New Wiki Pages Added/Revised

RWood · 01-14-2007, 09:47 PM

Two (2) Wiki pages have recently undergone extensive changes. Both are still incomplete. They are as follows:

eBook Conversion Tools
E-book File Formats

I admit to several short comings in the current content. First, they are Sony Reader centric as I currently use a Sony Reader. Second, prior to that I read documents on my Samsung i500 Palm OS Sprint cell phone therefore there are a few that reference PDB files. Third, there are very few tools that run in something other than Windows.

They contain the best and most up to date information that I have at the moment. Since that was a few minutes ago, consider them to now be out of date.

This is our Wiki. We can change it. We can correct it.

I am sure that I have missed things. Oops, I just noticed that I omitted Fiction Book (FB2) and Rocket eBook (RB).

Remember, you too can edit the Wiki pages and add your own content.

NatCh · 01-15-2007, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RWood

This is our Wiki. We can change it. We can correct it...

... we can rebuild it, make it stronger, faster, better, we have the technology.

Sorry couldn't resist, RWood -- that just reminded me inevitably of something.

Good job, Rwood.

TadW · 01-15-2007, 04:00 AM

Good job, RWood!

I, too, find our Wiki to become an indispensable tool for us e-book fans.

UncleDuke · 01-15-2007, 04:07 AM

Great work. Thanks.

RWood · 01-17-2007, 08:16 PM

Thanks to all for the great comments and feedback. What is particularly encouraging is the number of other people that have added and revised content on the two pages. This proves that it is a Wiki for all of us, not just a few.

alex_d · 01-19-2007, 06:09 AM

RWood, i'm a bit puzzled by how you chose to organize the wiki. You split it between commercial and non-commercial, but the commercial is a mix of for-pay and free software, the the non-commercial has codes which are copywritten. Is this an offensive way to separate "good" from "bad"?

I think possible ways to organize are by device (eg all the LRF tools are only for Sony Reader), by file format (I think most people think, "i want to convert rtf" or "i want to convert pdf"), by some sort of merit (responsible subjectivity is better than broken "objectivity"), or by audience (eg many of the tools are really for developers or hard-core tweakers).

Also, I think the descriptions should be expanded a bit, at least for the more important tools.

Of course the point of a wiki is that the users, not the admin, writes them, so maybe you can just express the direction you'd like this to take and ask the community to fill in the blanks. (eg, regarding descriptions)

TadW · 01-19-2007, 01:11 PM

@alex_d: I agree that splitting into "commercial" and "non-commercial" sections seems unnecessary. Perhaps we should merge them?

Alexander Turcic · 01-19-2007, 01:13 PM

@alex_d, TadW: I moved your posts here since it seems to be the most appropriate place to discuss the particular Wiki entries.

storysmith · 01-19-2007, 01:19 PM

How about the Book Designer 4.0... with updates that can read from multiple formats and conver to Iliad and Sony... (haven't tried the Sony... bought Iliad because it DOESN'T have DRM.

And, of course Convert lit. It converts .lit files to html... effectively, despite DRM.

RWood · 01-19-2007, 03:08 PM

When I started to revise the Wiki I followed the basic structure that was already there. There was (and I hope no one interpreted as such) intent to classify one as bad or another as good.

I like alex_d’s suggestion that that we merge the two areas and then divide them by their functionality. A division by device is problematic as many tools are multifunctional. For example the ABC Amber Palm Converter doesn’t create Palm files but creates many other formats from Palm files.

What we might do is create a matrix of from and to formats and list the tools that fit in the cross boxes. Some would be heavily populated while others might be empty. We could then present the tools in alphabetical order. We should also extract the device/format data from the e-ink comparison matrix and enhance it with the formats of legacy and other current readers.

As the original posts that introduced the tools in MobileRead get older and fall from the upper positions in the listings the references become more important. Yes, the descriptions should be expanded. Hopefully people that are more involved with each tool will fill in the missing information. Perhaps we could add a page for each tool that is linked from this page.

We should also add a consolidated page that gathers the best known formatting practices for each device and in each format that it supports. Pieces of this currently exist but they are spread across multiple threads and Wiki entries.

Now I thought that I had a nice format set up for the Conversion and Format pages. Then someone (known by their IP address only) came in and improved it. Others have already enhanced the content and corrected some entries.

I’m game for changing it more. After all, we’re all in this together.

