Net Books

An e-book is an electronic version of a book. It is a rich multimedia experience based around textual material or a book. E-books are now available on multiple different formats. All of these formats have their own purposes, features and benefits. Some e-books are simply intended to be just like paper books, but instead of only containing one book, they contain a whole library of books. This makes it much easier for the person reading. This can be available on a computer or a PDA. Other e-books are intended to do much more than what a normal paper book can do. For example more complex e-books can show a film clip to accompany textual description, or play a music file.

Text E-books

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These are text document based e-books. These are the most simple type of e-books because all that is necessary to make a text e-book is to write the text into a text editor or to scan it into text from paper using a text converter. This type of e-book is used extensively for computer manuals. This is prior to Adobe's portable document format (PDF) gaining wide acceptance. A text e-book only has text in the descriptions. The main advantage of a text e-book is that it is very simple to create and use. They are also available on all platforms.

Word E-books

Word document books are created using simple word processing software and usually stored in single word processed document file. In this format hyperlinks can be used within the document. This makes it possible to have some multimedia content. However, these files tend to be relatively big, especially when images are used within the e-book. This format is useful in environments where everyone uses the same Microsoft Office software and where multiple authors are required to collaborate on a certain project.

Adobe PDF E-books

Adobe's portable document format (PDF) books are stored in a single PDF file. Nearly all computer and software manuals are now published in this format. These files are usually made in Word, HTML, or some other document printed package that is printed to PDF. A PDF file is designed to store the text and layout in a device independent manner so that the original full colour print layout for text and graphics is maintained regardless of the platform being used to view the file. These files are also much smaller than the files from a word e-book.

Reader E-book

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Microsoft reader is a free proprietary product designed to be as similar as a reading book as possible. It also gives the reader access to extra facilities, including full searching, the ability to bookmark pages, make notes and have the book read to you. To create a reader e-book you need to write the original content in a word processing software such as Word, and then use a converter or add in program to convert it into the required format. The format is a single encrypted file containing XML data structuring and the content itself.



Website E-book

The most important and flexible format of e-book is that created as a website in an HTML or XHTML format. In a website e-book all the pages are linked together in such a way to simulate a book experience. This is usually done with a table of contents or chapter list. This format allows the richest and most flexible multimedia experience.

Open E-book

The open e-book format takes a different web based approach by simplifying the structure using XML. It puts the content into a single .html file, a document definition in another file and the presentation styles into related CSS files. This format is most useful for books without multimedia content. This is a very flexible format as it get be viewed over the web or downloaded.

Value of E-books

E-books are very useful. The main reason for this is because they allow people to take a library of books around with them instead of just one or two. They can also do a lot more things than normal books. E-books can make it easier and more interesting to read than a normal book.

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