Art That Could Move
Back in 1987, when I was a devoted artist, I had the crazy notion that one day I would create art that could move and be manipulated by its viewers. Thinking about how I would manifest such an idea, I concluded this art would need to be electronically maneuvered to work. It wasn’t until I secured a computer and my first “software making” tool, “NeoBook DOS Pro” (http://www.neosoftware.com/nb.html) that I realized my crazy notion could be a reality.
Using this program for projects ranging from short children stories to full blown applications, I would drag and drop objects to my heart’s content until I arrived at what I called an interactive piece of work. From my newly found programming venture, I’ve learned that computer usage must, above all things, be intuitive. So I spent approximately six months learning how to incorporate intuitive concepts into my electronic projects, which consequently, included e-books.
E-Books and Fusion
Because e-books are a fusion of physical and virtual communication, traditional books and e-books intuitively complement each other in design, creating an environment in which readers should be able to use an e-book without having to think about what book elements are included, where they’re located, and how to find them.
This guide suggests a way to achieve such a fusion. None of these suggestions have been proven to increase e-book usage or sales or anything of the sort. Nor are these suggestions complete. They are simply one way of approaching the dilemma over information organization and design – that is, an interactive and intuitive piece of work.
Therefore, the following table outlines the parts of a book and how they can be sensibly transformed into electronic content:
Electronic Content
Each Part or Chapter of a traditional book can become an e-book’s menu title. The pages of each chapter can become the menu items of the chapter’s menu title. Example:
The arrows represent a tool bar, and can allow a reader to flip back and forth through a chapter.
You may prefer to label your menu titles with chapter titles, and page numbers with descriptive sub-titles. Submenus can allow the reader to jump to a specific paragraph if you like.
Other functions could allow the reader to navigate back and forth through a chapter, bookmark a page, and take notes. Since these are functions that may be used at any time in the e-book from any page, they could be made available from a toolbar or a menu title that dynamically changes throughout the use of the e-book. (The capabilities of your e-book making software will determine whether or not you can offer these features.)
Elements not typically available in traditional books, such as sound or videos, can be made accessible in an e-book as a small icon on a page. Clicking the icon will activate the sound or video, thus appearing as an embedded object.
An example page with the menu structure above might look like this:
This is a very simple design, yet quite effective and easy to maneuver. So you can see that it is quite possible to successfully incorporate the elements of a traditional book into an electronic book and offer intuitive familiarity at the same time. This is something I appreciate, and am sure others will too.
External Resources:
1. How To Publish An Ebook On A Budget – An Author’S Guide
2. Rants and Raves of an Indie eBook Publisher!
