… has actually been possible for a long time. The word processing software found on every Apple computer, iPad, or iPhone has long been able to export ePub and was thus already a great ePub editor yesterday. Because Pages is essentially like Word, just without all the baggage that you only need in Word once in a blue moon. Pages is even better than Word in one discipline: it masters the frame concept and is therefore a simple design software.
Today, Pages received an update. Until now, Apple had iBooks Author, a separate program for creating interactive e-books. With the latest updates, the functions of Author have now been largely integrated into Pages. I say largely because during my first check, I couldn’t immediately find one thing or another… Apple, where did you put the widgets?
What I find remarkable is the fact that in 2018, ePub is no longer something “special”, but that ePub is becoming what it always has been: structured HTML. On one hand, this can be viewed without fuss in a web browser (e.g., in Edge on Windows), and on the other hand, it can be easily created, for example from Pages. And since Pages can convert and open Word documents with high quality, you can now convert well-laid-out Word files into well-made ePubs via Pages. Sweet.
A little side note for all teachers, lecturers, and students among you: Apple, like Microsoft and Google, is constantly expanding its education resources. With Apple’s software and hardware, you can create, play, organize, annotate, and share learning content. You have the entire app universe at your disposal, and soon there will also be a curriculum tool and a class tool integrated into iCloud.
And if you want to learn programming, take a look at the Swift Playgrounds – as of today, also with AR modules!
