Tools of the trade

NOTE: I proudly work on an Apple Macintosh, but almost everything I say here will apply to both Mac and PCs. (I also use Parallels Virtualization to run Windows on my Mac.)

I thought you might like a look into my toolbox for creating ebooks. It includes:

• Adobe Dreamweaver 9, which is part of Adobe Creative Suite 3. I haven’t had the money to upgrade to CS5 — wait, it’s now CS 5.5.
• Adobe PhotoShop 10 (same as above)
• Microsoft Word 11 (part of Office for Mac 2004, again no money)
• BBEdit 8 (9 is the current version, again no money)
• Fetch 5.3 (5.6 is the current version)

Actually, the above programs I had before I started experimenting with ebooks. The following programs are essential for creating, converting and testing the various ebook formats.

• calibre 0.7.55 will convert most any type of document (text, Word, HTML) to , open source software that is constantly being updated
• Sigil 0.3.4, also opensource, also constantly being updated and like calibre, supported by donations
• Kindle and Nook for Mac
• Kindle Preview for Mac