As I've already written (see here), the importance of Elizabeth Castro's work to the world of eBook publishing, and in particular iBooks on Apple's iBookstore, cannot be underestimated.
Not only has Liz Castro published "how-to" books on the subject of eBooks but she has also published a book on Barcelona and a work of children's fiction through the iBookstore as well (see here).
The current book is an important book, because it is her first foray into adding interactivity through JavaScript to an ePub book (that is also incidentally fixed layout).
The images are bold and I like the way the little images zoom to cover the page, this is very graceful. I also find quite intriguing the way the text comes second. First, one looks at the images in detail unobstructed by text, perhaps then watches a video before clicking that little yellow arrow with a question mark.
The little yellow arrow with a question mark is unassuming but is one of the most important features of the book. Not only is it a route to discovering the labels but it also gets around the issue of the book's interactivity clashing with the interactivity of the app. This is a huge challenge for JavaScript in ePUB books. In other attempts to bring JavaScript to eBooks I've often found myself turning pages accidentally or bringing up the menu bars but thanks to this little arrow the one area of potential conflict is resolved. And it is something that I'm sure we'll hear more about in the accompanying mini-guide, which is coming soon.
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