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Programs for Reading Text Files?

Posted by Cliff on from the reading-not-editing dept.

dotpl asks: "Recently I acquired a number of books in text format from Project Gutenberg and archived them for later reading. When I came to read, I realised how hard it is to read text files on the computer screen, so I thought about developing a 'reader' that you can read text files with, selecting the fonts and colors you like, and which has a bookmarking feature - a la Vim - so you know where you were reading before. Then I realised that a software of the sort must already exist. How do you read big text files without suffering from severe eye strain?" While a browser may go a long way to providing the necessary functionality, most browsers bookmarking facilities are sorely lacking for this type of work, since they don't mark the position in the page, just the page, itself. Has anything like this been written?

5 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. EText Reader by alphaseven · · Score: 4, Informative

    You could try EText Reader, for linux or windows. Allows you to read zipped etexts as well as retrieve online Project Gutenberg texts. You can also select the font and bookmark stuff.

  2. Search for SMALL by yerricde · · Score: 4, Informative

    To skip the PG boilerplate, search for the text END*THE SMALL, capitalized and punctuated exactly so.

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  3. PDA by texchanchan · · Score: 4, Informative

    1. Open Gutenberg file in UltraEdit (shareware)

    2. Run this macro
    InsertMode
    ColumnModeOff
    HexOff
    UnixReOf f
    Find "^p^p"
    Replace All "QQQQ"
    Find "^p"
    Replace All " "
    Find "QQQQ"
    Replace All "^p "

    3. Save file.

    4. Run MakeDocW (free) on the file.

    5. Hotsync to the Palm/Visor.

    6. Read and bookmark in CSpotRun (free but you can send a donation). Annotate in something else.

    The only thing that'll cost you is the PDA itself and I bet a used 2-meg one isn't that much.

  4. GutenMark by Rabin+Vincent · · Score: 5, Informative

    GutenMark is a GPL'd program to format Project Gutenberg files into LaTeX. From here on, this can be converted into PS or PDF (sample), which can be easily read in a viewer with a large font size. This program also removes the PG banner, seperates text into chapters and italizes the appropriate words. And the page numbers give you free bookmarking.

  5. Re:eye strain by spuke4000 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Rather use up a bit of paper and ink than damage your eyes.

    I had the same concern (I sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day at work) so I asked an optometrist this week. Her answer: looking at a computer screen causes 'short term' eye strain, but no long term damage. Basically, get a good night's sleep and your fine.

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