iBooks: Text overflowing image if it's at top of screen.

[ChuckH]

It looks like iBooks 2.2 in IOS 6 has gone a long way to resolving this issue; wrapping looks okay so far....

[PageLab]

That's great news, I'm interested to know what other problems this update have solved.

[PageLab]

Looks like MathML now works fine in this new version: https://twitter.com/rahtz/status/248...762688/photo/1

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

It looks like iBooks 2.2 in IOS 6 has gone a long way to resolving this issue; wrapping looks okay so far....

Well, whatever 2.2 has done in iOS6, it hasn't done anything for the older iPads. The problem still exists, and nothing--not even the fix shown in this thread--seems to solve it.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

It looks like iBooks 2.2 in IOS 6 has gone a long way to resolving this issue; wrapping looks okay so far....

Unless you can only sell to those using iBooks on iOS 6, don't bother as you will piss off people on iOS 5 on the iPad 1.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Unless you can only sell to those using iBooks on iOS 6, don't bother as you will piss off people on iOS 5 on the iPad 1.

Hey, Wolfie:

That's exactly right. We've struggled with a book for a loooooooooong time now, in which this is happening, and only right at the front (of course) of the accursed book. There are millions of iPad 1's out there. Nothing, and I mean, nothing, has solved it, not even consulting with Liz. The client has an iPad 1 (I have one for testing), and while we've gotten it to not happen, the resulting element (the div containing the image/caption) looks kinda ugly. It's not happy-making. There's no way to limit the sales of regular ol' books to iOS6, either.

And, don't get me started about having to code, recode, re-re-code, this ePUB for iBooks only! The end result can't even function remotely in ADE/Nook, etc., so of course, we've basically made 3 books. Very frustrating. God forfend this client decides to go to SW, we'll be up to FOUR, just in ePUB. That blows.

H

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Hey, Wolfie:

That's exactly right. We've struggled with a book for a loooooooooong time now, in which this is happening, and only right at the front (of course) of the accursed book. There are millions of iPad 1's out there. Nothing, and I mean, nothing, has solved it, not even consulting with Liz. The client has an iPad 1 (I have one for testing), and while we've gotten it to not happen, the resulting element (the div containing the image/caption) looks kinda ugly. It's not happy-making. There's no way to limit the sales of regular ol' books to iOS6, either.

It does suck big time that Apple has not put iOS 6 on the iPad 1. What they've done is cause a split of iBooks where it works differently. People with an iPad 1 are going to buy an eBook and it will look like shite because it was coded and looked at for an iOS 6 iPad. If it has to be ugly code to work, so be it. Blame Apple for that. But don't be surprised if some future update breaks your ugly code. It would be so much easier if Apple could allow eBooks to be sold based on the version of iOS so if it's working with iBooks on iOS 6 and not iOS 5, those with an iPad 1 won't be able to buy it.

And, don't get me started about having to code, recode, re-re-code, this ePUB for iBooks only! The end result can't even function remotely in ADE/Nook, etc., so of course, we've basically made 3 books. Very frustrating. God forfend this client decides to go to SW, we'll be up to FOUR, just in ePUB. That blows.

Have you tried direct ePub uploading to SW again to see if maybe it's been fixed?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

It looks like iBooks 2.2 in IOS 6 has gone a long way to resolving this issue; wrapping looks okay so far....

If it doesn't work with iBooks on iOS 5, take your eBook and DO NOT SELL IT VIA APPLE!

[Hitch]

[QUOTE=JSWolf;2487986]It does suck big time that Apple has not put iOS 6 on the iPad 1. What they've done is cause a split of iBooks where it works differently. People with an iPad 1 are going to buy an eBook and it will look like shite because it was coded and looked at for an iOS 6 iPad. If it has to be ugly code to work, so be it. Blame Apple for that. But don't be surprised if some future update breaks your ugly code. It would be so much easier if Apple could allow eBooks to be sold based on the version of iOS so if it's working with iBooks on iOS 6 and not iOS 5, those with an iPad 1 won't be able to buy it.</quote>

No, mon sweetie, it's not the code that's ugly (well...maybe), it's that the result is not the sort of nice, smooth user experience I like. The images are ever-so-slightly out of top-alignment with the top line of the text...that type of nitpicky little thing. It drives me batshit.

Have you tried direct ePub uploading to SW again to see if maybe it's been fixed?

I have not, but have now had...3-4(?) clients who have. It has also had the advent of some joy-suckage.

And I concur with you: if a book solely works on iOS6, (unless it's a fixed-format book which can be limited from being sold on iOS5 books), it should not be sold.

Thx,
Hitch

[dgatwood]

If it bothers you enough, file a Radar with Apple asking for iBooks to include its own copy of WebKit so that its behavior won't depend on what OS it is running on.

That said, if there's a difference in behavior, that probably means that iBooks is setting some magic -webkit- properly that is supported on iOS 6 and not on iOS 5. So you can probably make them consistent by changing that property. Then you'll still have to tweak it to make iOS 5 look right, but at least you won't have to do extra work to keep iOS 6 from breaking while you're doing it.

