By default, an object’s width and height are displayed when you resize it. To turn off these measurements, choose iBooks Author > Preferences, click General, and deselect “Show size and position when moving objects.”

1. Select the object you want to resize.

2. Do any of the following:

   • Resize the entire object: Drag an active selection handle.

     

   • Resize the object in only one direction: Drag a side handle.

   • Resize the object from its center: Hold down the Option key as you drag.

   • Maintain an object’s proportions: Hold down the Shift key as you drag. (You can also select “Constrain proportions” in the Metrics inspector.)

   • Resize an object to specific dimensions: Use the Width and Height controls in the Metrics inspector.

     Tip: You can select multiple objects and resize them at once.

   • Return an object to its default size: Click Original Size in the Metrics inspector.

Do any of the following:

• Flip an object horizontally or vertically: Select the object and choose Arrange > Flip Horizontally or Arrange > Flip Vertically.

  You can also use the Flip buttons in the Metrics inspector.

• Rotate an object: Select it, hold down the Command key and move the pointer over a selection handle until it changes to a curved, double-headed arrow, and drag the handle.

  To rotate the object in 45-degree increments, hold down the Shift and Command keys while you drag.

  You can also use the Rotate wheel or the Angle controls in the Metrics inspector.

• Rotate a shape but keep its text horizontal: Rotate the shape and choose Format > Shape > Reset Text and Object Handles.

  You can’t rotate an inline table.

1. Select an object, and select the Shadow checkbox in the format bar.

   If the format bar isn’t visible, choose View > Show Format Bar.

2. If the Graphic inspector isn’t open, click Inspector in the toolbar and click the Graphic Inspector button.

3. In the Graphic inspector, adjust any of the following:

   • Angle: Set the angle of the shadow.

   • Offset: Set how far the shadow is from the object or text.

   • Blur: Adjust the softness of a shadow’s edge.

   • Opacity: Enter a percentage in the field to change a shadow’s transparency.

   • Color well: Change the shadow’s color.

   

1. Select the object.

2. If the Graphic inspector isn’t open, click Inspector in the toolbar and click the Graphic Inspector button.

3. Drag the Opacity slider or enter a percentage in the adjacent field.

   

For shapes, you can set opacity for fill and stroke (border) colors separately from object opacity. If you modify an object’s fill or stroke color opacity (by dragging the Opacity slider in the Colors window), that opacity value becomes the object’s maximum opacity. Then, when you use the Graphic inspector to change the object’s opacity, you are changing it relative to the opacity you set in the Colors window.

If you change an object’s opacity and then can’t restore the object’s fill color to 100 percent, it might be because the opacity was set to less than 100 percent in the Colors window. To fix it, select the object, choose View > Show Colors, and set the opacity in the Colors window to 100 percent.

You can fill shapes, tables, table cells, chart elements, and other objects with a solid color.

You can also fill shapes, table cells, chart elements, and other objects with two or more colors that blend into one another (called a color gradient).

1. Select the object.

2. If the Graphic inspector isn’t open, click Inspector in the toolbar and click the Graphic Inspector button.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Fill the object with a solid color: Choose Color Fill from the Fill pop-up menu.

     Tip: You can also quickly fill an object with a color using the Fill color well in the format bar.

   • Fill the object with a consistent two-color gradient fill: Choose Gradient Fill from the Fill pop-up menu.

     Note: You can fill individual table cells with a gradient, but not an entire table.

     

   • Fill a shape with a customized gradient: Choose Advanced Gradient Fill from the Fill pop-up menu.

     

4. To change the color or its opacity, click the color well below the Fill pop-up menu, use the Colors window to choose a color and opacity, and drag the color from the color well at the top of the Colors window to the color well in the Graphic inspector.

   If you chose Gradient Fill, use this process for each color well. With Advanced Gradient Fill, click a color control below the gradient strip.

5. If you chose Gradient Fill or Advanced Gradient Fill, do either or both of the following:

   • Set a direction for the gradient: Use the Angle wheel or field.

   • Flip the gradient: Click the Flip button (with a curved, double-headed arrow, or with two arrows facing opposite directions).

6. If you chose Advanced Gradient Fill, do any of the following:

   • Add another color to the gradient: Click below the gradient strip where you want the new color to begin.

   • Change how sharply the colors blend: Drag the blend point controls above the gradient strip.

   • Create a radial (circular) gradient: Click the Radial Gradient button. To recenter the gradient, drag the small blue editing point in the center of the object. To change how sharply the colors blend, drag the blue editing point outside the object closer to or farther from the gradient’s center.

     

You can fill shapes or chart elements with an image or tinted image.

1. Select an object.

2. If the Graphic inspector isn’t open, click Inspector in the toolbar and click the Graphic Inspector button.

3. Choose Image Fill or Tinted Image Fill from the Fill pop-up menu.

4. Choose an image.

   If there’s already an image there and you want to change it, click Choose. Or drag a file from the Finder or Media Browser to the image well in the Graphic inspector to a chart series.

   You can choose a file in any supported file format.

   

5. If you chose Tinted Image Fill, click the color well (to the right of the Choose button) to select a tint color. Drag the Opacity slider in the Colors window to make the tint darker or lighter. Dragging the Opacity slider in the Graphic inspector changes the opacity of both the tint and the photo.

   

6. To change how the image fills the object, choose an option from the pop-up menu above the Choose button:

   • Scale to Fit: Resizes the image to fit the object’s dimensions as well as possible. If the object’s shape is different from the image’s, parts of the image might not appear or blank space might appear around the image.

   • Scale to Fill: Makes the image larger or smaller to leave minimum white space around the image, even if the object and image have different shapes.

   • Stretch: Sizes the image to fit the object’s dimensions but might distort the image if its shape is different from the object’s.

   • Original Size: Places the image inside the object without altering the image’s original dimensions. If the image is larger than the object, you see only a part of the image. If the image is smaller than the object, blank space appears around the image.

   • Tile: Repeats the image inside the object, if the image is smaller than the object. If the image is larger than the object, you see only part of the image inside the object.