Turn wesite in a desktop book or application

MikeD · #1 (**permalink**) 11-16-2007, 02:07 PM

This is probably an advanced question but it's an idea I've been toying with since i got into IM and then thought more about it after I downloaded Lisa's "2create a website" ebook.

I'm looking for an application that will turn a website into a single desktop application or ebook. Then I want to put it on the site and give it away.

I want to take the core information from a blog/site and turn it into an ebook or .exe file for people to down load and give away. I don't just want an ebook tho' I want the "application" to be self contained. By that i mean it needs to be a ebook and browser all in one.

At no time should the viewer be forced to open up a browser or switch to a browser...I DON'T want the browser to "pop up" in front either.

People should be able to dl the "book", open it and it kind looks like a well formatted site with links.

Whenever I have an affillink I want the page to come up in the ebook and NOT pop up in a browser window. In this way i can also have a link in the "ebook" that then displays the "current" page of the blog/site and/or the affil purchase page.

I'm thinking that I may have to re-build a site (since all my sites are really blogs) to make it work if there are automated applications that do this.

Anyone have experience with this?

thx

--Mike

lisa · #2 (**permalink**) 11-16-2007, 03:37 PM

Hey MikeD

I used ebookeditpro.com for my e-books and they do all of what you said. The default is to open all links within the e-book software (although you can choose not to)

It creates an .exe file for you to upload to your server.

The downside is that it is not Mac compatible.

You simply create your site in whatever editor you want to use and save them as HTML files just like a website. And ebookeditpro turns it into an executable book.

You mentioned you downloaded my e-book. Which one? If you downloaded my HTML or website creation tutorial then those were the ones created in ebookeditpro. Was there some feature you need that was missing? Because you are describing the software to a T.

It has its own built-in browser and you can control which browser buttons you want the book to have (Open, Print, etc)

MikeD · #3 (**permalink**) 11-16-2007, 05:02 PM

Lisa,

Thx...I look into the software

I dl'd your HML tutorial a long time ago. I don't remember it going to other sites tho'.

I'm re-writting an e-report and was ticked off every time I checked a link I had to tell the reader it's ok, then the browser loads etc.

So, I figured there must be a way to keep the person in the reader, navigate the book better, and go to links because I had seen somthing similar...it was your e-book.

I'm weighing the options of a nicely printed e-book vs a more functional WebsiteBook to do some viral marketing.

Everyone I see is "stuck" on PDFs as "the best way" to do a viral book...I'm looking at options.

--Mike

lisa · #4 (**permalink**) 11-16-2007, 11:24 PM

Yes you can definitely keep your links within the book with ebookedit so the user doesn't have to leave and open a new browser window.

ebook software is nice, just make sure it supports both Mac and PC before you buy. As I said I don't think ebookeditpro does, unless they have done this with their updated version.

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