[Lynn616]

Durable? No. Cheaper? Yes. The latter will happen with each upgrade, assuming iBooks compatibility remains despite hardware upgrades. The former, not that important imo.

Go right now and drop your iPad on a tile floor.

[ivedoneyourmom]

Go right now and drop your iPad on a tile floor.

Be more careful with your things. I have never broken an electronic device in my entire life in that manner. I don't think HS kids will be throwing their iPads on the ground any more than they throw their cell phones and iPods on the ground. The iPad could always be more durable, but I don't think the durability of the iPad in its current state is any great weakness, let alone a reason to opt for bound paper over one.

Plus I think you have to look at durability in many different ways:
iPad vs. Book in water = both suck
iPad vs. Book while gripped in the corner = iPad
iPad vs. Book throwing it on the ground = book
iPad vs. Book using dirty fingers = iPad
iPad vs. Book while bending it in half = book.

Etc.

Good on Apple trying this - I don't know if it will pan out for them, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try.

[Sentry]

Go right now and drop your iPad on a tile floor.

I didn't say it was durable. My point is it doesn't need to be as durable as a real book to succeed.

[bloodydrake]

Be more careful with your things. I have never broken an electronic device in my entire life in that manner. I don't think HS kids will be throwing their iPads on the ground any more than they throw their cell phones and iPods on the ground.

In my experiance Kids don't buy computers for school.they are provided for students use. I dont' see this being different.

Hormonal teenagers smash the hell out of computers in High schools all the time btw.

From punching/smashing LCD displays to using permanent markers on the screen.
Having a whole row of PC's on one side of a room all having broken CD drives from one kid walking by ejecting the trays while the fellow behind him goes along and shoves punches them into the drive breaking the tracks..
And my favorite ...metal paperclips shoved thru front ventilation slots to try and short the PCB or jam up the fan. PC's in rooms that are usually general access are butchered.

Surprisingly the computers in High schools that are usually the best shape are Libraries.. Librarians take their role very seriously and definitely foster an environment of no nonsense.

Librarians I salute you! :)

[Timbuktu]

When I went to school, we never had to buy textbooks. They were handed down to us by older kids, then we give them to the younger ones the next year. We didn't get new ones unless they fall apart or the course material changes. I thought it was a good system, I remember some were five or six years old.

[giga]

The tool used depends on what the target market/eReader is. Pages, Sigil, BBEdit (yes BBEdit!)... Some folks even take word documents and then convert with Calibre to get an 'ePub' file. Everyone was hoping Apple would release an app for creating eBooks for all platforms. But this isn't even good enough for creating ebooks to be read on both the iPhone and iPad. Very disappointing (and that's before considering the format, distribution restrictions etc).

I tried out Sigil and while it looks to be very functional, it's definitely not nearly as user friendly and doesn't seem to be targeted at the same type of books that Apple has in mind. Hand coding an ePub with BBEdit definitely doesn't seem any better apart from having more precision.

I think if you came in to the event expecting the authoring tool to be a standard ePub editor, you would be disappointed. iBooks Authors in its initial release is clearly trying to just get really nice and interactive textbook experiences out on the iPad quickly. Perhaps iPhone support will come at a future time. (the vertical orientation where text can be reflowed makes me think it will happen). Iterate, iterate, iterate.

Unrelated: Apple now has an HD keynotes podcast. :)

[Greyface]

Some of the technology won't save schools/rich schools won't buy iPads debate:
A Silicon Valley School That Doesn’t Compute
iPads And Digital Textbooks Do Not Belong In Classrooms Yet

I tried out Sigil and while it looks to be very functional, it's definitely not nearly as user friendly and doesn't seem to be targeted at the same type of books that Apple has in mind. Hand coding an ePub with BBEdit definitely doesn't seem any better apart from having more precision. I think if you came in to the event expecting the authoring tool to be a standard ePub editor, you would be disappointed. iBooks Authors in its initial release is clearly trying to just get really nice and interactive textbook experiences out on the iPad quickly. Perhaps iPhone support will come at a future time. (the vertical orientation where text can be reflowed makes me think it will happen). Iterate, iterate, iterate. Unrelated: Apple now has an HD keynotes podcast. :)

If Apple had released a customized ePub3 editor specifically optimized for a particular textbook style then I believe "iterate, iterate, iterate" would be a well received rallying cry and folks would be willing to wait even longer for a useful app. This iBooks Author app is far from that and is instead trying to push a proprietary format. There are no more illusions here that Apple will swoop in and save the open standard.

