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The term “Digital Document” can take on any number of different meanings. As technology changes and evolves and publishing embraces different mediums, you will create a variety of Digital Documents for different purposes. InDesign has become the hub for creating these digital documents.
What you’ll learn in this lesson:
- Creating a multi-state object
- Creating buttons
- Creating hyperlinks
- Using the Content tools
- Creating Alternate Layouts
- Using Liquid Layout
The term “Digital Document” can take on any number of different meanings. As technology changes and evolves and publishing embraces different mediums, you will create a variety of Digital Documents for different purposes. InDesign has become the hub for creating these digital documents.
Starting up
Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your workspace. See “Resetting the InDesign workspace and preferences” in the Starting up section of this book.
You will work with several files from the id11lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have copied the idlessons folder onto your hard drivefrom the Digital Classroom Books website. You can download the files fromhttp://www.DigitalClassroomBooks.com/epub/indesigncs6. See “Downloading lesson files” in the Starting up section of this book. This lesson may be easier to follow if the id11lessons folder is on your desktop.
In this lesson, you will create a multimedia brochure promoting a blueberry farm. You will add video, multi-state objects, and buttons that can be used when exported to various file formats.
 InDesign relies on the free QuickTime Player to import video file formats. If you work on a Mac OS computer, you probably have QuickTime. If you work on a Windows computer, download QuickTime from www.apple.com/quicktime/download and install it on your PC. |
InDesign as your Digital Publication Hub
Traditionally, InDesign has been the preferred tool for creating different types of print publications, including catalogs, brochures, flyers, newsletters, posters, etc. InDesign’s powerful graphic and typographic functions make it the tool of choice for design professionals. But as technology changes, so does InDesign.
Digital mediums have gained popularity in recent years because they add features such as audio, video, and other interactivity to the experience of reading content in such a way that can’t be done in the traditional print medium. Print still has its place and will continue to be used for years to come, but in the digital age, users want enhanced content that can be viewed on a computer or other devices such as smartphones and tablets. This is precisely why InDesign can export to such a variety of formats, including PDF, SWF, HTML, XML, .folio and many more.
With the demand for digital mediums that can be read on various devices, there needs to be a tool that can be used to create content for these devices. Adobe InDesign CS6 has some great new features to make the process of creating digital content easy and efficient, and because it’s a tool that so many users are already familiar with, they can jump right in using InDesign to create this digital content. These new features are not limited to digital content, however; many of the new features added to InDesign CS6 will be helpful for creating traditional print-based content as well.
Interactive design considerations
It’s not enough to export your document intended for print to a digital format and place it online. You must recognize that readers use online content differently, and that you’ll need to make your content fit within their computer or device display so that it’s clearly readable. Some simple considerations with the type and layout can be very helpful. Sans-serif fonts, such as Myriad Pro, Arial, and Helvetica, are easier to read on-screen. Additionally, you need to adjust the layout to fit the medium. Print layouts are often designed to be tall and narrow in a portrait orientation, which does not translate well to a computer display. Online layouts work better in landscape (wide) orientation so that they can be viewed completely without scrolling. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to deal with some of these challenges using some new features found in InDesign CS6.
The finished online layout.
Importing multimedia content
You can use InDesign to import a variety of media types into your layout, including FLV, F4V, MP4, SWF, MOV, AVI, and MPEG for video and MP3 for audio. However, only files exported as interactive PDFs, .folio, and certain other formats will support MOV, AVI, and MPEG; an exported SWF file will not. It’s also important to remember that certain digital devices such as the iPhone®and iPad® do not currently support the Flash file format. InDesign does not support the common Windows Media file format (WMV), which is used with Windows Media Player and the Silverlight platform. You will start by importing a movie file into an existing frame.
1. Choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the id11lessons folder, select the id1101.indd file, and click Open. If necessary, update the links in this file.
2. Make certain that page 1 is visible; if necessary, use the page drop-down menu in the lower-left corner of the document window to navigate to page 1. Choose the Selection tool (
) from the Tools panel and select the yellow frame in the lower-right corner.
) from the Tools panel and select the yellow frame in the lower-right corner.
3. Choose File > Place. In the Place dialog box, confirm that Replace Selected Item is selected and Show Import Options is not selected. Navigate to the Links folder within the id11lessons folder and select the file 1102.mp4; then click Open. The video file is placed into the layout.
Placing a video file into InDesign is the same process as placing a graphic file; however, they do appear slightly different. Notice that the video file has diagonal lines within the frame and there’s a media icon in the upper-left corner of the frame. The video file that was just placed is much bigger than the frame that it was placed into. In the next steps, you will resize the video to better fit in the frame.
Media files contain diagonal lines within the frame and have a media icon located in the upper-left corner of the frame.
4. With the Selection tool active, click the yellow frame to select it. Be sure not to click the Content Grabber ( 
) within the frame as that will select the media file instead of the frame. Choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionately to scale the media file to better fit within the frame.
) within the frame as that will select the media file instead of the frame. Choose Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionately to scale the media file to better fit within the frame. For the Fitting options to work correctly, the frame must be selected with the Selection tool. If the content is selected, the multimedia may not resize correctly. |
Fitting multimedia content into the frame.
5. InDesign does not provide a preview of the placed video file because no poster is chosen. Choose Window > Interactive > Media to open the Media panel, which provides options for you to control the selected media.
6. Click the Play button to preview the video, or manually drag (scrub) the playhead to preview different parts of the video. When the video displays a frame that you’d like to use for the poster, choose From Current Frame from the Poster drop-down menu. This sets the initial view of the video to the current frame.
The Media panel provides a way to preview the video file and choose a poster frame.
As you can see, adding multimedia content to an InDesign layout is similar to adding still images and graphics. A little bit later, you’ll add buttons to control the playback of this video file.
7. Close the Media panel, then choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, navigate to the id11lessons folder and typeid1101_work.indd in the Name text field. Click Save.
Adding a Hyperlink
What’s a digital document without hyperlinks? Hyperlinks provide a way to link content from a number of different locations including to a page, an e-mail address, and a URL. To make it easy for a user to obtain more information about the Smith Blueberry Farm, you’ll add a hyperlink to a web page on page 1 to provide additional information to the user.
1. Choose Edit > Deselect All. If this option is grayed out, you don’t have any items selected and you can proceed to step 2.
