Why PDF format Is The Commonly Asked eBook Format
I’ve came across with this article Why PDF Is Not An Ebook Format, the article was written 4 years ago. PDF (Portable Document Format) is the most commonly asked eBook format, in fact there are many websites that offers free PDF ebook downloads.
The article above said, “PDF is one of the reasons ebooks have been so slow to catch on with the majority of the reading public; readers that have tried reading PDF files on screen have concluded that ebooks are hard to read.” I disagree and agree.
I disagree that pdf is slow to catch readers, PDF is still the most requested eBook format primarily because mostly PDF readers and eBooks are free to download. A simple googling search, you’ll find a lot of PDF eBook download sites. If you happen to browse eBook forums, you’ll notice that many are still looking for PDF formats. PDF is electronic transmission format for paper documents, it is the perfect format for printing, if you’re still the conventional reader. I’ve encountered many such bookworms from my old mobile blog, they choosed to have it printed and read it the traditional way.
I agree that its really hard to read PDF on mobile but I still prefer PDF format as my source format for conversion. Converting and making it eye friendly on my mobile is my primary concern.
HTML eBook format on Mobile
There’s a lot of eBook files available on the web, its confusing to others understanding these formats and what mobile application to use. Sometimes, we came across with html formats. HTML or Hyper Text Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. In layman’s terms, it should be read on the web therefore its NOT an eBook format. There are lot of sites intended for online reading. There are ways to read it online, using GPRS is the most popular but it is costly. In the Philippines, it will cost you 0.15 cents/kb. Good for you if you have WIFI supported symbian phone.
If you downloaded a html file, it is possible to read them on symbian phones. I’m using Opera 8.65 in reading HTML file on my 6630 occasionally. You can open the html file through FExplorer. Here’s how to do it. After opening it to Opera, just add it to your opera bookmark for future reading. I don’t suggest to read HTML files on your phone frequently, Opera browser consumes a lot of memory in RAM (random access memory). The symbian system will close all applications including Opera, sometimes the phone will restart by itself. Here are the tips to avoid this:
- Limit yourself with 1-2 pages as possible
- Delete images included in the html file (do this using Fexplorer)
- Close all running application including FExplorer (after opening html file)
- Turn off images at the Opera settings
- Clear the cache of Opera before reading
- Restarting your phone before doing all these could help also
This is just an option if you’re in a hurry to read the file on your phone. For larger html files, do take some time for conversion. Take note that Opera is for browsing purposes only, its impossible to bookmark your eBook page or change the layout settings like what were doing to regular eBook readers.
How To Open Different eBook Formats
I assumed that you have a symbian phone and FExplorer installed. I always count on FExplorer when it comes to eBook manipulation. For the record, FExplorer v1.17 is a free third party file manager.
I always do this, checking the eBook file and to which application it suits best. It is as simple as assigning an application to a certain eBook format or file extension. The process is almost the same with the “right click” – “open with” on computer. What makes it different on FExplorer is that you are assigning a certain file extension the application it should open permanently not unless you change it or you’ve reformated your symbian phone.
How to do it? (take a look at the screenhots)
- open FExplorer
- go to the file, example “Inday.prc”
- click Option > File > Open with
- choose the application you want for that format
- click Option > Save
Check it if you followed it right, on the FExplorer, go to the file that you’ve previously assigned then click. If the assigned application opens with that file, you’re doing great. You can do this to other eBook formats or other file extension name, just make sure to close opened application when not needed otherwise you will encounter memory full (depends on symbian phone you’re using).
.RGO?!
I could say that the best format for mobile phones is definitely repligo, no contest to that. Repligo viewers for different devices are totally free to download with no expiration unlike other eBook readers. Repligo file has extension name of rgo, some got confused when they encountered this kind of file type.
The new generation of bookworms will definitely agree with me, rgo indeed is the “almost” perfect format for handheld devices. Almost perfect because with the repligo viewer, its impossible to change the font color (unless the unconverted original file has colored font), font style, background color and the application is compatible to limited handheld devices.
Repligo files are converted from Adobe Acrobat (pdf), Microsoft Word (doc), Rich Text Format (rtf), powerpoint, web page (html) etc. This is the reason why the application cannot change its font color, font style and background color… because it depends on the original format. Whatever the original format it was, when converted into repligo format the quality is still the same and optimized for small screen viewing. Isn’t that great?
If its an eBook, book cover image is sometimes at the first page if you download it somewhere.
How to use it? Install repligo viewer on your MMC or memory card, then restart your handheld device or mobile phone. Open FExplorer, create a folder on your MMC or drive E:\ and name it as “Documents”. Save your rgo files to this folder. The default folder of repligo is folder Documents, you can change it to settings if you want. I prefer to use this folder to organize different formats of eBooks on my mobile phone.
Mobile Settings:
- Flowed - For font size settings
- Zoom – For image viewing
- Go to page – For instant page turning. You can also see the current page and how many pages it have
- Rotation – For landscape or default viewing
- Find – Search a keyword just in case you lose your page. e.g. chapter 12
- Send- You can send your file via bluetooth
When you exit the application, don’t worry. You don’t have to scroll down to the last page where you left off like other ebook application. And when you open the application, it will automatically direct you to the last page you’ve stopped. I became loyal to this mobile ebook application especially when I discovered a forum wherein you can download as many files as you want provided that you’re a member of that forum. Its a sad thing though because the site was gone already…
You can download a free repligo viewer, please do check the compatible handheld devices.
Mobile eBook formats
Many mobile ebook addicts prefer to search on the web the ebook files, taking consideration the mobile ebook application they have installed on their celphones and the handheld device they’re using. To avoid inconvenience, here is a list of ebook extension name or file format.
- PDF – portable document format created by Adobe for their Acrobat products.
- HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language is the backbone of the World wide web, can be read by Opera, Netfront and other 3rd party mobile browser.
- LIT – can be read only by Microsoft Reader for PC and PPC.
- TXT - simple as plain TEXT format,can be read by Handybook.
- RTF – rich text format, can be read by MS Word.
- DOC – MS Word document format, can be read by Quickword on mobilephones.
- RGO – repligo format, for repligo viewers.
- PDB – palm database file, various applications to read such as eBook v1.03, Handybook, eReader, etc.
- PRC – palm resource file, can be read by mobipocket for PDAs and smartphones, eBook v1.03, etc.
- EXE – executable html ebooks for PC and PPC.
- JAR – executable java ebooks for supported symbian phones.
There’s a lot of ebooks to download on the web and wap, some are selling their ebooks. When I started reading ebooks on my symbian phone 3650, (the latest phone model that time, OMG) I even bought 10 novels for php10 each to a forumer from the forum I frequently visited. These books were the talk of bookworms including the first two books of Harry Potter.