There will be other efforts to fill the vacuum. John Siracusa said on Hypercritical that there are indie Mac developers who will be interested in producing an ePub3 design app now that Apple has dropped the ball. eReader manufacturers might get involved. Adobe would be extremely shortsighted and stupid not to have a something better for InDesign in the works. It will come in time. I'll stick with PDFs for now.

Unrelated: Apple now has an HD keynotes podcast. :)

:) downloaded it last night but the last 15 mins weren't working for me. Nice that it's there though.

[Technosteve]

Unrelated: Apple now has an HD keynotes podcast. :)

downloading the last steve note on to my pc

[POWERSPHERE]

Apple reinventing truth. Smarmy cunts.

[LCfiner]

Apple reinventing truth. Smarmy cunts.

If they had actually said this it would have been a more exciting press conference than what we got

[giga]

If Apple had released a customized ePub3 editor specifically optimized for a particular textbook style then I believe "iterate, iterate, iterate" would be a well received rallying cry and folks would be willing to wait even longer for a useful app. This iBooks Author app is far from that and is instead trying to push a proprietary format. There are no more illusions here that Apple will swoop in and save the open standard. There will be other efforts to fill the vacuum. John Siracusa said on Hypercritical that there are indie Mac developers who will be interested in producing an ePub3 design app now that Apple has dropped the ball. eReader manufacturers might get involved. Adobe would be extremely shortsighted and stupid not to have a something better for InDesign in the works. It will come in time. I'll stick with PDFs for now.

If people want to create a better ePub publisher, then sure, by all means. I don't see why the two formats can't coexist. iBooks and the iBookstore still accepts ePub files.

They created a new format because ePub wasn't meeting all their technical needs. I'm sure there are competitive reasons as well, since they are a publicly traded company after all.

[Greyface]

If people want to create a better ePub publisher, then sure, by all means. I don't see why the two formats can't coexist. iBooks and the iBookstore still accepts ePub files. They created a new format because ePub wasn't meeting all their technical needs. I'm sure there are competitive reasons as well, since they are a publicly traded company after all.

Gruber is being disingenuous as usual--there is a process for extending the ePub format if it didn't meet their technical needs. Apple could have built on ePub but instead they decided to reinvent the wheel for many features instead of just adding their cool stuff on top. Comparing it to native apps is a poor analogy; it's more akin to Apple rewriting HTML because it didn't support touch events at the iPhone's launch. It's deeply cynical of Apple to see the textbooks and a free tool as a way to take control of that market. It's hypocritical of them to claim to care about the kids then say fuck you to any kid that can't afford an iPad or that lives in country that doesn't have an iBooks store.

*shrug* I linked to the Hypercritical podcast already. You should give it a listen. He explains why it's a poor strategic move on Apple's part (but without the I hate Apple vibe you'll get from me)

[Maxim726X]

Thank the heavens I'm almost done with school... This is a terrible trend.

I got nearly all of my textbooks for a pittance used. Say goodbye to that market once this catches on.

[Cousteau]

I love sitting by the fire curled up with some Vintage Digital Text.

These things will be worth a fortune and will be easy to maintain.

