In order to look beyond the PDF and towards the general use of eBook technologies for the distribution of everyday documents, the files need to be as simple to create as PDFs. It will only be then that people who currently use the PDF format to distribute information in workplace environments can make the switch. The switch making it possible for them to distribute documents for reading more easily on mobile devices, such as phones and tablet devices.
In this post, I am simply pointing at the software that takes us a step closer to this becoming a reality for more and more people.
For typesetters and print designers, this will quite likely involve InDesign, which has had an ePUB export facility since the version packaged in CS3 was updated a few years back, and has since then been incrementally improved up to the soon to be released CS5.5. But for people who are not using InDesign there are other options that make ePUB creation simple and inexpensive:
(1) Pages '09 for Mac - available as part of the iWork '09 suite or standalone from the Mac App Store (£11.99). This software will produce a clean valid ePUB and has a visual and intuitive layout.
(2) Atlantis for Windows (30 days free try before you buy, then US$35) - this is a piece of software that I hear a lot of buzz about on Twitter, and although I've yet to test it, it sounds very promising.
(3) OpenOffice with Writer2ePub extension (free) for Windows, Mac and Linux. This will create an ePUB that will open in an ePUB reader and is fairly clean.
So there we have it, three simple and inexpensive programs that can "Save as..." ePUB, which should let you create readable ePUBs easily. If you want more precision and to ensure that your ePUBs validate for wider distribution and sale, it is likely you'll need to get familiar with a program like Sigil but again this is available for free.
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