advanced: designing for ebooks, enhanced ebook ideas and implementation

Advanced: Designing for eBooks, Enhanced eBook Ideas and Implementation

Note: Some images and video have been removed before posting this presentation. !Links have been provided to the original media.!

What does that mean?!

Advanced: Designing for eBooks, Enhanced eBook Ideas and Implementation

What is an enhanced eBook?

An App Book is an app, not an eBook.

App Books are: 1. Made of different stuff 2. Require different skills 3. Sold in different places 4. Have a different set of

economics

What is an enhanced eBook?

Simple.

Anything that’s not a standard eBook.

That includes: 1. Advanced styling 2. Embedded fonts 3. Advanced layouts:

flowable or fixed, and adaptive

4. Multimedia 5. Interactivity

Any one of those. It doesn’t have to be all of them.

So why create an enhanced eBook?

Creative freedom?

To sell more eBooks?

Features don’t sell, experiences do.

People do this in print already.

We add photos, illustrations, charts, maps.

We select typography to set a mood.

We select typography to make it easier to navigate information.

We use layout to make it easier to navigate information.

We can do all of that in an enhanced eBook.

And a bit more.

Where to get started?

First there is why.

Always consider what will add value to the reader’s experience.

How to make an omelet.

I went to the source. Julia Child.

I got the book.

Source: http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/child/recipe.html !

I found this. Omelette Pans An omelette cannot be made in a sticky pan; the eggs must be able to slide around freely, and if they cannot, you simply cannot make an omelette at all. Since the first edition of this book, professionally shaped omelette pans of heavy aluminum with no-stick interiors are everywhere available, and that's what we use--gratefully. However, the great omelette maker Dione Lucas insisted on her specially made cast-aluminum pan half an inch thick, while that other famous omelette queen Mme Romaine de Lyon and many another French cook swear only by the plain iron pan 1/8 inch thick like the one in our illustrations. Whatever you buy, you should have the long handle and the straight-sloping sides 2 inches deep; the bottom diameter should be about 7 inches, since this is the perfect size for the perfect 2- to 3-egg omelette. If you prefer the French iron pan illustrated, you must first scrub it with steel wool and scouring powder, rinse and dry it, then heat it for a minute or two just until its bottom is too hot for your hand. Rub it with paper towels and cooking oil and let it stand overnight. Before making your first omelette, sprinkle a teaspoon of table salt in the pan, heat it again, and rub vigorously for a moment with paper towels; rub the pan clean, and it is ready for an omelette. If the pan is used only for omelettes (a wise decision), it needs no washing afterwards; merely rub it clean with paper towels. If the pan is washed, dry, warm, and oil it lightly before putting it away. If it becomes sticky again, rub again with salt. Never allow any pan, particularly an iron one, to sit empty over heat--this does something to its internal structure so that foods stick to it forevermore. Eggs and How to Beat Them An omelette can contain up to 8 eggs, but the individual 2- to 3-egg omelette is usually the tenderest, and by far the best size to practice making. At under 30 seconds an omelette, a number of people can be served in a very short time. In fact, unless you are extremely expert and have a restaurant-size heat source, we do not recommend larger omelettes at all. But if you do want to attempt them, be sure to have the correct size of pan. The depth of the egg mass in the pan should not be over 1/4 inch, as the eggs must cook quickly. A pan with a 7-inch bottom is right for the 2- to 3-egg omelette; a 10- to 11-inch pan is required for 8 eggs. Just before heating the butter in the pan, break the eggs into a mixing bowl and add salt and pepper. With a large table fork, beat the eggs only enough to blend the whites and yolks thoroughly. From 30 to 40 vigorous strokes should be sufficient. If you are making several 2- to 3-egg omelettes, beat the necessary number of eggs and seasonings together in a large mixing bowl, and provide yourself with a ladle or measure. Two U.S. large eggs measure about 6 tablespoons; 3 eggs, about 9 tablespoons. Measure out the required quantity for each omelette as you are ready to make it, giving the eggs 4 or 5 vigorous beats before dipping them out with your measure. Transferring the Omelette from Pan to Plate In each of the methods described, the finished omelette ends up in the far lip of the pan. This is the way to transfer it from the pan to the plate.


