Activ Ebook Compiler
Posted by NovaAngel at December 29th, 2006
Activ E-book Compiler is a really excellent HTML compiler and it’s the one I’ve used to compile this e-book.
Just put your book’s contents into HTML files (we’ll be looking at this shortly), and Activ E-book will create a ready-to-go e-book from them in a matter of minutes.
Therein lies the beauty of this compiler. You’ll be able to put your e-book together so quickly and so easily it will take your breath away.
The straightforward layout of the interface makes Activ E-book Compiler particularly easy to use.
Now, often the notion of ease-of-use can be translated as ‘not many features’.
Fortunately, this is not the case with Activ E-book.
On the contrary, Activ E-book’s range of features is nothing short of impressive.
Some of the features of Activ E-book compiler
Unlimited e-books: You create as many e-books as you want. Some compiler manufacturers will limit the number of e-books you can make and/or distribute using their software.
Royalty free: There are absolutely no royalties or on-going fees to use this compiler. Some other manufacturers charge royalties on sales you make of e-books made with their software!
Comes with complete documentation: You’ll have no difficulty understanding the straightforward documentation explaining every menu option, every command and every option in the program. The documentation even covers the steps you should take before using the program - like how to design HTML files that compile into a high quality e-book. They even show you how to make HTML files using Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint.
Compatibility: E-books created using Activ E-book use the exact same “engine” as Internet Explorer. This means total compatibility with the world’s most popular web browser including support for HTML, DHTML, GIF images & animations, JPEG and PNG graphics, JavaScript, VBScript, Java applets, and all Internet Explorer plug-ins including Flash.
Internet linking: Include links to relevant web sites in your e-book. When a user clicks on a link to a web site, the program even opens Internet Explorer giving them a chance to connect if they’re not already connected. And yes, you can even link to your own web site to draw massive traffic!
Password protection: You can password protect your entire e-book, or just protect selected pages and allow your users to see a preview of part of the book before they get their password.
Create shareware e-books: Set your e-books to expire after a set number of days or a set number of uses, unless the password is entered. Giving your visitors a free trial of your e-book is a powerful tool that can skyrocket your sales.
Maximum security: Prevent users from copying from or printing your e-books - unless you want them to be able to do this.
Powerful testing features: Test out how your e-book would look and work with and without the correct password (if you have one). Switch between the 2 modes at any time with a click of the mouse. Compile or Run your e-book in seconds for truly Rapid Application Development.
Save your projects: Unlike some other compilers you don’t have to
re-input all your settings each time you want to create a new version of an e-book. Simply save all your settings and continue later.
HTML protection: Right-mouse clicking is automatically disabled in your e-books, so nobody’s going to view your HTML source and steal your valuable page designs.
Branding: Every e-book you create includes your name, your company name, your copyright message, and even a link to your web site - and your e-mail address or autoresponder address if you want.
Unique serial numbers: Every e-book includes a unique serial number (they call this an “ESBN” - it’s a similar idea to “ISBNs” used for off-line books). This gives you yet another way to keep track of books you’ve distributed.
Icon customization: Every e-book can have its icon. The software comes with over 700 icons for you to choose from - or you can create your own unique icons in your favorite icon editor.
User interface customization: Turn on or off the availability of toolbars, status bars, colors, text labels on buttons, and more. Create kiosk-style e-books. Customize the colors of “system” pages. Choose the starting screen position and size of your e-books. You can even set your e-books to float on top of other windows (great for instructional guides).
Splash screens and start-up messages: Add a splash screen graphic that displays while your e-book opens. You can also add a pop-up message box.
Built-in search engine: A customizable search engine is built in to your e-books. Your readers will love this feature.
Auto installation options: When your e-book is first run it will ask the user if he/she wants to add your e-book’s icon automatically to the Start menu or Desktop.
Add-in programs: Kick-off external programs or files on specified events such as when your e-book is started or closed, or when the correct or incorrect password is entered.
File compression: Creating really large e-books? You’ll be glad to know that the latest version of Activ E-book automatically compresses all your files when compiling e-books, significantly reducing the file size and making it easy and quick for users to download your e-books.
Integrity self-check: E-book’s created with Activ E-book Compiler perform a self-test on start up. If you’re planning on distributing e- books over the Internet, you’ll be pleased to know that this gives you protection from common file corruption problems that can be caused by “noisy” modems or Internet connections.
Easy distribution: Each e-book is a self-contained Windows program. You can distribute them on any media you like, including by Internet download, by e-mail, floppy disk, CD-ROMs, ZIP disks.
Free lifetime upgrades: New versions of Activ E-book Compiler are absolutely free to registered users. You’ll never pay for new versions of Activ E-book Compiler.
However, as they say on their website, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Active E-book Compiler also comes with a range of ‘power features’ that really set it apart from most of the competition.
These power features include a rebrander facility which enables you to create personalized versions of your e-book for other webmasters to distribute. A great feature if you’re running an affiliate program or distributing a free e-book for promotional purposes.
Activ e-book also supports multimedia integration into your e- book. You can include video clips, audio files and more.
If you’re familiar with writing your own scripts, then you’ll love all the additional features that you can integrate into your book. These include the ability to run external programs, generate dynamic e-book pages and more.
The latest version of the compiler even comes with a built-in wizard that will help you get your project together faster and easier than ever. The wizard will create the folders that you need for your e-book, and give you specific instructions on what to do next.
The list just goes on.
New versions of the compiler are released frequently, so you can expect even more incredible features to be added all the time.
And because you get free lifetime upgrades, you can avail of all the new features as they’re released. Without having to pay anything! Ever!
The one thing I don’t like
There’s one thing I don’t like about Activ E-book Compiler. Fortunately, it’s not a big problem, and for most users it will not matter at all.
When Activ E-book Compiler creates your e-book, all the HTML files (including images, etc.) must be contained in one folder (directory).
Now for the vast majority of users this is no problem there. However, some web page editors place HTML files, images, scripts and so on, into separate folders.
I admit, you can work around this problem (if you need help, let me know), but at the same time I’d like to see it resolved in a future release. It would be nice if Activ E-book Compiler could compile the book using files from the main folder and any sub-folders it contains.
There you have it. My one gripe with an otherwise excellent program.
By the way, if you haven’t understood what I’ve just been talking about, don’t worry about it too much. It’s really a small problem and it applies to very few users.
