A Book About Hype (3.5+Pro) 📘

[Photics]

This topic is closed. The conversation continues here...

📘 A Book About Hype (2020 Print Edition) [NOW AVAILABLE!]

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With the fall of Flash, the Internet has been looking for a successor for online interactivity and animation. Hype is great software. I believe that it is part of the next generation of the web. However, I've been getting this nagging feeling that I too must be part of this revolution. It's not enough for Hype to be great software, others must know about it. Equally important, many of those that already use the software strive to master it.

So, how can I help? I run Photics.com - an Internet publishing business that has been online since 1998. I've published a few books before, which have helped entertain and/or inform thousands of people around the world. Also, I've been using Tumult Hype for about four years.

Popular software tends to have books written about it. Unfortunately, there is no such book for Hype – even though there does appear to be at least some demand. So, to help people learn and master Hype, I've begun work on a new book project...

A Book About Hype (3+Pro)
Creating apps, books, games and websites with Tumult Hype

It's an unofficial book. But in Weird Al style, I asked Tumult if they were OK with the creation of a book about hype. They seemed encouraging. Hopefully you're excited about this too.

So, here's the plan... Since Apple did their part and improved iBooks Author, I decided to give their software another shot. The book is to be an ePub, with interactive examples and possibly templates. Since Tumult is Mac only software, the book will be distributed through the Mac App Store and designed for iBooks. The idea is to complete the book before the end of year. (It would be nice if the book was completed by the iBook Author Conference in Nashville on October 8-9, but that might be too close.) The target price is $14.99. It is meant to be for all skill levels – coders and non-coders.

If you like this idea - and you want to be notified when the book is available - press the like button. The plan is to send private messages to those that liked this post when the book is complete. (If you're lurking on this forum, and you haven't joined up yet, there's also a contact form on my website... https://photics.com/about/contact)

If you want to request a specific topic to be covered, I'll be monitoring this thread. I'm also planning to post updates on this thread too. I tend to stick to a topic for a really long time. Here's my only other thread so far... Is there a Physics API? 🤔 ...which should show that I'm pretty passionate about this software. I also like to write and share knowledge, so this project should be a lot of fun.

[Photics]

Progress Update - Friday, July 31, 2015

That first step is usually the hardest. Now that I’ve actually begun serious work on this book, I’m feeling pretty good! With my last book project, I wasn’t sure of my technology choice. It really hurt momentum – and ultimately hurt sales. But with Hype, iBooks Author (especially the updated version) is a perfect match.

I’m about 1% complete. HA HA. But realistically, that’s probably the hardest part. With the book setup, now I can just create content. Exciting!

Also, 8 people liked the above post already. That’s encouraging. Thanks!

[gasspence (Greg)]

If there is anything we do to help, let us know.

[kiwigirls (kim)]

To me a how to app for the iPad would be a lot more help-books are a little disconected in my humble opinion

[Photics]

@kiwigirls

To me a how to app for the iPad would be a lot more help-books are a little disconected in my humble opinion

Well, the difference between an app and an ePub document is that one ePub document can work on iPhone, iPad and Mac. (Since it's an ePub, it could work other devices too – but I'm focusing on iBooks.)

Admittedly, I'm not entirely sure if this project is going to work out. The interactive examples might get tricky. But so far, I think the book is looking really good. I've been testing the book on an iPad Air 2, iPhone 4 and a Mac Mini. I like the way it works. The text automatically reflows to fit the screen. It's so versatile. I'd have to struggle to duplicate that functionality in an app.

Also, by focusing all the sales towards one ePub document, it increases the chances that Apple will feature the book.

[kiwigirls (kim)]

Hi Michael,
im in no way trying to put crap on your idea!
i will buy a copy for sure.

Im just throwing my idea out there hoping some app genius will think sweet
there’s an easy way to make some extra coin while helping us all out in the
process,

i’ve got many kindle books that i use for reference however find that i get
distracted very easy and the “coding apps” etc go straight to the point so
i can keep on the task at hand without losing myself in bookland.

we are different of course and my views are only my own experience with
trying to convert facts to “onscreen” code.

books, apps they are all helpful in different ways

let me know when your finished i’ll scoop a copy up

cheers kim

[Photics]

@kiwigirls

books, apps they are all helpful in different ways

Thanks for the comments. Don't worry. I didn't take offense.

It was a tough problem for me to figure out. I bounced around with The Unofficial GameSalad Textbook. I switched between so many different formats... PDF, ePub and App. The app version was popular. Apple featured it. There are strong arguments for creating an App. I had to make a decision. Even just starting this project was tough. So, I picked iBooks (ePub) because I could focus more on writing / creating content, rather than battling with different formats.