2. In the Layers panel, click the Text and Buttons layer to make it the active layer.
3. Using the Type tool (
), click and drag to draw a text frame in the lower-left corner of Page 1. Type Visit our web site in the text frame.
), click and drag to draw a text frame in the lower-left corner of Page 1. Type Visit our web site in the text frame.
4. Select the text and then click the Paper swatch in the swatches panel. Change the point size of the text to 24pt and change the font to Myriad Pro Regular.
5. Switch to the Selection tool and click the text frame to make it active. Open the Hyperlinks panel by choosing Window > Interactive > Hyperlinks. Click the Create New Hyperlink button (
) to add a hyperlink to the selected frame and to display the New Hyperlink dialog box. Uncheck the Shared Hyperlink Destination check box and in the URL field typehttp://www.agitraining.com. Click OK, then close the Hyperlinks panel.
) to add a hyperlink to the selected frame and to display the New Hyperlink dialog box. Uncheck the Shared Hyperlink Destination check box and in the URL field typehttp://www.agitraining.com. Click OK, then close the Hyperlinks panel.
6. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Creating a Multi-State Object
A multi-state object is a great way to display multiple elements within a common area on an InDesign page. Using a multi-state object, you can create two or more object states that can display different content within each state making it a great solution for items such as slideshows. Multi-state objects will appear in exported content such as .swf files, but they also can be used with Adobe’s new Digital Publishing Suite (DPS) software for producing content for digital tablet devices such as the Apple iPad®.
1. Navigate to Page 2 in the id1101_work.indd file. Open the Layers panel by choosing Window > Layers.
2. Note that there are three MSO layers that contain the content that will appear in each state of the multi-state object. Click the small square on the far right side of the MSO 1 layer to select all the content on that layer. Note that the content on this layer has been grouped together to make the process of creating a multi-state object easier.
3. Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard and click the small square on the far right side of the MSO 2 and MSO 3 layer to select all the content on all three layers.
Shift+click the small square on the far right side of each layer to select all the content on each layer.
You don’t need to create a separate layer for each state that will appear in a multi-state object, but it does make the process easier.
4. Open the Object States panel by choosing Window > Interactive > Object States. Click the Convert selection to multi-state object button (
) to convert the selected content to a multi-state object. Each set of grouped items is converted to its own individual state within the multi-state object. The multi-state object is denoted by a heavy dashed line around the boundary of the item and an icon appears in the lower-right corner indicating that it is a multi-state object.
) to convert the selected content to a multi-state object. Each set of grouped items is converted to its own individual state within the multi-state object. The multi-state object is denoted by a heavy dashed line around the boundary of the item and an icon appears in the lower-right corner indicating that it is a multi-state object.
5. In the Object Name text field at the top of the Object States panel, change the name to Slideshow.
6. Click the different states within the Object States panel to see the content change on the page as each state is selected. When you are finished, click back on State 1 to set it as the default state in the multi-state object, then close the Object States panel.
7. Choose File > Save to save your work.
The different states of a multi-state object
The default names for the states in the multi-state object are State 1, State 2, State 3, and so on. Although you can change the names of the states by clicking the name and typing a new name, we highly recommend you keep the names simple and not use any special or unique characters in the state names because this can cause the multi-state object to behave abnormally. In the next section, you will create buttons to provide a navigational mechanism to jump from one state to the next within the multi-state object.
Creating buttons to control multimedia content
You can add buttons to your InDesign document for controlling a variety of actions including placed multimedia content, navigating states of a multi-state object, or to help the user navigate to other pages or even an external web site.
1. Navigate to page 1 of the document. Using the Selection tool (
), double-click the green frame located below and to the left of the multimedia file you imported on page 1 in the previous exercise. The cursor changes to an insertion point, and the Type tool (
) is selected.
), double-click the green frame located below and to the left of the multimedia file you imported on page 1 in the previous exercise. The cursor changes to an insertion point, and the Type tool () is selected.
2. Type Play Movie in the text frame.
3. Choose the Selection tool from the Tools panel, then right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac OS) on the text frame and choose Interactive > Convert to Button from the context menu that appears.
Converting an object to a button.
The Buttons and Forms panel appears. The button does not yet have any actions applied to it. You will assign actions to the button to control the movie.
4. In the Buttons and Forms panel, type Play in the Name text field to name the button. Leave the Event drop-down menu set to its default of On Release or Tap, which causes the action to occur after the mouse has been clicked and is then released or tapped.
5. Click the Add new action for selected event button (
) under Actions and choose Video for the button to control a movie. After choosing the Video action, the Video drop-down menu appears.
) under Actions and choose Video for the button to control a movie. After choosing the Video action, the Video drop-down menu appears.
6. From the Video drop-down menu, choose the 1102.mp4 movie, and then ensure that the Options drop-down menu is set to Play. You have applied an action to a button, causing it to control the movie clip you imported earlier.
Adding an action to a button.
 Button actions control the file after it has been exported to PDF, SWF (Flash), or .folio (DPS) format. The buttons do not control any actions within InDesign. |
Adding buttons to control a multi-state object
The multi-state object on page 2 contains a total of 3 different states; however, there is no current way for a user of the exported file to view these states. You will now add some buttons that will allow you to navigate between the different states in the multi-state object.
1. In the lower-left corner of the document window, click the pages drop-down menu and navigate to page 2.
2. Display the Layers panel by choosing Window > Layers. Click the visibility icon (
) next to the MSO 1 layer to hide the contents of the layer. This should hide the multi-state object on page 2. If this works, turn the visibility back on by clicking the visibility icon again, then click the Lock Layer icon directly to the right of the visibility icon to lock that layer. Click on the Text and Buttons layer to make it active.
) next to the MSO 1 layer to hide the contents of the layer. This should hide the multi-state object on page 2. If this works, turn the visibility back on by clicking the visibility icon again, then click the Lock Layer icon directly to the right of the visibility icon to lock that layer. Click on the Text and Buttons layer to make it active. If the multi-state object in your file is on a different MSO layer, lock it in accordance with the instructions in step 2 above, substituting your MSO layer for the other MSO. |
Locking the MSO layer that contains the multi-state object.
3. Open the Buttons and Forms panel by choosing Window > Interactive > Buttons and Forms. Then, display the sample buttons panel by clicking the panel menu in the Buttons and Forms panel and choosing Sample Buttons and Forms.
Opening the Sample Buttons and Forms panel.
