list of display issues in iBooks?

[xmlgirl]

Hi All - is there a list of CSS properties that don't display as expected or just plain incorrectly? It's been a year since I worked on EPUBs and now I wish I'd taken better notes.
Thanks!

[Turtle91]

The last time I asked that question I was told that each publishing company has their own list. Those with a better list create a better product and get more customers...

However, you can find a lot of issues just by skimming these forums.

If you DO find a list, could you please pass it along??

Cheers,

[dgatwood]

I've tried to list every bug I've found here. Please add your own if you discover more.

From what I've seen, iBooks is by far the most standards-compliant reader out there. Compatibility issues are rare, and the workarounds are mostly limited to overriding bits of their default stylesheet aggressively....

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by xmlgirl

Hi All - is there a list of CSS properties that don't display as expected or just plain incorrectly? It's been a year since I worked on EPUBs and now I wish I'd taken better notes.
Thanks!

You also have to remember, that the version of iBooks for iOS 5.x (first generation iPad) is going to be different than the current version iBooks. So you'll need a list of what's broken in that version as well as the current version.

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You also have to remember, that the version of iBooks for iOS 5.x (first generation iPad) is going to be different than the current version iBooks. So you'll need a list of what's broken in that version as well as the current version.

If you still care about iOS 5, yes. Even if every first-generation iPad sold were still in active use, it would still be only 6% of all the iPads out there (a paltry 15 million units out of more than 250 million to date). The reality, however, is that most app statistics seem to suggest that all the iOS 5 devices combined make up fewer than 1% of devices that are still in active use.

And even if you assume that number is low because it includes phones, given that:

• users who haven't upgraded their hardware in more than four years are also less likely than average to buy books (and apps) on their devices,
• the iBooks app didn't come on the device, and
• users can't install iBooks on an iOS 5 device without "pre-purchasing" it with a Mac or PC (because of limitations on "older version" support from at least iOS 5 through iOS 7.x),

you're still more likely to see a unicorn, Bigfoot, or the Roswell aliens than to have your book read on an iPad 1.

In other words, I wouldn't spend even an hour of extra effort verifying compatibility. If one user happens to use one and complains, you can hack a modified version for that one user at that time, but otherwise, it probably isn't worth your time, IMO.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

If you still care about iOS 5, yes. Even if every first-generation iPad sold were still in active use, it would still be only 6% of all the iPads out there (a paltry 15 million units out of more than 250 million to date). The reality, however, is that most app statistics seem to suggest that all the iOS 5 devices combined make up fewer than 1% of devices that are still in active use.

And even if you assume that number is low because it includes phones, given that:

• users who haven't upgraded their hardware in more than four years are also less likely than average to buy books (and apps) on their devices,
• the iBooks app didn't come on the device, and
• users can't install iBooks on an iOS 5 device without "pre-purchasing" it with a Mac or PC (because of limitations on "older version" support from at least iOS 5 through iOS 7.x),

you're still more likely to see a unicorn, Bigfoot, or the Roswell aliens than to have your book read on an iPad 1.

In other words, I wouldn't spend even an hour of extra effort verifying compatibility. If one user happens to use one and complains, you can hack a modified version for that one user at that time, but otherwise, it probably isn't worth your time, IMO.

dgatwood:

You mean...for those readers like me? Who have iPad1's, and refuse to drop another $1K, for a device that Apple will blithely refuse to support in a heartbeat's time?

Hitch

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You mean...for those readers like me? Who have iPad1's, and refuse to drop another $1K, for a device that Apple will blithely refuse to support in a heartbeat's time?

Sorry you got hit by the early adopter penalty. That always sucks. Unfortunately, Apple didn't give it enough RAM or a fast enough CPU to really handle a screen of that size. On the original iPad, iOS 5 was sluggish; iOS 6 would have been unbearable.

Either way, IMO, it's really a numbers game. The iPad 1 market is probably only about half of the 1% of Apple devices running iOS 5, and the entire Apple market is probably no more than a third of your readers, so maybe a sixth of one percent. If you assume your time is worth... say $50 an hour, on average, and if you make... say $5 per copy sold, then the break-even point for spending an hour making it work is at 6,000 copies. By a year from now, the break-even point will probably be closer to 60,000 copies as the percentage of those devices in active use drops further through the floor.

