Upload ebooks in HTML format

ProDigit · 02-19-2009, 10:44 AM

Hi,
I was just thinking and pondering upon the file formats of the ebook readers, and thought a lot of my work has been to create/modify an HTML,to only later convert it to LRF for the Sony reader.

Here's where I got troubled, imagine if next year Sony would bring a new ebook reader on the market (with eg: larger screen or color or whatever) that no longer would display LRF files!
then a lot of the books on the forum will serve for the few of us who managed to snatch a PRS reader or the likes.. But that number would decrease over time.

Most of the books on the forum (apart from PDF books) come from html (sources); and get reconverted to .prc, .lit, .lrf, .... files.

Also,imagine soon there will be a new reader on the market with yet another fileformat.
I thought it better to have a standard library in HTML or .doc (perhaps every book; html/doc; compressed to .zip or .rar) and upload them!

.doc files are relatively easy to convert to html; but lrf files are not easy to convert to other fileformats. I mean, I suspect there'll be some layout issues which one would want to be able to edit in eg: HTML format, before converting it to the appropriate ebook format.

Besides once a book is in HTML,it can very easily converted to other formats!
It would literally need a user having a device, snatch the HTML,convert it,and upload the book.

What do you think? Would it benefit to do so or not?

AnemicOak · 02-19-2009, 10:59 AM

For me I try to keep copies of my stuff in Lit as it gives you the HTML, but also any images all stored in one file that can easily be exploded at a later date as needed. For me it's the perfect storage format.

DixieGal · 02-19-2009, 11:20 AM

I try to backup my books in a bunch of formats and save to a flash drive. I especially like to have a copy of everything that I can possibly get in Word, pdf, and rtf. I figure that in a worst case scenario, I can always read them on a PC, should I ever want to re-read them.

Ea · 02-19-2009, 11:21 AM

I think it would be a great idea. I've actually downloaded a couple of mobi books from here, only to open the file in Mobipocket Creator to get the HTML file. This is the main reason I don't go here for books (except that there hasn't been many I've been interested in in the first place).

Jellby · 02-19-2009, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

Besides once a book is in HTML,it can very easily converted to other formats!
It would literally need a user having a device, snatch the HTML,convert it,and upload the book.

What do you think? Would it benefit to do so or not?

Better than HTML or doc, upload them in ePUB format. It's standard, it's the future and you can get the text and formatting just as easily (it's already a zipped set XHTML+CSS files).

Steven Lyle Jordan · 02-19-2009, 11:51 AM

This is why ePub is a good e-book format: It is XML (based on HTML), and therefore easily converted to other formats... or easily displayed out-of-the-box. Many new readers can read ePub, and more are adopting ePub along with their proprietary format. And an html-based format will, as you suggest, have better longetivity than most proprietary formats.

In terms of long-term document storage, the more documents we store in ePub, the better.

ProDigit · 02-19-2009, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

.. It's standard, it's the future....

No it's not!
So far there's no guarantee manufacturers will go for this or another format once the new devices are on the market(larger screen/resolution, perhaps colors...);
there still is NO ebook standard to date (at least, last I knew of )

besides, which program formats a book in epub format?(just out of lack of knowledge I ask)...

I know Book designer can create LRF files, and I heard that the Sony reader can read epub, but I don't think I've seen it so far.
Is it a format, when I have it on my sony reader, I can copy and read it straight from a kindle, cybook, iliad or Jinke/Bebook system?

AnemicOak · 02-19-2009, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

No it's not!
So far there's no guarantee manufacturers will go for this or another format once the new devices are out there;
there still is NO ebook standard to date (at least, last I knew of )

besides, which program formats a book in epub format?(just out of lack of knowledge I ask)...

I know Book designer can create LRF files, and I heard that the Sony reader can read epub, but I don't think I've seen it so far.
Is it a format, when I have it on my sony reader, I can copy and read it straight from a kindle, cybook, iliad or Jinke/Bebook system?

Yes, the Sony (505 & 700) can read ePub. No, the Kindle, Cybook et all can't (at least not yet, it's supposed to be coming for at least some of them). You can put the ePub into Calibre & in a few seconds have a Mobi or LRF file (maybe Lit too, I'm not sure) and a lot of devices, besides the Sony, will read Mobi.

ePub certainly seems to have a good chance for the broadest amount of support so far.

pilotbob · 02-19-2009, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

No it's not!

It certainly is a "standard" in the technical sense of the word. But it is by no means ubiquitous yet, which is what is needed.

BOb

zelda_pinwheel · 02-19-2009, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

Better than HTML or doc, upload them in ePUB format. It's standard, it's the future and you can get the text and formatting just as easily (it's already a zipped set XHTML+CSS files).

yes, exactly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

No it's not!
So far there's no guarantee manufacturers will go for this or another format once the new devices are on the market(larger screen/resolution, perhaps colors...);
there still is NO ebook standard to date (at least, last I knew of )

hm, the International Digital Publishing Forum, which is the International Trade and Standards Oranization for the Digital Publishing Industry and whose mission is defining epub, the new industry standard format, might disagree with you on that. and more and more publishers are publishing in epub, sometimes exclusively in epub.

Quote:

besides, which program formats a book in epub format?(just out of lack of knowledge I ask)...