4. Drag buttons 143 and 144 from the Sample Buttons and Forms panel onto the green bar on the right side of page 2. Position them side by side, centered on the green bar toward the bottom of the page.
5. Using the Selection tool, resize each button by dragging one of the handles to enlarge them as shown in the figure below. Close the Sample Buttons and Forms panel.
Resize the buttons and position on the right side of page 2.
6. Make sure that the Buttons and Forms panel is still open. If it’s not, choose Window > Interactive > Buttons and Forms.
7. Select the left button that you dragged onto page 2 in step 4. In the Buttons and Forms panel, notice that this button already has an action assigned to it called Go To Previous Page. This might be useful for certain projects, but not for this one. Click the Delete selected action button (
) to remove it from the selected button. When the dialog box appears asking if you want to delete the selected action, click OK.
) to remove it from the selected button. When the dialog box appears asking if you want to delete the selected action, click OK.
8. With the left button still selected, click the Add new action for selected event button (
), and choose Go To Previous State from the drop-down menu. In the Object drop-down menu, choose Slideshow from the list and click the Stop at First State check box. Finally, change the name of the button to Previous by typing the word Previous in the Name text field.
), and choose Go To Previous State from the drop-down menu. In the Object drop-down menu, choose Slideshow from the list and click the Stop at First State check box. Finally, change the name of the button to Previous by typing the word Previous in the Name text field.
9. Using the Selection tool, select the right button. Click the Delete selected action button (
) to remove the action, then click the Add new action for the selected event button (
), and choose Go To Next State from the drop-down menu. In the Object drop-down menu, choose Slideshow from the list and click the Stop at Last State check box. Change the name of the button to Next by typing the word Next in the Name text field.
) to remove the action, then click the Add new action for the selected event button (), and choose Go To Next State from the drop-down menu. In the Object drop-down menu, choose Slideshow from the list and click the Stop at Last State check box. Change the name of the button to Next by typing the word Next in the Name text field.
You have now added buttons to page 2 to control the multi-state object on that page.
Setting the properties of the arrow buttons to control the multi-state object.
Creating page transitions
You can make the viewing experience of a file more interesting by adding transitions that are applied when navigating between the pages of a document. These transitions will be visible when the InDesign document is exported to an Interactive PDF file or to a .swf file.
1. Click the Pages button (
) in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Pages panel. Double-click on page 2 to make it the active page.
) in the dock on the right side of the workspace to open the Pages panel. Double-click on page 2 to make it the active page.
2. Choose Window > Interactive > Page Transitions to open the Page Transitions panel, or click the Page Transitions button (
) in the panel dock.
) in the panel dock.
3. In the Page Transitions panel, choose Comb for Transition, Horizontal for Direction, and for Speed, choose Medium. Note the icon that appears next to the page 2 icon in the Pages panel, indicating that the page has a transition applied to it. Note that the transition you apply to a page will appear when navigating TO that page. So applying a transition to page 1 isn’t necessary unless you navigate back to page 1 from another page.
Applying a page transition for when the document is viewed as an Interactive PDF or SWF file.
4. Open the Preview panel by choosing Window > Interactive > SWF Preview and click the Set Preview Document Mode button (
) button in the lower-right corner of the Preview panel, then click the Play Preview button (
) to preview the animation.
) button in the lower-right corner of the Preview panel, then click the Play Preview button () to preview the animation.
5. Click the Go to Next Page (
) and Go to Previous Page (
) buttons at the bottom of the Preview panel to see the page transitions. Note that no transition appears when going back to page 1 because no transition was applied to that page.
) and Go to Previous Page () buttons at the bottom of the Preview panel to see the page transitions. Note that no transition appears when going back to page 1 because no transition was applied to that page.
Previewing the page transitions in the Preview panel.
Creating animations
InDesign CS6 has the ability to apply animations to objects within your document that will animate when exported to the .swf format. This provides numerous opportunities for enhancing what can be done with interactive documents in InDesign.
1. Double-click on page 1 in the Pages panel to make it the active page.
2. Using the Selection tool (
), click on the frame at the top of the page that says Blueberry Picking Guide. Right-click on the frame and choose Fitting > Fit Frame to Content. This reduces the size of the frame, making it easier to work with.
), click on the frame at the top of the page that says Blueberry Picking Guide. Right-click on the frame and choose Fitting > Fit Frame to Content. This reduces the size of the frame, making it easier to work with.
3. With the Blueberry Picking Guide frame still selected, click on the Animation button (
) to display the Animation panel. If the Animation button isn’t available, choose Window > Interactive > Animation to display the Animation panel.
) to display the Animation panel. If the Animation button isn’t available, choose Window > Interactive > Animation to display the Animation panel.
4. From the Preset drop-down menu, choose Fly in from Top. The preview area at the top of the Animation panel displays a proxy of how the animation will appear, and a motion path appears above the selected frame on the page indicating the path that the animation will follow.
(Left) The Animation panel allows you to specify how the selected object will be animated on the page. (Right) The motion path indicates the length and direction that the frame will be animated.
5. Set the duration to 1.5 seconds and leave the remaining choices at their defaults.
6. Next, click on the text frame on page 1 that reads Smith Blueberry Farm to select the frame.
7. In the Animation panel, choose Fly in from Right from the Preset drop-down menu. Leave the other setting at their defaults.
When you have multiple animations in a document, you can control the order that they will appear using the Timing panel.
8. Choose Window > Interactive > Timing. The timing panel lists all the animations at the bottom of the panel and allows you to change their order and set properties. Click on the Blueberry Picking Guide entry at the bottom of the Timing panel and drag down so it appears as the second item. Now, the Smith Blueberry Farm text will appear first, then the Blueberry Picking Guide text.
The Timing panel allows you to change the order that animations appear in the document.
9. To preview your document, click on the Preview Spread ( 
) button in the lower-left corner of the Timing panel. This will open the SWF Preview panel and show you the animations in action!
) button in the lower-left corner of the Timing panel. This will open the SWF Preview panel and show you the animations in action!
PDF Forms
|
If you’ve used any previous version of InDesign, you might have noticed that the Buttons and Forms panel has a new name. This is because InDesign CS6 adds the ability to author PDF-based forms directly within InDesign.
Using the InDesign tools that you’re already familiar with, you can create visually interesting forms and then define InDesign frames as a check box, combo box, list box, radio button, signature field, or text field. In addition, frames can be converted to buttons with PDF actions that can print a form, clear a form, or submit a form.
