Preview Update Bug? (+ iBooks 2 textbook font options)

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Level 2

403 points

Preview Update Bug? (+ iBooks 2 textbook font options)

Two related questions:

1) Is anyone else getting a situation where after you preview your book several times (10 or more in a session), if you change the master chapter or section layout, at some point the previewed text gets really small? I am trying 14-18 pt font sizes in the body text and when previewed on the iPad (2 or 3) it looks closer to 10pt. I have tried clearing the previewed book off my iPads, disconnecting and re-connecting, changing the fonts again, saving and then previewing but I can't get the body text to look anything close to the size I've created.

2) ...which leads me to: I don't see any options in iBooks 2 for users of iBA books to change the font size. Is this what everyone else sees or do you have font sizing options like in regular (ePub) iBooks?

My understanding is we're creating "fixed font" layouts with this app so whatever we preview it at and then publish it, that's what the reader will see (and without option of changing the font size). Is this correct?

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Mac OS X (10.7.3), 14GB RAM, Radeon 5770

Posted on Apr 9, 2012 1:11 PM

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Answer 1

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Apr 9, 2012 1:23 PM in response to Dan-o

The font size options don't seem to work on Preview from iBA.

A 'Shared' / exported book via iBA (.ibooks file type), does allow that menu to control font size, however.

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Answer 2

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:12 PM in response to K T

I might be missing something: Two things still true after I Export the book, drag it to iTunes, then to the iPad

1) The font still looks way too small

2) I can't find a font control anywhere in iBooks with this type of book.

I have from left to right in the control bar:

Library, TOC/Glossary, Notes, Brightness, Search, Bookmark

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Answer 3

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:19 PM in response to K T

Another problem that may be happening is that the "Apply Changes" button that pops up when you alter the format or fonts of a master layout, may not be working... some paragraphs used different styles like bullets appear not to have been updated. Here was my process:

1. Create master layout

2. Add said layout to a chapter

3. Start populating with text

4. Modifying some text

5. Modifying layout

6. Apply layout changes

... but much of it didn't seem to change. Is there a way we can highlight a chapter / section / text box and tell iBA to "revert all the copy in this part of the document to what is in the master layout"?

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Answer 4

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:25 PM in response to Dan-o

Dan-o ™ wrote:

Library, TOC/Glossary, Notes, Brightness, Search, Bookmark

Below the brightness slider....see the small/large A?

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Answer 5

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:26 PM in response to K T

Believe it or not... no. The widget is completely different. I see a Brighteness icon, and when you click it all that's inside is the slider. Do some templates allow for font sizing and others not? Maybe there's a system preference but all I see is a Full Justitification pref.

iBooks 2.1 Build 876

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Answer 6

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:48 PM in response to Dan-o

Yep, v2.1

Strange...

Try downloading a free book from the store - see if it acts any differently.

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Answer 7

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:54 PM in response to K T

So do iBA books end up under either "Enhanced Books" or "Text Books", or are "Enhanced Books" something even different from standard iBooks or iBA books? There don't seem to be many of them. I'll try Text books first.

(Regular iBooks do have the usual Font controller btw - I purchased one today and it's working as expected.)

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Answer 8

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Dan-o

Nope... no text controls. Try downloading this free text and see what happens: Chemistry from the Ground Up.

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Answer 9

Apr 9, 2012 3:05 PM in response to Dan-o

Dan-o wrote:

Believe it or not... no. The widget is completely different. I see a Brighteness icon, and when you click it all that's inside is the slider.

The option to change the font size is available only in portrait mode. You can't change the font size in landscape mode. That makes sense: changing the font size in landscape would completely destroy the layout of the book.

Michi.

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Answer 10

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 3:07 PM in response to MichiHenning

Thanks Michi. That solves one part of the problem. Any idea now why my preview would stop updating? Is there some kind of iBooks 2 cache we can clear out with a utility or something?

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Answer 11

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Apr 9, 2012 3:11 PM in response to Dan-o

Chem book downloading now...

Try Virtual GS.

Which iPad? I'm using an iPad 2.

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Answer 12

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 3:13 PM in response to K T

iPad 3...

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Answer 13

Apr 9, 2012 3:13 PM in response to Dan-o

Sorry, I haven't experienced your other problem myself. I would try

deleting your book from iBooks
killing ibooks and restarting it, before and after deletion of your book
exporting to .iBook and loading the book via iTunes instead of preview

There are definitely some caching issues with preview that I've noticed previously. While I was working on my book, I'd quite often go through new material on my iPad and using the Notes feature to mark it up with corrections, then later transferring the corrections back to the source document.

When previewing the new version, the notes would disappear but then later reappear, often attached to a slightly different part of the text. Sometimes, I'd suddenly see a note that I had attached two or three revisions ago. It seems that deleting a book or updating it via preview doesn't completely clean out everything that was there before, so I would work on that angle with your problem.

Michi.

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Answer 14

Dan-o Author

Level 2

403 points

Apr 9, 2012 3:20 PM in response to MichiHenning

Yep. I've tried all three of those (deleting book preview; killing iBooks then relaunching iBA and regenerating the preview; and Exporting and dragging the book directly to my iTunes/iPad setup. None of them changed the size of the fonts in the preview to approximate 18 pt type. Again I'm only using that size to test the preview / to my sure it's working properly. What I see on the preview looks like 9 or 10 pt type, not 18.

What size type are you guys using to mimic a standard 12-14pt look that you would have in printed material? FWIW this preview issue is present on iPad 2 and 3, so it's not a case of the iPad resolution making text look smaller on the more pixel-dense screen. That much I know for sure.

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Answer 15

K T

Level 7

23,865 points

Apr 9, 2012 3:20 PM in response to Dan-o

18px

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