HTML Ebook Overview

Introduction
An ebook is an electronic book. This is typically a set of related pages in a computer join together as a piece of software. There are ebooks in the Internet that can be downloaded. Of course the content of an ebook can be on any subject. A help package for an application such as a word processor is an ebook.

In this article series I show you how to create an ebook with HTML. An HTML ebook can be in the Internet for downloading. You can also use an HTML ebook as a help package for any application you write; an application written in a language like C++, Borland Delphi, etc. So after reading this series, you can write your help packages in HTML.

In this series, I show you how to write an HTML ebook, not associated with any application. The HTML ebook design I give you in this series is mine. You need basic knowledge in HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, CSS and JavaScript Regular Expressions, in order to understand this series. If you do not understand these languages, just search my blog for tutorials on them; then after you came and read this series.

Note: If you cannot see the code or if you think anything is missing in this article (broken link, image absent), just contact me at forchatrans@yahoo.com. That is, contact me for the slightest problem you have about what you are reading.

Directories
An ebook can be made up of HTML pages in different directories. There is one head directory (main directory) from which descendent directories are created. This head directory can be created in (or be copied to) any sub directory in your hard disk. The descendant directories are inside the head directory. The number of directories and the descendant directory tree, depend on the information you have for the ebook.

The Head Page
There is one head page (main page). This page is in the head directory. This head page is a an HTML frameset with three different frames. Each of these frames takes an HTML document.

The frameset layout for the head page is the "Banner-Sidebar and Contents layout". The banner is one frame. The sidebar is another frame and the content is another frame. The sidebar frame has an HTML document with the navigation links. When any of these links is clicked, the HTML document for the content frame is changed. For simplicity, the HTML document for the banner frame does not change as the links are clicked. The HTML document for the banner frame has the title of the ebook. The HTML documents for the content frame are in different directories. These directories are descendant directories of the head directory. The HTML document for the sidebar frame, which has the navigation links, like the banner document, does not change through out any session of use of the ebook.

The head page (the frameset) is always displayed by the browser; it is the content frame whose content changes to display different information as the links are clicked. The HTML document for the content frame can also have links. When a link in the HTML document of the content frame is clicked, the frameset naturally does not change; it is the HTML document of the content frame that still changes to a different document.

The Sidebar
The sidebar frame has an HTML document that does not change as the links are clicked. The document has the links. Initially in this document, links of each page of the ebook are displayed in one column. Some of these links can be expanded into a tree of links to show the sections and sub sections of chapters.

With some books, chapters are grouped into parts. In such a case, initially in the sidebar, the one column of links has unexpanded links for the different parts of the book. Each of such links can be expanded to show a tree of links for the chapters, chapter sections and chapter sub sections.

HTML Pages and Directories
The cover page, the forward page, the acknowledgement page, the table of contents page, the index page and the above frameset page are in the head directory. The HTML pages for each chapter are in sub directories of the head directory. If your book has parts for chapters, then the immediate sub directories for the head directory are for the parts; otherwise they are for the chapters. Each sub directory for parts would have sub directories for the chapter pages.

Search
The HTML document for the banner frame has the ebook title as well as a Search Box. The user can use this search box to search for any HTML page in the ebook. The user types his keywords in the search box and clicks the Search Button. The results of this will appear in an HTML page in the content frame. The results would consist of ebook page titles with corresponding page descriptions. Each title is also a link to the corresponding ebook page. When such a title link is clicked, the page for the title link appears in the content frame. Note: each ebook page is an HTML document.

That is an overview of the HTML ebook. Let us take a break here and continue in the next part of the series.

Chrys.