For users who regularly need to create PDF-based forms, this is a huge improvement from having to add this functionality directly inside of Adobe Acrobat.
|
Previewing your document
InDesign CS6 has a Preview panel that allows you to preview your interactive elements without the need to export the document. In the next steps, you’ll use the Preview panel to see the interactive elements in your document.
1. Double-click page 1 in the Pages panel to make page 1 the active page.
2. Click the Preview Spread button (
) in the lower-left corner of the Buttons and Forms panel to display the SWF Preview panel. You can also access the SWF Preview panel by choosing Window > Interactive > SWF Preview. Feel free to detach the Preview panel from the panel dock and make it larger to make it easier to view.
) in the lower-left corner of the Buttons and Forms panel to display the SWF Preview panel. You can also access the SWF Preview panel by choosing Window > Interactive > SWF Preview. Feel free to detach the Preview panel from the panel dock and make it larger to make it easier to view.
3. Click the Set Preview Document Mode button (
) in the lower-right corner of the SWF Preview panel to make it active, then click the Play Preview button (
) in the lower-left corner of the SWF Preview panel to preview the document. Notice immediately that the animations appear in the document.
) in the lower-right corner of the SWF Preview panel to make it active, then click the Play Preview button () in the lower-left corner of the SWF Preview panel to preview the document. Notice immediately that the animations appear in the document.
4. Move your cursor over the hyperlink in the lower-left corner of page 1 and click it. The hyperlink should appear in your default browser (provided you have Internet access). Next click the Play Movie button to preview the movie.
5. Click the Go to Next Page button in the lower-left corner of the SWF Preview panel, the page transition that you applied to page 2 earlier in the lesson appears. Move your cursor over the arrow buttons that you inserted onto page 2 earlier in this lesson. Your cursor becomes a pointer finger (
). Click the left and right arrow buttons to navigate through the states of the multi-state object to see the slideshow that you’ve created. When you are finished, click the Clear Preview button (
) to stop previewing the page.
). Click the left and right arrow buttons to navigate through the states of the multi-state object to see the slideshow that you’ve created. When you are finished, click the Clear Preview button () to stop previewing the page.
6. Close the Preview panel or dock it in the panel dock. Close the Buttons and Forms panel, then choose File > Save to save your work and then close this file.
The Preview panel allows you to preview and test your interactive document without exporting the file to a .swf file.
 Although the SWF Preview panel suggests that this slideshow will only appear when exported to flash, the new Adobe DPS tools permit the use of a multi-state object with buttons for use on digital tablet devices as well. |
Exporting your document
Once you’ve added interactive elements in InDesign, you’ll want to export that document to various formats such as Interactive PDF, .SWF, and the new Adobe DPS .folio format for interactive magazines. In this section, you’ll learn how to export an InDesign document to Interactive PDF and the .SWF format.
Creating an interactive PDF
To export an interactive PDF, you can use the id1101_work.indd file that you created earlier in this lesson. If you haven’t created that file yet and would like to follow along creating an interactive PDF, simply open the id1101_export.indd file.
1. Choose File > Export. The Export dialog box opens.
2. In the Export dialog box, choose Adobe PDF (Interactive) from the Save as type drop-down menu, and type Blueberries.pdf in the Name text field to name the PDF file. Choose a location to save this file, such as the current lesson folder. Click the Save button, and the Export to Interactive PDF dialog box appears.
3. In the Pages section, click All, if necessary, to export all pages to PDF. Also make sure that the Pages radio button is enabled and that the View After Exporting and the Embed Page Thumbnails checkboxes are checked.
4. In the Page Transitions drop-down menu, choose From Document to use the page transitions that are specified in the Page Transitions panel within InDesign.
5. In the Forms and Media section, be sure that the Include All radio button is selected so that all the interactive elements defined in the InDesign document are included in the final PDF file.
6. In the Image Handling section, choose JPEG (Lossy) for compression, Medium for JPEG Quality, and 72 for Resolution (ppi).
Exporting the document as an interactive PDF.
7. Click OK to create the PDF file. The PDF should open in either Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat Standard or Pro, whichever application you have installed. If you are running the Mac OS and the PDF opens in Preview, close the file and launch Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat on your computer and open the file you just exported by choosing File > Open.
8. In Acrobat, move the cursor over the Play Movie button in the lower-right corner of page 1, and click it to play the movie. The movie plays and then stops when it is completed. You may need to approve playing the video in a Manage Trust dialog box, depending upon the version of Acrobat or Adobe Reader you are using.
9. Continuing to work in Acrobat, choose View > Full Screen Mode. The document displays in a presentation format, without any menus or tools. Press the right arrow key on the keyboard to advance to the next page. Notice that the page transition is displayed as you navigate from page 1 to page 2. Use the left arrow key on the keyboard to return to page 1. Press the Escape (or Esc) key to return to the normal viewing mode.
 You will notice that some of the interactive features that have been added throughout this lesson, do not work in an interactive PDF file. Some of these features include the animations as well as the multi-state objects. This is a current limitation of exporting these elements to an Interactive PDF from InDesign. For more information on some of these limitations and for some tricks to overcome them, see the sidebar “Interactive PDF or Flash?” |
10. In Acrobat, choose File > Quit (Windows) or Acrobat > Quit Acrobat (Mac OS) to leave Acrobat and return to InDesign. Leave the file open for the next section.
Creating a SWF file
Next, you’ll export an InDesign document to the Flash .swf format that can be used on a web page or even within another interactive file.
1. In InDesign, choose File > Export. The Export dialog box opens.
2. In the Export dialog box, choose Flash Player (SWF) from the Save as type drop-down menu, and type blueberries.swf in the Name text field to name the file. Choose a location to save the file, such as the current lesson folder. Click Save, and the Export SWF dialog box opens.
3. In the Export SWF dialog box, click on the General button at the top of the dialog box and make sure that Pages is set to All and that Scale is set to 100 percent. Also make sure that Generate HTML File, View SWF after Exporting, and Include Interactive Page Curl are selected. Keep all other settings unchanged.
The General and Advanced windows of the Export SWF dialog box control how the final SWF file is generated.