And this.

Place the butter in the pan and set over very high heat. If you have an electric heat element, it should be red hot. As the butter melts, tilt the pan in all directions to film the sides. When you see that the foam has almost subsided in the pan and the butter is on the point of coloring, it is an indication that it is hot enough to pour in the eggs.

Then lift the handle of the pan to tilt it at a 45-degree angle over the heat, and rapidly gather the eggs at the far lip of the pan with the back of your fork. Still holding the pan tilted over the heat, run your fork around the lip of the pan under the far edge of the omelette to be sure it has not adhered to the pan.


And this.

Hold the plate in your left hand. Turn the omelette pan so its handle is to your right. Grasp the handle with your right hand, thumb on top. Rest the lip of the pan slightly off the center of the plate so the omelette will land in the middle of the plate. Then tilt plate and pan against each other at a 45-degree angle.

Quickly turn the pan upside down over the plate and the omelette will drop into position.

Source: http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/authors/child/recipe.html!

Background info, info on the right tools, a recipe, and 10 step-by-step images later, I was frustrated.

You don’t need a recipe to make an omelet.

You need to learn a technique.

I finally saw this.

Video from: !Julia Child’s !The French Chef, !The Omelette Show: !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmvfUKwBrg!

I can make an omelet now.

Technique is easier to learn from a video.

Another example.

I have a dream.

You can give the reader the speech.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children

You can show the reader photos.

Photo from: !Martin Luther King Jr’s !I Have a Dream Speech: !http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=i+have+a+dream+speech&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=nbpnT4npGYfg0QGouqidCQ&biw=1077&bih=656&sei=n7pnT_TGCcrg0QGQ4622CQ!

You can give the reader first hand accounts of what it was like to be there.

Or, you can give the reader text and images—and let the reader experience it. Video from: !Martin Luther King Jr’s !I Have a Dream Speech: !http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqOfuZzgIP4&feature=related !

Next, is how.

Creating enhanced eBooks is an investment.

Either an internal or external investment.

An investment in your readers’ experience.

At the least, you have to know the basics.

Learn what can be done for each market.

On each eReader.

Here are the basics.

Advanced layout: Amazon Kindle: Supported on Kindle apps and Fire. Apple iBooks: Supported. B&N Nook: Supported. Kobo: Supported.

Fixed layout: Amazon Kindle: No, but sort of in PDF-like format. Apple iBooks: Yes. B&N Nook: Sort of. Kobo: Yes.

Embedded fonts: Amazon Kindle: Kindle apps and Fire. Apple iBooks: Yes. B&N Nook: Yes. Kobo: Yes.

Images: Amazon Kindle: Yes. Apple iBooks: Yes. B&N Nook: Yes. Kobo: Yes.

SVG images: Amazon Kindle: No. Apple iBooks: Yes. B&N Nook: Yes. Kobo: Yes.

Video/Audio: Amazon Kindle: Supported on Kindle apps, not on Fire. Apple iBooks: Supported. B&N Nook: Supported on Nook Color, Nook Tablet and Nook apps.

CSS3 interaction and animation: Amazon Kindle: No. Apple iBooks: Yes. B&N Nook: No. Kobo: No.

Javascript: Amazon Kindle: No. Apple iBooks: A little. B&N Nook: No. Kobo: No.

Get the specs.

Some examples

It doesn’t take a lot to add value to the reader’s experience.

Layout, images, illustrated drop-caps

Illustrations, typographic design

Chapter image headers, layout, video

Clap here.

Michael Calleia email: [email protected] twitter: @michaelcalleia