[LCfiner]

Gruber is being disingenuous as usual--there is a process for extending the ePub format if it didn't meet their technical needs. Apple could have built on ePub but instead they decided to reinvent the wheel for many features instead of just adding their cool stuff on top. Comparing it to native apps is a poor analogy; it's more akin to Apple rewriting HTML because it didn't support touch events at the iPhone's launch. It's deeply cynical of Apple to see the textbooks and a free tool as a way to take control of that market. It's hypocritical of them to claim to care about the kids then say fuck you to any kid that can't afford an iPad or that lives in country that doesn't have an iBooks store. *shrug* I linked to the Hypercritical podcast already. You should give it a listen. He explains why it's a poor strategic move on Apple's part (but without the I hate Apple vibe you'll get from me)

I’m generally ignorant of epub tech so I’m curious how they could have expanded epub to do what they want and keep it platform agnostic. stuff like the touchable, interactive timelines, 3D objects and all that. What would have been involved in getting this done? Because all that interactive stuff is the actual selling point of using these over regular books (or e-ink versions of paper texts)

[giga]

Gruber is being disingenuous as usual--there is a process for extending the ePub format if it didn't meet their technical needs. Apple could have built on ePub but instead they decided to reinvent the wheel for many features instead of just adding their cool stuff on top. Comparing it to native apps is a poor analogy; it's more akin to Apple rewriting HTML because it didn't support touch events at the iPhone's launch. It's deeply cynical of Apple to see the textbooks and a free tool as a way to take control of that market. It's hypocritical of them to claim to care about the kids then say fuck you to any kid that can't afford an iPad or that lives in country that doesn't have an iBooks store. *shrug* I linked to the Hypercritical podcast already. You should give it a listen. He explains why it's a poor strategic move on Apple's part (but without the I hate Apple vibe you'll get from me)

What's the process?

Your comment about kids is hilarious though. Unless you're a non-profit, no one really cares about the kids, going by that logic.

[macuser1of5]

Go right now and drop your iPad on a tile floor.

Tear a page out of an iBook.

[AlexMogil]

*sigh* 1.) kids won't be able to install rogue apps. 2.) disabling wifi kills the only remaining avenue to do anything unproductive with the default apps on an iPad outside of doodling or something.

There are lots of ways to restrict app usage on an iPad. There are security tools available from Apple and there are app restrictions available out of the box. You can hide nearly every app the device comes with. There are also auditing and remote wipe tools available.

[hyp]

this sure makes kindle and PDF ebooks seem outdated. embrace the future folks, apple owns your children,

[Greyface]

I’m generally ignorant of epub tech so I’m curious how they could have expanded epub to do what they want and keep it platform agnostic. stuff like the touchable, interactive timelines, 3D objects and all that. What would have been involved in getting this done? Because all that interactive stuff is the actual selling point of using these over regular books (or e-ink versions of paper texts)

What's the process? Your comment about kids is hilarious though. Unless you're a non-profit, no one really cares about the kids, going by that logic.

Apple's already done this before; Apple added a proprietary extension last year when they implemented fixed-layout ePubs. I'm didn't say that Apple's extensions should immediately work on Sony's Android tablet. But at the very least the files should fail gracefully on other platforms and there should be dialogue so everybody can get up to speed if the new stuff is folded into the standard. Apple is obviously not interested in that for their iBook textbook thingie.

@giga hypocrisy has been Gruber's buzzword for the past year :P. I believe there are ways to make profit while caring for kids. It's also possible to offer products, implement features and make profit while not caring about a particular demographic. One could argue that Jobs did exactly this with gamers even as the iOS devices blew up as gaming machines. Moreover, few other companies use rhetoric like Apple does (intersection of liberal arts and technology). The language at the Education event was sickeningly sweet.

[disappeared]

It certainly is a brave new world.

[giga]

Apple's already done this before; Apple added a proprietary extension last year when they implemented fixed-layout ePubs. I'm didn't say that Apple's extensions should immediately work on Sony's Android tablet. But at the very least the files should fail gracefully on other platforms and there should be dialogue so everybody can get up to speed if the new stuff is folded into the standard. Apple is obviously not interested in that for their iBook textbook thingie. @giga hypocrisy has been Gruber's buzzword for the past year :P. I believe there are ways to make profit while caring for kids. It's also possible to offer products, implement features and make profit while not caring about a particular demographic. One could argue that Jobs did exactly this with gamers even as the iOS devices blew up as gaming machines. Moreover, few other companies use rhetoric like Apple does (intersection of liberal arts and technology). The language at the Education event was sickeningly sweet.

