eBook Tools software available for download

[Icarusbop]

Hello:

Over the past few months I have created a (windows only) application for helping me to format documents for ebooks, I think some people may also find it useful so I've decided to make it available to everyone.
There is currently no Icon or Helpfile for this project, if you would like to donate either, please see the About dialog in the program for contact details.

This program utilises MS-Word very heavily to perform most of the tasks available. So if you do not have MS-Word installd do not install the application as it will not work.
It has been tested with Winjdows XP (SP2) and MS-Word 2000 and also with MS-Word 2002 and was found to work ok. I have not tested it with Vista. So reports on how it does will be much appreciated.

The features available in the current version are as follows
------------------------------------------------------------
Open, modify and save OPF files
eBook meatadata, x-metadata and guide items.
Supports Metadata lookup from the internet (ISBNdb.com)
Create new OPF files
Drag and drop operation for filelist
file ordering for ebook spine, exclude items from ebook spine


The Tools available are as follows
----------------------------------
Convert docs to HTML - batch convert all MS-word docs in the file list to HTML documents.

Split Document - use on either Word documents or HTML documents, helps split a large file into seperate chapter files. (Note: when using the document splitter the main windows is hidden and the splitter is controlled from an icon is the system tray.)

Batch format documents - removes forced CR's and changes the font and size of all documents in the file list to a pre-selected format.

Create Toc file - helps create a TOC file to all the files in the filelist, has several options for the naming of the hyperlinks in the resulting Toc file

Change Dialect - Changes the dialect of all files in the filelist - eg, American to English spelling, or vice-versa. (for those of us in th UK, who can only get ebooks in American spellings!)

Dictionary file
---------------
The dialect change tool uses an MS-Access database file containing a list of words and their english spelled couterpart. The copy of the DB file that comes with the initial install contains only a few words. I plan to post updated database files as the list grows longer.
If you would like to contribute to the word list database please see the 'About' dialog on the application for contact details.

For those interested it can be downloaded from Here

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Icarusbop

Change Dialect - Changes the dialect of all files in the filelist - eg, American to English spelling, or vice-versa. (for those of us in th UK, who can only get ebooks in American spellings!)

I must say that that really bugs me. I think books should always be published using the language that the author intended, rather than "localized" for different markets.

Reading the American versions of the "Harry Potter" books, to use an example, makes me cringe. They are such quintessentially "British" books, and so very much set in Britain, that I can't bear to see "parking lot" instead of "car park", "mail slot" instead of "letter box", etc. Sorry, but we have car parks in Britain, not parking lots . I actually think that it's rather insulting to the American readership to assume that the won't be able to cope with British expressions.

Similarly, when I read an American book, I want it to stay "American", not have its spellings changed to British English.

Sorry - a bit of a "rant", I know. It just hit one of my buttons, reading that .

[igorsk]

I've heard later HP books are less americanized.

[Icarusbop]

HarryT:

Sorry: was it my dialog tools that annoys you or the fact that the publishers keep changing the original writings??

Anyhow, - you have given me an idea - I could maybe make the dialog changer kind of two tier, where you can select to only chang spelling differeences like ' lazer to laser', and change american terms like ' parking lot' on a seperate option. That way people could have the option of only fixing spelling diffferences but leave the main feeling of the dialog intact, ie still american for something that is obviously based in america.... I'll have to think about it.

[Icarusbop]

Originally Posted by igorsk

I've heard later HP books are less americanized.

I also heard HP was not available in ebook formet!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Icarusbop

HarryT:

Sorry: was it my dialog tools that annoys you or the fact that the publishers keep changing the original writings??

The latter!

Anyhow, - you have given me an idea - I could maybe make the dialog changer kind of two tier, where you can select to only chang spelling differeences like ' lazer to laser', and change american terms like ' parking lot' on a seperate option. That way people could have the option of only fixing spelling diffferences but leave the main feeling of the dialog intact, ie still american for something that is obviously based in america.... I'll have to think about it.

That sounds like a good idea. "laser", however, is an acronym (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) and should never be spelled in any other way .

[JayCeeEll]

Are you planning on making the source code availabe on sourceforge?

[Icarusbop]

Originally Posted by JayCeeEll

Are you planning on making the source code availabe on sourceforge?

If you want the source code let me know and I'll make it available, but be warned, I am not a programmer and the code is very messy!

If you want to improve on my work be my guest - just make sure I'm allowed a copy of the results!

[Icarusbop]

All:
A kindly uer let me know the first version did not work with an 'object not found error' this was due to a small but silly mistake on my part - and is now fixed.
Sorry for the problem and it should now work ok.
Please let me know if there are any more problems.

Fixed: 'object not found' error on running tools
Added new version of wordlist DB
Added new functionality to Dialog Changer tool
Fixed several small bugs

Thanks...

For those interested it can be downloaded from Here

[vasbinde]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must say that that really bugs me. I think books should always be published using the language that the author intended, rather than "localized" for different markets.

Reading the American versions of the "Harry Potter" books, to use an example, makes me cringe. They are such quintessentially "British" books, and so very much set in Britain, that I can't bear to see "parking lot" instead of "car park", "mail slot" instead of "letter box", etc. Sorry, but we have car parks in Britain, not parking lots . I actually think that it's rather insulting to the American readership to assume that the won't be able to cope with British expressions.

Similarly, when I read an American book, I want it to stay "American", not have its spellings changed to British English.

Sorry - a bit of a "rant", I know. It just hit one of my buttons, reading that .

I live in the States, born and raised. When I first heard of the HP books, I thought that it would be interesting to read, but then I found out online that the publishers changed the NAME of the first book: from Philosopher's Stone to Sorceror's Stone. Evidently, they believed that not enough Americans have heard of alchemy to know what a philosopher's stone is or to understand what was meant. That frustrated me, since as much as possible, I've always believed in reading books in the original language as penned by the author so that I can capture the full meaning of the story. Of course, the Russian classics are another story, since, as of yet, I have not had time to learn Russian. :-)

Fortunately for me and the Harry Potter series, I was able to obtain all of the series from Canada, where they are shipped the original British English versions. Amazon's Canadian web site received many orders from me over the past few years. I highly recommend them to obtain original British English versions of Harry Potter and other UK imports.

Best Wishes,
Eric

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I must say that that really bugs me. I think books should always be published using the language that the author intended, rather than "localized" for different markets.

Reading the American versions of the "Harry Potter" books, to use an example, makes me cringe. They are such quintessentially "British" books, and so very much set in Britain, that I can't bear to see "parking lot" instead of "car park", "mail slot" instead of "letter box", etc. Sorry, but we have car parks in Britain, not parking lots . I actually think that it's rather insulting to the American readership to assume that the won't be able to cope with British expressions.

Similarly, when I read an American book, I want it to stay "American", not have its spellings changed to British English.

Sorry - a bit of a "rant", I know. It just hit one of my buttons, reading that .

you expect an 10 year old to know what a car park is? I assume it would be a Park where cars play, and the Letter box is something my mom keeps under her bed.


anyway what i really want to ask is
What is the Difference from OPF and Epub?
the Wiki for OPF mentions Epub in it so im confused slightly

[Dillinquent]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

you expect an 10 year old to know what a car park is? I assume it would be a Park where cars play, and the Letter box is something my mom keeps under her bed.

Hey, that's all part of the learning process, learning about different cultures.
When I was that age Scooby Doo taught me that ghosts are called specters in the US. A valuable life lesson!