How to prepare an eBook

Producing an eBook involves three stages:

1. Writing the material. This is the hard bit - you're on your own here!
2. Preparing: Putting the material into a format suited to the eBook compiler that you are using and designing a navigation system for the reader to use. This is the preparation stage, that is covered on this page.
3. Producing: Running the eBook compiling software, that combines all your documents into one file - see the Compiling & Testing page for this topic.

The document format

By this I mean the type of file that your material should be in to work with your eBook compiler software. There are some differences between compilers, so I was in a chicken-and-egg situation when writing this page! See the section below on "Organising your documents into folders".

However, with the exception of the Adobe Acrobat format, most eBook compilers require the documents to be in HTML format - i.e. web page format. Adobe Acrobat can be tricky to use, and I will not be covering its use on this website (see the Software page for reasons).

When producing eBook pages (or, indeed, any web pages), you can either set the content in a table of a fixed width, or you can let it expand to the width of the reader's browser window.

My advice is to set it in a fixed-width table. This way you retain complete control over the layout. This is particularly important if you are producing an eBook for an accreditation Portfolio. This website is set in a table 644 pixels wide, which means that it can be viewed in the popular monitor display size of 800 x 600 pixels without any sideways scrolling - very important if you don't want to annoy your reader!

Web page production software

So.. you've got to be an HTML wizard? Not really. At the basic level, if you have produced your documents in a modern word processor (need I mention MS Word for Windows?) there is usually an option to save the document "as a web page" or in "HTML format". This usually produces somewhat bloated code (especially Word 2000), but it is acceptable.

However, it's much better if you can use a dedicated web authoring package. I use "Dreamweaver" from Macromedia, but there are cheaper and easier packages to use.

Worth looking at is WebExpress. It's only £50 (as and you can download from here and try it out for free. Another one worth considering is Namo Web Editor. You can also download it and try it for free. Price is about the same as WebExpress.

Both of these packages are "WYSIWYG" - i.e. you are working in what looks to be the final web page and you hardly ever need to touch HTML code. But if you do feel like getting stuck into HTML, an excellent and free HTML editor is Arachnophilia.

Note: I do not recommend using Microsoft's FrontPage for producing eBooks. It produces superflous code and extra folders. Try it if you like (I may be wrong) but you could have problems.

Organising your documents into folders

A small but important point - check how your eBook compiler works before converting your documents. Some compilers (such as Activ eBook, which I recommend) require all your documents, including any images used) to be in only one folder.

Others, such as eBook Paper (another of my recommendations) allow you to organise your work in more than one folder - such as having a separate folder for images. This is the norm when you are building a true website.

If you check this first, it will save you a lot of re-working later.

Navigating around your eBook

Most eBook compilers have navigation tools such as "Next Page", "Previous Page" and "Back to the Index Page". They also give you, whilst you are compiling the eBook, the opportunity to put your documents into the order in which they should be read - like turning the pages of a paper book.

But you may also want to add your own navigation system - a little like this web site. You can have hypertext links to other documents within the eBook, as well as links to external websites (accessible only when the reader is online). You may also want to put in a navigation bar - again, like this website. The choice is entirely up to you. Basically, your eBook can look just like a website, or it can be plain sequential pages.

If you are producing an eBook for an accreditation portfolio, there are some extra navigation tools you can use. I show what you can use on the Portfolio page.

Testing your eBook before compiling it

Some eBook compilers such as Activ eBook, allow you to save the parameters of your eBook. This means that you can produce the book, then test it, and if anything is wrong, you can correct the raw documents and then re-compile it.

However, from experience, and having used a number of compilers, I recommend that you test your eBook thoroughly before compiling it. It saves time and eases frustration!

Many web authoring packages allow you to preview your pages in a web browser, so it's easy to test your eBook. Make sure that your current browser meets the minimum requirements of your eBook compiler software (typically MS Internet Explorer v. 4.0 or higher). Also, make sure that you view the pages in the monitor size for which you have designed your eBook (say 800 x 600 pixels).

If you have built in your own navigation system into your eBook, you can simply open up your starting page (which you might have named "index.htm" or similar), and then navigate around your book in the browser, as a reader will.

If you are relying on the eBook compiler's own navigation system (e.g. the "Next Page", "Previous Page" buttons), you will need to open up each page in your browser. I find it helpful to use the Windows Explorer to find the files, and then double-click on each file to fire up your browser.

Remember, also, to check all of the hypertext links in your eBook pages. To check links to external websites, you will need to be online for this part of the process.

When everything seems OK, you can then proceed with compiling your eBook. And you haven't finished testing yet!