Reading converted PDF in Palm OS using Plucker

Plucker is a toolset for reading HTML documents on Palm OS devices. Plucker Distiller prepares your HTML and packs it into a Palm PDB file. Plucker Desktop is a graphical interface for managing Distiller. Plucker Viewer organizes Plucker documents on your Palm so that you can read them. Desktop and Distiller run on your host machine, while the Viewer runs on your Palm. Plucker is free software.

Visit http://www.plkr.org and download the Plucker Desktop installer for your platform. Launch the installer and it will unpack all three components. You must supply information about your target Palm device, but do not worry about getting locked into these preferences. You can configure document conversion settings individually later.

If the Plucker Desktop gives you regular errors that the locale cannot be set, select Options Preferences Interface and uncheck the "Translate interface into the local language" checkbox.

Plucker Desktop organizes local files and remote web pages into channels. To create a channel for your HTML file, drag-and-drop it into Plucker Desktop. After you name the new channel, its configuration window opens. Here are a few items of particular interest:

Limits
For converting a traditional document (as opposed to a web site), increase the Maximum Depth to ensure that all your links get followed. Set Stay on Host to keep Plucker from following any Internet references.

Images
Images can quickly bloat your document file size. Tune these settings to match your document's requirements.
Under Advanced Image Handling you can set the maximum dimensions for image thumbnails. Any image larger than this gets downsampled to fit. Thumbnails are displayed inline with your document and can be linked to a larger image.
The original, standard Palm OS display is 160 160, so thumbnails shouldn't be wider than 150 pixels on these models (to leave room for the scrollbar). The newer, high-resolution display is 320 320, which can accommodate a 300-pixel-wide thumbnail. Using the smaller, 150-pixel width ensures your images are fully visible on all Palm OS devices. The viewer trims thumbnails that are too wide to fit on the screen. When fidelity is essential, use the other settings in this window to link the thumbnail to a larger image that the user can pan.
High-resolution Palm OS devices should use the "hires" versions of the viewer and SysZLib library.

Output Options
ZLib compression works much better than DOC compression does. To read ZLib-compressed documents you must run Palm OS 3 or later (OS 3 premiered in 1998 on the Palm III) and have the SysZLib shared library installed on the device. SysZLib comes packaged with Plucker Desktop.

Destination
Specify the location where the output document will be put.

Create the Plucker document by selecting the channel and then selecting Update Update Selected Channels.

Preview your Plucker documents on your PC by installing the Palm OS 5 Simulator. Download it from http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/simulator/.

For best results, the input should use old-fashioned HTML 3.2 text-styling tags (e.g., ) instead of CSS styling.

Create an HTML Edition from StarOffice and OpenOffice

Like Word 2002, StarOffice enables you to Save As . . . HTML, but it then replaces the currently open source document with the new HTML document. Close this new document because you should edit only the source.Customize HTML output options from Tools >Options . . . >Load/Save, especially the HTML Compatibility section. I like to set the HTML Compatibility Export to HTML 3.2 when creating material for handheld reading.

Convert Word Documents to HTML with wvWare

wvWare can convert Microsoft Word documents to several formats, including HTML. It is a command-line tool developed on Linux that has been ported to Windows. It is free software and can be found at http://wvware.sourceforge.net.

Create an HTML Edition from Microsoft Word:Mac v.X

Word:Mac does not have a built-in Save As Filtered Web Page option, but it does include a Save Only Display Information option under File Save As Web Page that accomplishes a similar result. The Web Options button on that dialog also enables you to choose how some aspects of web page creation are handled.

How to Create an HTML Edition from Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003?

In Word 2002 and 2003 you can save your document as a web page or a filtered web page. A Word web page includes extra document information in case you want to edit it in Word later. A filtered web page omits this extra information, making it more suitable for distribution.

1. If you have been making changes, save your source document now (File Save). Otherwise, your changes will be lost.
2. Select File Save As . . . .
3. In the "Save as type" drop-down box, select Web Page, Filtered.
4. A dialog will open, warning you that this format doesn't contain Word's special tags. Confirm that this is acceptable by clicking Yes.
5. The side effect of this Save As . . . operation is that you are no longer editing the source document in Word. Instead, you are editing the filtered HTML document you just created. Close this document, because you should make edits only to the source.
   

Customize HTML output options by selecting Tools Options . . . General Web Options . . . . For example, you can enable old-fashioned HTML 3.2 text styling by disabling Rely on CSS for Font Formatting.

What is a multipurpose PDF?

You may want to try to give readers many editions in one package without tagging your PDF.

PDF makes a document portable by wrapping all its resources into a neat, single package. As people desire more features, more things get packed into the PDF. By attempting to make one file do all things for all people, that one file becomes large and unwieldy. Its portability begins to suffer.

