Tutorial - How to Create a MobiPocket eBook

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

Of course. But why increase the probability for it?

And if you are proofing a text it must be better to start with a version you have proofed three times already then start from scratch.

You miss my point.

What if you are unhappy with a previously created version of the book, because errors weren't corrected? (Distributed Proofreaders has immensely raised the quality of PG texts. Some of the earlier ones created before that effort began contributing have problems.)

You probably won't want to extract the text from the existing file and correct it. Simpler to start clean fron your own corrected source text.

When I installed a zip program in Windows it said something about not being free and I was unsure if I could use it to create files to distribute. But I might just have downloaded the wrong version or misread something.

No archive utility I am aware of imposes limits on what you may do with the archives it creates. There are a lot of archivers that can create zip files. Some, like 7zip, are free and open source. Some are free and closed source. Some are shareware and require a fee for full usage. But the zip format itself is not encumbered. For the most part, you can use any archiver that creates zip files to make one, and any other archiver to extract it.

I am really a Unix and open source (or GNU) person and only uses Windows under protest... So I usually send tar files to people asking for zip files (rar-program can unpack them).

Cultural difference, I think. RAR is much more widely used in Europe. In the US, Zip is the dominant format, and many computer users may never have heard of RAR. The only places I see RAR files are things like Usenet binary groups, because RAR offers a bit better compression, has special support for multimedia files, makes it simple to create multi-part archives for posting, and has better recovery options if parts of a multi-part RAR file are damaged in transit.

Google's GMail won't accept RAR files as attachments, apparently because they can't open them to check for possible malware. (They can examine Zip files.) This is annoying, because Eugene Rorshal issued public domain C code years ago to open and extract RAR archives, and reportedly offered to help Google integrate his code, but was turned down. If Gmail becomes popular in Europe, they'll need to rethink that decision.

But open source code to create/extract Zip files has been available for Unix/Linux/*BSD for a long time.

What do you use to create RAR files?

Of course there can be reasons. If you have lost your source files for example.

Or if you never had them in the first place, because you want to extract a Mobi file someone else built.

So there are no non-third part programs that unpacks a MobiPocket file.

Well, none that unpack a High Compression file. At least, I don't know of any.
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Dennis

[cmbs]

Dennis, here is a suggestion for you. Why not just upload a high compression and a standard compression version, put them in the same post so people can download whichever one they want.

You can also do like most people who post books in this forum do- make multiple file types and post in all the mobile read ebook forums.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by cmbs

Dennis, here is a suggestion for you. Why not just upload a high compression and a standard compression version, put them in the same post so people can download whichever one they want.

I may do just that, once I have stuff ready.

You can also do like most people who post books in this forum do- make multiple file types and post in all the mobile read ebook forums.

Mobi first, since I have devices that read that. I have no objection to creating other formats if the tools are available and I can use the same source files, but since I don't have those devices, it would be hard for me to test my work.
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Dennis

[HarryT]

The free Sony "Connect" software (or whatever it's called these days) contains a well-nigh perfect emulation of a Sony Reader and allows you to read Reader books on the PC. It's what I use to test all my Sony Reader format books before posting.

[tompe]

Just to clarify. With a file using high compression you get directly the following disadvantages:

• FBReader cannot read the file so you cannot read the book on Linux machines like Nokia N770, N800, N810 or on Asus EEC or on OLPC computers.
  
• Some people convert prc files to im files. That will not be possible.
  
• You cannot convert the prc file to a file readable on a Sony Reader

So if your goal is to have many people read the book you should not post the book in high compressin format. If that is not your goal than I assume the points above does not matter.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You miss my point.

What if you are unhappy with a previously created version of the book, because errors weren't corrected? (Distributed Proofreaders has immensely raised the quality of PG texts. Some of the earlier ones created before that effort began contributing have problems.)

You probably won't want to extract the text from the existing file and correct it. Simpler to start clean fron your own corrected source text.

I think I was unclear. I meant that people here claims that they have proof read the texts better than the source (that can be from distributed proofreader). So if there is a MobiPocket here where that holds and the creator is no longer available isn't it better to start with the best version when you want to enhance it? Or if you want to take the best version and merge the changes into the distributed proof reader versions?

Also if you loose your own source files for a book and want to enhance it you will be glad if you can unpack your book. The MobiPocket book is saved here so that you will not loose. But people usually do not backup files regularly so when the disk crash you can loose the source files.

No archive utility I am aware of imposes limits on what you may do with the archives it creates. There are a lot of archivers that can create zip files.

It seems like zip is better than. I will change to that.

What do you use to create RAR files?

I do not remember. Maybe PkRar or something like that.

