When you create a new book album, Aperture automatically creates a front cover page for the book. You can select the page and add a title, cover photo or design, and other text or photos that you like.

You can also choose between a softcover or hardcover design. Softcover designs have a white background; if you select a hardcover design and purchase printed copies of the book from the Apple print vendor, you can choose from a selection of hardcover colors. Note that you can only add photos and text to the front cover of your book; you can’t specify photos or text on the spine or back cover when purchasing books from the Apple print vendor.

To choose whether your book has a softcover or hardcover design, you click one of the book cover buttons.

• Click the Hardcover or Softcover button in the Book Layout Editor.

  If you don’t plan to purchase printed books from the Apple print vendor, you may want to employ a graphic designer to create the front and back cover for you, or you can design the cover yourself using a graphics application.

You select a design for your page by applying a master page layout. Aperture provides different master page layouts depending on the theme you choose. You choose a page design from the Set Master Page pop-up menu. For example, you might create a single-photo page and then later decide to change that page to hold two photos.

You can apply different master page designs to a page to find the design that works best for your project.

1. Select the page in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Choose a master page from the Set Master Page pop-up menu.

   • Click the triangle on the page, then choose a master page from the pop-up menu.

If you change a page’s design by repositioning or resizing boxes and you want to start over with the original design, you can reapply the original master page design by selecting the page you want to change in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor, and then choosing Reapply Master from the Book Action pop-up menu .

You can move pages within a book. If you need to move a particular page forward or backward in the page order, you can drag it to a new location in the book structure.

1. Select the page in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor.

2. Drag the page to a new location.

You can choose a background image to appear behind the other photos on a page. For example, you might create a page that shows a bride and groom in the foreground and a church setting in the background. Or, you might choose a background image that complements the colors of the photo in the foreground.

1. Select a page in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor to which you want to apply the background.

2. Do one of the following:

   • To apply a background image to a single page: Drag a photo from the Browser over the page in the Book Layout Editor until the background becomes highlighted, and then release the mouse button.

   • To apply a background image to a two-page spread: Make sure the Show Full Spreads button is selected in the Book Layout Editor, then drag the photo you want over the spine (center) of the page spread in the Book Layout Editor until the background becomes highlighted on both pages.

1. Select the page in the Pages pane of the Book Layout Editor.

2. Do one of the following:

   • Click the page background to select the image, then press the Delete key to remove the image.

   • Choose No Background from the Set Background pop-up menu.

     

     Note: The Set Background pop-up menu is not available for all themes.

Aperture provides automatic page numbering in your books. Each theme offers page numbers in preset positions on the page. You can turn off page numbering if you wish. You cannot reposition page numbers on the page or change the format of the page numbers.

• To turn on page numbering: Choose Page Numbers > Always from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor.

• To turn off page numbering: Choose Page Numbers > Off from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor.

You can also choose the Automatic option to turn on page numbering. When chosen, the Automatic option displays page numbers on pages when no photos appear behind them.

If you’ve made modifications to the design of a book and you want to start over with an unmodified design, Aperture can rebuild your book. Aperture rebuilds the book structure using the default series of master page designs and adds your photos to the revised pages. You lose any changes that you previously made to your pages. Aperture can place all the photos in the Browser into the book, or only selected photos.

Do one of the following:

• To rebuild a book with all of the photos in the Browser: Choose Rebuild Book With All Images from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor.

• To rebuild a book with a selection of photos: Select the photos in the Browser that you want to place in the book, then choose Rebuild Book With Selected Images from the Book Action pop-up menu in the Book Layout Editor.