Creating Multitouch, Multimedia iBooks

with iBooks Author

Facilitated by Greg Marten

greg dot marten at lisd dot us

Educational Technologist / Director REMC 19W

Lenawee Intermediate School District, Adrian, MI

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What makes a great (i)Book?

How are iBooks different from other e-books or traditional books?

�Do you have a favorite iBook?

Share samples...

What makes your favorite great?

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Apple claims, “Building a book is as easy as dragging and dropping.”

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This is accurate to a degree, but truly interactive features require a bit more work.

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iBooks Author - two considerations

• iBooks Author only runs on newer Macs
• Creating engaging iBooks can be very time consuming, especially if
• you are creating most of your own media pieces for inclusion in the iBook (drafting text, creating custom images, videos, etc.)
• the scope of your e-book project is wide or broad

iBooks Author - requirements

Latest version: 2.0 released Oct. 23, 2012

To download and install iBooks Author you need:

1) A Mac computer running OS 10.7.2 or later (which includes access to the Mac App Store)

2) iTunes 10.5

3) A free Apple ID

4) iBooks 3 on an iPad to preview

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5 min. video tutorial on installing, finding, launching iBooks Author from Mac Pro Video: http://play.macprovideo.com/ibooksauthor101-ibooks-author-explored/6

iBooks Author - continued

Some of the v.2 updates include:

• Custom fonts
• More templates (landscape and portrait)
• Support for math expressions/notations (LaTeX or MathML)
• Improved embedded audio
• Auto sample book creation

Understanding & planning

Defining base media

Media that can be included in iBooks Author:

• Text (regular, hyperlinked, mathematical expressions)
• Images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png)
• Video/animation (.m4v, .mov)
• Audio (.m4a, .aac, .caf)
• 3D objects (Collada .dae file format, common format in 3D software like Sketch Up and Photoshop)

Defining iBooks widgets

Widgets (Interactives):

Interactivity features that are possible in iBooks briefly described: http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/gallery.html

• Gallery
• Media (video, audio)
• Review (quizzes)
• Keynote presentations embedded
• Interactive image
• 3D objects (requires .dae files which can be obtained from Google SketchUp)
• Scrolling sidebars
• Pop-overs (pop-ups) on images
• HTML5 modules (made with Dashcode software)

See widgets overview: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2789

Video tutorial on Widgets and Layouts �(start at 3:38 to see info on 7 types of widgets)

Video by Jeremy Kemp, San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science

The Future of eBooks? Widgets?

Third party developers are making new widgets (html5 files) that can be customized & included in iBooks.

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See Bookry

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Implications:

New functions including communications, more interactivity, tracking usage, data collection... What are the impacts on privacy?

Defining iBook elements

iBook Elements

• Title
• Intro Media
• Table of Contents
• Glossary
• Chapters, Sections, Pages

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Read descriptions: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2748

credit: Apple Inc. iBooks Author Help

Planning your iBook - Keys to success

• What is your goal for creating an iBook?
• Draft a plan or list that outlines what media will be needed to help you reach your goal.
• Storyboard your book’s pages to show what media each page contains including widgets.
• Determine how you will use the iBook Elements. �More info: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2748

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Starting to Author

Getting to know the iBooks Author User Interface

Let's start together with a few basics

then branch out toward our own interests

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Getting started with Authoring

Super overview & help from U of WI Eau Claire

http://www.uwec.edu/Help/campus/ibooks.htm

�Note: See the info on Book Information Pane and Toolbars

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More about iBooks Author Inspector

Inspector = A window with settings which allows you to fine tune or format how a selected text, object or widget behaves.

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Read Apple's support page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2829?viewlocale=en_US

Tutorial: Creating a review (quiz) widget in iBooks Author

Video by Greg Marten, Educational Technologist, Lenawee Intermediate School District

Publishing Free iBooks

“iBooks Author walks you through a step-by-step process to help you submit your book to iBookstore for purchase or free download. iBooks Author will even create a sample book for readers to preview, based on your chapter of choice. And to keep your work current, add updates by publishing new versions of your original title. iBooks will automatically notify your readers that there’s a new version of your book ready to download.” - Apple Help

Publishing Free iBooks

iBookstore publishing overview from iBook Author Help:

“You can submit your book for publication on the iBookstore, or export it in a variety of formats and distribute it yourself. Before you can publish to the iBookstore, you need to do the following:

• Get an Apple ID (a user name you can use to shop the iTunes Store, log in to iCloud, and more). If you don’t have an Apple ID or aren’t sure if you have one, go to the My Apple ID website.
• Sign up for a Free Books Account. You can sign up during the publishing process (after you click Publish). Signing up for an account is free.
• Free Books Account: If you are going to offer only books for free, create a Free Books Account. If you create a Free Books Account and decide to sell books, you need to create a Paid Books Account.
• Download iTunes Producer, the application you use to deliver your book to the iBookstore. You can download iTunes Producer for free as part of the publishing process."

How might you use iBooks Author?

• Teacher-created iBooks for students
• Cells, Civil Rights, Circuits, etc.
• Student-created iBooks
• Portfolios, sci lab books, original stories, etc.
• Omnibus or compendium of student work
• iBooks for district PR or communication
• Class yearbook
• More...

Other resources + Q & A

Thank you for attending

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Greg Marten

Educational Technologist / Director REMC 19W

Lenawee ISD, Adrian, MI

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