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• • December 3, 2014 at 4:41 pm #72022
    Janis Friesler

    Member

    I converted a print book to iBook using Indesign 2014 CC. I uploaded it to iBooks using Dropbox.
    It turned out perfect except one little problem. The spreads were positioned in the middle of
    the book pages. I put a screenshot on the inDesign Epub forum. I am taking Ann-Marie’s course on Lynda.com.
    I followed all the directions. I noticed on the course testing video that the sample iBook page had the same problem.
    When I tested the iBook on Redium, it was perfect. I can’t read it with such small print and when I enlarge it, the graphics
    are too big. I have uploaded some samples from other Epubs and they cover the whole page. I am very frustrated.

    Please help,

    Thanks,

    Janis

  • December 5, 2014 at 7:12 pm #72080
    Anne-Marie Concepcion

    Member

    Hi Janis, I’ll look for your screenshots on the InDesign epub forum at Adobe’s site. I’m not sure what you’re seeing that’s not working (and ditto in my lynda.com vid … do you remember the name of the individual movie where you saw that?

  • December 5, 2014 at 7:30 pm #72081
    Anne-Marie Concepcion

    Member

    Here’s what I entered in my reply there, for people following the thread here:

    If your ebook doesn’t share the same width to height ratio of the iPad (which is 4 to 3), then you’ll see that letterbox effect. This often happens because users are converting print books to fixed-layout epubs. The print books were designed to standard book sizes or custom ones, for that matter, but no one considered having to fill up the screen real estate for a mobile device.

    To get the ebook to fill the screen, you’d need to check its settings in File > Document Setup in InDesign, and change its aspect ratio to 4:3 for the iPad if you want it to fill the screen when a single page is viewed in landscape mode (e.g. 8″ wide by 6″ tall). You’d need to half the width for facing pages (as shown in your screen shot) — 4″ wide by 6″ tall in this example — so the facing pages would be 8″ wide by 6″ tall.

    If you’re designing an ebook from scratch in InDesign, then you’d start with the target aspect ratio for your page sizes from the get go.

    AM

  • December 5, 2014 at 9:58 pm #72082
    Janis Friesler

    Member

    Hi Ann-Marie,

    Thanks for getting back to me. The video I am talking about is in your new course about exporting ePubs from inDesign cc.
    It is at the end of the video about using Dropbox to upload the ePUB to iBooks. You show your highway iBook and
    it looked just like my iBook. It did not fill the screen and there is gray above and below the pages.

    Thanks for the information. I will try it tomorrow. The original print book is over-sized in a landscape orientation. It is a beautiful book.
    What sppoked me was that it was perfect in Radium. I guess that has a different aspect ratio. Right now I am recording
    the read along part of the book. I am marking each word. I hope I can figure out how to edit it in the book. I don’t
    think I can do it with the interactive features of cc. Oh well, it is a learning experience, but you really made it easier
    with your courses.

    Thanks, I am very grateful,

    Janis

  • December 9, 2014 at 6:41 pm #72156
    Janis Friesler

    Member

    Hi Anne-Marie,

    I tried to change the settings. It messed up the graphics. They are cut off. How do I do what you described and have the graphics look the
    same? I only looked at the changes in indesign. This is driving me nuts.

    Sorry to be such a pain,

    Janis.

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