How to Make iBooks Easier to Read on iPhone and iPad

Some people refuse to read books if they’re not printed on paper and sealed by a colorful cover; others, however, will enjoy delving into their favorite titles right from the comfort and convenience of their iPhone or iPad. Apple’s proprietary iBooks app, for instance, is a true powerhouse for collecting and reading books from a myriad of genres. However, by default, the app’s standard viewing experience isn’t exactly the most enjoyable — especially if you prefer to read larger text, or simply want to change up the ambience of how it’s displayed onscreen. Fortunately, you can change several of the features in iBooks, such as font, size, color-scheme, and much more.

Enable Full Justification & Auto-Hyphenation

Full Justification

An iBook’s presentation, by default, appears onscreen to be somewhat unruly, with the edges being undefined, err, choppy, to an extent. Fortunately, by enabling the Full Justification feature in iBooks, you can make the text edges appear cleaner and more refined.

• To enable Full Justification, launch the Settings app from your iOS home screen.
• Tap on iBooks.
• In the settings, slide the Full Justification toggle to the On position.

Auto-Hyphenation

If you enable full-justification, you’ll probably want to enable Auto-Hyphenation, too. In this way, longer words that would otherwise be broken by a hyphen to fit the page formatting, will instead be pushed in their entirely to the next line — creating an easier reading experience in the process. This feature is the option directly below Full Justification, and can be enabled at the same time. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap iBooks.
3. Toggle Auto-Hyphenation to On.

Text, Color, and Formatting Options

By default, iBooks will be presented in small, black text amidst a stark, white backdrop — and that can be somewhat draining on the eyes, especially if you’re a power-reader. Fortunately, iBooks boasts a number of settings to help you make the most of, and actually enjoy, your reading experience.

When you’ve opened an iBook on your iPhone or iPad, simply tap on the ‘AA’ icon in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, from which a menu of options will appear.

• From that menu, you’ll be able to manually adjust the display brightness by sliding your finger along the Brightness toggle.
• You’ll also be able to decrease or increase the font size by tapping on the small A, or large A, respectively.
• To change the actual display font, simply tap on the Fonts option underneath size, and you’ll be able to choose from a number of the most popular font styles — including Charter, Georgia, Iowan, San Francisco, Times New Roman, and others.
• To change the background color, which will in turn change the text color, you’ll be able to choose between Black text on a White background, Black text on a Beige background, White text on a Gray background, or White text on a Black background.
• Lastly, you’re given the option to have your reading presented in a Scrolling View format, which will enable you to simply scroll up or down on the screen to navigate all pages and chapters of the book, continuously, without having to swipe your finger to flip between them.

Do you enjoy using Apple’s iBooks to catch up on your reading?
Let us know in the comments!