Or if you never had them in the first place, because you want to extract a Mobi file someone else built.

Yes, that is also an obvious advantage. Did you imply that this was a bad thing to do?

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by tompe

I think I was unclear. I meant that people here claims that they have proof read the texts better than the source (that can be from distributed proofreader). So if there is a MobiPocket here where that holds and the creator is no longer available isn't it better to start with the best version when you want to enhance it? Or if you want to take the best version and merge the changes into the distributed proof reader versions?

<shrug>

I see that as an edge case, that won't happen all that frequently.

Also if you loose your own source files for a book and want to enhance it you will be glad if you can unpack your book. The MobiPocket book is saved here so that you will not loose. But people usually do not backup files regularly so when the disk crash you can loose the source files.

Again, an edge case. I wouldn't make a decision based solely on that possibility.

It seems like zip is better than. I will change to that.

It will make it easier for folks here, since everybody likely has a utility to extract zip files (the capability is a built-in called Zip Folders on Windows XP/Vista, though a dedicated archive utility is a better option.)

I do not remember. Maybe PkRar or something like that.

Thanks. I'll have to look it up. RAR/WinRAR are the only things I know of that create RAR files. It's nice if there is something else.

Yes, that is also an obvious advantage. Did you imply that this was a bad thing to do?

Whether it is bad depends on whether the person who created the files wants people to be able to extract it. They may have reasons for not wishing to permit that.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The free Sony "Connect" software (or whatever it's called these days) contains a well-nigh perfect emulation of a Sony Reader and allows you to read Reader books on the PC. It's what I use to test all my Sony Reader format books before posting.

Thanks, Harry. Grabbed it and tried it on a book posted here. Sony's site made finding it a bit of a chore, however.

I'll worry about mastering Book Designer and Mobi Creator first, however.
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Dennis

[carld]

Harry or anyone

I'm interested in working my way through this tutorial, but I find that when I open the sample book in Book Designer it shows the text well enough but not the images. Do I possibly have something set up incorrectly in BD?

EDIT: Answering my own question here. Looks like it doesn't matter that the pictures didn't show up in Book Designer. Everything worked fine. Thanks for the tutorial.

Carl

[JSWolf]

Harry, if I have a collection that I have created in Book Designer and the only ToC that was auto generated was that for the titles of the different books but it also has user generated links for each of the ToC for each book, what will happen to the ToC when converting your way?

[HarryT]

Hi Jon,

There's no equivalent of the "auto-generated external TOC" of the Sony; Mobi books have to have an "internal" TOC - ie one implemented using hyperlinks. As you know, for a single book you can use BD's "insert TOC" menu command for this, but for omnibus books you have to generate them by hand.

You then need to give the start of the TOC an HTML "bookmark" identifier (I use "toc") and specify that bookmark in the "Guide" section of the Mobi Creator settings in order to make the Mobi "Table of Contents" button take you to the right place. This is illustrated in my tutorial.

[cmbs]

Hey, if you're going to go to all that trouble to make a nice toc for a multi-book file, why not go ahead and cut out SEVERAL steps in navigation and make it much faster and easier by using my method? I swear the white house won't explode, the sun won't stop shining, and it won't make a cybook crash. I've posted an example that PROVES it works.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...397#post137397

[HarryT]

No reason not to have both, of course - Guide entries to the start of the individual books AND an internal TOC. That way you can take advantage of the navigation menu on devices which support it (Gen3) and it'll still work OK on devices which don't (iLiad).

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by HarryT

No reason not to have both, of course - Guide entries to the start of the individual books AND an internal TOC. That way you can take advantage of the navigation menu on devices which support it (Gen3) and it'll still work OK on devices which don't (iLiad).

I never said anything different. In fact, if you could bother yourself to check out the example file I made for you, you'd know that I have included a page linking to each book.

My navigation suggestion speeds navigation in the desktop reader too. It will speed navigation on any device that uses the mobipocket guide. Are you saying that the iliad doesn't display the mobipocket guide at all?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cmbs

I never said anything different. In fact, if you could bother yourself to check out the example file I made for you, you'd know that I have included a page linking to each book.

Please don't be impolite; I have checked it out and have told you before that I think it's a very good idea. I do intend to start using it myself once I've completed my current round of book updates. I have fairly long-term plans when it comes to book creation and don't just "drop everything" to incorporate new things, no matter how good they are.

saying that the iliad doesn't display the mobipocket guide at all?

The iLiad has a number of fixed navigation icons - table of contents, first page of the book, etc, rather than using a menu. These icons are activated by the standard Guide entries, "TOC", etc. It currently has no provision for displaying additional Guide entries.