I know Book designer can create LRF files, and I heard that the Sony reader can read epub, but I don't think I've seen it so far.
Is it a format, when I have it on my sony reader, I can copy and read it straight from a kindle, cybook, iliad or Jinke/Bebook system?

as others have said, Sony 505 and 700 series can read epub natively, no conversion necessary. iphone and ipod touch can read epub natively using an app like stanza. epub can also be easily converted to other formats like mobipocket for cybooks or kindles, etc., particularly now that epub drm has been cracked.

please read at least the first page of this thread to find out more about epub.

ProDigit · 02-19-2009, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

It certainly is a "standard" in the technical sense of the word. But it is by no means ubiquitous yet, which is what is needed.

BOb

I stand corrected...
You understood what I meant.. LRF and PRC and LIT are standards too. But it's that 'ubiquitous' word I didn't have in my dictionary yet

zelda_pinwheel · 02-19-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

I stand corrected...
You understood what I meant.. LRF and PRC and LIT are standards too. But it's that 'ubiquitous' word I didn't have in my dictionary yet

i think you are confusing "standard" with "common". lrf, prc and lit are common formats, but they are by no means standard.

please do read the first page of the thread i linked to in my last post. it is a very good introduction to epub.

pilotbob · 02-19-2009, 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDigit

But it's that 'ubiquitous' word I didn't have in my dictionary yet

I like the word ubiquitous, I am trying to makes its usage ubiquitous.

BOb

zelda_pinwheel · 02-19-2009, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I like the word ubiquitous, I am trying to makes its usage ubiquitous.

BOb

i'll join that mission. the ubiquitous use of precise words makes me happy.

ProDigit · 02-19-2009, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I like the word ubiquitous, I am trying to makes its usage ubiquitous.

BOb

replace [CTRL]+[V] with "ubiquitous"

To me it seems [CTRL]+[V],that you would use the word [CTRL]+[V] to make it more [CTRL]+[V]! At this moment my brains are still processing [CTRL]+[V],and they only got the "[CTRL]" part right. The "+[V]"part will soon fall in place!
It's such a hard word I had to store it in my cache using [CTRL]+[C],in order to write it down([CTRL]+[V])!
I even had to look it up in a dictionary!

Now I feel much more comfortable, and even can say it without errors!

[CTRL]+[V] !
uhm,I meant, "ubiquitous" yes "ubiquitous"(Ctrl+v)!

02-19-2009, 10:44 AM	#1
ProDigit Karmaniac Posts: 2,553 Karma: 11499146 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Miami FL Device: PRS-505, Jetbook, + Mini, +Color, Astak Ez Reader Pro, PPW1, Aura H2O	Upload ebooks in HTML format Hi, I was just thinking and pondering upon the file formats of the ebook readers, and thought a lot of my work has been to create/modify an HTML,to only later convert it to LRF for the Sony reader. Here's where I got troubled, imagine if next year Sony would bring a new ebook reader on the market (with eg: larger screen or color or whatever) that no longer would display LRF files! then a lot of the books on the forum will serve for the few of us who managed to snatch a PRS reader or the likes.. But that number would decrease over time. Most of the books on the forum (apart from PDF books) come from html (sources); and get reconverted to .prc, .lit, .lrf, .... files. Also,imagine soon there will be a new reader on the market with yet another fileformat. I thought it better to have a standard library in HTML or .doc (perhaps every book; html/doc; compressed to .zip or .rar) and upload them! .doc files are relatively easy to convert to html; but lrf files are not easy to convert to other fileformats. I mean, I suspect there'll be some layout issues which one would want to be able to edit in eg: HTML format, before converting it to the appropriate ebook format. Besides once a book is in HTML,it can very easily converted to other formats! It would literally need a user having a device, snatch the HTML,convert it,and upload the book. What do you think? Would it benefit to do so or not? Last edited by ProDigit; 02-19-2009 at 10:47 AM.

02-19-2009, 10:59 AM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	For me I try to keep copies of my stuff in Lit as it gives you the HTML, but also any images all stored in one file that can easily be exploded at a later date as needed. For me it's the perfect storage format. Last edited by AnemicOak; 02-19-2009 at 11:21 AM.

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02-19-2009, 11:20 AM	#3
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	I try to backup my books in a bunch of formats and save to a flash drive. I especially like to have a copy of everything that I can possibly get in Word, pdf, and rtf. I figure that in a worst case scenario, I can always read them on a PC, should I ever want to re-read them.

02-19-2009, 11:21 AM	#4
Ea Wizard Posts: 3,490 Karma: 5239563 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Denmark Device: Kindle 3\|iPad air\|iPhone 4S	I think it would be a great idea. I've actually downloaded a couple of mobi books from here, only to open the file in Mobipocket Creator to get the HTML file. This is the main reason I don't go here for books (except that there hasn't been many I've been interested in in the first place).

02-19-2009, 11:51 AM	#6
Steven Lyle Jordan Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,478 Karma: 5171130 Join Date: Jan 2006 Device: none	This is why ePub is a good e-book format: It is XML (based on HTML), and therefore easily converted to other formats... or easily displayed out-of-the-box. Many new readers can read ePub, and more are adopting ePub along with their proprietary format. And an html-based format will, as you suggest, have better longetivity than most proprietary formats. In terms of long-term document storage, the more documents we store in ePub, the better.

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