How do you create footnotes in iBook Author?

I have just today completed the first draft of my analysis of footnotes and endnotes in iBooks Author. It can be read here. Comments and suggestions are most welcome.

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Answer 4

Apr 24, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Frank Lowney

Thank you for the thoughtful analysis of the footnote problem. I have a comment on "Readers will see clearly labeled hyperlinked text that will not only alert them as to the presence of an author note but will also indicate the nature of the information it contains." I believe we need to be able to switch on or off these visual cues. What may be critical to the advanced reader may be a nuisance to the average reader.

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Answer 5

Apr 24, 2015 4:36 PM in response to sidekick1981

sidekick1981 wrote:

Thank you for the thoughtful analysis of the footnote problem. I have a comment on "Readers will see clearly labeled hyperlinked text that will not only alert them as to the presence of an author note but will also indicate the nature of the information it contains." I believe we need to be able to switch on or off these visual cues. What may be critical to the advanced reader may be a nuisance to the average reader.

Agreed. If Apple were to make author notes a new kind of hyperlink, authors would choose whatever text string they felt was appropriate to their audience. An author could establish a simple convention such as "[NOTE]" for all author notes or a more complex scheme. It is the author who is responsible for knowing their audience and composing accordingly. We just need a little help from our friends at Apple to be able to do that better.

BTW, I noticed that superscripted text that is subsequently hyperlinked returns to regular text. However, if we hyperlink a bit of text, deselect it and the re-select and superscript it (Format > Font > Baseline > Superscript), the superscripting sticks. Sometimes it is the order in which things are done.

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