Great tips for PDF reading from Solitaire1: works on Gen3

[hidari]

I saw this in the new Sony forum. Tips from Solitaire. I tested it on the Gen3 and it works great. Now I can read PDFs.... at least fiction and the usual non fiction very well in Landscape mode. Too bad I cannot with epub... c'est la Vie...

here are the tips from Solitaire1:

I will give you the steps and settings I use for my reader, adjust them as needed for your reader (these should also work with OpenOffice.org):

- I create the ebook as an OpenDocument text file, formatting it like any other word processing document and save it in that format. For ease of formatting I use styles, and I use a base font size of 14 points (the smallest text on the page is that size and everything goes up from there).

- I set the page size to 3.5 inches by 4.75 inches, the same size as my reader's screen.

- I set the top, bottom, left, and right margins to 0.2 inches (the minimum margins allowed by StarOffice).

- I don't include headers or footers with my ebooks since the page numbers are already included on the reader's screen, but you can do this if you want.

- Go into the properties for your document (on the menu bar click on "File" > "Properties") and set the title of your ebook. It is located in the Description tab. The name you type here will be the ebook's name on your reader.

- Save the ebook.

Now, when you page preview your ebook, it will look on the screen exactly as it will look on your reader's screen at the small setting. This will allow you to check for formatting problems so that you can correct them.

Added Information: If you set your view to "Print Layout" the ebook will look the same on your screen as it does on your reader, with the added advantage that you can edit your ebook in this view.

Once your ebook is ready, on the menu bar click on "File" > "Export as PDF" and save the ebook as a PDF. You can now load the ebook on your reader.

If you need to make changes to the ebook (such as wanting it in a larger font), just open the original OpenDocument text file, edit it, and export it as a PDF.

One final note, since the ebook's pages are set it is easy to make a table of contents and place it at the beginning of the ebook. I do this for multi-chapter ebooks. All you have to do is mark the chapter text with a style and then use that to generate the table of contents at the beginning of the ebook.

I hope this helps.

[ErwinOtten]

Maybe I'm missing the point here. But why would you want to make a pdf for your gen3 when you have a RTF-file?
With Calibre you can convert it really simple to a .mobi file with all the advantages of a reflowable format....

[hidari]

Originally Posted by ErwinOtten

Maybe I'm missing the point here. But why would you want to make a pdf for your gen3 when you have a RTF-file?
With Calibre you can convert it really simple to a .mobi file with all the advantages of a reflowable format....

I have FW 2.0 on my Gen3. I like to read in landscape mode and Bookeen did not implement epub to be read in landscape mode for the latest update, therefore I am reading my books in PDF for the most part now. I like page numbers.

Solitaire1's tips work for portrait or landscape. I just thought people may want to try it out. It does improve the font size of PDFs on the Gen3.

Alas, Rotation for the gen3 is limited to PDF.... Que lastima....