FrameMaker and Apple's new iBook Author

If anyone is thinking about Apple's new iBook Author tool as possible approach to creating tech comm content, Scott Prrentice has just posted his first look at the tool and how it might fit in a FrameMaker-based workflow.
See: http://blog.leximation.com/2012/01/apple-ibooks-author-and-adobe-framemaker/
Thanks Scott!

Totally agree that is a restriction (along with the inability to even offer product in some markets as well).
The blogosphere seems to be well aware of it. It's quite a reach for an EULA, and was probably cooked up back while Saint Steve was still in charge. Heck, why don't they just write in that you assign your copyright to AAPL.
So anyone planning on becoming an iStore billionaire needs to know about it in advance.
And the principal message is: do your original authoring on some other platform. Use iBA only to re-render for the iPrison.
And we need some clarity on whether "the work" in the EULA is presumed to be pre- or post-iBA (or both).
On further reflection as regards the blog link in the basenote, it may be no accident that iBA doesn't import some obvious formats like RTF or (pick up jaw) XML. I suspect that the AAPL lawyers are trying to discourage precisely what I recommend - author in some other tool. And no, I would not presume that they make no claims on your pre-iBA source document. This is lawyers we're talkin' about, after all, not human beings.

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My iba files don't open with new ibook author

I downloaded the new ibook author and my iba files won't open. How do I open them?

Make sure you're trying to use an unlocked book and not a locked version...

Making a photographic book in landscape and portrait mode in iBooks author

Hello, I am making a photographic book with the iBooks author and I have a problem that I cannot resolve. The book is only with photos, without text and I am putting every photo on a whole page. I made around 15 pages in landscape orientation and now I want to make the same thing with the same photos in portrait, but I don't know how to arrange the photos to match when the ipad is flipped. The whole idea is that I want people to see different crops of the photos when they flip the iPad. I hope that you understood me and will eventually come up with solution... Really thanks!

Hi user_1,
If you are looking to reshape the graph based on whether the user has selected portrait or landscape mode, you could use a property node for your graph that executes in the same case as the print orientation, in which you reshape the graph using plotareasize or another property. I've attached an example of this.
Hope this helps!
-Sam F, DAQ Marketing Manager
Learn about measuring temperature
Learn how to take voltage measurements
Learn how to measure current
Attachments:
ReShapeGraphExample.vi ‏19 KB

Errors and Omissions Insurance for iBooks Author books?

Book publishers often cover the author under their E&O policies. What have you done with regard to your (nonfiction) iBooks published with iBooks Author?
Thank you.

Thank you, El Guero. I actually am an attorney - and I know that the disclaimers don't do much of anything. Any E&O insurance carrier recommendations?
Btw, in addition to your list of possible causes of action, I'd add both copyright and trademark infringement, particularly in books that include audio and video (with or without voiceover and/or music). The issues are not always noticeable to the untrained eye, and sometimes there is coincidental simultaneous development of ideas. That's why most telelvision and movie studios don't accept (i.e., return without opening) unsolicited scripts or ideas from the general public - too much risk of a claim down the road for a similar concept developed independently by the studio. I'm still going to want E&O insurance though. Thanks!

What do Safari, iTunes store, and Apple Hot News RSS have in common?

Answer...these apps can't connect to the internet on my setup, but Firefox & Mail can. Any clues?
I am running an older Airport Extreme, but my internet connection is fine. I suspect there's a network setting somewhere that is blocking these three different apps from connecting.
iTunes - "The network connection was refused"
Safari - "Safari can’t open the page “http://www.google.com/” because it could not connect to the server “www.google.com”.
Apple Hot News RSS in Mail - "can't connect to host"
Any ideas?

Look to make sure there's no http or https proxy set in your Network Preferences pane.

What is the workflow for creating templates in full FrameMaker and pushing them to XML Author?

