Placing pictures in text

[david.ross]

The way the Export process seems to work, each picture and each Manuscript is a separate issue. A Manuscript cannot contain a picture.

 

If one looks at Winnie the Pooh, supplied by Apple as an example of an iBook, it contains graphics all through the Text.

 

As far as I can see with Storyist, I must break my text into separate Manuscripts (losing thereby the ability to edit Styles across the whole text) and then put the Manuscripts and the Pictures into order when Exporting to epub.

 

I am a newbie to Storyist, but I have not bothered the Forum on this before researching as best I can.

 

Am I missing something?

[orrenm]

Am I missing something?

 

EDIT: I guess inline images are supported in Storyist! I'd no idea, I thought they weren't. Thanks Steve!

[david.ross]

I have now been through my text and created a second rough draft.

 

When seen in the iPad none of the text formatting (bold, underline etc) has been carried over, and the section breaks show as #, suggesting the iPad does not understand them.

 

The Table of Contents has been generated and looks great, but (presumably because of the previous problem) touching on them does not take one to the related page - as happens in Winnie the Pooh (great to have that available as a comparison on the iPad)

 

So it looks to me as if Storylist requires some development as far as epub is concerned. That doesn't worry me - it is early days and I am sure it is a big challenge to Steve. I guess he must have quite a culture shock with the advent of this new subject

[Steve]

Hi David,

 

Actually, inline images ARE supported in manuscripts. I've posted the Storyist project for the ePub version of the Storyist User's Guide here so you can see how it is done. Basically, you just drag a (properly sized) image to the place you want it in the manuscript.

 

As for section separators (the "#" character) appearing in the ePub file, Storyist doesn't currently filter text, so what you have in your manuscript is what you get in your ePub file.

 

-Steve

 

P.S. I'm going to move this thread to the Using Storyist forums because I think others would be interested.

[marguerite]

I have now been through my text and created a second rough draft.

 

When seen in the iPad none of the text formatting (bold, underline etc) has been carried over, and the section breaks show as #, suggesting the iPad does not understand them.

 

The Table of Contents has been generated and looks great, but (presumably because of the previous problem) touching on them does not take one to the related page - as happens in Winnie the Pooh (great to have that available as a comparison on the iPad)

 

So it looks to me as if Storylist requires some development as far as epub is concerned. That doesn't worry me - it is early days and I am sure it is a big challenge to Steve. I guess he must have quite a culture shock with the advent of this new subject

David, my italics and bold do carry over to the epub file, and my Table of Contents works as one would expect: clicking on chapter X takes me to the first page for that chapter.

 

Some thoughts:

1. ePub as a format, not only in Storyist, responds best to character-level formatting, not formatting that is contained in style definitions. You can have both character-level and paragraph-level formatting on the same text. Try selecting some text in the manuscript and using Command-I to assign the italics. There are other ways, of course, including the Inspector, but this is the most basic.

 

2. For the table of contents, are you using the Chapter Title style to set off each chapter? That is what ePub would "read" for the table of contents.

 

If you're already doing all this and it's not working, perhaps Steve can help now that he's back (from WWDC? welcome back, Steve—we've missed you!).

 

But the problem is not in Storyist, per se. It just requires tweaking of your file.

Best,

Marguerite

[Steve]

If you're already doing all this and it's not working, perhaps Steve can help now that he's back (from WWDC? welcome back, Steve—we've missed you!).

 

Yes, I'm back from WWDC. Thanks M.

 

David,

 

A thought on the bold/italics issue: Are you perhaps reading with the Stanza reader for iPad instead of iBooks? Stanza doesn't display bold or italics even if it is specified in the file.

 

If you are reading in iBooks, please let me know. Storyist does generate bold/italics information (for example, see the ePub version of the Storyist User's Guide) and I'd be happy to look at your file for you.

 

-Steve

[Steve E]

Yes, I'm back from WWDC....

Hi Steve.

Nice to have you back.

I've dragged pictures into Storyist text for my non-fiction stuff (graphs mostly) and an attempt at a graphic novel, but we're missing some tools. Tools such as sizing the picture after placement in the text or text wrap. (I'll make a feature request.)

 

I hear the price of a WWDC ticket rose to $1600. Is that true?

How was OK Go? I think they're better with props than without.

 

What did you think of Steve Job's iPhone 4 presentation? Did you have your Wi-Fi running?

Answer in the iPhone 4 thread (if you prefer).

- Thoth.

[david.ross]

Hi, guys from another time zone. 9.45 pm here and I have returned from watching the CSI New York finale downstairs !

