Comparison between main electronic publishing options

Features iBook EPUB PDF

DesignText flow Fixed or flowing text. Flowing text only. Fixed only.Layout Very simple to very complex. No control over layout design. Text over

white background.Fixed layout. Very simple to very complex.

Images Enlarge on tap. full-screen image views (but not enlarge) when tapping image on some devices.

Whole page zoom-in/out.

Videos Used in 3 ways: (i) When opening book for first time; (ii) small video inside book layout (and allow user to tap to view video full-screen); (iii) full-screen view only.

Depending on device. Most do not play videos inside EPUBs.

N/A

Charts Create charts inside iBooks. Can be enlarged on tap.

Charts are treated like images. N/A

Tables Create tables inside iBooks. Can be enlarged on tap.

Tables are treated like images. N/A

InteractivityImage gallery Built-in ability to create image galleries

inside layout or full-screen on tap. Images appear as user swipes screen left and right.

N/A N/A

Presentations Add PPT presentations (converted as Keynote files). User can control slide advance or presentation can run automatically. In-layout or full-screen view.

N/A N/A

HTML widgets Package HTML/CSS/JS widgets in iBook. User taps image to activate widget in full-screen. Can connect to live data for updated content inside widget view.

N/A N/A

Interactive images Add labels to an image. User taps on label to zoom-in on that part of the image and label expands to show more information

N/A N/A

Comparison between main electronic publishing options

Features iBook EPUB PDF3D images Add collada 3D files and the user can use

multi-touch gestures to rotate image inside iBook or full-screen.

N/A N/A

Pop-overs Add a pop-up effect to an image so that a box with additional information appears when a user taps the image.

N/A N/A

Review quizz Create quizzes and reviews at the end of a section or the publication. User can test their knowledge by answering different types of multiple-choice questions.

N/A N/A

Scrolling sidebars Insert additional content in a scrollable side-bar.

N/A N/A

Web links Yes Yes Yes

FunctionalityChange font size iBooks produced with a Landscape

design, can also be viewed in portrait mode. In that mode, images and widgets are displayed in a left column alongside the text. Readers can change the font size and the text flows in a continuous scroll.

EPUBS can be viewed only in flowing text mode, both in portrait and landscape, while maintaining the page turning functionality. This allows for font size changes.

PDFs can only be zoomed-in/out.

Bookmarks Yes. Yes, but this depends on the device. Depends on the PDF reader.Glossary iBooks contain a special section for the

glossary. Terms in the publication can be linked to an entry in the glossary with a list of related terms.

Not generally native with e-readers. You’d have to create your own glossary section and manually link the terms inside the text. It will not have the same level of interactivity as iBooks.

N/A

Sharing Highlight a section of text in an iBook and you can share it via email, twitter or facebook. If your iBook is in the Apple bookstore, information about book and a link to the book in the store will be added.

N/A N/A

Search All content in iBooks (except inside interactive widgets) can be searched. The tool also provides a type-ahead list.

Most devices will offer some sort of search feature. Quality depends on e-reader.

Most devices will offer some sort of search feature. Quality depends on e-reader.

Comparison between main electronic publishing options

Features iBook EPUB PDFNotes Users can add notes to highlighted text

sections. Notes are grouped in one area where users can see the notes they took in each section. Notes can also be viewed as study cards.

Some devices offer some note-taking ability. Quality depends on e-reader.

Some devices offer some note-taking ability. Quality depends on e-reader.

DistributionFiles iBooks have a file format “.iBooks”. The

file can be posted on any Web server or storage service like Dropbox. The user taps on the file URL from their iPad to download the file and open it in their iBooks bookshelf (standard on all iPads with iOS 5 and above). Usually too large to share via email.

EPUB files can be posted on any Web server or storage service like Dropbox. Generally, the reader taps on the file URL from their iPad to download the file and open it in their device e-reader app, but it varies based on the type of device. EPUBs are usually too large to share via email.

PDFs files can be posted on any Web server or storage service like Dropbox. Generally, the reader taps on the file URL from their iPad to download the file and open it in their device e-reader app, but it varies based on the type of device. PDFs may be small enough to share via email.

Bookstore iBooks can be distributed for free on Apple’s bookstore (provided the publication is free of charge). For-fee iBooks require a special acocunt with Apple.

EPUBs can be distributed through many different online bookstores: Apple, Amazon, Google Play, B&N, etc. But each one requires it’s own set of registration, guidelines and testing before a file is uploaded.

You can’t distribute PDFs through the any of the large bookstores. They need to be converted as an EPUB first.

iBook and Keynote are trademarks of Apple, Inc.