Hi All,
I'm working for a large organization (3000+) that is subdivided into 60+ business units. I'm trying to figure out the workflow for using full FrameMaker to create a template that I can provide my business units to fill in via XML Author, send back to me, and then I can publish into a number of products using the Tech. Comm. Suite. I am somewhat new to XML so I am not sure how to get my structure and format to translate.
Can anybody clarify what the general workflow would be for this process? All I have been able to find is the flowchart showing full FM to XML to XML Author and back to full FM. From my test driving of the Tech Comm Suite though it has not appeared that easy.
---Corey---

Hi Corey...
Here's a rough outline of what is needed.
1) First, you'll need to define the data model that your documents are using. This could be some existing model like DITA or a new custom model. Depending on the complexity of your document's needs, this may drive that decision.
2) Once you've got a model, you'll need to create a structure application (in full FM). This structure application defines the model and appearance of documents. This will provide the fundamental structure of the "template" as well as placeholder text for the elements where you want people to provide information.
3) Then you have to install the structure application on each of the XML Author installations. This involves copying the structure application definitions file (structapps.fm) onto the client systems as well as the structure application files (into the proper location as indicated in the structure application definition). The structure application definition may reference these files at a network location, which might simplify the deployment, but would require that each person is connected to that network in order to create the files (pros/cons with this approach).
Once that's set up, your XML Author users should (in theory) be able to create a new document using the new structure application, then send you the resulting files. Lots of hand waving here .. but that's the general idea.
Cheers,
Scott Prentice
Leximation, Inc.
www.leximation.com

I want to use a retro TV screen as a mask for an imported video. It works and previews correctly in iBooks Author but not when previewed on my iPad. Any workarounds or suggestions welcome.

Hi there
I've been trying to give my imported videos a new spin by using the screen on a retro TV image to play the video on. I've masked the screen in Photoshop, saved it as a transparent .png and placed it onto the page. I then place the video, size it to fit the screen, send it to the back and, as if by magic, the video appears to play on the TV. However, as soon as I preview the book and go to view it on my ipad, the video is back in front of the TV and the illusion is lost.
Is there any way around this or am I going to have to make all my TV screens the same rectangular shape as the video? Also, is there any way I can stop the video being played full screen? Some of my videos are over 50 years old and the quality is pretty poor at full screen.
Many thanks.

Don't rely on 'Preview'.
Share/Export as .ibooks file and then drag that to iTunes and sync to your iPad.
Still no joy, find a pre-processing recipe ( that includes export for iPad) that doesn't spoil the quality in the process.
Just keep in mind that low quality in means low or lower quality out, in this example.

Blurry Photos in Photo gallery and Interactive image widget--(iBooks Author)

The pictures that I put in my photogallery and in my interactive image widget were at first clear and would get bigger when I tapped on them (in preview mode on my iPad), and then all of the sudden, they all are blurry, and now when I tap on them, they don't get bigger/zoom! How do I fix this??

The iBook is about 80 pages, and there is an average of one widget per page, sometimes 2. There are a few galleries in which there are more than one picture, but many of them are simply with one picture (because this is the only way to make it get bigger when you tap on it when on the iPad). For the Interactive Image widgets, I took a screenshot of a google maps route, and then focused on different stops to show directions on my iBook. I just redid all of the photo galleries that were blurry, and they are fixed now (no longer blurry). BUT the interactive images are still blurry....maybe I just need to go back and redo them?

Linked text boxes and flowing text in iBooks Author

Flowing text from 1 text box to another works perfectly and pages are automatically added when needed, but what happen if you need 2 separated flowing text boxes?
For example one with italian text on the left side and one for english on the right side of the same page?
No way to have 2 flowing text box on the same page!!
Because of the tag "body", you can use it only once in the page! No other tags "body2", or "bodyITA" can be added to create a parallel flowing box text on the same page.
Somebody has an idea for that.
Of course the only possible solution at the moment is create in sequence: Flowing Italian text and, at the end of italian add the english flowing text.....This is a touch books about a museum and people around the wordl need to see immediately the text without foldin pages with another language to reach the correct one!
Thanks in advance for your reply.
I apologize for my bad english.
Michela

You can use standard password security to allow form filling but disallow commenting, which includes adding text boxes.

Possible to update from old iBooks Author file using new version?

Will the just-released new version of iBooks Author allow me to update an existing book which was created with a previous version of the software?
I created a book in landscape mode, but placed all of the images in portrait orientation. Now that there are portrait-only templates, I want to redo the book. Will I be able to replace my book on iBooks without having to relist it?
The new iBooks Author description states the following: "And to keep your work current, add updates by publishing new versions of your original title. iBooks will automatically notify your readers that there’s a new version of your book ready to download."

nanobear:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Do you still have the original library on our old Mac? If so, connect the two Macs together so you can manually copy the iPhoto Library folder from the old Mac into the Pictures folder of the new iMac. download and run BatChmod on the iPhoto Library folder with the settings shown here, putting your administrator login name in the owner section and Staff in the group section. You can either type in the path to the folder or just drag the folder into that field.
Now launch iPhoto and it should inform you that the library will need to be upgraded. Select OK and the library will be converted to the latest version.
What version of iPhoto were you running on the old Mac?
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Apple iBooks Author is not a print production tool-