 

When I select for instance Bold text in Storyist with the Inspector open it shows there as Bold, and Command-B just toggles it between Bold and Plain. So this suggests that the Style command is doing the same job as the keyboard (?)

 

Well now it is 10.30 and I have made major progress - it is great to be able to use the iPad as a proofing tool so easily (and yes, I am viewing in iBooks). The Chapter style tip worked and now the Table of Contents is generating - and the Chapter Headings are showing up in bold.

 

Sub headings in underline are not yet working, but you have put me on a road of discovery - great to buy a program and get a Support group with it!

 

By the way

I am making associated videos and embedding links into the book to these. A friend made the sensible suggestion that these be to a Divert page in my own website, which takes the reader seamlessly to the video hosted by Youtube (from whom I eventually might earn a few pennies, besides the benefit that Youtube does the hosting).

 

Now, the first benefit of this is to Future Proof my links. When I get around to improving my videos, I will upload the new version to Youtube and change the html on the page in my own website. This is important because (I think that) the iBookstore will not allow me to give upgrades for free to my readers in the way that the Appstore does.

 

The second benefit I just discovered while playing around is that the iPad links to Youtube not via Safari but via the iPad's native Youtube application. This is seriously good, because the videos play so much better there - I designed the screens with the iPad screen format in mind, but in Safari that does not chime well with the Youtube wide screen format

[david.ross]

By the way I tried using Adobe Digital Editions to read my epubs. Do you guys in America get offended by the word "crap" ?

 

On another topic, does anyone have experience of Internet Banking, which is one of my topics. As a practicing accountant I find it highly valuable to be able to download transactions in .csv format from Banks (or rather, getting my clients to download from THEIR banks and emailing them to me!

 

Banks in the UK are playing catch-up and three of them now allow one to go back several years and grab great tranches of data. This can be very handy when a client arrives who has not completed their Tax Returns for several years.

 

Do US banks allow these facilities? If you could name some, no doubt I can check out the promotional videos on their websites.

[marguerite]

When I select for instance Bold text in Storyist with the Inspector open it shows there as Bold, and Command-B just toggles it between Bold and Plain. So this suggests that the Style command is doing the same job as the keyboard (?)

No, not exactly.

 

There are several ways to style text. You can select a word, phrase, or paragraph and style it using a key combination, a menu command, or the Inspector. That is character-level formatting. ePub likes that (except in Stanza, as Steve notes).

 

But you can also define your own Storyist style to be, for example, Times New Roman Italic. For Storyist or Word, this option is great: click on text, click on style, text instantly assumes the formatting you want. ePub, however, does not generally respect this type of formatting, at least in my experience.

 

Adobe put out a couple of articles on formatting for ePub. When I am not at my iPad, I will hunt down the links and post them.

Best,

M

[marguerite]

P.S. If you have set up your text via styles, just search for each instance of the style and apply the formatting manually. ePub should see it then.

M

[david.ross]

I have tried that with all my underlined sub headings - and it does not translate to the iBook

 

Thanks for your help

[david.ross]

I sat on the toilet with the iPad and a whisky - it is nearly 2am in England and I am revelling in the new technology. By the way, it is raining but don't be put off - that is why this is a Green and Pleasant Land. PLEASE visit the UK - Mr Cameron needs your dollars.

 

I got to page 25 and realised that perhaps my fuss about the underlining of sub headings is a blind alley. Should I forget the structure of a printed book and instead regard each subject as a new chapter?

 

The downside is that the Table of Contents will become very long - though it is scrollable in the iPad, but the upside is just that - a big long list at the front of the book of relevant subjects. Am I too hung up on a formal division of my text into understandable Chapters? I am inclined to think so. An iPad owner is likely to be internet-savvy and keen on searching for subjects (as iBooks allows). So are Chapters an outdated concept? Obviously not with printed books, but until the iPad, who took eBooks seriously? - not me.

 

I assume that if I read this in a couple of years my concerns will seem old-fashioned. I realise that we are on the cusp of a very big leap forward in publishing technology, and that Steve has stepped up to the mark ultra-quick already.

 

More power to your elbow, Steve

[marguerite]

David, I would have to get into Storyist and check this (Steve probably knows off the top of his head), but I think you can set the Outline level in your styles and add the subheadings to the Table of Contents that way. They would be set under the chapter headings as subheads and (probably) show up as live links.

 

I have to earn my daily bread before I can test whether that works. Maybe by the end of the day, Steve will already have replied.

 

For more information on exporting files in ePub format, see the free "how to" guides issued by Adobe. The first one is the most relevant. They use InDesign to prepare the files, whereas you are using Storyist, but the general information is useful.

