Apple’s iBooks Author app isn’t just about making your ebook look better. The layout, font and organizational tools are very useful when it comes to making an impressive ePUB title, but they pale in comparison to the options made available from the Widgets menu. This integral part of the iBooks Author platform offers a number of solutions to make your iBook unique and display information and media in new and exciting ways.
Creating ebooks in iBooks Author is all about their interactivity.
In this tutorial we’ll be taking a look at adding an interactive image to your book that, when applied correctly, is ideal for viewing on the iPad. Rather than look at static diagrams and pictures in a traditional print book, the iPad and iBooks Author allow you to make your media engaging, with readers able to literally reach out and touch your content. An interactive image can be used for a number of reasons in an ebook, from explaining a diagram (like the human body in our example), pointing out locations on a map or simply showing sections of an image in more detail. The Interactive Image widget allows you to use any graphic you may have on your Mac and add as many focus points as you need. The reader can then tap on individual labels to zoom into that section of the image and read a full description. Like in a Keynote presentation, you will need to set the default position of your image and the individual zoom points, which takes some practice to master but is easy when you know how. Fortunately, iBooks Author’s iPad preview feature makes it easy to check your interactive image and make sure everything looks the way it should. In this tutorial we’ll show you how to add an Interactive Image to your book and select points to focus on when a reader taps a specific label on the image.
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