In particular, Adobe has worked to add an information-oriented XML-ish layer on top of its presentation-oriented PDF features. The result is a single file that you can use for many purposes, such as paper printing, handheld reading, accurate text-to-speech, and accurate data extraction. However, creating these tagged PDFs is a slow and expensive process. The data layer is interwoven with the presentation layer, so accessing the data is difficult. Consequently, your readers have few options for utilizing this data. Finally, a tagged PDF file can grow to more than twice the size of its untagged counterpart.

In general, I advocate distributing a separate edition for each target medium. This is much easier on your readers and on your workflow. Eating sushi requires two chopsticks. Planar geometry requires five postulates. Some things shouldn't be reduced too far; don't feel compelled to make one edition do all things for all readers.

With that said, sometimes it makes sense to distribute multiple editions as a single PDF. For example, you might want to use PDF features such as encryption or digital signatures across all your editions. Instead of tagging your PDF, consider packing alternative editions into your PDF as attachments .

Candidates for attachments include the HTML edition, spreadsheet-ready document data, the handheld edition, or even the source document.

The concept of different attachments for different purposes makes more sense to readers than a single, shape-shifting (tagged) PDF. Also, they will immediately understand the benefits of each alternative edition. "HTML Edition" means reflowing text, easy data extraction, and easy text-to-speech. "Tagged PDF" means little to most people, so you might add: " . . . that acts like HTML sometimes. You own Acrobat, right?" You will have a struggle on your hands, assuming your reader has that much patience.

How to Create a Printable, On-Screen Edition from Word?

Most documents are configured to print letter-size pages with a vertical, portrait orientation. Yet computer screens have a horizontal, landscape orientation. Accommodate on-screen reading and paper printing by setting your document's layout to two-column, landscape-oriented pages. Sadly, Acrobat's PDFMaker can't create accurate bookmarks and hyperlinks in this kind of document.

Microsoft Word 2002
Select File Page Setup Margins. Set Apply To: to Whole Document. Set the Multiple Pages field to 2 Pages per Sheet. Set the Orientation to Landscape. Set the page margins to:

Top: 0.75 inch
Bottom: 0.75 inch

Outside: 0.50 inch
Inside: 0.50 inch

Click the Paper tab and set the Paper Size: to Letter. Click the Layout tab and set both Header and Footer to 0.40 inch. Click OK to accept these new Page Setup settings.

When you use the print preview, it will show you only one side of your "2-up" page. Print to PDF and review the results.

Microsoft Word 2000
Select File Page Setup Margins. Set Apply To: to Whole Document. Check the 2 Pages per Sheet checkbox. Set both Header and Footer to 0.40 inch. Set the page margins to:

Top: 0.75 inch
Bottom: 0.75 inch

Outside: 0.50 inch
Inside: 0.50 inch

Click the Paper Size tab. Set the Paper Size: to Letter and the Orientation to Landscape. Click OK to accept these new Page Setup settings.

When you use the print preview, it will show you only one side of your "2-up" page. Print to PDF and review the results.

Microsoft Word:Mac v.X (or any Mac application)
On the Macintosh, you don't need to make changes to the document in Word, because the operating system offers a range of pages per sheet on the Layout area of the Print dialog box. Format the document as you normally would, and when you go to print to PDF, select the Layout option. You can pick from 1 to 16 pages on a sheet, though 2 is probably best if you want people to read it on-screen. Again, you won't have all the features that PDFMaker provides.

How to convert to PDF in Wordperfect?

Newer versions of Corel WordPerfect have a File>Publish To>PDF feature that gives you options for adding PDF features. Or, you can use the PDF Tweaker macro for WordPerfect, which also adds links and bookmarks to your PDF. In addition to PDF Tweaker, you must also have Acrobat Distiller or Ghostscript. PDF Tweaker does not actually create the PDF; it just adds pdfmarks to the print job.

Visit http://www.wpuniverse.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=6136 to learn more about PDF Tweaker.

How to create interactive PDF with OpenOffice?

Newer versions of OpenOffice can create PDFs directly from your document with the File > Export as PDF feature. However, the resulting PDF lacks interactive features.To create a PDF with bookmarks, metadata, and hyperlinks, you must use the extendedPDF macro in combination with Ghostscript or Distiller.
Visit http://www.jdisoftware.co.uk/pages/epdf-home.php to learn more about extendedPDF.

How to create PDF with Microsoft Word and Gs4Word on Windows?

Gs4Word is a Word macro that interfaces with Ghostscript. It adds a menu to Word called PDF and a shortcut button to Word's Standard toolbar. It can add bookmarks, metadata, and display setting to your PDF. Its configuration dialog enables you to manage a set of Ghostscript profiles. Set your desired profile with the PDF>Configure...>PDF File>Output Medium drop-down box.

