Book People Archive

re: etext reading programs (was Re: Project Gutenberg CD and DVD)

jrusk said:
>   Often I photocopy a book and use the photocopies in the scanner. 
>   This works particularly well for books with yellowed pages.

you get better recognition with the photocopies?
i have often wondered if that would be the case...
perhaps the people at distributed proofreaders
should try this, if they aren't doing it already...

***

william said:
>   Sounds very interesting.

my guidelines for an e-book viewer are outlined below.
please feel free to make suggestions on this spec-list.


>   Currently I use ``yBook'' from 
>   http://members.iinet.net.au/~simonh/spacejock/yBook.html

i've heard good things about ybook, but i can't seem to 
get it to run under my windows '95 virtualpc to look at it.


>   but it's Windows only, so an alternative for my wife's PowerBook 
>   would  be welcome (or a reader which will support rotation 
>   on my Fujitsu Pen slate). So there's one feature suggestion.

what kind of rotation do you want to do?

forgive me ignorance about this machine
-- i only _wish_ i could afford a tablet p.c. --
but can't your slate run in either rotation,
landscape or portrait, whichever you want?

if not, what is its normal orientation?
and what orientation would you prefer?
(rotated clockwise or counterclockwise?)

-bowerbird

these are features i think an e-book viewer-program should have:


windowing and page-display

let the user resize the window at will, rewrapping text accordingly.
let the user specify a 1-page or a 2-page "spread" layout.
let the user specify a 1-page layout with a "workspace" next to it.
let the user specify the background color of the window.


text specification and layout

let the user change the size of the text.
let the user choose the font.
let the user specify the text color.
let the user adjust the leading (the spacing between the lines).

let the user toggle the horizontal justification of lines.
let the user toggle vertical justification (page balancing).
let the user toggle widow/orphan control.


multiple-method interface

let the user execute all major commands via the menus.
let the user have command-key shortcuts for all major commands.
let the user execute all major commands via button-clicking.


navigation

let the user go to the next page (n+1) with "cursor-right" key.
let the user go to the next page (n+1) with "page-down" key.
let the user go to the next page (n+1) with "return" key.
let the user go to the next page (n+1) with "enter" key.

let the user go to the previous page (n-1) with "cursor-left" key.
let the user go to the previous page (n-1) with "page-up" key.

let the user jump to the first page with the "home" key.
let the user jump to the last page with the "end" key.

let the user go to the next section with the "cursor-down" key.
let the user go to the previous section with the "cursor-up" key.

let the user go to the next _major_ section with the "+" key.
let the user go to the previous _major_ section with the "-" key.

let the user go to the previously-displayed page with the "~" key.

let the user jump, upon opening the book, to the page last shown.

let the user do all the navigation listed above via button-clicks.

let the user jump easily to any page displayed in the session.

let the user do all the navigation listed above via menu-items.

let the user jump to any page directly, by entering the page number.

let the user know clearly their relative position in the book.
let the user know what page they are on, out of how many pages.
let the user see the "running head" information in the title-bar.


search functionality

let the user search the text for a string (i.e., word or phrase).
let the user conduct multiple string searches simultaneously.
let the user specify the case-sensitivity for each string.
let the user specify the "whole-word" option for each string.
let the user specify a forward, backward, or "radiate" search.
let the user view the lines which contain any found string.
let the user click buttons to jump directly to any found string.
let the user click a button to step forward through occurrences.
let the user click a button to step backward through occurrences.
let the user copy the results of string searches to the clipboard.
let the user write out the results of string searches to a file.


table of contents features and hotlinking

let the user choose any section from a "contents" menu.
let the user summon up a "contents" window with hot-links.
let the user hot-link to any section mentioned in the text.
let the user copy the table of contents to the clipboard.
let the user write out the table of contents to a file.


table of illustrations features and hotlinking

let the user have a hotlinked list of illustrations.
let the user have a hotlinked list of figures.
let the user have a hotlinked list of graphs.
let the user have a hotlinked list of tables.


repurposing of e-book raw content

let the user copy any text in the e-book to the clipboard.
let the user write out any text in the e-book to a file.
let the user copy any picture in the e-book to the clipboard.
let the user write out any picture in the e-book to a file.
let the user copy any sound in the e-book to the clipboard.
let the user write out any sound in the e-book to a file.
let the user copy any movie in the e-book to the clipboard.
let the user write out any movie in the e-book to a file.


annotations

let the user make text annotations at any point in the book.
let the user make various types of "marks" anywhere in the book.
let the user attach pictures at any point in the book
let the user attach quicktime movies at any point in the book


special bonus features

let the user have the text read out loud to them.
let the user choose an all-lower-case display.       :+)


system requirements

let the user run the program using any major operating system.
let the user run it on legacy hardware and older operating systems.
let the user run it on systems with a minimal amount of memory.
let the user install it with a complete minimum of time and trouble.
let the user easily summon help information about the program.


authoring capability

let the user quickly and easily _create_ e-books of their own.
let the user combine all elements of the e-book into a single file.
let the user create a standalone executeable version of the e-book.