What's new in iBooks Author

Learn about the latest features of iBooks Author.

What's new in iBooks Author 2.4

• ePub templates now support the Pop-Over widget

• Minor usability improvements to the ePub templates

What's new in iBooks Author 2.3

• iBooks for iPhone now supports books made with iBooks Author

• Create Multi-Touch books using new ePub templates

What's new in iBooks Author 2.2

• Moving existing ePub and InDesign content to iBooks Author is easier than ever.

• Create a new Multi-Touch book from your ePub file, and the text will automatically flow into a template of your choosing.

• Import your Adobe InDesign file, and iBooks Author will keep the layouts and styles that you set in InDesign.

New Blank templates for truly personalizing your book's design

• You can have complete control over the look and feel of your book, from start to finish.

More options for hyperlinks

• Link to a specific chapter, section, or page from anywhere in your book.

• Link from an image.

• Link to a specific part of your book from anywhere, even outside of iBooks Author.

• Learn more about links in iBooks Author.

Set your widgets to play directly on the page

• Media, Keynote, and HTML widgets can now play in place on the page of your book.

• Widgets can also be set to auto-play on the page when your readers reach that page in the book.

Additional Apple-designed templates

• iBooks Author includes new Landscape with Portrait and Portrait Only templates.

What's new in iBooks Author 2.0

Create new gorgeous portrait-only books

• iBooks Author now supports portrait-only books with complete control of layout.

• Starting with a Portrait Only template enables creation of books in fixed portrait orientation, and the orientation switching UI will be disabled in iBooks Author.

• Instead of using the text flow format of a landscape book in portrait orientation, portrait-only books provide the same navigation, table of contents, and interaction as would be available to a landscape book in landscape orientation.

Embed custom fonts into books for complete control over text appearance

• Support for TrueType (.ttf) and OpenType (.otf) fonts.

• Font files are obfuscated (protected) when they are written into the iBooks file on publish or export.

• The author or publisher must secure appropriate rights to the fonts used (in keeping with similar rights for use of images, text, and media).

• Learn more about using custom fonts in iBooks Author.

Add even more interactivity with new Scrolling Sidebar and Pop-Over widgets

• This release adds two new Multi-Touch widgets, the Scrolling Sidebar and the Pop-Over.

• Scrolling Sidebar provides a vertically scrolling region that may contain text and images larger than the initially defined area. Readers may scroll through this region to read the enclosed content.

• The Pop-Over widget provides a custom image that acts as a trigger to display a scrolling region similar to the Scrolling Sidebar. The Pop-Over may also contain text and graphics.

Support for mathematical expressions

• Authors can insert sophisticated mathematical expressions using LaTeX and MathML notation.

• Equations are beautifully rendered directly in iBooks Author.

• Invalid LaTeX and MathML expressions are flagged.

• Authors can also use MathType 6.7d (and later) as an external equation editor with round-trip editing support.

• Learn more about using LaTeX and MathML in iBooks Author.

Automatic optimization of media for iPad

• iBooks Author now supports all media formats supported by QuickTime.

• Media files are automatically optimized to meet the requirements for video and audio on iPad.

• Optimization is triggered when a media file or Keynote file containing a media file is added.

• Media files are optimized one at a time. If you add multiple files, they are queued while awaiting optimization. Book editing may continue while optimization progresses.

• Files are compressed to reduce file size without compromising quality.

• Movies are placed in .m4v containers, and audio files are placed in .m4p containers.

• Learn more about using media files in iBooks Author.

Improved support for embedded audio including custom play image

• iBooks Author now supports all audio formats supported by QuickTime.

• Audio file playback is possible through three interaction models:

  • iBooks Author can provide a scrubber bar.

  • iBooks Author can display a play/pause button.

  • The author can supply a custom play/pause image. Only one image may be supplied (not different images for play and pause).

Improved publishing workflow

• iBooks Author leads the author through a series of screens to ensure a simpler publishing process.

• iBooks Author checks the book for errors before exporting it for iTunes Producer.

• Authors are presented with the option to automatically create a sample book based on a selected chapter.

Version numbering for books

• Authors must enter a new version number when publishing an update to a book already available on the iBooks Store.

• Authors must enter a version number when exporting a book.

• Authors may not enter a version number when exporting a book as a sample.

• About the Version Number:

  • iBooks Author supplies a default version number of 1.0.

  • The version number is displayed with the book on the iBooks Store.

• About the Version Number format:

  • Use dot-separated integers, with a maximum of two dots, three components, and four integers per component. For example: 1111.1111.1111

  • Initial zeros are ignored. 1.01 is read as 1.1

  • 1.10 is considered larger than 1.9.

  • Letters are not permitted.

• Readers upgrading to a new version of a book will have highlights, notes, and bookmarks preserved in the new version.

Enhanced to take advantage of the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro

• iBooks Author takes full advantage of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, providing a wonderful experience with vivid graphics and sharp text.

Additional Apple-designed templates

• iBooks Author includes new Landscape with Portrait and Portrait Only templates.