Those fixed layout ePubs in iBooks 1.2 didn't work properly in other ereaders either. The whole point of a fixed layout is to keep the placement of objects and text on the page. What good would a fixed layout book be if it didn't conform to that?

They looked at a market that needed help and innovation (children's textbooks), and provided new option for publishers in that market. Better textbooks at lower costs are helping kids and education, no matter how you'd like to spin it. At the same time, they also saw that they themselves could benefit from it through increased Mac, iPad, and iBookstore sales. Most of the time, Apple doesn't want to help their competitors in any way possible and I've come to expect that so maybe that's why I'm so unfazed by the fact that it doesn't output standard ePubs.

We know the technical limitations of ePubs and we know that Apple wanted to go beyond that. They're not going to wait for the market. I don't care about whatever language they used and try to overanalyze their motives. I do know that they're a publicly traded company that has self-interests just as any other public company would--so expectations that they're angels isn't even in my thought process.

Have you had a chance to look at KF8 and its publishing tools? How does it compare? Why does Amazon insist on using proprietary formats as well?

[Kinitari]

Would anyone be surprised if an open source tool that allowed you to export ePubs into rich iBook formatted books or just regular epubs that work on anything, appeared within the next few months?

[LCfiner]

Apple's already done this before; Apple added a proprietary extension last year when they implemented fixed-layout ePubs. I'm didn't say that Apple's extensions should immediately work on Sony's Android tablet. But at the very least the files should fail gracefully on other platforms and there should be dialogue so everybody can get up to speed if the new stuff is folded into the standard. Apple is obviously not interested in that for their iBook textbook thingie. @giga hypocrisy has been Gruber's buzzword for the past year :P. I believe there are ways to make profit while caring for kids. It's also possible to offer products, implement features and make profit while not caring about a particular demographic. One could argue that Jobs did exactly this with gamers even as the iOS devices blew up as gaming machines. Moreover, few other companies use rhetoric like Apple does (intersection of liberal arts and technology). The language at the Education event was sickeningly sweet.

I can’t help but feel that you continue to expect Apple to do things that they have historically never done and shown no interest in doing and that is why you continue to feel disappointed or upset with them.

There was never a chance Apple was going to reinvent ebook publishing for the entire textbook industry, free of charge. that’s not the business they’re in. They did show off some cool tools to make interesting books for their platform. the tools are free, but the buy-in into the platform is not. Sounds about right.

Frankly, I think it’s good enough (for now) that you can give away the fancy interactive books for free anywhere, no restrictions, or export as PDF and distribute anywhere, basically using ibooks author as a more robust pages/keynote publishing tool.

As for the textbooks business. If the flashy interactive ebooks are a success and people want them more than normal books enough to buy into iPads, Apple’s bet pays off. If no one gives a crap about rotating molecules in Biology I, then it won’t really have any effect at all.

I can’t really get excited or depressed or angry by the news. It just seemed like typical Apple to me. I never expected anything more from this announcement.

[giga]

I can’t help but feel that you continue to expect Apple to do things that they have historically never done and shown no interest in doing and that is why you continue to feel disappointed or upset with them. There was never a chance Apple was going to reinvent ebook publishing for the entire textbook industry, free of charge. that’s not the business they’re in. They did show off some cool tools to make interesting books for their platform. the tools are free, but the buy-in into the platform is not. Sounds about right. Frankly, I think it’s good enough (for now) that you can give away the fancy interactive books for free anywhere, no restrictions, or export as PDF and distribute anywhere, basically using ibooks author as a more robust pages/keynote publishing tool. As for the textbooks business. If the flashy interactive ebooks are a success and people want them more than normal books enough to buy into iPads, Apple’s bet pays off. If no one gives a crap about rotating molecules in Biology I, then it won’t really have any effect at all. I can’t really get excited or depressed or angry by the news. It just seemed like typical Apple to me. I never expected anything more from this announcement.

Bingo. I'm sure they could have made "ePub Author" and charged $50 for it. But making big bucks off software isn't Apple's business anymore. That's an Adobe and Microsoft game.

