eBook authors eBook Software - create and publish your own ebooks
Create your own eBooks
 
   
EBookApprentice.com
Learn How To Create, Publish & Market E-Books
 
   
EBookCompiler.com
E-Book Creation Software
 
   
EBookPower.com
Add sophisticated multimedia to your E-Books
 
   
CoverFactory.com
Create E-Book covers in minutes
 
 
  EBookSubmit.com
E-Book Marketing & Promotion made easy
 
  EBookJungle.com
Search engine for E-Books
 
  EBookInterviews.com
Interviews with eBook authors
 
  EBookEnhance.com
Tools for building better eBooks
 
 
 
Archived Message:

HELP - suggestions for eBook layout


 
jaxz Proposed Design and layout for technically oriented eBook

Tools for implementation:
I’m using FrontPage 2003. To create the html for my eBook, I plan to use simple layout tables, and CSS for print-friendly pages. I plan to use dynamic web templates for the design of browser friendly pages.

Main structure:
TOC – links to all chapters, and links to important subchapters.

For each chapter:
Make it about 3-4 pages deep. Include links back to TOP of chapter at bottom of each page. At the TOP of each chapter, include bookmarks in a chapter sidebar for quick access to chapter content, and a link to main TOC. These bookmarks and links to be put in a layout table next to a main table for bulk text content.

Entire text document in optimized print friendly format. This means without bookmarks/chapter sidebars/ links to TOP of chapter.

To provide such print friendly pages – do I have to create different html-pages without the bookmarks etc, or can that easily be done using CSS somehow?
And will I need to create different print friendly pages for A4/Letter paper formats?
(BTW, is there any simple way to include page-numbers that will not differ between formats? Say, if Letter can contain more text per page than A4, I still want page 37 to be the same!)


Any suggestions for improved clarity etc gratefully appreciated!

Thanks,
Jaxz


Posted on: 10:04 am on October 14, 2005
Storyman The way CSS works for screen/print is that you first create your layout for the screen with all of the design elements that you need--like the navigation bar, etc.

In the print stylesheet (BTW use external CSS stylesheets) hide the navigation, chapter titles, etc. and change the previously hidden page numbers to show (show=print). It is the same HTML page. The only thing that changes is which external CSS stylesheet is used (screen/print).

As for A4/letter-size printing. A lot will depend if you use a fixed or fluid width design. This means will the column widths change or not when the browser is resized. BTW, just because you use a fluid design for screen doesn't mean that you have to do the same for print. To push matters further it is possible to have a specific CSS stylesheet for A4 and another for letter-size. To accomplish this you'll need to use javascript so the user can make the selection. Google "Css alternate sytlesheet".
Check out this link:
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/alternate/

Most layouts can be accomplished without tables, which means that the page file sizes are reduced. If you have more than just a few pages the reduced file sizes really starts to add up.

If I understand you correctly your main navigation (that appears on on every page) will link to the first page of every chapter as well as to the index page, which is the TOC.

Have you considered using fly-out panels? That is when a user hovers their mouse over a chapter link on the main navigation a panel flies out with all of the sub pages associated with that chapter. It makes for a compact navigation system that also allows the user to quickly navigate from one page to another throughout the book.

Using fly-outs will also eliminate the need to have additional navigation at the foot of every page that leads to the first page of the chapter. It is also worth mentioning that the fly-outs can be done entirely with CSS.

On Activ's site there is a script for bookmarking pages. It allows the user to close the book and when re-opened will automatically return to the last page visited. Or were you thinking in terms of book marking like Favorites in a browser? If that is the case you're going to have to create a script that writes a file with the links so the information will be available from session to session. That is something I haven't done.


Posted on: 2:05 pm on October 14, 2005

Search

List All Archived Forums



Copyright © 2000-2021, Answers 2000 Limited.

With any business, it is up to the individual owner of said business to ensure the success of the business. You may make more or less than any sample figures or results that might be quoted on our web sites or other publications. All business involves risk, and many businesses do not succeed. Further, Answers 2000 Limited does NOT represent that any particular individual or business is typical, or that any results or experiences achieved by any particular individual/business is necessarily typical.

Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Contact Us    About and Terms Of Use    Privacy    Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures