I’ve been looking around for a good text reading application for my desktop computer so that I can comfortably read books. All I wanted was an application that would open plain text files, show them to me with nice margins and easy to read type, allow me to customize the font, background, and foreground colors, let me move forward and backwards by pages, and remember where I was at so I could pick up reading later easily.

I found a couple but wasn’t happy with any of them. Then I thought, why not PDF? PDF readers like Adobe Reader (Windows) and Evince (Linux) are free and support most of the features I want. And it turns out that creating a PDF book version of a text file is really easy. Here’s how:

1. Get Open Office. It's a free, open-source office suite similar to Microsoft Office. Technically, you could use any PDF creation tool but I like Open Office because it's very easy to use.
2. Start Open Office Writer and open your plain text file.
3. Select Format Page and change the following: - Paper size: 5x7 inches - Margins: 0 all around - Header: 0.5 inches - Footer: 0.5 inches - Background: black
4. Click OK
5. Select all text (Ctrl-A). Change the font and text color to something pleasing that will prevent eye strain. I like a medium dark color on a black background.
6. Export PDF. Choose the option to open the PDF file in full screen mode.

The only other thing you’ll want to change is the “remember last position” preference in Adobe Reader. Choose “For any PDF document” and it will remember where you were in any book you convert in this way.

This method works well and I only have to do it once per book. I’d still prefer an application that just opens plain text files and reformats them in a pleasing, low-contrast, full-screen mode for reading because it’d save me a step. If anyone knows of such a thing (for Linux, preferably), please let me know.

Comments

1. Claus Valca on 2007-02-20 19:35:23 wrote: John, I’d encourage you to check out FoxitReader. http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php It has a free version, and is “portable” so you can keep it and your PDF’s together on a USB stick. And it is lightning fast. Really, really fast. I’m not exaggerating! It also supports annotations and highlighting of the PDF. Great for reading “on the fly” or if you need to borrow someone else’s system. You might also want to look into Cool PDF Reader (free). http://www.pdf2exe.com/reader.html While it can open and view PDF files, it is really strong it the ability to convert PDF files into other formats. Nice utility tool. But for reading/viewing PDF files…hands down…Foxit Reader. Nothing else comes close in my opinion.

2. Claus Valca on 2007-02-20 19:50:43 wrote: And for text files you might want to look into these two freeware options. Large Text File Viewer 4.1 http://www.swiftgear.com/ No “installation” is needed, so again it is “portable” and USB friendly. …designed for viewing large (>1GB) text files. …enhanced for searching… …allows the user to change display parameters, which include: o font, font style, and font size. o colors of text, selected text, and URL. o background color and background image. (The user may use any JPG or BMP file as the background image. A sophisticated algorithm is used to soften the image and then blend the softened image with the background color perfectly.) o tab size. o automatic detection of URL addresses (namely HTTP, FTP and email addresses). …program remembers recently opened files. …remembers the window position/size of the previous run. Also worth a look Universal Viewer (ATViewer) http://atorg.net.ru/universal_viewer/index.htm Sorry, all these are Windows applications…not as familiar with Linux options for you. –Cheers