I get quite a few emails along the lines of “Ian, just how do you do that..”. So I thought I start another occasional series in “Update”, letting you into my little secrets. It’s not the same as my “Webmasters Tricks” series (of which there’s another one in this newsletter). It’s more about how I carry out certain tasks in my own individual way. So let’s kick off with answering a question I get asked frequently..

How do I produce my “Video Viewers”?
These are small pieces of software through which people can watch videos which I make available - things like my “Traffic Building For Newbies” videos.

It’s really quite simple! I use an “eBook Compiler”, software which lets you put a whole lot of web pages into a Windows executable (.exe) file. So you build your eBook just like a website, with a different HTML file for each “page” in your eBook.

There’s quite a few such compilers around, and I’ve tried a lot. But the one which works best for me is “Activ eBook Compiler”, which you can download from here:

http://www.IanSays.com/IUse/ActiveBook.html

You don’t pay anything for it, until you register it and unlock the full set of features - which is essential for my method. It’s also actually incredibly cheap!

So, do I have to bundle up all the video pages in my Video Viewer? Of course not. It would be a huge download. What I do is to put all the videos and their HTML pages up on one of my servers. My Video Viewer “eBook” has just one page - and that page automatically redirects to the Home Page of the video set, which then displays inside the “eBook”.

So the “eBook” - my “Video Viewer” - is acting just like a web browser - except that there’s no way of knowing where the video files are stored on the web.

The reason why I use the Activ eBook compiler is that I have complete control over all the various functions in the compiler. So I can disable all the tools, such as “print”, “copy”, “next page”, “right-click”.. and so on. There are no visible controls except those which I build into the HTML pages.

Of course, you’re not restricted to using this technique to displaying videos. My “FAQ Generator”, available currently in the Download Library, is web-based, and is used through the “eBook” I built with the Activ eBook compiler. And it’s also a great way to build a User Manual, because you can make changes on the web pages without anyone having to download the revised manual.

I hope, if you’ve been wondering how I built these “Video Viewers”, that this answers your question. Now go and think how you could use this technique. Go and download the free (but restricted) version of the Active eBook compiler and try it out.

http://www.IanSays.com/IUse/ActiveBook.html

Then, follow my lead and register it. It’s the best thirty bucks I’ve spent