PDFs or text on WordPress pages - with some copy-protect

6 replies
I have a s2member membership site.

I want to put an ebook on the site, each chapter on a separate page.

I want the chapters to be easily accessible to members, but I also want to protect from copying. I understand it's not possible to entirely protect from copying. But what might be the best option?

I could:

-- embed the pdfs in pages

-- link to s2member-protected pdf files

-- Paste the text of each chapter into pages (With this, I could use a copy-paste plugin protector, but people would still be able to copy from the source code)
#copyprotect #pages #pdfs #text #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author finebird
    Maybe you can use images instead of text?
    It's much harder to copy...
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  • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
    I think a good way to do it is to just use secured pdfs for the pages. You can't select the text and copy them, and there is no source code.

    Some pdfs are easy to bypass the security, but some aren't at all. I'm guessing that the more secure ones are created by Adobe Writer. It is expensive, at least by my wimpy standards.

    You could even put the site header and navigation bar in the pdf if you wanted to.

    I learned about that because personally I don't like pdfs. Their file size is enormous compared to txt or Word. If I want to keep one (that happens rarely) I like to copy and save the text, and slam the pdf in the can. I don't do anything shady with the text, it's just for my reading.

    The pdf pages will use a lot more bandwidth than html, but it's cheap these days and that doesn't seem to be a major concern in your case.
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  • Profile picture of the author applegreensnake
    thanks Lloyd.

    a couple more questions:

    1. How would I create pages as pdfs? Do I just upload the pdf as an image into the page?

    2. If I use 'secured pdfs' - does this prevent the pdfs from being downloaded?

    3. Some of my pdfs will be many pages long - like 17 A4 pages on 1 WordPress page - would this result in a very slow site?
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    • Profile picture of the author Lloyd Buchinski
      Originally Posted by applegreensnake View Post

      1. How would I create pages as pdfs? Do I just upload the pdf as an image into the page?

      2. If I use 'secured pdfs' - does this prevent the pdfs from being downloaded?

      3. Some of my pdfs will be many pages long - like 17 A4 pages on 1 WordPress page - would this result in a very slow site?
      There are a lot of ways to create pdfs. Open Office (free) or Word will do it. Adobe Writer is the most expensive and probably the best. Haven't used it myself.

      To create pages, just create the pdfs and upload them. In the link, just link to the name.pdf. It will open in the browser like a web page. You don't need html..

      It does not prevent them from being downloaded. That can be done by going to file > save page as.

      I just checked a 48 page pdf. It was 429 KB. You could try your 17 page pdf and then break it up if you need to. It might be better for the user to have it in smaller sections anyway.

      Wordpress doesn't even need to be involved with these pages. I don't use it myself so I'm not sure, but it's probably best to just have them as pages.
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      Do something spectacular; be fulfilled. Then you can be your own hero. Prem Rawat

      The KimW WSO

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  • Profile picture of the author imarkedy
    Have I got a solution for you! Perhaps an ebook Embed option would be best. Go to Bannersnack and click on the Flipsnack link. Upload the word doc, save, grab the embed code and paste it into the page you'd like.
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    B.D. Dale
    SBDC TV
    Online Marketing Instructor

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  • Profile picture of the author Hardy Chou
    As long as it's in digital format, it can always be copied over.

    Originally Posted by applegreensnake View Post

    I have a s2member membership site.

    I want to put an ebook on the site, each chapter on a separate page.

    I want the chapters to be easily accessible to members, but I also want to protect from copying. I understand it's not possible to entirely protect from copying. But what might be the best option?

    I could:

    -- embed the pdfs in pages

    -- link to s2member-protected pdf files

    -- Paste the text of each chapter into pages (With this, I could use a copy-paste plugin protector, but people would still be able to copy from the source code)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[7298925].message }}

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