Best,

Marguerite

 

EDIT: I did test this out and checked the ePub file in both calibre and Digital Editions. Underlining did not show up. Italics and bold text did show up, whether defined as part of a style or applied manually. The ToC reads only outline level Heading 1. If you style everything as Heading 1, there is no hierarchy within Storyist: everything appears at the chapter level.

 

So the underlining information is either not being exported or not being recognized by the ePub reader. Steve will know which. The simple solution is to set off your subheads in some other way: color?

[david.ross]

As it is the Weekend I have had some more time to play about. Much of that time has been spent on the text - great to be able to read it on the iPad as types and dumb errors shout themselves out in that format. Also I have been attempting to bridge the language barrier - a Lever Arch File is a Binder to you guys! (thanks to your Staples web site for that one)

 

I have learned to control spaces between paragraphs by specifying this in the Style, and have shown that coloured text does not seems to show up on the iPad.

 

Using the Chapter Title style for all my headings creates a New Page for every one, but also makes the Table of Contents very long. That might not matter in an eBook, and perhaps the convention of numbered chapters is not so appropriate here?

 

I am getting to grips with in-line graphics - thanks Steve for the guidance here. I see that it is important to re-size the original file before dragging it in.

[Steve E]

Also I have been attempting to bridge the language barrier - a Lever Arch File is a Binder to you guys! (thanks to your Staples web site for that one)

You might find this useful. I did.

- Thoth.

[marguerite]

I have learned to control spaces between paragraphs by specifying this in the Style, and have shown that coloured text does not seems to show up on the iPad.

There is color in the iPad User Guide, so it must be possible in principle. But I do see that Steve, who uses blue text in the PDF of the Storyist Guide, has substituted different point sizes in bold for the ePub version. So perhaps assigning color to text in ePub is complicated.

Best,

M

[Steve]

There is color in the iPad User Guide, so it must be possible in principle. But I do see that Steve, who uses blue text in the PDF of the Storyist Guide, has substituted different point sizes in bold for the ePub version. So perhaps assigning color to text in ePub is complicated.

Best,

M

 

Storyist doesn't encode font color information in the ePub file, but if you're comfortable editing HTML and CSS, you can certainly add it via the CSS file in the ePub archive.

 

-Steve

[Steve]

Hi David,

 

To address your initial issue (discovering how to insert images), Storyist 2.2.1 has some image-related enhancements:

 

• File > Import now allows you to import images to the project in addition to text.
  
• The Edit > Insert > Images command inserts an image at the current text location.
  

 

-Steve

[david.ross]

Well, that is what I call personal service !

 

 

Thanks, I will download later

 

Having Storyist has both accelerated and delayed my writing project. It is obvious that the production process is vastly enhanced by Storyist and the iBookStore, but being able to see for myself via iTunes how things will look to the user has fed back into the writing process. Recent drafts are an order of magnitude better and I am going to take the time to get it right. Fantastic !

 

 

Best Regards

 

 

 

David

[david.ross]

I have been playing around tonight and getting to grips with outlining.

 

I created;

 

Section Head (Outline Level Heading 1)

Chapter Title (Heading 2)

Sub Heads (Heading 3)

 

Looking at the results on the iPad, the Table of Contents lists all these items, which is cool, though it looks a bit odd having everything thrown in together. I think I can live with that. I might rethink the whole issue of Sections and Chapters and just have one long splurge of headings.

 

But only the Heading 1 titles start a new page.

 

Steve, is there any way I can control the behaviour of Heading Levels in regard to starting new pages? I think it may be a matter of translation from Storyist>ePub>iBookstore. I say this because the Heading 2s start a new page in Storyist but not in iBookstore (Heading 3s start a new page in neither)

 

Am I missing something or is this some idiosyncrasy you have yet to get to grips with?

 

Pictures are working brilliantly - thanks again for your work on this.

[Steve]

Steve, is there any way I can control the behaviour of Heading Levels in regard to starting new pages? I think it may be a matter of translation from Storyist>ePub>iBookstore. I say this because the Heading 2s start a new page in Storyist but not in iBookstore (Heading 3s start a new page in neither)

 

Am I missing something or is this some idiosyncrasy you have yet to get to grips with?

 

Hi David,

 

iBooks doesn't honor the CSS page-break-before property. It only shows a page break if the content in the ePub file is at the start of a an xhtml file (so page break == file break). Storyist currently breaks manuscripts at each heading 1. I've already got it on my list to force a new file if a page break is set in the style.

 

-Steve

[david.ross]

Thanks

 

I will be patient - helpful to know it is not something I have missed