by Joseph T. Sinclair
Just as web work and the internet were too important to leave to programmers, apps are also too important to leave to programmers. Apps have been in the programmers’ realm for the first decade of mobile computing, but the inevitable app authoring software has now become widely available to enable the rest of us to easily make apps.
A multitude of app authoring software and services is now available. The authoring software will get better, easier, and less expensive putting the creation of bookapps (apps that are ebooks) well within the reach of individual authors and small publishers.
Ironically, major publishers have generally not published bookapps because of the high programming costs. That has changed dramatically with the advent of app authoring software, and the major publishers are now faced with a dilemma. To publish in the ebook format or to publish in the bookapp format? That is the question. The former may be a dead end for many genres in the long run. The bookapps are priced quite low.
Although HTML5 has recently (2014) become the new standard for the web, it is also quickly becoming a general publishing standard. Thus, if you can code HTML (and anyone can), you can create an attractive bookapp. Many of the app authoring programs are simply conversion programs that translate HTML5 pages into bookapps. And EPUB (ebooks) and HTML5 are expected to merge at some point in the future, meaning that there will be just one set of markups (one code set) for both.
Of course, although it’s helpful to be able to code in HTML, you don’t really have to in order to create a bookapp. Most HTML authoring software provides you with a WYSIWYG interface that makes HTML coding just as easy as using a word processor.
The app authoring software is all over the place in pricing, some inexpensive but most expensive. As the industry matures, however, authoring software will become ubiquitous and inexpensive. It’s clear that because of authoring software, bookapps are no longer the purview of programmers. And the digital publishing of books will embark on a new course.