4. Click OK to generate the SWF and accompanying HTML file. The .swf file will open in your default web browser.
5. Notice that the Headline text animations animate on the page. Click the Play Movie button to see the movie play.
6. Move the cursor over the lower-right corner of the first page. Notice the page curl that appears as you move the cursor in this area of the page. Click once to navigate to the second page. Note that the page transition defined in the InDesign document is used. To use the interactive page curl, click and drag to the left as if you were flipping the pages of a magazine.
SWF files created from InDesign can include an interactive page curl for changing pages.
7. On the second page of the document, position the cursor over the right-facing arrow and click the button to navigate to the second state of the slideshow. Click both the left- and right-arrow buttons to navigate from one page to the next.
8. Position the cursor in the upper-left corner of the second page. As the interactive page curl displays, click and drag to the right to navigate back to page 1.
9. Close the browser window.
 After exporting a document to the SWF file, you will have an HTML file, a SWF file, and possibly a Resources folder. The Resources folder will contain any external content that may be required to view the document, such as audio or video. It’s important that when uploading this content to a Web server that you include all the files, including the Resources folder, so that anyone viewing the web page will see it properly and in its entirety. |
Interactive PDF or Flash?
|
When working with multimedia content, Adobe InDesign CS6 contains two very powerful formats in which you can export interactive content: Flash and Interactive PDF. The tricky part about these formats is that not all the interactive features export to both formats. For example, animations that you create in InDesign will not directly export to an interactive PDF file even though Interactive PDF files support Flash.
Adobe InDesign CS6 contains several components specific to the Flash (.swf) file format that can be used to create animations and effects within InDesign. As of this writing, these animations are Flash-specific and will not directly export to the PDF format but will export to the .swf format.
For starters, multi-state objects like the one you created earlier in this lesson will function when exported to the .swf format. In addition, the Page Transitions panel provides one transition that will function only in the .swf format, which is the Page Curl effect.
When it comes to creating animations in InDesign CS6, you’ll notice two panels to help you do this: the Animation panel, and the Timing panel. Use the Animation panel to apply preset animation effects to objects in an InDesign layout and to customize the properties of those effects as well. Then, use the Timing panel to control the order of those animations when exported to the .swf format.
Interactive PDF files do support the use of buttons, movies, and placed .swf files. The fact that you can distribute these files to anyone who has the free Adobe Reader, makes the interactive PDF file format a great choice for reaching a broad audience.
A little-known trick when working with .swf files and interactive PDF files in InDesign, is that you can create the animations in InDesign, export to .swf and then reimport the .swf files into InDesign and the animation will work in an interactive PDF file. In addition, some features such as Go to Next View and Open file, work in an interactive PDF file but not in a .swf file. Understanding these nuances will save you time and frustration when working with these two formats.
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New layout features
In this growing digital age, the need for designers to repurpose layouts at different sizes and at different specifications is becoming more and more common. For example, let’s say you create a layout for a project at 8.5˝ × 11˝ and now the customer needs a similar project for use in European countries at A4 size (8.3˝ × 11.7˝). Often times, however, the new size is more dramatic. For instance, maybe that 8.5˝ × 11˝ project now needs to become poster size at 17˝ × 22˝. With the advent of digital tablet devices, the need to create projects at multiple sizes has grown exponentially as each tablet has different dimensions and each tablet has two orientations—portrait and landscape. Multiply those two orientations by the number of tablet devices on the market and you have a lot of layouts to create. Traditionally, your approach to this problem probably would be to duplicate the InDesign file and start reworking it for the new size resulting in several InDesign files and a lot of extra time.
InDesign CS6 offers several new features that makes repurposing layouts much easier. Regardless of whether you are designing for print or for digital, these new features are bound to make creating and repurposing projects easier for you, the designer.
Auto-Size Text Frames
New in InDesign CS6 is the ability to define a text frame so that it automatically resizes based on the specifications that you define. This can save you quite a bit of time by preventing you from resizing frames whenever text is overset. If you know in advance how you want a text frame to behave if it becomes overset, this feature can be a huge benefit.
1. Open the id1102.indd file from the id11lessons folder that you copied to your hard drive at the beginning of this lesson. If necessary, update the links in this file. This is an 8.5˝ × 11˝ flyer that was created and we will be working with it throughout this exercise.
2. With the Type tool active (
), select the text “Feather Ridge” at the top of the page. We want to change the name of the ski slope for this flyer, so type Endless Mountain to replace the text in this frame.
), select the text “Feather Ridge” at the top of the page. We want to change the name of the ski slope for this flyer, so type Endless Mountain to replace the text in this frame.
Notice that the text is overset because there is more text than will fit within the frame. The obvious solution at this point is to make the frame larger to accommodate the text. But what if you could save some time and have this occur automatically? You’ll do exactly that in the next steps.
3. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac OS) several times to return the text to its original appearance. Click the frame that contains the name of the ski slope with your Selection tool (
), and choose Object > Text Frame Options.
), and choose Object > Text Frame Options.
4. Click the Auto-Size tab at the top of the dialog box to make it active. Currently the Auto-Sizing drop-down menu indicates that it is off.
5. From the Auto-Sizing drop-down menu, choose Width Only. Then in the Auto-Sizing proxy, choose the right-most option to cause the text frame to grow to the left when overset text exists. Click OK to close the dialog box.
6. Using the Type tool (
), select the text “Feather Ridge” at the top of the page and type the words Endless Mountain. Notice that now, instead of the text becoming overset, the frame grows automatically to accommodate the text contained within the frame.
), select the text “Feather Ridge” at the top of the page and type the words Endless Mountain. Notice that now, instead of the text becoming overset, the frame grows automatically to accommodate the text contained within the frame.
Setting the Auto-Sizing properties for the selected text frame.
7. Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, change the name to id1102_work and click OK to save a working version of the file.
Flexible Width Text Frames
Often times when redesigning a page with different specifications, you might want to add more columns to a text frame depending on how large the frame becomes. Again, InDesign CS6 adds a new feature that allows this to occur automatically based on the settings that you define.
1. With the id1102_work file still open, select the text frame in the middle of the page that begins with the text “A Seasonal Paradise.” Drag the right handle of the frame over to the right margin. Notice that the frame expands and the text reflows to fill the frame. Although this may work for certain designs, we want the text to flow automatically into two separate columns.
2. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac OS) to undo the resizing of the frame.
3. With the frame still selected, choose Object > Text Frame Options to open the Text Frame Options dialog box. Make sure that the General button at the top of the dialog box is enabled.
