I was suitably impressed with the features of Activ E-Book which accepts all file types supported by internet Explorer including HTML, GIF, JPEG, plug-ins etc. Since each ebook is a self-contained Windows program, you can even distribute them on any media you like such as downloads on the internet, by e-mail, floppy disk, CD-ROMs, or even ZIP disks. You can password protect either the whole ebook or individual pages with up to 1,000 passwords assigned per ebook in order to prevent people from sharing their passwords with others.

A neat feature that the developer, Sunil Tanna, pointed out to me is that the password locked pages can link directly to the order form specific to that password. For example, Fred's ebook could link to http://www.yoursite.com/buy.cgi?37 and John's to http://www.yoursite.com/buy.cgi?49 -- a very useful feature! You could use this technique on doorway pages and would be able to track which pages are more popular with these password codes. If you plan to sell ebooks through Clickbank, these coded pages are ideal... the README file distributed with the software describes 3 methods of selling ebooks using ClickBank which are explained in detail including two which require no web programming whatsoever.

The password protection message is customizable. When a user visits a password protected page and has not yet given the password, this message (usually including a link to the order form) is displayed, if the user buys the password from the author and enters it - the page immediately becomes viewable.

All ebooks created include branding in the form of an "About" page which includes details of the author, publisher, copyright (see Figure 1.) I don't remember seeing this feature in any of the lower end compilers and it adds a "professional touch" to your compiled ebook. In fact, each ebook compiled with Activ E-Book Compiler has a unique number called an ESBN (similar to an ISBN, except that is isn't officially registered.)

Figure 1.0 - "About" Page Screen Capture

And most importantly - Registration is optional - you can use a limited version of the software for free. Believe me, you *will* want to register it after downloading the software to take advantage of all of its features!

Breaking News!

Version 3.02 was just announced with a bunch of new features including:

* Extensive User interface customization

* Shareware style E-Books (expire after a set number of days or uses)

* E-Book can add itself to Start Menu and/or Desktop

* Customize colors of system pages

* Run add-in programs when E-Book starts, exits, password entered etc.

* Many more functions for manipulating files during development

* Disable copy

* E-Books' icons can be customized. This affects the icons used both in the top left corner of the program, and in any short-cuts to the E-Book. Over 200 icons are supplied with the program - and addition Windows format icons may also be used (16 color - 32X32 pixels).

* Ability to optionally add Bitmap splash screen to your E-Book which is shown while the E-Book is being prepared by the viewer. A default splash bitmap is included.

* Ability to set the initial size of your E-Book to be maximized, minimized, default allocated by Windows, or a custom size (specified in pixels).

* Ability to enable or disable the automaticng of Internet links in a new window (previous versions always behaved as this option was enabled).

* Ability to customize search - whether to include descriptions in search results and ability to customize search - whether to include % match in search results.

* Ability to customize Table Of Contents and its button - whether to include descriptions in Table Of Contents.

* Ability to customize - set background color for system pages pages (Search Results, Table Of Contents, Password Protected pages if present, About page, and for unregistered version the automatically added cover page).

* The compiler has a new tab and associated menu and toolbar options: "Add-Ins" for setting/modifying the options relating to Add-In components which extend the capability of the E-Book software.

* All E-Books (even ones created using the Free unregistered version) are now a way of generating extra free cash from our affiliate program - by helping users refer additional customers and get full credit for the sale!

* New menu option and toolbar button - Options/Free Affiliate Money allows all E-Books to be branded with the affiliate's referral nickname. This referral code is used in the "About" page (registered and unregistered versions) as well as in the automatic Cover page of the unregistered version.

* New option: My Expiry Status for this E-Book / Not Expired - allows you to test E-Books with expiry, as if they have not yet expired.

* The E-Book start up process has been optimized. For small E-Books you will probably not notice a difference - but for E-Books containing a large number of files, you will generally find them starting up much quicker than in previous versions.

* Mini Search Engine built into E-Books.

* Find (on this page) option built into E-Books.

* Search menu, toolbar button and dialog added to E-Books. These are grayed if the author elected to make none of their pages searchable.

* Table Of Contents menu, toolbar button added to E-Books. These are grayed if they author elected to make none of their pages in the table of contents. The behaviour of the toolbar button is configurable to even go direct to the Table Of Contents internal page, or provide a popup menu of the first 20 items in the Table Of Contents.

* High quality compression of files in the E-Book has been introduced. This substantially reduces the file size of large E-Books.

In conclusion, Active E-Book Compiler is a true bargain and one of the best buys in a compiler! I was amazed at how easy it was to use and the extra password protection and ESBN features are worth the price many times over ... which is another bonus, this compiler happens to be the lowest priced compiler I have found with the exception of the freeware compilers (which don't come close in comparison.) I believe that the developers of Activ E-Book have a true winner on their hands and the only disadvantage I could find was that the reader must have Windows 95/98 and Internet Explorer 4+ installed as with every true HTML compilers that we have reviewed.

More details on the features of Activ E-Book Compiler can be found at their site.