Warning. If you are making your e-book from html, doc, rtf, prc, pdb or rb input file, always check "keep original format" or "re-format completely" in "Settings" before the input file loading.
Hot Key for "Make Palm or Pocket PC book" is Ctrl+F3
COMMENTS
With this option you can create three types of e-books from the currently loaded file.
1. MobiPocket Reader e-book (for both Palm and Pocket PC).
2. Palm Reader e-book (for both Palm and Pocket PC).
3. Simple prc-file (for Palm only, reading programs - Tiny Reader, CSpotRun, AporticDoc Reader, iSilo, etc).
Comment. Although BookDesigner can create MobiPocket Reader and Palm Reader e-books for Pocket PC, I would rather recommend to use the HaaliReader program on this platform. In order to create e-books in HaaliReader format, BookDesigner has the option "Make Fiction Book file" .
MobiPocket Reader
MobiPocket Reader can be downloaded for free from http://www.mobipocket.com/en/HomePage/default.asp. The versions for PC, Palm and Pocket PC are available. To my mind, for now MobiPocket Reader is the best book reader for the Palm platform because it has all the features necessary for comfortable reading: colors, variable fonts, full text justification, bookshelf, bookmarks, etc. Additionally, MobiPocket Reader provides a full-screen reading mode for such an excellent device as Sony Clie NR70 (for russification of this Sony Handheld it is recommended to use CyrHack II http://www.enlight.ru/pilot/cyrhack/index.htm with the font module TimesHiRes http://www.enlight.ru/pilot/cyrhack/mods.html ).
All the bookmarks and links from the current BookDesigner file will be inserted into the MobiPocket Reader file.
All the pictures from the current BookDesigner file will be inserted into the MobiPocket Reader file. Additionally, you can choose a cover picture for the book.
Palm Reader
There are two versions of Palm Reader: Palm Reader (free) and Palm Reader Pro (about $10) which can be downloaded from http://www.peanutpress.com. Palm Reader (free) knows a restricted number of text formatting tags (no colors, no text justification), while Palm Reader Pro (as they say) supports practically everything. Book Designer fully supports the e-book creation for Palm Reader (free) only because I could not find a description of the pml-language (Palm Markup Language) for Palm Reader Pro. Be honest, I did search profoundly for this description: what for, if there is an excellent and free MobiPocket Reader? Also I do not recommend to use Palm Reader on the Pocket PC platform because it is awfully slow.
All the bookmarks and links from the current BookDesigner file will be inserted into the Palm Reader file.
All the pictures from the current BookDesigner file will be inserted into the Palm Reader file. Additionally, you can choose a cover picture for the book.
Comment. If you choose the "hyphenate" option for Palm Reader (free), Palm platform, BookDesigner will also provide the full paragraphs justification.
Simple prc-file
Simple prc-file can be read with non-advanced reading programs suitable for Palm Handheld (Tiny Reader, CSpotRun, AporticDoc Reader, iSilo, etc). Only simplest formatting options are supported: paragraph and chapter indents.
Comment. If you choose the "hyphenate" option, BookDesigner will also provide the full paragraphs justification and the centring of the titles. It is possible that for some reading programs you will need to play with "margins" and "file for CSpotRun" options. I have tested "Simple prc-file" with the "hyphenate" option on Sony Clie NR70, SJ30 and Palm IIIc with Tiny Reader, CSpotRun, AporticDoc and iSilo 4 programs only. The optimum settings are as follows.
Sony Clie
Tiny Reader: margins=0, "file for CSpotRun" - unchecked.
CSpotRun, AporticDoc: margins=2, "file for CSpotRun" - checked.
iSilo: margins=(1-without scroll, 20-with scroll), "file for CSpotRun" - unchecked.
Palm IIIc
Tiny Reader: margins=1, "file for CSpotRun" - unchecked.
CSpotRun, AporticDoc: margins=3, "file for CSpotRun" - checked.
