Since creating an ePub file is an important step in ePublishing, I explored how to convert two of my existing "eBooks about eBooks" to ePub format as a demonstration. Since both books existed and were already in HTML format, I didn't need an authoring tool such as Word, Pages or Adobe inDesign. Since I had no plans to actually publish the books to stores, I tried
Sigil and
Calibre rather than other ePub export, conversion tools or services. Your needs, skills and budget may be different.
- [EB] the OLLI E-book course: I entered content in forms using Drupal book module; Drupal server software (a Content Management System (CMS)) generated HTML for pages automatically. Pages were designed with a wide 'slide' presentation style. Although the layout is flexible (e.g., resize browser window), navigation menu and graphics may not fit well on narrow screens.
- [NC] Newt's Cape documentation: I created HTML pages manually (this was in 1990s); each file a chapter, with few, small embedded graphics. Newt's Cape is a web browser for the Newton PDA; Newt's Cape displays web pages (including its own documentation) via the built-in Newton book reader, and could save the book as an application directly on the Newton.
- [CO] Cocoa Fundamentals: free existing ePub. Opening E-books from iTunes
- The descriptions below start with a 4-part prefix label, e.g., [NC; ePub; iBooks; iPad] which summarizes: the source example (EB, NC, CO), the source format (HTML, ePub, ...), the application (Firefox, iBooks, ...), and the device (Mac, iPad).
Instructions: The slideshow below displays a picture automatically every ~5 seconds, or you can
- click on a picture to advance sooner to the next picture
- click on a number above slideshow to resume at that picture
- hover the cursor over a picture (or number) to pause
- click on "[img]" in any description (on left) for full-sized image (suggestion: use a new window or tab)
The slideshow below displays a picture automatically every ~5 seconds, or you can
- click on Previous/Next to advance sooner to the previous/next picture
- hover the cursor over a picture to pause
- if cursor over image suggests a link, click on the image to go to the link (usually an application site)
- (if pictures are too wide, use your browser's Zoom Out command)
[slideshow:2, rotate_speed=5, height=1124, width=960, title={EB; HTML; Firefox; Mac}, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/00_EB_Mac_FF_wide.png|||course as a web 'book'||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/01_EB_Mac_FF_med.png|||eBook course in narrower window||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/02_EB_Mac_FF_narrow.png|||...too narrow(?) layout, scrolling issues||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/05_EB_Mac_FF_nav_print.png|||bottom navigation: TOC; and prev/next sections in hierarchy; cmd: Printer-friendly version||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/06_EB_Mac_FF_print_friendly.png|||printer-friendly version displayed: sections merged, with no TOC (left or bottom), page header or footer||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/07_EB_Mac_FF_save_HTML.png|||Save As local HTML file||, title={EB; ePub; Bookle; Mac}, link=http://bookle.stairways.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/09_EB_Mac_Bookle.png|||Bookle||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/08_Bookle_Mac.png|||Bookle manual||, title={EB; HTML-to-ePub; Sigil; Mac}, link=http://code.google.com/p/sigil/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/10_EB_Mac_Sigil_1.png|||Sigil converted HTML file to ePub; left: files; middle: eBook; right: TOC (derived from headings)||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/11_EB_Mac_Sigil_layout_links.png|||good page layout, images, links||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/12_EB_Mac_Sigil_work_TOC_code.png|||HTML code view below eBook; possible fixes: TOC nesting, slideshows, page footer? (not now)||, title={HTML-to-ePub; Calibre; Mac}, link=http://calibre-ebook.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/15_EB_Mac_Calibre_added.png|||Calibre can import a single HTML file (I had problems w/ multiple files for NC)||, title={EB; ePub; Calibre; Mac}, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/20_EB_Mac_Calibre_reader.png|||Converted ePub in built-in eReader||, title={EB; ePub; Firefox; Mac}, link=http://www.epubread.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/21_EB_Mac_FF_ePub.png|||ePub in ePubReader addon||, title={EB; ePub; iBooks; iPad}, link=/files/ebooks/epub/OLLI_Course_ E-books-Steve-Weyer.epub, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/22_EB_iBook.png|||ePub on iPad; missing images due to import/export error||, title={EB; iBA:iBooks Author; iBA; Mac}, link=http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/24_EB_IBA_templates.png|||textbook templates||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/25_EB_IBA_cover.png|||cover page||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/26_EB_IBA_1chapter.png|||chapter||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/26_EB_IBA_2section.png|||section||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/26_EB_IBA_3subsection.png|||subsection||, title={NC; HTML; Firefox; Mac}, link=/html/newton/newtscape/docs/introtoc.htm, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/30_NC_Mac_FF.png|||Newt's Cape documentation||, title={NC; HTML; Newt's Cape; Newton MessagePad 2000}, link=https://www.msu.edu/~luckie/gallery/mp2000.htm, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/31_NC_NC_Newton_P1000248.jpg|||docs(About) in NC browser (c.1996)||, title={NC; HTML; Safari; iPad}, link=, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/32_NC_iPad_Safari.png|||docs in iPad's browser||, title={NC; ePub; Bookle; Mac}, link=, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/34_NC_Mac_Bookle.png|||ePub in Bookle||, title={NC; HTML-to-ePub; Sigil; Mac}, link=http://code.google.com/p/sigil/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/35_NC_Mac_Sigil.png|||Sigil converted NC HTML files to an ePub-format eBook||, title={NC; ePub; Firefox; Mac}, link=http://www.epubread.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/36_NC_Mac_FF_ePub.png|||ePubReader addon||, title={NC; ePub; iBooks; iPad}, link=, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/43_NC_iBook_page1.png|||ePub on iPad||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/44_NC_iBook_TOC.png|||TOC||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/45_NC_iBook_page3.png|||another eBook page||, title={CO; ePub; iTunes; Mac}, link=, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/60_Cocoa_iTunes_library.png|||iTunes Books folder||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/61_Cocoa_iTunes_show_finder.png|||ctrl-click, Show in Finder; note: no built-in iTunes reader!||, title=CO; ePub; Finder; Mac, link=, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/62_Cocoa_Finder.png|||Finder: within Music/iTunes, author folders for ePub files||, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/63_Cocoa_Finder_open_with.png|||ctrl-click, Open with... an ePub-compatible application||, title={CO; ePub; Adobe Digital Editions; Mac}, link=http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/67_Cocoa_Adobe.png|||Adobe Digital Editions||, title={CO; ePub; Calibre; Mac}, link=http://calibre-ebook.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/68_Cocoa_Calibre.png|||Calibre||, title={CO; ePub; Sigil; Mac}, link=http://code.google.com/p/sigil/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/69_Cocoa_Sigil.png|||Sigil||, title={CO; ePub; Firefox; Mac}, link=http://www.epubread.com/, img="|files/ebooks/epub_tools/70_Cocoa_Firefox_ePubReader.png|||ePubReader: Firefox addon||]
