eBook Formatting with Lots of Text

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

I am looking at creating an application that has A LOT of text and diagrams…

While I could look at using ePub as a format instead, I really want it to be in the form of an application as I want to integrate tools into it as well. I have seen that several eBooks have been created with Corona but they all seem to be either comics or storybooks which would probably be a series of images that then have page flips coded into them.

Could Corona be used for creating a book with text/images/ with links to other integrated utilities inside the application? If so, what ideas could someone point me towards for storing the text.

Thanks in advance! [import]uid: 10060 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 304419[/import]

#2

when you mean text, you want to be able to wrap the text around a diagram and be able to justify (full, left, center, etc) and have different fonts, sizes, and paragraph indentation as well as adjust the kerning and leading of characters.

Corona is not setup for that, the trick is to use a high-res image that gets scale down so that the user can tap pinch for zooming.

What do you mean by “integrated utilities?” hyperlinks? a user clicks on a diagram and jumps to a URL or page?

Carlos [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13910[/import]

#3

Hi Carlos,

Thanks for the quick response. I definitely see what you have been referring to and have been looking at either using strictly images or maybe some variation of the Corona Comics code.

As for integrated utilities, I should have been more clear… my apologies.

I am looking at writing a role-playing game and was looking at rolling the ruleset and associated tools into a single app to make it easier for the user; for example, dice rollers or character sheet creators.

I guess I might have to split things up and look at putting the rules into ePub and then use Corona to create my utilities. It might not be such a big deal now that you can switch between applications. [import]uid: 10060 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13919[/import]

#4

ok …

still fuzzy by what you mean ‘dice rollers’

is that the effect in alice in wonderland? cos we can do all that in corona

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-for-the-ipad-lite/id364746811?mt=8

everything in that app can be done with corona. except the page curl. we are looking into adding that feature.

c. [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13921[/import]

#5

By dice roller I was referring to something like http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dice-roller/id325343214?mt=8 but that link you posted is pretty cool as well and I could definitely look at that.

I guess when I was talking about large volumes of text I was looking for an easy way to store and update the text as rules to the game (think D&D) change. But I think for v1 I’ll post an eBook and then do the rest of the apps separately in Corona.

Thanks again Carlos for the feedback despite my poor explanation. :slight_smile:

Loving Corona so far. [import]uid: 10060 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13926[/import]

#6

why not use webpopup to display the text?

the dice roller. easy doable in corona.

c. [import]uid: 24 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13928[/import]

#7

I’ll check that out! Thanks Carlos again for all your help! [import]uid: 10060 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 13934[/import]

#8

Hi,

I hope you don’t mind adding a question to this.

I have a recipe app. There is a lot of text content and information which I can do as an image (thanks for the tip),

But I want to create a recipe that a person can add to a shopping list and then check off items.

Would it be possible to do that?

Also - I would want to be able to convert the recipe measurements depending on the country a person lived in - say to metric.

Is that going to be possible?

Thanks for your help.

[import]uid: 133106 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 94241[/import]

#9

Hey Christine,

It would certainly be possible to do this.

I imagine you will have some specific questions about logic once you get started, if so please post them in their own new thread. (This was titles are relevant and it will be useful for other users in the future.)

But yes - absolutely possible on both counts :slight_smile:

Peach

PS - As a metric user I think it is great you want a conversion option in there. [import]uid: 52491 topic_id: 4419 reply_id: 94423[/import]