4. In the Columns drop-down menu, choose Flexible Width. You’ll notice that when you choose this option, the Maximum field becomes editable. This field allows you to define the maximum width of the frame before an additional column is automatically added.
5. Change the value in the Maximum field to 2.5˝ and change the Gutter to .25˝. Click OK.
Choosing the Flexible Width option defines how big a frame can be before it will add columns to the text frame.
6. Using the Selection tool (
), drag the right handle of the text frame over to the right margin of the page. Notice this time that an additional column is added to the frame because of the specifications that we defined in step 5. Feel free to make the frame even larger to see the results, but then undo back to the 2 column appearance.
), drag the right handle of the text frame over to the right margin of the page. Notice this time that an additional column is added to the frame because of the specifications that we defined in step 5. Feel free to make the frame even larger to see the results, but then undo back to the 2 column appearance.
7. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Layout adjustments
InDesign has contained the Layout Adjustment feature for many versions now and has helped many designers simplify the process of modifying layouts for different purposes. InDesign CS6 takes this feature to a brand new level with its Liquid Layout feature. Liquid Layout offers multiple options for controlling how a layout is resized when the page size changes.
Liquid Layout
1. With the id1102_work file already open, choose Layout > Liquid Layout. Choosing this options does two things, it opens the Liquid Layout panel, and it activates the Page tool (
).
).
There are four different Liquid Page Rules to choose from: Scale, Re-Center, Object-based, and Guide-based. After choosing Layout > Liquid Layout, the default Page Rule becomes Scale. In the next several steps, you will experiment with the different Page Rules and then apply one of the Page Rules in the next section.
2. Verify that the Page tool is active and that Scale is chosen from the Liquid Page Rule drop-down menu in the Liquid Layout panel. Drag any of the handles that appear in the corners and sides of the page to resize the page. Note that the objects scale to reflect the new page size. Note that when you let go of the mouse, the page returns to its original size. This is by design to make the experimentation process easier when working with Liquid Layout. To make your adjustment “stick,” press and hold the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac OS) before releasing the mouse button. If you do this however, press Undo to return to the original page dimensions.
Using the Page tool, drag the handles to resize the page.
3. In the Liquid Layout panel, change the Liquid Page Rule to Re-center and drag the handles to see the behavior of this rule. Notice that all the content is recentered on the page based on the new size. Resizing the page to a smaller size isn’t much benefit with this Liquid Page Rule, but could be helpful when resizing the page to a larger size. Let go of the mouse to return to the original page size.
4. In the Liquid Layout panel, change the Liquid Page Rule to Object-based. Drag one of the handles to resize the page. You need to perform an additional step to make this method work. Release the mouse button.
5. With the Object-based page rule, you need to define the objects that you want to scale and maintain position. With the Page tool still active, click the photo of the snowboarder in the lower-right corner of the page. In the Liquid Layout panel, click the Auto-fit check box to make the photo auto-fit within the frame, then enable the Height and Width check boxes to allow the frame to scale in both directions. Finally, enable the Bottom and Right check boxes to pin the bottom-right of the frame to its current location.
6. Drag the handles to resize the page. Note that the photo of the snowboarder grows as you resize the page and its location is pinned to the bottom right of the page. Release the mouse button to return the page to its original size.
Defining properties for the Object-based page rule (left) and the visual indicators that appear on the selected object (right).
7. In the Liquid Layout panel, change the Liquid Page Rule to Guide-based. The Guide-based Page Rule requires that you drag out a guide to define objects that should resize with the page.
8. Click the ruler on the left side of your screen and drag out a guide so that it is positioned in such a way that it intersects through the photo on the bottom-left of the page, the main text frame on the page, and the “Endless Mountain” text frame. Any object that the guide pierces will expand when the page is resized in a horizontal direction. Vertical guides control horizontal resizing and horizontal guides control vertical resizing.
9. Click and drag the page handles with the Page tool active to resize the page. Notice that the objects that are pierced with the guide resize but the other items do not. Release the mouse button to return the page to its original size.
10. Choose File > Save to save the file.
You will have to experiment with your own project to determine which Liquid Page Rule will best suit your needs. Now that you understand how these page rules work, proceed to the next section where you will apply a Liquid Page Rule in conjunction with another new InDesign CS6 feature.
Alternate Layouts
When creating projects that require more than one version of a layout, it can be cumbersome and time-consuming to make sure that changes to one layout get updated in all the other layouts. This leaves a lot of room for human error that can be costly in several ways. InDesign CS6 introduces a new feature called Alternate layout that allows you to create multiple versions of a layout and makes it easy to maintain changes from one layout to another. In this exercise, you will create a poster size version of the flyer that you’ve been working with.
1. Make sure that the id1102_work file is open in InDesign and make the Selection tool (
) active.
) active.
2. Open the Pages panel by choosing Window > Pages.
3. In the Pages panel menu (
), choose Create Alternate Layout.
), choose Create Alternate Layout.
Creating an Alternate Layout.
4. In the Page Size drop-down menu, choose Custom.
5. In the Custom Page Size dialog box, type Poster in the name field, and set the width to 17˝ and the Height to 22˝. Click the Add button, then click OK.
6. Back in the Create Alternate Layout dialog box, click the portrait button (
) to set the orientation to portrait and change the page rule to Scale by choosing it from the Liquid Page Rule drop-down menu. Click OK.
) to set the orientation to portrait and change the page rule to Scale by choosing it from the Liquid Page Rule drop-down menu. Click OK.
Specifying the parameters of the Alternate Layout.
The Pages panel reflects the alternate layouts.
7. Open the Pages panel, and notice that there are now two versions of the layout, one at the original flyer size and one at the new poster size. Double-click each alternate layout to see each version in the document window. Choose File > Save.
Linked Content
There’s more than meets the eye when creating Alternate Layouts. When the Alternate Layout was created, the Link Stories option was chosen. This caused the alternate layout to create links to the text in the original layout. The graphics also are linked to the original layout. This makes the process of updating content across multiple layouts very efficient.
1. In the id1102_work document, double-click page 1 of the Letter V layout in the Pages panel to make that the active page.
2. Click the Split Layout View button (
) in the lower-right corner of the document window. This view allows you to compare two different alternate layouts or the same layout at a different magnification.
) in the lower-right corner of the document window. This view allows you to compare two different alternate layouts or the same layout at a different magnification.
