PDF readers are all well and good. But what I'd really like to do is find a way to make booklets. This is something that requires a whole lot of "Imposing".
First you need a way to combine different pages into a single PDF file. Sometimes this requires resizing of one or more pages so they're uniform in size. Sometimes this requires cropping, and some times it requires "padding" the borders. Sometimes it requires scaling the whole page.
A workaround is to "print" the page to a virtual printer where you can specify the paper size, and then click "fit to page".
Second, you need a way to repaginate if needed (pages 1-3 from this file, then move page 17 to page four, etc.)
A common workaround is to print pages one thru seven on a virtual printer, and then re-insert these pages into the document.
Third, you need a way to add a cover page, and insert blank pages at the front and back of your booklet.
You need a way to add page numbers to each page of the collated set.
Then comes the tricky part.
You need to "n-up" your pages onto tabloid size paper.
Specifically, you need a way to place pages four and one are on the "back side" of a page where two and three are on the front.
This way, when you fold the document, it reads 1, 2, 3, 4
It's sort of hard to explain, but it's pretty simple once you've tried it a time or two.
If you are using two page or four page "signatures", it gets a lot harder to figure out which page goes on which side of the booklet.
It would be nice if there were some simple cover page templates with a border and a pre-determines area in which to type the title-- you know, for booklets where there is no need for fancy photgraphic backgrounds and such...
It would also be nice if a user could surf for fonts on the freeware font pages online and choose fonts to download and embed into the PDF document. That's asking too much, I realize, but as long as I'm pipe dreaming...
I've found some open source and Java based software that claims to do some of this stuff. Is anybody able to make heads or tails of this?
http://blog.rubypdf.com/2007/08/24/how-to-make-n-up-pdf-with-free-software/
eDoc Printer
http://www.csparks.com/Bookbinding/typesetting.xhtml
http://www.diybookbinding.com/making-booklets-from-pdf-files/
http://www.diybookbinding.com/make-cool-little-booklets-with-your-computer/
http://www.junlu.com/group/bbsone.jsp?grp=iText&grps=JBoss&grps=Tomcat&g...
http://www.junlu.com/2_89.html
http://www.docjar.com/docs/api/com/lowagie/text/pdf/PdfWriter.html
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You first need to find a regular app that actually does this (or a couple apps) so that we can take it (or them) and figure out how to make it portable. As I don't think the app you're looking for even exists, I don't think the devs here have the time to work on something like this from scratch. If you can find something that does all that, let us know, though.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
It's been a few years since I used this, but I think it will do everything you want. I found it particularly useful in printing booklets, and for loads of other uses as well.
But it isn't open source, or freeware - although worth every penny if it does what you want.
http://www.fineprint.com/products/fineprint/index.html
Good luck!
When I was in high school, I remember there was an equation or something where you could feed in the number of pages in a document and get the pattern to print a document correctly. Each piece of paper must be printed on both sides, and each side must contain two pages of the document. The first piece of paper has the front and back cover in reverse order on one side (back on the left, front on the right) and on the other side, the first page of the document, and the last page if it's an even number, or nothing if it's an odd number of pages (or vice-versa, you could have the inside front cover be blank instead). The next piece of paper is Page 2 on the right of one side and TotalPages-1 on the left, with the reverse being Page 3 on the left and TotalPages-2 on the right.
If you had a program that could do all that, you could print eBooks in plain text format, have them professionally cut down the middle, and then bound, or you can get the equipment to do it yourself. Interesting proposition, especially in this day and age, make your own books. Not legal in many cases (though you could stick to fan fiction or other free writing, I'm sure there are sites for it) but interesting.