Stanza, currently in beta, is an electronic book reading application for Mac OS which also allows you to export content for use on a variety of portable devices. It features the ability to customize the display of text in multiple column layouts or in full screen mode. Scrolling can be set to advance automatically, like a teleprompter, based on your reading speed, or manually. You can import content from a variety of sources including directly from the Project Gutenberg site. It also provides for the ability to export content to mobile devices such as the iPhone and the Amazon Kindle.
I spent some time this morning playing with Stanza and went to the Project Gutenberg site and found the listing for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. I copied the url for the full text version and used the Open Location feature in Stanza to download and display the book. Stanza went out and got the file and displayed the book in the default view. I then used the export feature to create versions for my iPhone and for my Kindle.
I tried to use the open location feature to display a print friendly article from the New York Times, but ran into an issue with authenticating on the Times site. I worked around this by displaying the print friendly version of the article and then selecting and copying the text of the article. Stanza has an import form clipboard command that then imported and displayed the article.
Lexcycle has also created an iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows you to easily transfer books and other documents from a Mac to an iPhone or iPod Touch. In addition you can also download them directly from online directories such as Feedbooks. A local wireless connection is made between your computer and device and you can then browse for open Stanza documents and import them into your iPhone/iPod Touch. Below are some screenshots that highlight this process.
Stanza is an interesting way to display and read text on a Mac. It's ability to export in various mobile formats makes it a great tool for getting content on your mobile devices.
Web 2.0 Tools & Tips Coordinator: Tim Lauer
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