01-14-2007, 09:47 PM	#1
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	New Wiki Pages Added/Revised Two (2) Wiki pages have recently undergone extensive changes. Both are still incomplete. They are as follows: eBook Conversion Tools E-book File Formats I admit to several short comings in the current content. First, they are Sony Reader centric as I currently use a Sony Reader. Second, prior to that I read documents on my Samsung i500 Palm OS Sprint cell phone therefore there are a few that reference PDB files. Third, there are very few tools that run in something other than Windows. They contain the best and most up to date information that I have at the moment. Since that was a few minutes ago, consider them to now be out of date. This is our Wiki. We can change it. We can correct it. I am sure that I have missed things. Oops, I just noticed that I omitted Fiction Book (FB2) and Rocket eBook (RB). Remember, you too can edit the Wiki pages and add your own content.

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01-15-2007, 04:00 AM	#3
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	Good job, RWood! I, too, find our Wiki to become an indispensable tool for us e-book fans.

01-15-2007, 04:07 AM	#4
UncleDuke books & doughnuts Posts: 882 Karma: 37857 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: usa Device: sony reader, kindle2	Great work. Thanks.

01-17-2007, 08:16 PM	#5
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	Thanks to all for the great comments and feedback. What is particularly encouraging is the number of other people that have added and revised content on the two pages. This proves that it is a Wiki for all of us, not just a few.

01-19-2007, 06:09 AM	#6
alex_d Addict Posts: 303 Karma: 187 Join Date: Dec 2006 Device: Sony Reader	RWood, i'm a bit puzzled by how you chose to organize the wiki. You split it between commercial and non-commercial, but the commercial is a mix of for-pay and free software, the the non-commercial has codes which are copywritten. Is this an offensive way to separate "good" from "bad"? I think possible ways to organize are by device (eg all the LRF tools are only for Sony Reader), by file format (I think most people think, "i want to convert rtf" or "i want to convert pdf"), by some sort of merit (responsible subjectivity is better than broken "objectivity"), or by audience (eg many of the tools are really for developers or hard-core tweakers). Also, I think the descriptions should be expanded a bit, at least for the more important tools. Of course the point of a wiki is that the users, not the admin, writes them, so maybe you can just express the direction you'd like this to take and ask the community to fill in the blanks. (eg, regarding descriptions)

01-19-2007, 01:11 PM	#7
TadW Uebermensch Posts: 2,583 Karma: 1094606 Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Device: Kindle	@alex_d: I agree that splitting into "commercial" and "non-commercial" sections seems unnecessary. Perhaps we should merge them?

01-19-2007, 01:13 PM	#8
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,163 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	@alex_d, TadW: I moved your posts here since it seems to be the most appropriate place to discuss the particular Wiki entries.

01-19-2007, 01:19 PM	#9
storysmith Well Connected Old Fart Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Tulsa, OK Device: Iliad (both) - Motion tablet - EB1150	How about the Book Designer 4.0... with updates that can read from multiple formats and conver to Iliad and Sony... (haven't tried the Sony... bought Iliad because it DOESN'T have DRM. And, of course Convert lit. It converts .lit files to html... effectively, despite DRM.

01-19-2007, 03:08 PM	#10
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	When I started to revise the Wiki I followed the basic structure that was already there. There was (and I hope no one interpreted as such) intent to classify one as bad or another as good. I like alex_d’s suggestion that that we merge the two areas and then divide them by their functionality. A division by device is problematic as many tools are multifunctional. For example the ABC Amber Palm Converter doesn’t create Palm files but creates many other formats from Palm files. What we might do is create a matrix of from and to formats and list the tools that fit in the cross boxes. Some would be heavily populated while others might be empty. We could then present the tools in alphabetical order. We should also extract the device/format data from the e-ink comparison matrix and enhance it with the formats of legacy and other current readers. As the original posts that introduced the tools in MobileRead get older and fall from the upper positions in the listings the references become more important. Yes, the descriptions should be expanded. Hopefully people that are more involved with each tool will fill in the missing information. Perhaps we could add a page for each tool that is linked from this page. We should also add a consolidated page that gathers the best known formatting practices for each device and in each format that it supports. Pieces of this currently exist but they are spread across multiple threads and Wiki entries. Now I thought that I had a nice format set up for the Conversion and Format pages. Then someone (known by their IP address only) came in and improved it. Others have already enhanced the content and corrected some entries. I’m game for changing it more. After all, we’re all in this together.