As most early reader books are short, the number one customization requested by my BellaOnline readers is to change the default Table of Contents page in iBooks Author. After reviewing sample books in the iBooks^R Store, I noticed that many children’s books omitted the iBA TOC page.

So, how did these books replaced the TOC and what did they put in its place? Very frequently, it was replaced with a page explaining the use of the interactive icons and other features that the reader will encounter throughout the book. Some replaced it with a short message to Parents.

Even though these early reader books do not need the TOC page, the reader may still want to view the TOC. So what is the answer? In my template, I replaced the default TOC page.

How To Make The Template Yourself

The default TOC page has been changed significantly in my template. The chapter/section number and title text placeholders have been hidden and replaced with another placeholder text box. The new top text box contains the title of your book. On the right is the “How to Use This Book” area, containing the icons and their labels.

Of course, you will need the icon graphics to place on your pages. You will find png files for the three icons in the download folder. Just drag the png from the Finder window to the page layout. We will talk about how to turn the icon into a clickable button in a future tutorial.

Back To The Default TOC

The default TOC page layout contained four placeholders for the chapter/section number, title, section list and background image. I have extended the default half-page graphic placeholder to span over the entire page and placed a colorful bordered background graphic into the placeholder.

The placeholders for the chapter/section number, title and section list cannot be deleted. I have kept the section list on the left but the number and title boxes have been hidden from view by reducing the opacity to 0%.

If you wish to use a different layout design, follow the steps below to remove the placeholders.

1. Select the Title of Book text box and click the Delete button.
   
   
2. Select the bordered box on the right and its contents and delete.
   
   You should now have only the background graphic and section list on the page.
   
   
3. To replace the background graphic, drag and drop your own graphic into the upper right corner of the placeholder graphic. If necessary, you can resize the placeholder to fit your graphic in the Metrics Inspector.