[Loki]

Barnes & Noble's Nook Study app does most of this stuff, and has been around for a year and a half already. It's really fantastic:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy/index.asp

Only for PC/Mac at the moment, though. Wonder if they plan on bringing it to the Nook Tablet/Color - the touch functionality would be great for it, and that's Apple's real advantage here. None of the platform-specific mandates that Apple is apparently forcing on authors/publishers, either.

[Jason Raize '75 - '04]

Has anyone here made a book yet?

[Good Job Bob]

Barnes & Noble's Nook Study app does most of this stuff, and has been around for a year and a half already. It's really fantastic: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/nookstudy/index.asp Only for PC/Mac at the moment, though. Wonder if they plan on bringing it to the Nook Tablet/Color - the touch functionality would be great for it, and that's Apple's real advantage here. None of the platform-specific mandates that Apple is apparently forcing on authors/publishers, either.

Meh..

[Tobor]

Has anyone here made a book yet?

I loaded a sample and saved it to check out the exporting. I haven't had time to get into it more than that.

[Greyface]

Those fixed layout ePubs in iBooks 1.2 didn't work properly in other ereaders either. The whole point of a fixed layout is to keep the placement of objects and text on the page. What good would a fixed layout book be if it didn't conform to that? They looked at a market that needed help and innovation (children's textbooks), and provided new option for publishers in that market. Better textbooks at lower costs are helping kids and education, no matter how you'd like to spin it. At the same time, they also saw that they themselves could benefit from it through increased Mac, iPad, and iBookstore sales. Most of the time, Apple doesn't want to help their competitors in any way possible and I've come to expect that so maybe that's why I'm so unfazed by the fact that it doesn't output standard ePubs. We know the technical limitations of ePubs and we know that Apple wanted to go beyond that. They're not going to wait for the market. I don't care about whatever language they used and try to overanalyze their motives. I do know that they're a publicly traded company that has self-interests just as any other public company would--so expectations that they're angels isn't even in my thought process. Have you had a chance to look at KF8 and its publishing tools? How does it compare? Why does Amazon insist on using proprietary formats as well?

I can’t help but feel that you continue to expect Apple to do things that they have historically never done and shown no interest in doing and that is why you continue to feel disappointed or upset with them. There was never a chance Apple was going to reinvent ebook publishing for the entire textbook industry, free of charge. that’s not the business they’re in. They did show off some cool tools to make interesting books for their platform. the tools are free, but the buy-in into the platform is not. Sounds about right. Frankly, I think it’s good enough (for now) that you can give away the fancy interactive books for free anywhere, no restrictions, or export as PDF and distribute anywhere, basically using ibooks author as a more robust pages/keynote publishing tool. As for the textbooks business. If the flashy interactive ebooks are a success and people want them more than normal books enough to buy into iPads, Apple’s bet pays off. If no one gives a crap about rotating molecules in Biology I, then it won’t really have any effect at all. I can’t really get excited or depressed or angry by the news. It just seemed like typical Apple to me. I never expected anything more from this announcement.

Bingo. I'm sure they could have made "ePub Author" and charged $50 for it. But making big bucks off software isn't Apple's business anymore. That's an Adobe and Microsoft game.

First off, GTFO with that "overanalyze" shit. This amount of commentary is typical for any Apple event.

Apple continues to aim to make big bucks over software although it's clearly not their primary business model. They might no longer target the premium end of the market like Adobe nor segment the market to extract the most profit like Microsoft but, by reducing the price and advertising the products to a wider audience, Apple can make just as much, if not more, on volume. Then there's that 30%...

Nobody demanded, or even expected, that iBooks Author would be free. That's a nice bonus. The leaks said that it would be the "Garageband of eBooks". Garageband isn't exactly free. So one has to wonder why Apple chose to go this route. Making the tool free wouldn't be unusual for Apple. Xcode has usually been free (until more recently when Apple started charging for it in some contexts) and Apple didn't demand that every commercial app created with it must undergo the Apple tax (except for recent case of iOS apps). Apple released Safari for free and even released a version on Windows as well. If education is in Apple's DNA (their words not mine), and they believe accessible textbooks are important then why can't they treat it like the web? Or simply like iTunes U that other initiative that Apple pushed further during the Education event (and that I've lauded elsewhere). I don't see Apple demanding a cut of the tuition fees** because they are providing the infrastructure for iTunes U. The restrictions on iBooks Author are unprecedented. Apple is a self-interested company, yes, with a history of control issues but they've managed to make billions without putting this restriction on Garageband (or Pages which was the first tool for making ebooks for iBooks). Not everything Apple does has to be at the expense of their competitors. This move is cutting off their nose to spite their face.

