Need ideas on eBook development using Xara

[Contours]

I'm starting to develop an eBook using Xara Designer Pro X9. It will be published as a PDF. It may reach 200 printed pages.

I've been encouraged by the eBook topics I've read on talkgraphics, especially since a lot of my material already exists in xar files. But I haven't found any recommendation for managing what I'll call 'the structure' of the eBook.

Obviously, it could all be one big file. But I've learned from some of my larger website files, that having over 20 pages can result in an unwieldy file. Sluggish load times and cumbersome navigation come to mind.

Should I plan on having one XAR file for each chapter? If so, is there any Xara way to have the resulting chapters organized into a book (so that a single print command can print the book). Or should I look for ways to append individual PDFs into a single book file.

An associated problem with individual XAR chapters is trying to manage text styles across the chapters. Does anyone know of a way to have a common style sheet, where any change would affect all chapters?

I will very much appreciate hearing from anyone with experience in these matters.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[mwenz]

It's a task I wouldn't use XDP for. But a book is different than a website and there are people here that use it for books and I haven't read of issues with books of that length.

As regards styles, there isn't really a convenient means of syncing styles across separate XDP files. But if you can anticipate all the styles you use, you can create them and save that file as a template for use when beginning a new chapter.

[Contours]

Thanks for the comment. I realize there's no one best way. But since half of my material is already in XAR files, I think Xara probably represents the best path for me. Early on, I tried formatting my mixed content in Word and had to bail out. If I was writing a novel, it might be the answer. But trying to update and format the graphical elements quickly becomes a chore.

For reference, here's one of the posts I've read: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...ighlight=ebook

I would still like to hear of techniques others have used ... and of any other considerations.