Some good WebKit properties to define include:

html {
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal;
}

html body {
        -webkit-hyphens: auto; /* if you want auto-hyphenation, else manual */
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
}

p {
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
}

I recommend taking a look at the UA stylesheet for iBooks. It's fairly easy to do.

1. Run iTunes.
2. Right-click (or control-click) on iBooks and choose "Show in Finder".
3. Make a copy of the IPA file in another location.
4. Rename the copy to end in .zip.
5. Double-click the ZIP file.
6. Right-click the resulting IPA package and choose "Show Package Contents".
7. Double-click "Payload".
8. Right-click the iBooks.app bundle and choose "Show Package Contents".
9. Examine the CSS files:
   • AEAssetShare.css
   • user_stylesheet_base.css.tmpl
   • user_stylesheet_flowable.css.tmpl (this is the important one)
   • user_stylesheet_picturebook.css.tmpl

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

If it bothers you enough, file a Radar with Apple asking for iBooks to include its own copy of WebKit so that its behavior won't depend on what OS it is running on.

That said, if there's a difference in behavior, that probably means that iBooks is setting some magic -webkit- properly that is supported on iOS 6 and not on iOS 5. So you can probably make them consistent by changing that property. Then you'll still have to tweak it to make iOS 5 look right, but at least you won't have to do extra work to keep iOS 6 from breaking while you're doing it.

Some good WebKit properties to define include:

html {
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        -webkit-nbsp-mode: normal;
}

html body {
        -webkit-hyphens: auto; /* if you want auto-hyphenation, else manual */
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
}

p {
        -webkit-line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
        line-box-contain: block inline replaced !important;
}

I recommend taking a look at the UA stylesheet for iBooks. It's fairly easy to do.

1. Run iTunes.
2. Right-click (or control-click) on iBooks and choose "Show in Finder".
3. Make a copy of the IPA file in another location.
4. Rename the copy to end in .zip.
5. Double-click the ZIP file.
6. Right-click the resulting IPA package and choose "Show Package Contents".
7. Double-click "Payload".
8. Right-click the iBooks.app bundle and choose "Show Package Contents".
9. Examine the CSS files:
   • AEAssetShare.css
   • user_stylesheet_base.css.tmpl
   • user_stylesheet_flowable.css.tmpl (this is the important one)
   • user_stylesheet_picturebook.css.tmpl

Thanks.

Actually, the divine Liz is looking at this one particular book as I write this. I devoutly hope that she finds a cure, and I'll tell her about this post. She has the mindset for all the testing; we've made 17 full ePUBs on this one, plus some untold number of partial-test books, and I'm at the "can't-look-at-it-one-more-time" point. Having to rewrite Apple's own coding is something that makes me grind my teeth, TBH. I'll do it if I have to.

And, Dag? Thanks, really. My intense dislike of Apple's arrogance should not make you think I am not grateful for this time and effort on your part, I am.

Hitch

[ChuckH]

I'm not pleased with iBooks either, but have to code for it the way it is until it catches up with the way things ought to be. I only have two books on the iBookstore, and in both of them I've included a note to the reader saying specifically that it will look best on an ipad that uses iOS 6 and at least iBooks 2.2 .

I've had to "dumb down" the book I'm working on right now to deal with iBooks shortcomings. It pissed me off to have to make the changes but that's what I did.

Best,
Chuck

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

I'm not pleased with iBooks either, but have to code for it the way it is until it catches up with the way things ought to be. I only have two books on the iBookstore, and in both of them I've included a note to the reader saying specifically that it will look best on an ipad that uses iOS 6 and at least iBooks 2.2 .

I've had to "dumb down" the book I'm working on right now to deal with iBooks shortcomings. It pissed me off to have to make the changes but that's what I did.

Best,
Chuck

Yes. Liz couldn't tweak ours, or, rather, assist us with making it work with the iOS 5 bug, given what's needed, so we've done the same thing--centered images, no floating, yadda. Infuriating, but the solution we'd implemented would likely break on iOS6, and I'm not going to screw around with fixing Apple's web-kit for a book. That's nuts. And I'm pretty damned pissed about it myself.

Hitch

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by ChuckH

I've had to "dumb down" the book I'm working on right now to deal with iBooks shortcomings. It pissed me off to have to make the changes but that's what I did.

By any chance, do you have an EPUB that demonstrates this bug? I'd like to throw a bug at the iBooks team and see if they have any idea what's going on.

[ChuckH]

I don't have an example, but here's one of the issues: CSS3 allows for multi-column text, however, in iBooks, such columns are not split properly across pages. You would expect to see the first chunk displayed in multi-columns on the first page where the MC text begins, followed by the rest in proper column order across however many number of pages are required.

But iBooks flows the first column down from one page to the next, THEN, it goes back to the starting page and proceeds to flow the remainder down in the second column (across multiple pages mind you).

It's the stupid behaviors like this that really burn me.

Best,
Chuck