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I've been working on templates for the book. Here's an example of some JavaScript... Geometry question - #2 by Photics ...the goal is to push designers to learn programming – and programmers to learn design. Lots of people say, "I can't code." They also might say, "I can't design." Hopefully, this book can help people get past that.

Over the weekend, I visited Manhattan. I took some pictures as a plan for the cover.

Also good news, there's a decent chance this book will be translated to German. If Hype supported Polish, that might be a possibility for the book too. But right now, no other languages are planned for launch though.

[Photics]

Progress Update - Monday, 10, 2015

It was a productive weekend. I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to, but I think my expectations were too high.

The book is about 10% done, but I might be adding more content. I’m still not past the beginning parts yet. I’m trying to be thorough. Work has begun on German translation too.

[Northerner_V1 (Gerard Sargent)]

Just found your topic. This sounds like a great idea. Please let me know when it’s ready - I’ll be watching with interest!

[Photics]

Progress Update - Saturday, 15, 2015

After writing thousands of words, and taking scores of screenshots, I hit my first major issue. I added my first interactive example. It seems that the interactivity doesn’t quite work as expected…

What?! Why is it doing that? Why isn’t it filling the box? Apparently, it’s too much responsiveness. If I used a fixed width layout in Hype, then the widget scales nicely in iBooks. But if I use flexible layouts in Hype, the widget doesn’t quite match the box. I’m not sure if this is an issue with Hype or iBooks.

Another issue was choosing the right settings for interactivity.

I decided to use “Plays automatically” and “Plays on page”. While not apparent in the first screenshot, the blue circle pulses. I think it’s awesome. The design looks like static content, just another picture. Yet, that animated dot just calls for attention. It’s as if the book crosses over into another level. It’s very sci-fi feeling.

Unfortunately, it seems that my iPhone 4 is too old for this feature. Instead of showing the interactive grid, a circular loading icon appears.

I suppose iBooks was warning me about this, as it clearly says “Newer version of iBooks needed”. The interactivity works perfectly on my iPad, so I suppose I’ll just have to upgrade my phone. While the book is readable on an iPhone 4, the interactivity doesn’t work.

I’m planning to get a new iPhone when the new models are released – that’s probably next month. I was trying to hold out for a new “C” model, as I don’t like the larger iPhone sizes, but not having an iPhone that’s supported by Apple is starting to hinder my work.

[Daniel]

Thanks for the update!

@Photics

Why isn't it filling the box? Apparently, it's too much responsiveness. If I used a fixed width layout in Hype, then the widget scales nicely in iBooks. But if I use flexible layouts in Hype, the widget doesn't quite match the box. I'm not sure if this is an issue with Hype or iBooks.

I bet what's happening is that the Default.png image which iBooks uses (and Hype generates) mismatches the size of the widget in your book. Can you share an example?

[Photics]

Progress Update - Saturday, 22, 2015

This is a quick update, as I should be writing more pages in the book.

Currently, I’m digging through the “Inspector: Typography” section. I was wondering if I was being too detailed about fonts, but apparently it’s important…

• Am I using SVG Files Incorrectly?

It seems that missing Fonts could be the problem there. To start off the Typography section, I compared modern web development with my prepress experience. Missing fonts were trouble back then. Now that the web has modernized, apparently it’s a problem here too. So, maybe some story telling is OK. I’m concerned that the book is a little too technical. Many some real world experiences can lighten it up a bit.

Also while working on the Typography section, I thought it would be cake to describe the Alignment buttons. HA, apparently not. It felt a little too short, so I did some digging about hyphenation. I usually use left-justify because the browsers can’t handle Justify too well. I haven’t checked to see if there’s been improvement since then. There has been, but it’s still a bit fragmented.

@Daniel & @jonathan – Supposedly, hyphenation improves when the language is specified. This is done in the section of the code, but that can’t be edited through Hype. Perhaps this is something that should be added to the “Inspector: Document” section… a dropdown to specify the document language.

Since the book is for beginners-to-advanced levels, I feel it’s necessary to include the “Hype Manual” text. Tumult did a good job with basic instructions, so I’m trying not to duplicate what they did. I’m trying to create something a little bit more expanded. It’s taking longer than I thought it would.

This makes me happy…

There’s an “extremely high” like-to-post ratio on this thread. That’s because of the 19 people that liked the first post in this thread so far. This is encouraging. While I have been having fun on this project, there were some dark moments where I was wondering if it’s too much work. For much of today, I just slept – a lot!