I also don't believe it was unreasonable to have expected that iBooks Author would be more than a restricted tool for creating .ibooks textbooks. The leaks said "Garageband for ebooks" which implied a unrestricted tool for creating the data in industry standard format. During the Apple event itself Schiller said "authors are going to love to use iBooks Author to create not only textbooks but any kind of book: cookbook, travel book, storybook--you can create any kind of interactive book with iBooks Author". In his closing summary, he described iBooks Author as "a free Mac application to make it simple to create interactive books". You can't blame people for checking out the application, discovering that Apple oversold it, and then being disappointed.

I haven't looked too closely at the KF8 and its publishing tools. From my superficial observations it appears to have decent layout options (one commenter claims that it's better than ePub) but none of the interactive widgets that should be possible in .ibooks and ePub3. ePub3 is hard to evaluate as there isn't any device that supports it right now. Both ePub3 and KF8 should offer more layout options for differenr types of boks than .ibooks does. Amazon does have some cool stuff though, like that x-ray feature and KF8 supports the panel view for comic books. Amazon went with .mobi/.amz in '05 because there wasn't really anything like ePub available back then. In the following years though there has been no good reason not to add support for ePub (especially considering Amazon added support for other formats like PDFs and .docx). The proprietary format is about having control, like Apple does over their products and like Microsoft had in the heyday of their monopoly years. I don't get what the rush is for these new formats. Apple was willing to kick Flash to curb and wait years, and is still waiting, for HTML5 to mature but they can't wait a few months for ePub3?! Whoever controls the standard format has immense power and I guess Apple has that in their sights. This is the point of no return really; it was possible, yet tiresome, to convert text and formatting between the various eBook formats but it'll be practically impossible to convert 'books' with all the gestures, games and goals, between .ibooks, KF8 and ePub3. I don't approve of Amazon either and personally don't buy books from the Kindle store. On the rare exceptions I treat it like a rental (even after striping the DRM). I was previously partial to Apple but now it's a much harder choice. Amazon at least has a commitment to providing their client on all platforms, not just the hardware they make a profit on, and their DRM is currently broken. I'll stick to buying physical books, PDFs and ePubs until I have no other options. I feel strongly about books, more so than I do music, games, movies, apps etc. Deiter Bohn at the Verge expounds on some of the reasons why books are so important.

**Apple isn't demanding a cut of tuition fees but they are demanding that an ibook file sold be done through their store. My professors in university occasionally had some bundled materials for the class which they sold through the campus bookstore or from their office. It wasn't near the high prices of the textbooks but it wasn't free either (I doubt the price was near enough to cover the amount of time spent on it). Apple will probably want their cut of that as well if it goes through the iTunes U. I don't think iTunes U can link to ePubs, someone correct me if I wrong. I think one of the reasons Apple is so intent on charging for .ibooks is so publishers of magazines, newspapers etc don't use it to circumvent the Apple tax like they most certainly would have done once ePub3 was widely supported and proved itself capable. It'll be interesting to see if Apple ever adds support for ePub3. What do you think giga? Can/Will Apple support both?

[Good Job Bob]

Apple has cleared up the EULA:

If you want to charge a fee for a work that includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, you may only sell or distribute such work through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate agreement with Apple. This restriction does not apply to the content of such works when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format.

via http://thenextweb.com/apple/2012/02/...s-in-its-eula/

[Clayton Bigsby]

That is what most rational people assumed was the case anyways. The wild speculation about this was quite hilarious.

[krypt0nian]

That is what most rational people assumed was the case anyways. The wild speculation about this was quite hilarious.

kurtrussel

Nuff said.

