ADE adds blank pages?

[Psymon]

This really leaves me wondering what to do now. I could go back and trash all the frontispieces in all my previous (and forthcoming) books -- and maybe use the pics elsewhere in the book -- but at the same time I also find that if a reader starts with the title (i.e. first) page of the book on the left page (if you're viewing in two-page mode, if your reader can do that), then it looks crappy to have the title page there, on the left, with the table of contents or CIP data or whatever on the right.

It's a shame that all the various device manufacturers can't at least come to a concensus on this. Has there ever been any sort of list put together on how various devices and/or apps behave in that way, whether they show the first page on the left, or on the right (when in two-page mode)? At least one could maybe then design for the "majority".

I'm really in a conundrum over what to do now. In ADE on my PC, the frontispiece and title page are still opposite each other, but now in iBooks they aren't -- that really sucks (for a nit-picker like me). :/

[JSWolf]

The problem is that iBooks is not really ePub. It's AppleePub which is not ePub. So you have to do your eBooks for iBooks differently then you do for ADE. Blame Apple for that blunder.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by Psymon

I also find that if a reader starts with the title (i.e. first) page of the book on the left page (if you're viewing in two-page mode, if your reader can do that), then it looks crappy to have the title page there, on the left, with the table of contents or CIP data or whatever on the right.

That should teach you not to read ebooks in "two-page mode".

It's like... like listening to an audiobook in CD in "random mode". I'm sure it works great for some kinds of experimental literary works, but it's not something you want to try for every book.

[Psymon]

Actually, I was lying in bed, about to sleep, thinking about this last night, and it occurred to me that instead of a "frontispiece", I could have a "backispiece" -- so to speak -- that is, instead of putting the pic on the first page of the book, with the title page on the second, just simply flip them around. Then, I'd still have the title page with its accompanying picture together on the same two-page spread (when viewed in two-page mode) if/when the first page of the book starts on the left-hand page, and if it starts on the right, well, you'd have the title page, and then turn the page and still get a nice pic.

[JSWolf]

Solution...Don't rely on iBooks to do what you want without customized code.

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Solution...Don't rely on iBooks to do what you want without customized code.

Not sure what you mean?

I guess I was thinking that if iBooks now displays the first page on the right-hand side, then there could be other apps that do the same (I don't know about "every" app out there, after all), not to mention what's to say that at some point ADE or whatever else will up and change how they do things, too? And so by simply switching around the title page and frontispiece, that accommodates whatever situation might arise (now or in the future).

Isn't that a reasonable solution?

[JSWolf]

iBooks is not standard. It does things oddly and you have to code for them. You cannot always take a standard ePub that works perfectly well in ADE and always have it work perfectly will with iBooks.

Have a read of the following blog and you'll see some of what I mean. http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com/

[pynch]

Apple's release of iBooks for Mac in its new Mavericks operating system is a huge step for ebooks and EPUB because it makes EPUB available where people want to use it: on their desktops.

This is satire, right?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pynch

This is satire, right?

No, this is Apple.

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

iBooks is not standard. It does things oddly and you have to code for them. You cannot always take a standard ePub that works perfectly well in ADE and always have it work perfectly will with iBooks

Well, I've managed to get my books looking just fine, just how I want them to, pretty much all-around (other than all the various Kindles, which is a total pain-in-the-butt), but I don't have any control if they up and change where the first page of the book begins (left or right page), of course. Each individual page still looks just fine.