I’m still aiming for an October-ish launch.

[Daniel]

@Photics

@Daniel & @jonathan – Supposedly, hyphenation improves when the language is specified. This is done in the section of the code, but that can't be edited through Hype. Perhaps this is something that should be added to the "Inspector: Document" section... a dropdown to specify the document language.

Thanks for the requests! I'm not sure this does much for the majority of documents, but I can see how this might help search engine scrapers on foreign-language documents and may reduce text encoding issues on older browsers.

Looking forward to the book.

[gasspence (Greg)]

@Photics

A Book About Hype (3+Pro)

Are you accepting any preorders yet?

[Photics]

@Daniel

Looking forward to the book.

Cool!

Also, I posted some more feedback here...

Is there a Physics API?

I’m working on the “Inspector: Physics” section in “A Book About Hype”, and I’m noticing a few things… Gravity (both force and angle) should be timeline properties Density, Bounce, Friction and Air Drag can be set to negative. I’m thinking it probably shouldn’t be able to do that. It’s not logical and the results are weird. Density, Bounce, Friction and Air Drag don’t seem to affect elements with a “Static” “Body Type”. What if I wanted to make a trampoline or an icy walkway? I suppose there a…

I noticed some issues with Physics issues while working on the book. @jonathan might be interested in that info too.

@gasspence

Are you accepting any preorders yet?

No, I tried that with The Unofficial Stencyl Textbook. It seems to dilute the effect of sales. The idea is to have a big launch, lots of sales at once, so that someone at Apple notices. If Apple notices the book and then features it, that's good news for me – but also Tumult. People that might not have known about Hype could learn about it through iBooks and a different area of iTunes. It also helps with getting a beachhead in educational institutions. The book could be part of a syllabus for a course on Hype or Web Development / Design.

I'm about 20-25 percent complete. I just finished the Inspector panels, which was tedious. Once I get through the basics of animation, I can focus more on what can be built with Hype – and how to built it!

[Photics]

Progress Update - Friday, September 4, 2015

Unfortunately, progress has slowed. I didn’t get much done this week. I’m aiming to be more productive this weekend. (You can tell I’m serious by the short post. HA!)

Progress Update - September 8, 2015

Labor Day weekend was productive. It was three days to focus on the book. I was having trouble getting started on the animation section. I like to write my tech book in a linear fashion – starting from absolute beginner and gradually adding complexity. That was tricky with the animation window, which is a lot of tech smushed together.

It’s one of those things that’s easier to do than to explain. HA! Yet, I was wondering, what if someone was struggling to understand the timeline? So, I tried to be detailed and methodical.

The basic tutorial content should be complete soon. After that, the fun begins. I get to create examples on what can be built with Hype. I’m looking forward to working game development topics too!

[jonathan (Jonathan Deutsch)]

Glad to hear all your progress! While I can’t speak for others, the timeline and understanding how multiple timelines interact is at the very heart of Hype so it seems that being detailed here is the way to go.

[Photics]

Progress Update - Sunday, September 13, 2015

I’m currently working on the “Timing Functions” section. When working on the custom timing functions part, I realized that Tumult might be missing a promotional opportunity. I haven’t been using custom timing functions, but then I realized that they could be timesavers.

What if you wanted a transition to occur twice… Left-to-right, right-to-left and then left-to-right again? That’s three separate animations… or only one animation with a custom timeline.

I’ve been thinking of making Photics.com a resource for web developers. I’m still not sure yet, but I’ve been thinking about uploading templates and online tools to help with web development. Custom timing functions could be something cool to share.

Unfortunately, I’m not seeing an easy way to share custom functions. They’re project specific. I’m thinking timeline functions should be sharable.

If custom timing functions were sharable, it might encourage more people to upgrade to Hype Pro.

[gasspence (Greg)]

That’s a great and clever use for custom timings that most of us haven’t thought of - it would also be a great ‘Tips & Tricks’ entry. Thanks Michael

As far as sharing custom timings go, I think the best way would be as you have already done by uploading the screen shot of the ‘Timing Window’ and maybe a small hype doc with a sample of the timing function in action

[Luckyde (Lucky)]

what if you make a couple of symbols with animated items inside of them with different easings then tell the user to just save the custom one they like?

Personally I prefer to disable all eases and manually do them since I like the control I’d rather have templates with key frames since you can adjust them better since you have a bigger range to work with instead of the small ease box