[Clayton Bigsby]

kurtrussel Nuff said.

I actively avoid his threads.

[Pristine_Condition]

Much clearer now:

B. Distribution of Works Generated Using the iBooks Author Software. As a condition of this License and provided you are in compliance with its terms, works generated using iBooks Author may be distributed as follows: (i) if the work is provided for free (at no charge), you may distribute it by any means; (ii) if the work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service) and includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, the work may only be distributed through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary); provided, however, that this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author. You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format generated by iBooks Author.

[Sentry]

Incredibly hilarious how anyone could have thought they meant anything other than that. Jesus, what a fucking meltdown over nothing. People sure do love cherry picking these days, esp. against Apple.

[Jason Raize '75 - '04]

How do you find books created with the iBooks author in the iBook store?

[Greyface]

Creating pop-up footnotes in EPUB 3 (and thus in iBooks)

Apple sent around an email today announcing that EPUB 3 is now supported by iBooks and the iBookstore. It also tantalizingly suggested that EPUB 3 supports pop-up footnotes and said you could find information in the EPUB 3 spec on the IDPF website. The first part is true, and the second part is sort of true... ... And thanks to Apple for adding this functionality... and hinting that it existed so I could figure it out! I love, love, love that Apple totally followed the standard on this one: supporting symantically marked footnotes, and then "associating specialized behaviors" as the spec directs. No extra CSS or Javascript required. Well played, Apple. OK, there are now two desktop EPUB 3 readers, and iBooks and the iBookstore have officially announced support as well. And there are pop-up footnotes. What are you waiting for to start creating EPUB 3 ebooks?

Now when's the fixed format support coming?

[Buckethead]

I don't know what that means but I already love iBooks, so if they're making it better I'm all for it.

Hopefully they'll make the UI a little more intuitive though.

[trudderham]

Well, I finally got my interactive iBook published after a month's work and a three month back-and-forth with Apple.

Here it is:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ipad...13386837?mt=11

It's called iPad Interactive Guide.

It jumped to number 4 in the Computer Charts in it's first day on-sale. How many copies did it sell to get there? 12.

[Socreges]

Are you guys being purposefully obtuse? An iPad is more portable than a bag full of textbooks, even just one textbook in most cases. Pretty simple to visualise in your head that this is true. For once someone called out how abysmal textbooks are for studying.

Purposefully? You write like someone who was raised by digital media.

[Sentry]

Purposefully? You write like someone who was raised by digital media.

What does that even mean?

[Treefingers]

Purposefully? You write like someone who was raised by digital media.

No I'm just someone who's gone through school with textbooks and know how shitty they are.

I don't get what you're saying though.

[giga]

It'll be interesting to see if Apple ever adds support for ePub3. What do you think giga? Can/Will Apple support both?

Yes, I think they will.

Now when's the fixed format support coming?

Already there: http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/20...t-epub-on.html

[Greyface]

Well, I finally got my interactive iBook published after a month's work and a three month back-and-forth with Apple. Here it is: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/ipad...13386837?mt=11 It's called iPad Interactive Guide. It jumped to number 4 in the Computer Charts in it's first day on-sale. How many copies did it sell to get there? 12.

There was some disillusionment after iBooks Author was released
Writer Shoo Rayner: Why iBooks Will Fail

Writer and artist Shoo Rayner was so enthusiastic about iBooks Author that not only was he one of the first to do a book for it, he also did a YouTube video about creating it, which I embedded in a prior post. Now reality has set in and having been exposed to The Apple Method, he has lost his enthusiasm for publishing another iBook again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J5Tpihnp4E ...

Yes, I think they will. Already there: http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/20...t-epub-on.html

Good call but iBooks support for ePub3 fixed layout (with all the bells and whistles) isn't official... yet.

Edit: some of the features Apple isn't supporting yet

I spent yesterday evening playing with Epub3 demo files, and it turns out iBooks still doesn’t completely support the new standard. Several of the demo files didn’t work, including one which was supposed to include a quiz widget. iBooks also failed to display the MathML demo correctly; that is in fact one of the core requirements so if it doesn’t work then the format arguably isn’t supported.