The Gs4Word home page (http://www.schmitz-huebsch.net/gs4word/) is in German, but you can configure the program's interface to use English.

How to create PDF with Word and Ghostword?

GhostWord is an interface software that integrates Ghostscript with Word. It adds a button in toolbar that launches the GhostWord. Use the GUI to convert the Word document to active full-featured PDF. You can also run the GUI outside Word. GhostWord even has a command line interface.

GhostWord can add bookmarks, links, metadata, and the parameters of your PDF. It also manages the parameters of your Ghostscript. Select a Ghostscript profile of Document>Optimize PDF for: drop-down list box, or adjust the settings individually Ghostscript in Converter Settings tab. Save these settings in a configuration file for later retrieval.

GhostWord is distributed free at http://www.et.dtu.dk/software/ghostword/

How to create interactive PDF with Microsoft Word?

During its installation setup, Adobe Acrobat gives you the option to install the PDFMaker Macros for Microsoft Word. PDFMaker will add a menu in Word called Adobe PDF. It also adds a toolbar with buttons that will activate elements of this menu. Select Adobe PDF>Convert to Adobe PDF or click on the button with PDF document icon to create your PDF. On Macintosh, you need only to install Acrobat toolbar while it's offering very little control over its operation.

Under Windows, configure PDFMaker by selecting Adobe PDF>Change Conversion Settings. . . in Microsoft Word. The Change Conversion Settings drop-down list allows you to select a profile of Distiller, just as you would if you want to print a PDF file. The other tabs allow you to add encryption, links, metadata, bookmarks, and other nice features of your PDF. One feature I was specifically disable Enable Accessibility and Reflow with Tagged PDF. This feature allows PDF to behave a bit like HTML, but it can double (or more!) the size of your PDF file.

How to pick topic for your PDF ebook?

Try to convince people to buy your book is a big challenge. It would be helpful use marketing strategy to sell your book. This broader strategy relating to the sale of yourself. If people start to believe that you are a reliable source of information, they will buy your book, they'll attend your seminar, purchase your advice, visit your site, read your blog, and refer friends.

Here are some ideas on how to complete your career in publishing.

Pick a Niche
Common topic are pretty crowded. A book on Macromedia Dreamweaver is competing with hundreds if not thousands other books on Dreamweaver currently available. Aiming to consider a specialized niche. For example, Amazon search shows that only a handful of books are dedicated to Dreamweaver scripts. A consumer who wants to read about scripting Dreamweaver certainly will show interest in these small selection of books. As a professional, you probably have a specialty. It makes sense to put your specialty using a specialized service, publishing niche.

Explore current topics
Read and write about a new technology or trend. Or write about a recent event. These publications may look more like the reports that the books, but buyers will appreciate your speed. Another service was created http://www.LJBook.com. It creates a PDF of your LiveJournal blogs.

Complete your Consulting
If you are currently a consultant, try to publish a book that discuss and solve the most common problems that often encountered in your field. Your status as a competent consultant would boost the sales of your books and also your status as an accomplished author on your field.

How to use Amazon to sell your book?

If you have complete your content and register to an ISBN and printed your book. Then, you need to sell your book and bring it to your readers. If you are in Northern America and obtain worldwide distribution rights, you may apply for the Amazon Advantage program.

After approval, Amazon insert your title to its catalog and store a few of your books in its warehouse. When customers buy your book, Amazon processes and send the orders. You'll have to give Amazon a 55% discount from the suggested retail price that you set. Amazon also require you a $29.95 annual membership fee.

So, if you suggested retail price of $30, each purchase through Amazon would give you 45%, or $13.5.

Other than books, you can also include CD music or VHS/DVD videos that you created, but not e-books. For more details on how to join the Amazon Advantage program, see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/partners/direct/advantage/home.html.

Hiring publisher for your PDF ebook

If self-publishing a book seems like too much trouble for you, you may consider using a service provider that will publish the book for a fee. You can view a list of suppliers at (https://www.lightningsource.com/ResourcesLinks.htm#AuthorServicesLinks) They offer various programs and some services.

One good example is the iUniverse (http://www.iuniverse.com). For $ 459, iUniverse will take your electronic PDF document and creates two editions: the printed paperback edition and the PDF e-book file. iUniverse assigns ISBN, design cover graphics, and lists of your books with Amazon and Barnes & Noble. iUniverse will pay you 20% royalties for every book sold minus book for shipping and handling.

It's quite difficult to know how much you would receive for each book sold. If iUniverse sell your book for $50 suggested retail price, Amazon will pay iUniverse 50% ($25). Let us assume that the costs of shipping and handling $ 2, leaving $ 23. From there, you get 20%, or $ 4.60. You can also visit http://www.booksandtales.com/pod/rword.htm, for detailed information on this issue.