Question

What language for creating a book with internal links to itself

Asked by: newbieweb

I have a friend about to write and it needs to have links to content inside of the book. Also, I am trying to get him to write two related books, so the content pointed to by the link could also be in another book on the same CD or web page.

I know HTML is perfect for this, but what other languages or tools cold be used to create such a methodology.

Can a PDF file have links to another PDF file, for example?

I'm interested in hearing what you have to say.

Also, HTML might be complicated for him to have to create his own links.

Thanks,
newbieweb

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Asked On
2009-10-05 at 14:21:58ID24787082
Topics

Web Authoring

,

Miscellaneous Web Development

,

Software/Systems Design

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: NeilsrPosted on 2009-10-05 at 14:30:47ID: 25499978

Yes PDF would be ideal for what you describe. Including links to external documents.

 

by: newbiewebPosted on 2009-10-05 at 14:32:35ID: 25499995

Great. Can he add links without it getting too complicated?

And are there any free (or nearly free) tools for this?

 

by: Michael2009Posted on 2009-10-05 at 14:36:56ID: 25500046

You can write your book in XML, and then style it with either XSL or CSS. This would allow for easy editing later on.
I like XSL, but here it is argued that CSS is best:
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2005/01/19/print.html
and here is a page about the XML approach in general that I found in the last ten seconds:
http://martinfowler.com/articles/writingInXml.html

 

by: Michael2009Posted on 2009-10-05 at 14:41:55ID: 25500088

For an easier approach, write the book in MS Word, and use its internal and external link and reference features, and then convert the document to PDF (which is a feature of any full-featured Acrobat product).

I should also mention that the XML/XSL/CSS path leads to a PDF as well.

 

by: Let_Me_BePosted on 2009-10-05 at 23:48:44ID: 25502329

If you write books, there are two major formats. LaTeX and Docbook. Definitely don't write the book any OpenOffice, or MS Office, you will just go insane.

HTML is not suitable for writing the book, only for presentation and both LaTeX and Docbook support export into HTML and PDF (as well as many other formats).

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