iBooks Author Essential Training

Course details

Even writers without extensive design or publishing experience find they can publish their own digital books with iBooks Author—and the right training. Start here to learn how to create your own ebooks with this easy-to-use ebook publishing software.

Follow along with Chris Mattia as he assembles a dynamic and engaging ebook for distribution on the iPad and EPUB readers. He includes all the features of a well-designed ebook, including text, images, audio, video, 3D models, and web content, as well as essential navigation tools such as links, bookmarks, and a table of contents. He also shows how leverage built-in templates to produce a beautifully designed and polished ebook without any extra effort, and customize and share your own iBooks templates. The course wraps up with a review of the iBooks EPUB workflow and the iBooks Store publishing process.

Learning objectives

Creating a book cover
Creating pages, chapters, and sections
Adding a table of contents and a glossary
Working with templates and placeholder content
Sharing a custom template
Importing text from Pages, Word, or InDesign
Formatting text
Adding objects such as titles, labels, and captions
Inserting images
Adding tables and charts
Working with widgets such as movies, 3D objects, and interactive images
Creating review sections with multiple-choice and matching questions
Adding links and bookmarks
Creating, importing, and exporting EPUBs
Exporting a book as a PDF or text document
Publishing to the iBooks Store

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome
02 - The exercise files
03 - Previewing the finished iBook
04 - The 2015 update

1. Getting Started

05 - Installing iBooks Author
06 - Creating a new document
07 - iBooks Author interface
08 - Views inside iBooks Author
09 - Creating a book cover
10 - Adding an intro video
11 - Creating chapters
12 - Creating sections
13 - Creating pages
14 - Adding visual interest
15 - How Tables of Contents work
16 - Customizing the Scroll View TOC
17 - Creating a glossary
18 - Previewing and Proofing your Book

2. Working with Templates

19 - Templates in iBook Author
20 - Starting with a Blank Template
21 - Modifying existing layouts
22 - Creating a custom layout
23 - Placeholder media
24 - Placeholder text
25 - Auto-updating text
26 - Photo collage layout
27 - Custom template
28 - Creating a portrait-only book

3. Adding Text

29 - Dragging and dropping plain text
30 - Inserting text from Pages
31 - Inserting text from Microsoft Word
32 - Linked text boxes
33 - Importing InDesign Documents

4. Formatting Text

34 - Understanding how to format text
35 - Formatting text
36 - Creating lists
37 - Creating custom styles
38 - Controlling tabs
39 - More on text control
40 - Embedding equations with LaTeX
41 - Embedding equations with MathType

5. Working with Objects

42 - Objects
43 - Adding objects
44 - Manipulating objects on a page
45 - Layering objects together
46 - Changing an object's appearance
47 - Titles, labels, captions & descriptions
48 - Adding accessibility text to objects

6. Working with Images

49 - Adding images
50 - Remove parts of photos with Instant Alpha
51 - Cropping and masking images
52 - Controlling image settings
53 - Spanning an image across two pages

7. Working with Shapes

54 - Understanding shapes
55 - Adding shapes
56 - Editing shapes
57 - Drawing shapes
58 - Creating a custom shape mask

8. Working with Tables

59 - Understanding tables
60 - Creating tables
61 - Adding and importing data into tables
62 - Formatting table cells and data
63 - Performing calculations
64 - Using conditional formatting
65 - Sorting table data
66 - Adding a custom table description

9. Working with Charts

67 - Understanding charts
68 - Adding charts
69 - Editing chart data
70 - Formatting charts
71 - Changing the chart type
72 - Adding chart descriptions

10. Working with Widgets

73 - Understanding widgets
74 - Creating an image gallery
75 - Adding a movie
76 - Adding a Keynote presentation
77 - Adding a 3D object
78 - Adding an interactive image
79 - Adding custom HTML
80 - Creating a scrolling sidebar
81 - Creating a popover effects

11. Creating Review Sections

82 - Understanding review questions
83 - Adding a review section
84 - Creating multiple-choice questions
85 - Creating matching questions

12. Working Links and Bookmarks

86 - Understanding Bookmarks and Links
87 - Creating internal links
88 - Using Bookmarks
89 - Creating external links
90 - Creating deep links into your iBook
91 - Creating deep links to other iBooks

13. Working with ePubs

92 - ePub Workflows
93 - Importing ePubs
94 - ePub Templates
95 - Widgets and Tables for ePub
96 - Exporting ePub

14. Exporting the Book

97 - Preflighting on an iPad
98 - Exporting a book in iBooks format
99 - Exporting a book as a PDF
100 - Exporting a book as a text document
101 - Emailing a book
102 - Preparing to publish to the iBookstore
103 - Publishing to the iBookstore

Conclusion

104 - Goodbye