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eBooks Solutions
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| It's being called a revolution
in Publishing. It's really just the evolution of publishing
into ePublishing and of books, brochures or documents
into eBooks. To confuse the issue somewhat there are
different standards and solutions being promoted. But either
way, ePublishing is spreading quickly - very quickly - as its
benefits become obvious.
The most widely available approach uses the Portable
Document Format or PDF. This has been around for a
number of years and is, almost exclusively, linked to Adobe and
their Acrobat software.
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| Adobe Acrobat provides two
separate elements. For the publisher - an efficient way of
replicating paper layouts electronically. For the user - free,
standardised reader software that provides indexed, searchable
text with built-in web links. |
| Adobe Acrobat publishing
software allows users to convert existing business documents
into the PDF format. Most existing document formats are
supported, including those used by Microsoft Office. The
conversion process can be performed from within Adobe Acrobat
itself, or from specially provided tools such as a "Convert
to Adobe PDF" button on the Microsoft Office toolbar. |
| The PDF format allows documents to
be viewed exactly as intended by users equipped with the free Adobe
Acrobat Reader. Because of PDF's ability to preserve the
original fonts, colors, graphics, and object ratios of a
document regardless of the user's operating system or individual
applications, many organisations provide their critical
documentation and forms as PDF files which the user can then
view and print. |
A Real eBook in Use
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| York & District Family History
Society have made their 1891 Census Index for Pocklington
available as a PDF eBook. On paper this is a 240 page
booklet arranged in surname and first name order - in a single
sequence. It is, therefore, relatively easy to produce on paper
and for researchers to search it for any known name.
However the eBook version is easier and
cheaper to duplicate than the paper booklet. And a further
advantage is that the eBook can be searched on anything -
first name, age, birth place. Since the PDF format was designed
from the outset for commercial products it has a wide range of
security features to restrict unauthorised use or copying.
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