Benjamin-Newton Creative Works: File Formats for My Text Books

Red Letter Editions of My E-Books

The Red Letter Edition is US Letter Paper Size, has quotes in red letters, includes graphics, and contains all formatting, including: page numbers, headers, footnotes, margin notes, and all other formatting of actual print version of book you can order. This file is meant to be read on the computer screen.

The Interactive Version has, in addition, hyperlinked tables of contents and the Interactive E-book/PDF version has, in addition: bookmarks, my web address and email hyperlinked, graphics are all vector based, and all the (free Postscript) fonts used are embedded in subset.

The Prepress Version is a special PDF with the entire fonts used in the document embedded and without any of the hyperlinks or bookmarks or anything else that doesn't print. This format is specially formatted for my publisher, Lulu.com, and is inferior for viewing on screen or printing out on a desktop printer.

The DjVu Version is similar, to a PDF, in that it is a multipage capable document format, that is hard to edit. The big difference is that DjVu files are generally much smaller than PDFs, especially when containing many graphics.

The Large Print Editions (Interactive, Interactive DjVu, and Prepress) are the same as the Red Letter Editions except the font size is 18 pt and the paper size is US Letter.

Plain Versions of My E-Books

these are in a standard size for a desktop printer with only black text

The Desktop Printer Version contains the PDF version of book that is formatted US Letter size with 1 inch margins, table of contents, header stating title, footer containing page number, graphics removed and only black and white text for easy printing out on a desktop printer. This special PDF is formatted with bookmarks, is tagged for accessibility, and is in a special sub format of PDF called PDF/A-1A which is designed for archival purposes so it should be future proof.

Also works with Apple iPad tablet, iPhone, and iPod Touch with free iBooks e-book reader software from iTunes, Adobe Digital Editions, and Sony Reader. It should also work on other less well-known e-book devices, including: Endless Ideas BeBook, Bookeen Cybook, and Hanlin.

The Word Processor version (Rich Text Format - RTF) is compatible with almost any word processor, made in the last 15 years or more, but it does not save any structure or much formatting. This includes Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org, Lotus Symphony, Word Perfect, Google Docs, and Apple's Pages.

The Open Source Friendly version is an Open Document text (ODT) file format version of the books. This version can be viewed in OpenOffice.org, Sun StarOffice, NeoOffice, Corel Word Perfect, Google Docs, Google Desktop, IBM Lotus Notes, IBM Lotus Symphony, Adobe Acrobat.com Buzzword, Apache Lenya, Plone, TYPO3, Abiword, Koffice, and more. The conversion has preserved most of the formatting of the PDF and structure of the original LaTeX source file. It was mostly designed with structure and styles, the graphics were removed and the text is just black and white. It is also designed to print out on a standard desktop printer at US Letter size with 1 inch margins, table of contents, header stating title, and footer containing page number.

The Microsoft Office version of my books is similar, to the Open Source Friendly, but is in the native format, for Microsoft Word 2007, and higher. This is the other standard word processor format, from Microsoft, called Office Open XML (DOCX). It is easy to tell, if you have this version. This is the first version, of Microsoft Office, that has no more menus. Instead of menus, it has a ribbon, which is like a toolbar, with many more rows of icons, which change, depending on what part/aspect, of the document you are editing. This format can also be opened, with formatting, in Apple's word processor Pages, on Mac OS X, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. This format can be opened in OpenOffice.org and Google Docs, as well.

Mobile Versions of My E-Books

Apple Mobile Version is in the standard epub format (EPUB) and can be viewed on the Apple iPad tablet, iPhone, and iPod Touch with free iBooks e-book reader software from iTunes, Barnes and Noble Nook e-book reader, Adobe Digital Editions, and Sony Reader. It should also work on other less well-known e-book devices, including: Endless Ideas BeBook, Bookeen Cybook, and Hanlin. Google phones can also view this format with FBReaderJ or Aldiko.

Amazon.com Kindle Version (MOBI) is in the Mobipocket format and can be viewed on the Amazon Kindle, the free Kindle Reader (for the iPhone/iPod Touch), and with the free Mobipocket Reader (for Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Java ME, BlackBerry, Psion, and iLiad handhelds and e-readers).

Libris can be used to view Apple Mobile Version and Amazon Kindle Version ebooks on the iPhone/iPod Touch, Google phone, and Nintendo DS.

My E-Books for Sight Impaired Persons

Daisy XML Version (XML) is a special structured "talking book" format, for people suffering from blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia, or other "print disabilities". The structured document works with a compressed audio file, so that you can navigate the audio file by chapter or by section, without having to listen through the entire thing. It is like the difference between a cassette tape and a DVD or an audio CD.