Activating the Split View option to compare layouts.
3. Click in the view to the left to make it active. In the Pages panel, double-click page 1 of the Letter V layout, then press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to fit the layout in the window. Zoom in on the text that reads “A Seasonal Paradise”.
4. Click in the view to the right to make it active. In the Pages panel, double-click page 1 of the Poster V layout, then press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to fit the layout in the window. Zoom in on the text that reads “A Seasonal Paradise.”
5. Click back in the view to the left (the Letter V layout), and using the Type tool (
) change the text “A Seasonal Paradise” to A Winter Wonderland. You will immediately notice that the text in the Poster V layout has a modified link icon in the upper-left corner of the frame to indicate that the text is out of date. This is because the Poster V layout is linked to the Letter V layout.
) change the text “A Seasonal Paradise” to A Winter Wonderland. You will immediately notice that the text in the Poster V layout has a modified link icon in the upper-left corner of the frame to indicate that the text is out of date. This is because the Poster V layout is linked to the Letter V layout.
When text is modified in the parent layout, the child layout indicates that the link to the text has been modified.
6. To update the text in the Poster V layout, select the Selection tool (
) and click once on the modified link icon (
). The text change is now updated in the Poster V layout.
) and click once on the modified link icon (). The text change is now updated in the Poster V layout.
7. Click the Close Split Layout View button (
) at the bottom-right corner of the document window to close Split Layout View.
) at the bottom-right corner of the document window to close Split Layout View.
8. Choose File > Save to save your work. Leave this file open for the next part of the lesson.
Alternate Layouts and Tablet Publishing
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Alternate layouts are also useful when using InDesign to create layouts to be viewed on a tablet device such as an iPad.
Tablets include two orientations—horizontal and vertical. You can use alternate layouts to design how a page will look in either orientation, and use the liquid layout feature to reduce the amount of time required to create each orientation.
These are only useful if distributing publications using Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite, which is not an ideal solution for most publishers because it has a high cost per publication distributed, and also has additional fees charged to the publisher for every copy downloaded. Some competitive offerings are starting to emerge at lower prices, such as the Digital Publishing System from Aquafadas (www.aquafadas.com). Whether using Adobe, Aquafadas, or another vendor, you can create content using InDesign and distribute it onto various tablets using their services, for a fee.
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Alternate Layouts for Tablet Devices
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Let’s say you started with an InDesign document that was built for the portrait orientation of a tablet device. Now you wanted to create a landscape version for that device, you could do the following:
Clockwise from upper-left: The Portrait layout, the landscape layout, and the Pages panel showing the Alternate Layouts that made them.
You now will have an alternate layout of your document. Even if Alternate layout required some minor adjustments to the positioning of objects on the layout, you’d still be much further along than you would have been by staring over with a new document.
The other benefit to using Alternate Layout, is that the content is linked together. Both text and images will update in all Alternate Layouts when a modification to one of them is made providing for even more time savings in the long run.
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The Content tools
As you’ve seen in the previous section, when you create an Alternate Layout, you can link the graphics and stories so that when an item is modified in one layout, it can easily be updated in another layout. But what if you need to add content after the Alternate Layout has been created? Adobe InDesign CS6 includes some new tools to assist you in this situation. The Content Collector tool, Content Placer tool, and Content Conveyor allow you to pickup content from one layout and easily place it in another. In this exercise, you will learn how to use these tools.
1. With the id1102_work.indd file still open on your computer, go to the Pages panel, and double-click page 1 of the Letter V layout to make it active. Press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to fit the page to the window.
2. Choose File > Place and choose the SSI.ai file located in the Links folder of the id11lessons folder. Click Open.
3. With the loaded graphics icon, click and drag in the lower-left corner of the page to place the graphic within the width of the photo already on the page.
Click and drag to place the graphic in the lower-left corner of the page on the Letter V layout.
4. In the Pages panel, double-click page 1 of the Poster V layout to make that page active. Press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to fit the page to the window. Notice that the graphic does not appear in this layout.
5. Double-click page 1 of the Letter V layout to make it active.
6. Select the Content Collector tool (
) from the Tools panel and click the graphic in the lower-left corner of page 1 of the Letter V layout. Notice that the graphic now appears in the Content Conveyor at the bottom of the screen. Using this tool, you can click as many elements as you wish (graphic or text elements) and collect them for reuse in the Content Conveyor.
) from the Tools panel and click the graphic in the lower-left corner of page 1 of the Letter V layout. Notice that the graphic now appears in the Content Conveyor at the bottom of the screen. Using this tool, you can click as many elements as you wish (graphic or text elements) and collect them for reuse in the Content Conveyor.
The graphic from the page picked up with the Content Collector tool and loaded into the Content Conveyor.
7. Double-click page 1 of the Poster V layout to make the page active. Press Ctrl+0 (Windows) or Command+0 (Mac OS) to fit the page to the document window.
8. Switch to the Content Placer tool (
) by selecting it at the bottom of the Content Conveyor, or by clicking and holding the Content Collector tool and choosing it from the drop-down menu.
) by selecting it at the bottom of the Content Conveyor, or by clicking and holding the Content Collector tool and choosing it from the drop-down menu.
9. Click the Create Link check box at the bottom of the Content Conveyor panel, then click to place the graphic in the lower-left corner of page 1 of the Poster V layout. Switch to the Selection tool and resize the graphic appropriately for the larger Poster V layout.
10. Because we created a link between these two layouts for this graphic, when you update the parent element (the one on the Letter V layout), the child element (the one on the Poster V layout) will update. Unfortunately, this includes the sizing as well. Fortunately, we can control that. With the graphic selected on the Poster V layout, go to the Links panel and choose Link Options from the panel menu.
11. In the Link Options dialog box, you can control which properties will get updated when updating the link. Click the Size and Shape check box to enable this option. By choosing this option, you are telling InDesign that if the parent object is modified, don’t update the size on the child element when the link is updated, but update all the other properties. Click OK.
Controlling which properties get updated when updating the child element.
12. Choose File > Save to save your work. Then choose File > Close to close the document.
Creating PDF Forms
InDesign CS6 has added the ability to export to a PDF file with fillable form fields that were created in InDesign. This saves a large amount of time as the form fields don’t need to be created directly in Adobe Acrobat as they have in the past. There are several different types of form fields that InDesign allows you to define including Check Box, Combo Box, List Box, Radio Buttons, Signature Fields, and Text Fields. In this lesson, you’ll use a few of these field types to make a fillable PDF form.
