After updating to iBooks 2.1 all the text in my book is gone?

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Level 1

5 points

After updating to iBooks 2.1 all the text in my book is gone?

I have a book on the iBookstore <http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/some-secrets-should-never/id502402365?mt=11&uo=4>. All was fine till the iBooks 2.1 update. After updating all the text has disappeared in landscape mode. Working fine in portrait.

It was authored in IBA 1.0 but I just updated to 1.1 to see if the text returned after updating and previewing it. No go still broken. Not sure where to start.

To be clear:

Worked fine with IBA1.0 and iBooks 2.0. Updated iBooks to 2.1 and it broke. My customers will be experiencing the same issue. Those that update will get their books broken... :-(

Posted on Mar 8, 2012 5:58 PM

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Answer 1

Fabe

Level 3

622 points

Mar 8, 2012 6:03 PM in response to boltthecolt1

Is it possible that for some unknown reason the text is behind the graphics? Can you do a select all on a page and see if it is hiding? - Fabe

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Answer 2

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 6:33 PM in response to Fabe

Good idea but sorry that was not the answer. I deleted the graphic and repreviewed. The text disapears. It looks fine in IBA. It is only an issue with iBooks 2.1 on the iPad.

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Answer 3

Fabe

Level 3

622 points

Mar 8, 2012 6:35 PM in response to boltthecolt1

Are you using a unsupported font?

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Answer 4

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Mar 8, 2012 6:35 PM in response to boltthecolt1

We had another iBA user here recently that had disappearing text in a certain case.

In your case, you may want to reinstall iBooks on your iPad and see if that helps.

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Answer 5

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 6:43 PM in response to Fabe

Another good idea but no cigar. :-( Thanks for trying though. I'm usin standard fonts only.

Georgia and Helvetica.

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Answer 6

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:07 PM in response to K T

Thank you for your suggestion. I tried it, deleted and reinstalled but same problem.

I also note that the text exists when you first load the preview. As in when you click the preview button, the same page that you have in IBA eventually comes up on the iPad in iBooks, the text is there for a split second. The page fully loads and the text pops off.

Also if you 'scrunch' the page off and see the thumbnails along the bottom, the text is visable? If you click on the thumbnail, it goes full screen and as soon as it does the text pops off.

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Answer 7

Fabe

Level 3

622 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:09 PM in response to boltthecolt1

Could the problem have something to do with inline and anchored graphics? - Fabe

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Answer 8

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:14 PM in response to Fabe

Thanks Fabe.

I don't have any inline graphics that I can remember. It is a childrens picture book. Every page is a full page image as the background with smallish multiple text boxes ontop of that. The text is a single linked chain. Every page has its own template as the text boxes are never in the same location twice.

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Answer 9

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:16 PM in response to boltthecolt1

> As in when you click the preview button, the same page that you have in IBA eventually comes up on the iPad in iBooks, the text is there for a split second. The page fully loads and the text pops off.

ummm....that sounds like the default animation that occurs when the old preview is closed and the new one comes up. But if the newest preview is acting like that I think something is going on with your device/iOS/iBooks 2 and you need to test on another device to know for sure.

In any case, it sounds like the text is there, but something is going on with the font or the color. What can you tell us about those attributes in the case? Sorry if I missed it...did you test with another book and find the same thing, by any chance...

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Answer 10

Fabe

Level 3

622 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:17 PM in response to boltthecolt1

I don't have any inline graphics that I can remember.

Right. I saw the sample on its iTunes page. It looks great. What I was wondering is, does the graphic have a setting from the inspector that is affecting the text boxes. A little reversed from usual. - Fabe

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Answer 11

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 7:49 PM in response to K T

Thanks KT and Fabe

More info. I just tested on another device iPad 2 this time, previously iPad 1. Both at iBooks 2.1. Same result in both cases unfortunately. Our customers are going to be seeing this. :-(

I tried another book on the original iPad and it seems ok but it is not my book (only have one) and the workflow would have been different for sure.

I'll start playing with the attributes on the image/text boxes and see what I can find.

thanks again,

Mark

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Answer 12

Mar 8, 2012 10:08 PM in response to boltthecolt1

Hi,

I downloaded the sample (using ibooks 2.0)

Beautiful book, great illustrations.

I'm not sure why you used a different template for each page

you can use a single template and move the text boxes around for each page.

Also I noticed that the backgrounds appear in the widget column in portrait mode.

are the backgrounds widgets? or single images? this seems strange.

Also you could use text boxes instead of The flowing text.

I'm about to upgrade to ibooks 2.1 to see what happens...

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Answer 13

Mar 8, 2012 10:35 PM in response to boltthecolt1

yes, in 2.1 the font disappears,

it is there for a second then poof it is gone.

When you test/preview on your ipad the same thing happens? Or is it only when the book is downloaded from itunes?

How are you getting the backgrounds to appear in the portrait widget column?

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Answer 14

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 10:39 PM in response to Barnheisel

Thanks so much for going to so much trouble on my behalf Barnheisel. 🙂

To be honest I don't remember why I made the decisions I did. It was a week of pain as I ran into limitation after limitation while trying to put this thing together using a 1.0 product. Because I was doing odd things I ran into some really odd bugs. Clearly IBA was not designed to do what I was trying to do so it was from my perspecive hack after hack. There were reasons for what I did but they may have been based on misunderstandings as I fought to get my head round IBA.

For example I seem to remember it had to be one text chain to get the text to appear in portrait mode. Text just entered into a text box did not display in portrait mode. Maybe there is a way to do it but at the time I could not find it. All other weird decsions where like that.

I wanted the images to appear in portrait mode and that was the only way I could find to achieve it.

I am keen to see what you find out when you update to 2.1. Is there anyway I can get back to 2.0 for testing now that I have upgraded?

thanks again,

Mark

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Answer 15

boltthecolt1 Author

Level 1

5 points

Mar 8, 2012 10:47 PM in response to Barnheisel

Q. When you test/preview on your ipad the same thing happens? Or is it only when the book is downloaded from itunes?.

A. It happens only on the iPad and it happens to the purchased book when downloaded and when you use it to preview from IBA. It does not happen in IBA.

How are you getting the backgrounds to appear in the portrait widget column?

Not sure of the terminology but if you open the Inspector pallet and go to the end icon (gear thing) and enable "Caption" then delete the latin text that appears you get the end result I wanted.

thanks again,

Mark

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