Hi Esther. Once again you've come to the rescue. I can indeed view the very same book in iBooks as you said. Also, concerning preview, I was going about trying to read a character at a time the wrong way. I was trying to set the rotor to character and then using the down arrow key with quicknav turned on. I still have quicknav on, but now I just use VO-Shift-left or right arrow. I use preview for PDFs that I can't get on iBooks. Also, I have to remember to use the bookmark feature any time I leave the preview window because it will take me back to the very top of the PDF if I don't.
Again, thank you, Esther. I can see you took quite a bit of time to verify that the book you were talking about was the same book I was reading and how to search for it, etc., not to mention writing the email and even including a link. You're very kind. Tony On Apr 23, 2011, at 11:10 PM, Esther wrote: > Hi Tony, > > I'm sorry to hear you're having a difficult time reading the Objective C book > on your Mac. I went back to look at the Objective C book in PDF format that > you referenced, and this is readable in Preview provided that you remember to > interact with the material. I can get this to work with Adobe Reader > (shudder). Stanza (on your Desktop) is really not designed for this. If > you're reading the material in Safari, you may find it easier to use the web > page version of the manual rather than the PDF file, but this is all doable. > However, I think it will be easiest for you to get started with this on your > iPod Touch, since the controls and navigation are already familiar to you. > This also means that I can get you started progressing more quickly with > what you want to read. > > First of all, let me say that now, having actually downloaded the PDF version > of the book, looked at the HTML version at the Apple Developer's Site URL > that Barry gave, and downloaded the free ePub version of the book from > iBooks, these are all the same book! So, if I go back to my original post > that stated that since you mentioned in your introduction that you had an > iPod Touch, you could download the free iBooks app onto your iPod Touch from > the iTunes App Store and then find the free ebooks from the Apple Developer's > connection there, this was perfectly true. On your iPod Touch, go to the > following App Store URL for iBooks: > http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8 > If you read this post on your iPod Touch, you can open the link to go > directly to the free iBooks app in your App Store. "Purchase" it by double > tapping on the "Free" button, and supply your iTunes Store password to let it > download. Then, from your iPod Touch: > > 1. Launch the iBooks app on your iPod Touch > 2. When the app opens, double tap the "Store" button in the top right corner > to go the store. > 3. Double tap the "Search" button (4th of 5 buttons on the bottom of the > screen). > 4. In the search field at the top of the screen, double tap and enter "apple" > using the virtual keyboard. If you move your finger down from the search > text field, or alternatively if you flick past the "Clear text" and "Library" > buttons to the list of results, you'll hear "Apple Inc." and then "Apple > Developer Publications". > 5. Double tapping on "Apple Developer Publications" will bring up a list of > the 6 free publications in ePub format that can be read in the iBooks app. > 6. Flick right to the 5th of these books, which will be "The Objective C > Programming Language" and double tap. You can read reviews, etc. and the > brief description of the book, but since you already know you want to get > this book, just navigate (flick right) to the "Download" button and double > tap. > > I'm going to paste in an excerpt from a recent viphone list post that > describes how to use bookmarks and searching in iBooks. You can also use the > Table of Contents to navigate to pages. If you want to read by characters or > words, change your rotor setting and then flick up or down. Reading works > pretty well if you're using a paired Bluetooth Keyboard, and you can use > QuickNav keys to adjust the rotor (e.g., enter QuickNav mode by pressing the > Right and Left arrow keys on your keyboard, then use the arrow keys in > conjunction the command, control, and option keys to navigate.) > > > <begin excerpt> > From: Esther > Date: April 19, 2011 > Subject: Using iPhone User Guides in iBooks [was Re: What's that new > command for changing screenpages] > Hi Cher and Others, > > You can also get a copy of the User Guide for the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad > from iBooks. This is just the same version of the manual you can access > under the bookmarks in Safari, but in ePub format. You have to download > iBooks as a free app from the App Store, since it isn't loaded onto the > device by default. Once you have launched iBooks, just go to the Store of > iBooks and type "Apple Inc." into the search field. There are six user > guides -- two each for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. If you want the one > for the latest version of iOS, make sure the title is "iPhone User Guide for > iOS4.2 and 4.3" (or "iPod Touch User Guide for iOS 4.3" or "iPad User Guide > for iOS 4.3"), since there are also version of each guide for iOS 4.2 only. > These are free, and you can download them onto your device. When you have > opened the book, you can either use the search field or the table of contents > to navigate to the section you want. For example, the buttons on the top of > the screen are "Library", "Table of Contents", "Brightness", "Fonts", > "Search", and "Add Bookmark". So I could flick to the "Search" button, > double tap, then type in "VoiceOver gestures" into the search field. I'll > get a list of matches to my search, listed in order of appearance, along with > the page number and a bit of context. I can flick through the list of > results, and double tap when reach the result I want. The main discussion of > VoiceOver gestures actually starts with the third of the listed matches, > which only returns this as the name of the section. To go to the page I want > from the search, I double tap the entry I want. Then, I can use the two > finger flick down to start reading the section. If I decide that I want to > bookmark the page, I can stop reading (two finger tap), and double tap the > "Add Bookmark" button in the top right corner to create a bookmark. > > Now, let's say that at a later time I want to open the book and return to my > bookmark. iBooks will normally remember the last page you read, and open to > that location, but let's assume that I started reading another section and > now want to return to where I set the bookmark. I'll either touch the > "Library" button in the top left corner or use the gesture to go to the first > element of the screen (now a 4 finger tap in the top of the screen, used to > be a four finger flick up -- which I prefer), then flick right to the "Table > of Contents" button and double tap. This screen has two tabs: one for viewing > "Table of Contents" and one for viewing your "Bookmarks". Flick right to the > button for "Bookmarks, 2 of 2" and double tap. I'm now presented with a list > of bookmarks I have set listed in page number order. I flick right to the > bookmark I want, which is given with a chapter identification, page number, > and date I set the bookmark. To navigate to the bookmark I double tap the > entry. If I want to resume reading, I move back to the first element of the > screen (touch left corner or do your four finger tap on the top of the > screen), and flick right to where the "Table of Contents" button has turned > into a "Resume" button. Double tapping "Resume" takes me back to the page I > was last reading. > <end excerpt> > > HTH. > Cheers, > > Esther > > On Apr 23, 2011, at 12:46, Tony Hernandez wrote: > >> Hi all. >> >> I've ben trying all day to get various programs to work well reading PDFs >> on the Mac and have gotten no where fast. The programs I've tried are Adobe >> reader 10, Stanza, Skim, Preview, Safari, and Text Edit. These each have >> bugs that either make the document unreadable or difficult to read, or get >> hung up. Skim completely freezes when I reach the end of a page and forces >> me to close it out, which is unacceptable. Stanza does weird things with the >> spacing and makes the information incomprehensible. Safari doesn't let me >> interact with the text properly and insists on taking me to the very first >> page no matter what part of the file is visible when I try to interact with >> the text. Adobe is completely inaccessible. Text Edit just renders the file >> as garbage characters. Preview doesn't track my location properly when I >> read by line, so if I have to start reading by character, I'm completely >> lost there too. I don't wish to pay for a pdf to text converter because I >> don't have fond memories of such converters and I don't want to view the >> information as text. Is there a program out there for the Mac that reads PDF >> files, doesn't hang up or have quirky and distracting problems tracking the >> cursor, etc.? So far my experience with viewing pdf files on the Mac has >> been unhappy and worthy of 1 star. It's quite discouraging. I really, really >> don't want to have to read all my Objective C stuff on Windows machines. I'm >> at my wit's end with this and quite disappointed so far. >> >> Tony Hernandez >> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