1. In InDesign, choose File > Open and navigate to the id11lessons folder and select the file id1103.indd and open the file.
2. Choose Window > Layers to open the Layers panel. Then click on the Form Field Layer to make it the active layer. Note that there is Form Appearance layer that is locked and contains static information about the form and a Form Fields layer where you’ll be creating form fields that users can type in to enter data. The document has been setup this way for convenience and although isn’t necessary, it can be helpful when creating a PDF form with multiple fields.
3. Open the Buttons and Forms panel by choosing Window > Interactive > Buttons and Forms.
4. Click on the frame for the First Name field using the Selection tool, and choose Text Field from the Type drop-down menu in the Buttons and Forms panel.
 To save time, the frames have already been created to indicate where PDF form fields are needed. These frames can be drawn using the Type tool, Rectangle tool, or Rectangle Frame tool. Any of these frame types will work when creating fillable PDF fields. |
5. In the Name text field, type first_name to give the field a unique name and in the Description field, type Please enter your first name here. The text entered in the Description field will provide a tool-tip in the final PDF form. Leave the remaining settings at the defaults.
A. Selecting the frame with the Selection tool. B. Defining the options in the Buttons and Forms panel. C. The frame appearance changes when Form properties have been defined
 When defining the name for a form field, it’s good practice to avoid spaces and unique characters. Although a basic form will still work when spaces are used in the name, if any advanced programming will be done to the form later on, spaces and unique characters could cause problems. |
6. Click on the frame for the Last Name field using the Selection tool, and choose Text Field from the Type drop-down menu in the Buttons and Forms panel.
7. In the Name text field, type last_name to give the field a unique name and in the Description field, type Please enter your last name here.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for the Address, City, Zip, Phone, and E-mail fields. Although you may be tempted to define the Zip and Phone fields as a number, this is not possible directly in InDesign. In addition, Zip and Phone fields can’t be defined as number fields because they often require “-” as the contents which are not considered numerals. If desired, you could modify these fields directly in Acrobat to contain the correct data.
9. Choose File > Save As and name the file id1103_work.indd. Click OK.
Adding a Combo Box
A Combo Box provides a drop-down menu with predefined options for a user to choose from. This is especially useful to the form designer as it provides control of the choices that the user has to choose from and can prevent the entry of invalid data.
1. Click on the frame for the State field using the Selection tool, and choose Combo Box from the Type drop-down menu in the Buttons and Forms panel.
2. In the Name text field, type state to give the field a unique name and in the Description field, type Please choose your state from the list.
Now you will enter the choices that will become available in the State drop-down menu.
3. In the List Items field, type Massachusetts, then click the plus sign (
) to add it to the list of choices for the drop-down menu.
) to add it to the list of choices for the drop-down menu.
4. Repeat step 3 for the following states: New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
The Buttons and Forms panel makes it easy to add choices to a Combo Box list.
5. All the added items are now listed in the order in which they were created. To sort them alphabetically, click the Sort Items checkbox.
 If you leave one of the items selected when creating the Combo Box list of items, it will become the default selection in the form. If you don’t want any item set as the default, click on the current selected item in the list again to deselect it. |
6. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Creating a Submit button
Now that your form is created, users will be able to fill in the field to provide their information to the recipient. They would be able to print the form, but there’s no convenient way to submit the form via e-mail. In this section, you will create a submit button that will submit the form to the intended recipient when clicked.
1. With the id1103_work.indd file still open, click on the Submit button frame using the Selection tool.
2. In the Buttons and forms panel, click on the Convert to Button ( 
) button. This converts the standard frame, to a button object. In the name field, type submit, and in the Description field, type Click the submit button to send your completed form to Feather Ridge.
) button. This converts the standard frame, to a button object. In the name field, type submit, and in the Description field, type Click the submit button to send your completed form to Feather Ridge.
3. Uncheck the Printable checkbox to prevent the Submit button from printing if the form is printed.
The button has been created, but it doesn’t do anything yet. You need to tell the submit button where to submit the form.
4. Click on the plus sign in the Actions section of the Buttons and Forms panel and choose Submit Form.
5. In the URL field, type mailto: followed by the e-mail address of the recipient. In this example we used a fictitious e-mail address of mailto:info@featherridge.com.
Creating a submit button so that the form information can be submitted electronically.
6. Choose File > Save to save your work.
Creating the PDF Form
The last step in the process is creating an actual PDF form that users can open using Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Using these applications, the form can be filled out and submitted.
1. With the id1103_work.indd file still open, choose File > Export.
2. Choose a location to save the PDF file and in the Format drop-down menu, choose Adobe PDF (Interactive) and click the Save button.
3. In the Export to Interactive PDF dialog box, make sure that the View after Exporting checkbox is enabled, and make sure that the Include All radio button is enabled in the Forms and Media section. Leave the other setting at their defaults and click OK.
The Export to Interactive PDF dialog box controls how the resulting PDF form will be created.
The resulting PDF form should open in your default PDF application. Preferably Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. The form can now be filled in and submitted to the recipient.
The final PDF form.
Congratulations, you have completed Lesson 11!
Self study
- 1. Experiment with the Flexible Width and Auto-Size options in the Text Frame Options dialog box to control how text frames behave when content is added or frames are resized.
- 2. Create additional Alternate Layouts for the snowboarding flyer and experiment with the Liquid Page Rules to see the results.
- 3. Practice using the Content Collector, Content Placer, and Content Conveyor to reuse content between alternate layouts.
Review
Questions
1. Will animations created in InDesign export to an interactive PDF file?
2. How can you prevent a text frame from becoming overset when text doesn’t fit?
3. When creating an Alternate Layout, is content automatically linked to the source layout?
4. When using Liquid Layout, how do you make the new page size “stick” without the page reverting back to its original size?
Answers
1. Not directly. However, you can export the animation as a .swf file and reimport the .swf file into InDesign and Export to interactive PDF where the animation will appear correctly.
2. You can use the Auto-Size options in the Text Frame Options dialog box to control how a text frame resizes when text doesn’t fit.
3. Graphics are automatically linked, but text stories are only linked if the Link Stories check box is enabled in the Create Alternate Layout dialog box.
4. Pressing and holding the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac OS) will allow you to retain the page size change when using the Page tool with a Liquid Layout rule.