Using eBooks on Perfection Next

This article will walk one through the various features of eBooks on Perfection Next®.

Students will launch their eBooks from the Class Dashboard. In the Products Panel, one selects the eBook to launch. The Class Dashboard is the default view for student's logging into their accounts in Perfection Next®.

Teachers can also launch their eBooks from the Class Dashboard. However, they can also select Products then select the product they wish to view.

Depending on the products licensed there maybe an additional submenu to select from the Products menu as materials are classified into Instructional Materials, Resource Library, and Digital Library.

Upon opening an eBook your screen should look similar to what is displayed below. The Navigation Bar, which contains the menu items Dashboard and Account for students and for teachers includes Products, Reports, and Manage options. If you have licenses to Interactive Editions, teachers will also have an Assignments menu item.
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The Information Bar (outlined with pink rectangle) will tell you the title of the book you are currently viewing. In the screenshot below, Connections: English Language Arts Student Edition is being displayed.

The eBook toolbar is where you will access a variety of features of the Perfection Next eBooks. We'll introduce the various tools on the toolbar then in the next section of this document explain them in more detail.

The Exit icon leaves the eBook and returns one to the point from which they launched the eBook.

When selecting Table of Contents a panel will be opened on the left side of the screen. It will be structured based on the organization of the eBook being viewed.

In the product above below the book is organized by units and topics. Selecting the text in the table of contents takes you to that section of your eBook.

To the right of the Table of Contents on the Toolbar is the Student Selector.

This feature is only available to teacher accounts. If the product has been assigned to a class, the teacher can select a student from the class and view the student's version of the eBook. This allows the teacher to see annotation and notes as well as add notes to the student from the teacher.

If you are viewing a teacher restricted resource, the Student Selector will not be displayed as students cannot access teacher materials.

The next item on the toolbar is the Annotation Type Selector.

If the Select (Esc) is selected then one can select text in the eBook to add an annotation. The other three tools; Rectangle (R), Ellipse (O), and Line (L) allow users to draw shapes in their eBook as an annotation.

The next set of tools control which content appears in the right panel are Resources, Notebook, and Bookmarks.

Resources is not a feature available in a standard eBook. It is only available in an enhanced eBook.

Selecting the Notebook icon will show the annotations and notes one has captured in their notebook.

Selecting the Bookmarks icon will display the pages that have been bookmarked by the user.

You have the ability to add bookmarks to your eBook from the Bookmarks in the Right Panel.
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Selecting an icon in the Right Panel Selector a second time will hide the right panel.

There are a few different ways you can navigate through your eBook. One of which is the previous and next page icons that you will find on the left and right sides of the screen.
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At the bottom of your browser window centered, you will find the Page Navigation. This is the pink colored rectangle area. The Page Navigation allows one to navigate to the Previous and Next Page with the arrows, or Jump to a Page by entering a page number in the field that has 100 in it.

On the Page Navigation the Text-to-Speech icon which is the left most icon. This will read the materials while remaining on the eBook page being on the screen.

The Presenter icon on the right side of the Page Navigation Bar has a variety of options for users to customize their eBook view.

Selecting the Fit to width option will expand the display of the eBook page to take up the full width of the screen. You may not be able to see the full book page on your display in this view at once. You will potentially need to scroll up and down to see the contents of the page just like viewing web pages in your browser.

Selecting Fit to page will fit the book page to the vertical space in your browser window. For most displays this is going to make the size of the page smaller as the entirety of the page will be shown without needing to scroll. However, the size of the page may not be large enough to easily read the content of the book page.

​In addition to the Fit to width and Fit to page options one may select a specific zoom setting to increase or decrease the size of the book pages.

Full screen mode (see image below) will allow you to focus on your eBook by hiding the Navigation Bar and Information Bar providing you more vertical screen space for displaying your eBook.

Upon entering Full screen mode the menu option under the Settings icon will change to Exit full screen to return the Navigation Bar and Information Bar to your screen.

Text-to-Speech menu option lets one choose different voices as well as change the speed in which the text is read.

This tool can be accessed by selecting the icon or the Esc key on your keyboard. When in this mode you are able to select text within your eBook to initiate annotation tools.

After selecting the Select tool, selecting text on your eBook page will bring up a popup menu that will allow you to Highlight, Underline, Squiggly, or Strikeout.

Annotations can have Notes added to them, adjust the Style of the annotation, add a Label or Delete the annotation.

After adding annotations you have the option to select that annotation on the page and alter the annotation. You will see a Context Menu popup like the one shown below.

This one contains an option to Comment, Style, or Delete.

The Comment tool allows one to comment on the selected annotation. In the screenshot below the Text annotation is selected with the Comment tool highlighted as well as the Comment Block in the Right Panel where the comment was added to the selected.

You will also notice that on the Toolbar has the Comments tool highlighted. When this is highlighted your annotations will show in your Notebook in the Right Panel on the screen.

The Styling tool allows one to adjust the style of the selected annotation.
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The Style tool for an annotation will allow one to change style characteristics of the selected annotation. The Context Menu options will also vary depending on the object selected and include things such as Color, Opacity, Text Size, or Arrow Styles.

The Delete tool for an annotation will allow one to delete the selected annotation. Selecting the Delete icon will delete the annotation from the eBook. There is no prompt to confirm before deleting the annotation. If one mistakenly deletes an annotation you can use the Redo tool to add it back to your eBook annotations.

There are some shape tools that can also be used to annotate your eBook. They are found on the Annotation Type Selector and include Rectangle (R), Ellipse (O), and Line (L).

After selecting the option just draw the shape on your eBook page. You can move it as well as style it just like other annotations.

Each of the Shape annotations will also display a Context Menu popup when selecting that annotation on the page and alter the annotation. The Context Menu will have options to Comment, Style, Delete (Del), or Link to a URL or page.

On the right side of the Toolbar is the Search icon. Selecting the Search icon will open the search panel on the right side of the screen.

You can Search through your annotations/comments, Filter by Annotation Type, and Sort by: Position, Time, Status, Author, or Type.

After select the Search button to the right of the text you entered, you will get a list of search results that indicate where in the book the search term(s) were found. Selecting any of these results will take you directly to that spot in the book.

The search term(s) will also be highlighted on the page when you are viewing it.

For students there is no option to print your eBook pages.

For teachers teacher materials that contain reproducible pages will have a Print option available for you to print.

It will only appear if the book allows for printing.

All eBooks have Microsoft Immersive Reader functionality available to them. Simply select the Immersive Reader icon from the eBook Toolbar.
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You can use Immersive Reader on the entire page of your eBook or select specific text, such as the reading selection.

At the bottom center of the Immersive Reader screen is the Play button as well as Voice Settings option.

The Play button will enable the text-to-speech in the selected language.

The Voice Settings will allow you to the Voice Speed as well as change the Voice Selection between Female or Male voices.

There are Text Preferences, Grammar Options, and Reading Preference options available in the upper right corner of the Immersive Reader view.

The Text Preferences allow you to adjust the Text Size, Increase Spacing, change the Font, as well as select different Themes.

The themes will adjust the background and text color.

The Grammar Options will allow you to break words in to Syllables as well as identify the Parts of Speech for the words when in Immersive Reader.

The Reading Preferences will allow you to set the Line Focus to 1 line, 3 lines, or 5 lines as well as enable the Picture Dictionary and Translate the page into one of 120+ languages. Most of these languages can also be spoken with the text-to-speech feature.