And that's assuming you can even find an iPad 1 for testing. One of the biggest pains in the @$$ when dealing with iBooks is the fact that Apple doesn't ship a copy of iBooks in their iOS simulator. If you have to spend another $150 dollars to buy legacy hardware for testing, the break-even point for an hour's work becomes 24,000 copies, and in a year, the break-even point will probably be more like 240,000 copies. For most folks, those sorts of numbers don't make sense.

And they make even less sense if it takes time away from writing, because spending an hour working on a new book would likely give you a much bigger potential payoff.

Perhaps if there were a way that publishers could share test devices remotely, so that we could have a pool of devices running a wide range of iOS versions....

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Sorry you got hit by the early adopter penalty. That always sucks. Unfortunately, Apple didn't give it enough RAM or a fast enough CPU to really handle a screen of that size. On the original iPad, iOS 5 was sluggish; iOS 6 would have been unbearable.

Either way, IMO, it's really a numbers game. The iPad 1 market is probably only about half of the 1% of Apple devices running iOS 5, and the entire Apple market is probably no more than a third of your readers, so maybe a sixth of one percent. If you assume your time is worth... say $50 an hour, on average, and if you make... say $5 per copy sold, then the break-even point for spending an hour making it work is at 6,000 copies. By a year from now, the break-even point will probably be closer to 60,000 copies as the percentage of those devices in active use drops further through the floor.

And that's assuming you can even find an iPad 1 for testing. One of the biggest pains in the @$$ when dealing with iBooks is the fact that Apple doesn't ship a copy of iBooks in their iOS simulator. If you have to spend another $150 dollars to buy legacy hardware for testing, the break-even point for an hour's work becomes 24,000 copies, and in a year, the break-even point will probably be more like 240,000 copies. For most folks, those sorts of numbers don't make sense.

And they make even less sense if it takes time away from writing, because spending an hour working on a new book would likely give you a much bigger potential payoff.

Perhaps if there were a way that publishers could share test devices remotely, so that we could have a pool of devices running a wide range of iOS versions....

Oh, believe me, I understand.

It's just that when it comes to Apple, they abandon EVERYTHING that blithely. OS'es, hardware, software...I have bupkus respect for them, in terms of customer support, and I absolutely won't drop another thou on them. I'll buy another iPad, as needs must, for the office, but it'll be bloody well used.

Hitch

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, believe me, I understand.

It's just that when it comes to Apple, they abandon EVERYTHING that blithely. OS'es, hardware, software...I have bupkus respect for them, in terms of customer support, and I absolutely won't drop another thou on them. I'll buy another iPad, as needs must, for the office, but it'll be bloody well used.

Hitch

You can get refurbished iPads from Groupon.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Oh, believe me, I understand.

It's just that when it comes to Apple, they abandon EVERYTHING that blithely. OS'es, hardware, software...I have bupkus respect for them, in terms of customer support, and I absolutely won't drop another thou on them. I'll buy another iPad, as needs must, for the office, but it'll be bloody well used.

Hitch

Everybody abandons old hardware at some point. In the iPad series only the iPad 1 has been abandoned and it is now 5 years later. And as we all know it was better called a prototype than a real device. They underdesigned it from the beginning.

Dale

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Everybody abandons old hardware at some point. In the iPad series only the iPad 1 has been abandoned and it is now 5 years later. And as we all know it was better called a prototype than a real device. They underdesigned it from the beginning.

Dale

Dale:

It's not only just NOW abandoned. It's been abandoned for some time, with the iOS not working for it, and thus, a BUNCH of apps. I'd be perfectly understanding of a device being abandoned after 5 years (although Amazon, I'd note, hasn't done that). But they officially abandoned it closer to 2 years after it launched, (and unofficially, closer to one) and for this type of dough, I consider that unconscionable. If it had been "beta priced," or something like that, FINE. But a thou? No. Not fine.

And it will be a cold day in hell before Apple gets another DIME of my money. Not through iTunes, iBooks--not one dime. Will my one lousy consumer protest hurt them? Of course not. But I'll feel better about it. I can get by perfectly fine with gently-used hardware, and although that's not my normal buying pattern, it will be for all Apple products from this point on.

Hitch