Peter Meyers
Peter Meyers is an author and digital book producer. He writes about and helps companies create reader-friendly digital books. He's the author of "Best iPad Apps" and he's currently writing "Breaking the Page: Transforming Books and the Reading Experience."
Keeping images and text in sync
Two examples of how digital images and associated text can stick together.
The fluidity of digital content occasionally sends images in one direction and text in another. Here's a look at two design experiments that keep digital assets together.
Why an ebook still needs an index
An index in an ebook offers a level of discovery search can't touch.
Why should digital publishers invest in index creation? Because ebooks that give readers efficient ways to access what they need are ebooks that will sell.
To page or to scroll?
Digital book designers face a big question: Is it better to scroll or flip?
We all got comfortable scrolling through web pages a long time ago, but ereader and tablet design added a new quirk with the introduction of page flips. Here, Pete Meyers considers the applications of scrolling and flipping across reading environments.
Searching in ebooks: A unique use case that requires a unique approach
Ereader search tools need to limit disruption and incorporate web search best practices.
The current crop of ereaders handle ebook searching in a variety of ways — some are useful and creative, some aren’t. Here, Pete Meyers looks at the state of ebook search and how it can be improved.
Sometimes the questions are as enlightening as the answers
10 digital book questions worth pondering.
If you're willing to accept the ambiguity, an answer of "I don't know" can launch intriguing possibilities. Here, Peter Meyers offers 10 open-ended questions about the shift from print to screen.
A story takes shape amidst tweets and pauses
Novelist Reif Larsen takes to Twitter to tell a short story.
The novelist Reif Larsen did something on Twitter recently that showed how sometimes the best stories are those that arrive in small morsels, spaced generously.
If it's important, the news will find me
Which works better: gulping from the info firehose or letting news come to you?
Facing info overload, Peter Meyers ponders more efficient ways to find what’s newsworthy. What works for you?
Notes that don't break the reading flow
The flexibility of the digital page offers considerable promise for notes.
When you move away from the passage you're currently reading to consult a note you lose your connection in a very literal way. The digital canvas provided by ebooks and ereaders can change this.
Images and text need to get together
Publishing tools should address the obvious, like layering text over images.
Callouts and captions enhance visuals, but some publishing tools make it difficult to mix images and text. That needs to change.
9 digital book-making tools
A survey of tools for creating apps and ebooks.
As a preview for his upcoming free webcast, Pete Meyers offers a quick overview of digital tools used for app and ebook creation.