have only done 10 or so books from txt. I believe you that it can happen sometimes. it didnt seem to mangle them in this case. and i did say to make it from HTML if available.

Since Book cleaner is mentioned in the install thread, I have no need/want to mention it here.

never noticed missing toc elements when does this happen? in 65 books with these settings I never noticed anything wrong. thanks for the tip about em dashes (I know some people are really ana...Passionate about them... thanks for these tips.) I Will Make these changes.

the rest is personal preferance, but as described in the last slide. I like my headers and footers.