Electronic Books, sometimes called eBooks, have become
an important part of the Internet.
EBooks have popped up everywhere on the Net. You can
hardly go to a site and not see one. Some eBooks are free, others carry a
price tags. There are even eBooks on this site to download. What are
eBooks and what are they useful for? Can your computer view eBooks?
What can be done with an eBook?
Electronic books are downloadable information packets, the
digital version of printed books. They can be read once they have been
downloaded onto your computer. There are many uses for eBooks. They can be
used as informational books and manuals or as catalogs and ordering
systems. You can use them to self publish you own fiction and non-fiction
work. EBooks can contain anthologies of prose and poetry. Not too long
ago, I had this inner urge to write something, anything, and share
it with the world. But how could a young (at the time!) man from Arkansas
ever get something out of his head, onto some form of media, and publish
it to the world!?
The answer came in the form of the electronic book, eBook
if you will. My "Email Primer - Illustrated" was one of my first
attempts at self-publishing and the response was fantastic. Copies of my
primer have been downloaded all over the world! I've received messages
about my book from far off places like Australia, Africa, England,
Canada...even Illinois!
Formats for eBooks
Some eBooks are "stand-alone" programs, in other
words, they open by clicking on them and don't need any other
"helper" or "viewer" programs to be able to use them.
Other eBooks require viewers or "readers" in order for you to
use and read them. One prevalent example is the PDF file format. This
stands for Portable Document Format and requires the Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view it. PDF files are very common, many
software manuals come in PDF, and the format is very versatile. PDF files
can be opened on any computer that has the Acrobat Reader, regardless of
operating system (OS) or internet browser. To make PDF files, you need
either a program that will convert word processing files into PDF, or have
the Adobe Acrobat program, which I use.
There are also executable eBooks, easily distinguishable
by the '.exe' extension in the file name. Many of these executable books
are stand-alone, which means they don't need a "helper" program
to open them. But there are also some that require a particular browser to
be installed on your machine, usually Internet Explorer. IE doesn't
have to be the default browser, you don't even have to be using it, the
browser just needs to be installed. These eBooks use many of the files in
IE to allow you to view the book. Most of these books are actually HTML
documents compiled into an executable format. I use E-ditor 2 for this
type of book. Basically, I make a website on my computer, and then compile
it into one file, an executable document.
Some executable eBooks don't need a particular browser. I
use a program called "NeoBook"
for many of my eBook creations. You don't need any particular browser, but
viewing them requires an IBM based PC, operating in the Windows
environment.
Linking to the World Wide Web
Most eBooks these days require an Internet connection on
your computer to get the full benefit of the book. Why? Well, most eBooks
will contain Internet hyperlinks, which allow you to jump to a location on
the Internet for more information. For instance, my eBook "Email
Primer-Illustrated" contains links to my website and other locations.
Clicking on them within the book will bring you to my site, if you are
connected to the Internet.
Building an eLibrary!
I have a pretty good library of printed books...and my
collection of electronic books is growing steadily to keep up with it. I
have an assortment of different types and content, to be sure. Books on
business, books on Internet use, even eBooks on creating eBooks! If you
have limited space for a hard copy library, I'd highly recommend that you
start a collection of eBooks. They don't take up much room, and if you
don't like a book you can just hit the delete key!
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