I was really impressed with Apple's release of iBooks Author App and I'm sure I will get a secondary drive to be bootable with Lion so that I can install this new free app, that only runs in Mac OS X Lion. But, as long as I am producing books for the printing press, before they go to eReader, InDesign will have to be my tool of choise so that all of my work that was put into the book production can be repurposed to the e-reader version.
Sorry that I'm not posting an InDesign question. I'm just sharing some thoughts with my community.
I'm getting ready to upgrade from InDesing CS 4 to InDesign CS5.5.

iWeb is template based and Dreamweaver is a WYSIWYG graphical web editor. iWeb is the fry cook of the web world with Dreamweaver the fast food middle manager of the web world. In most cases you aren't going to get haute cuisine out of Dreamweaver, that's where your IDE's and scripting languages shine.
iBooks author is essential the same thing as Microsoft Publisher, but built exclusively for getting content into Apple's iBooks2 and iTunes U applications. One can build a bunch of equity in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, PDF, images and spit them into Publisher or iBooks Author with minimum reformatting and maintain the magic that those applications have.
InDesign allows you to leverage graphical equity from existing print layouts and publish to a few more output directions. Getting existing Powerpoints, Excel documents, Word Documents misused as layouts and the like is not something one can easily accomplish in InDesign. You can get your InDesign documents wrapped into Adobe's viewer and push out to Android, iOS and other platforms provided you pay Adobe either a grip of cash or a small amount of cash every time you want the document updated.
For the everyday student, professor, office worker or anybody who doesn't already have a strong investment in Adobe and InDesign it is a no brainer to go the iBooks Author route. Apple's iPad and iOS have a commanding lead in marketshare and a staggering lead in revenue spent on content per device. Many people aren't putting effort forth on Android or other devices still (though the Kindle Fire may change that). For the purpose of taking something that is free, publishing for free to the over 40 million devices out there iBooks is a much more attractive route for many than Zinio, Woodwing, DPS, paying a developer.

When importing photos with iBooks Gallery widget, is anyone aware of a technique for simultaneously importing the photo's description (or jpeg file name) and writing it into the iBook Author caption field for the imported photo?

When importing photos with the iBooks Author Gallery widget, is anyone aware of a technique for simultaneously importing the photo's description (or jpeg file name) and writing it into the iBook Author caption field for the corresponding imported photo? I have 4,800 stills to import and can't imagine it's necessary to copy and paste the description for each.

As always, feel free to use the 'Provide iBooks Author Feedback' menu item for features you'd like added in the future, etc.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks-author.html
As for AS, I'm not sure anyone has sniffed iBA's dictionary yet...google is you friend for hot prospects, I'm sure

PDF files to create a new book in iBooks Author

Is it wise to use ready PDF files to create a new book in iBooks Author?
I have a music book with lot's of images that whas previously published as a physical book. I have it all as ready PDF files with illustrations.
Should I copy paste all texts and images seperately into iBooks Author or could I just drag the complete PDF's into the iBooks program.
Thanks!

To drag a page's contents means selecting just that page, which is just copy/paste with the result being an image.
Dragging a PDF into an iBA book means dragging the entire file, which is not the same as selective copy/paste and as noted, results in just an image.
It is possible to just do text /andor just do images, but success can depend on certain attributes they possess, etc. You need to select specific assets, then paste them in, then rework as needed.
PDF-to-iBA isn't neat - formatting, fonts, etc. will be lost. Find the original content that the PDF came from and try to work with it, instead - that will be much cleaner and require less rework, I think.

Is Apple going to make version of iBooks Author fo iPad?

Did they have such plans for the nearest future?

Nobody here can tell you what Apple's plans are, and they never provide such info in advance. You can tell them what you want via
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks-author.html

Could you make iBooks Author on not just Apple Macs?

I really would like to make a Textbook on iBooks Author but i don't have a Mac. It would be really nice if Apple could make iBooks Author for all diffrent types of Laptops/Netbooks, maybe even for the iPads.

iBA is Mac and OS X only, sorry. Uploading ebooks for the store requires iTunes Producer, which is also Mac and OS X only.
As always, feel free to use the 'Provide iBooks Author Feedback' form for things you'd like added in the future, etc.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks-author.html

FrameMaker and Apple's new iBook Author

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