I have only included the structured part. You can produce the audio, from this format, very easily. The Daisy XML files can be read in large print on screen, on a Braille display, or with a screen-reader. It an also be further converted to a talking book, using a computerized voice, and printed in Braille, or in a large print format in a physical book.

I have verified the Daisy XML file and it should be valid. It can also be viewed in a web browser as well. I have also successfully converted it to the Daisy Talking Book audio format with Daisy Pipeline and then to a generic MP3 file format and an iTunes Audio Book format successfully with DTB2iTunes, but I have not put either of these audio versions online, because of the size of the files (they are too big for me to upload).

There is free software for viewing this file format, but as far as I can find, they are only available for Windows. There is also an open source program for Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc that is called EmacSpeak, although I couldn't get it to work on Ubuntu. I think it requires some sort of computer hardware device to work it.

My E-Books for E-Book Reading

In any of my book formats, other than the Red Letter Edition, the text can be resized and can be reflowed, to make it adjusted to your e-book reader device shape, orientation, size, readability, and personal taste. You can adjust this at any time you want. Most of these versions are designed with structural elements like headings which your e-reading device should allow you to navigate between. The versions with these qualities are the Plain Versions, Mobile Versions, and Sight Impaired Versions. The Large Print edition is easier to read for those who have eye problems, but they cannot be resized or reflowed, so they are ideal mostly for printing out or for those who cannot figure out how to adjust the letter size on their e-book reading device.

Advanced Web Page Version of My E-Books

The Advanced Web Page Version is for the latest non-Internet Explorer web browsers. It is a PDF that is entirely displayed by Javascript alone and does not use any plugin or secondary program like a PDF viewer to function. Clicking on the left side will reveal the outline/bookmarks of the PDF for easy navigation. It currently only works in the latest version of Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple's Safari and it now works on the iPad 1 with iOS 5.0, very slowly, without side navigation bar, but crashes when turned in portrait orientation, and it will not display PDF document on the latest version of Opera. It may eventually work with Internet Explorer 9 or higher.

The Javascript software has only been in development, for a few months, now, so it will be able, to do much more, soon, as well as have better web browser compatibility, with the latest version, of each major web browser. It is more than just a embedded web based viewer, for a given PDF file. You can actually open other PDF files, in this viewer, as well and use it, as an add-on, for Firefox. It is open source, so anyone can use it, for free.

Intermediate Web Page Version of My E-Books

The Intermediate Web Page Version is a Open Document Text file (OpenOffice.org/standardized/vendor neutral word processor file) rendered with Javascript, in a web page. It works in the latest versions of Safari, Firefox, and Google Chrome, as well as on and iPad 1 with iOS 5.0. The latest version of Opera does not display the full file. It does not work (doesn't load/blank page) on Internet Explorer 9.

It does not have much formatting, like links or interactive table of contents, but it looks much like the printed file would look, printed, from the .odt version generated, from the LaTeX version, which is later on converted, to the Daisy XML, HTML (the simple web page version without the interactivity), and finally the ePub (standardized) and mobi (Amazon.com only) e-book versions

Simple Web Page Version of My E-Books

The Simple Web Page Version is one HTML file, that has links, to each subdivision, of the document, at the top and links back, to the table of contents, at the top, of each section. It also has links, at the top of the document, to the other versions, of the same books, as well as other books, in the same series. Finally, there is a control, to adjust the font size, and a search engine, to search for sections containing your keywords, with a counter, of the number, of matched sections. There is also a Mobile Web Page Version you can get to from these book pages which is like this version but without the formatting and search.

Direct Link to PDF Version of My E-Books

The PDF Version can be viewed easily, in all newer Apple devices (OS X 10.4 or iOS 3.1 or higher), Google Chrome, and most major Linux distributions web browsers, with the software pre-loaded, by default, with the OS or browser. It should be viewable, in Safari, Mobile Safari, or Google Chrome, in the web browser window.

Obsolete Browser Version of My E-Books

The Obsolete Browser Version is for Windows XP SP1, or lower, with Internet Explorer 6, or lower. It is uncompressed, so it will take much longer, to load. Internet Explorer 7 or higher or Internet Explorer 6 with Windows XP SP 2 or higher will be able, to use the Simple Web Page Version. Almost any other browser, made in the last 10 years, will be able, to access the Simple Web Page Version, as well.

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File Formats for My Text Books