"Make Palm or Pocket PC book" window
file type: allows you to choose what one among three file types will be created
device: allows you to specify the device type for which the file will be created. Note. Sony Clie means not only Sony Clie devices but also other devices with the high resulution screen.
book name: allows you to specify a book name for bookshelf.
paragraph indent: allows you to choose a paragraph indent (in spaces).
latin filename: if checked, Russian letters in the output filename will be replaced by their Latin equivalents.
remove empty lines: if checked, empty lines will be removed from the book.
use long dashes: if checked, long dashes will be used instead of the short ones.
keep picture sizes: if checked, the pictures will not be resized to fit to the device screen.
hyphenate: if checked, the hyphenations will be inserted into the book.
file for CSpotRun: appears when the "hyphenate" option is chosen for "Simple prc-file". If checked, empty lines between the paragraphs will be removed.
screen width: appears when the "hyphenate" option is chosen for "Sony Clie" device. Allows to adjust the hyphenations for special font types (see Comment 1 for "how to get the fonts from font modules" section).
margins: appears when the "hyphenate" option is chosen. This value depends on the reading program and it is adjusted by user.
make book button: starts book creation.
clean palm dir: deletes all the books in Palm subdirectory of Book Designer.
browse: allows you to browse a picture which will be used as a book cover.
remove: removes the cover picture.
save file as: shows where the e-book will be saved.
When a book is created, two additional buttons are appeared
load file: loads a newly-created file to your handheld.
go to file: shows a newly-created file in Windows Explorer.
"hyphenate" option
If you are using this option for Palm handheld, BookDesigner has to know what fonts are installed in your Palm. This operation takes several minutes and you have to perform it only ones. The operation can be performed in two ways: either by extracting the fonts from your handheld or by the direct font module loading into BookDesigner.
how to get the fonts from handheld
1. Find the file GetFonts.prc in the Tools subdirectory of BookDesigner.
2. Install GetFonts.prc on your Palm handheld.
3. Run GetFonts and press "Save fonts".
4. Run Palm Desktop program on your PC and then press the following buttons: HotSync->Custom->System->Change...->Handheld overwrites Desktop->OK->Done
5. Make HotSync
6. Find in \Palm\yourname\backup directory on your PC the file fonts.pdb
7. Press "font manager" button.
8. Drag&Drop the file fonts.pdb to "new fonts found" window (or open it using "load new font" button) and the corresponding fonts (usually four) will appear in the "new fonts found" window.
9. Clicking on the font names in the window "new fonts found", choose the font suitable for you (you will see the book paragraphs preview in the "Palm hyphenation preview" window).
10. Press "add" button and the chosen font will appear in the "installed fonts" window. If you want to install more than one font, just repeat the operations 9, 10.
11. Close "Palm font manager" window and press "make book" button.
12. Load the newly created book to your handheld, run your reading program, load the book to it and choose the proper font.
how to get the fonts from font modules
If you have the font module file (*.prc, *.pdb, or *.pft) from which the fonts have been installed on your handheld, you can install this module on BookDesigner as follows.
1. Press "font manager" button.
2. Drag&Drop the font module file to "new fonts found" window (or open it using "load new font" button).
3. Clicking on the font names in the window "new fonts found", choose the font suitable for you (you will see the book paragraphs preview in the "Palm hyphenation preview" window).
4. Press "add" button and the chosen font will appear in the "installed fonts" window. If you want to install more than one font, just repeat the operations 3, 4.
5. Close "Palm font manager" window and press "make book" button.
6. Load the newly created book to your handheld, run your reading program, load the book to it and choose the proper font.
Comment 1. Sony Clie high-resolution devices use the special font mapping technology which increases twice the font size for some fonts. If your font is of this type, probably you will need to play with "screen width" value to provide proper hyphenations for the chosen font.
Comment 2. If you are using MobiPocket Reader program, uncheck "Display margins" and "Enable Mobi Type" in its "Settings".