Update (Oct. 15 2018):

It’s now waaay easier to control how each of your hyperlinks open.

You don’t have to manually edit the hyperlink URL (as described below).

In version 3.3 of in5, you simply choose the option you want from the Hyperlink panel (in5 > Interactive Widgets).

Woohoo!

InDesign has many strengths as an interactive layout tool.

One of its limitations, however, is that it doesn’t let you set a target attribute when creating a hyperlink. The target attribute lets you control how a hyperlink is open.

In this article, I’m going to take you on a deep dive of a new features that we’ve added in in5 version 2.6: Advanced Hyperlink Targeting.

Not only can you use this feature to control links in your web-based HTML, it also gives you a high degree of control in Web Apps, Baker Framework apps, and PhoneGap apps.

If you’re looking for a basic primer on hyperlinks in InDesign, start with this article first.

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Image credit: wikipedia.org

Faster Exporting

Yes, you read that headline right. Up to 100x faster exporting from InDesign to HTML! There’s nothing extra for you to do, just run the latest version of in5 and you’ll find it’s much faster.

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The standard image format when exporting HTML or EPUB from InDesign in PNG because the PNG file format supports transparency (and more colors than a GIF).

The Problem

In some cases (e.g., photographic images), PNG can produce larger files, especially if you choose the High Definition (HD) option when exporting from the in5 dialog.

So, what if you know your images don’t have transparency and you want them to be HD…but you also want to try and keep the file sizes smaller?

In that case, you can use the Object Export Options (found in the Object menu of InDesign) to add custom settings to any given image. Great so far.

But now, what if you have a lot of images? It can take a long time to open the Object Export Options for each one, navigate to the EPUB and HTML tab, and select from the drop down menus.

The Solution

You can create an Object Style (Window > Styles) that only applies Export Options. And you can even narrow that to just the image type and quality.

Note how every checkbox for attributes in the image below has a minus sign (-), except the EPUB and HTML options. This means the style will let the object itself control those “pass through” settings. So only the image export settings are applied.

Now you can simply select the images in your layout that you’d like to render as HD JPEGs (or any other type that you’d like to create an Object Style for), and it’s one click to apply the Object Style.

If you’re targeting an EPUB, you’re set to export. If you’re exporting HTML5 with in5, just make sure you choose Use Object Export Settings from the Advanced section of the in5 dialog.

Here’s an IDML file with the style already created that can you can use to import the style into your own documents.

This extension is useful if you’d like to break apart text in order to quickly create buttons, animated sequences, or simply separate blocks of text that can be individually positioned.

This extension can split text into separate text frames by:

• Paragraphs
• Columns
• Words
• Characters (new to v1.1)
• Lines
• Manual Line Breaks
• Text Styling (new to v1.1)
• Tabs
• Custom Text
• or even Custom Grep Expressions

Split Text automatically remembers the last settings used and can be undone in a single step.

Download

Looking for the reverse? Check out Merge TextFrames.

So you want to create a mobile app. Who doesn’t these days, right? But you’re not a hardcore programmer, and maybe your budget won’t allow you to hire one.

So how do you create an app for one or more of these platforms?

• iOS
• Android
• Windows Phone

Each one of these operating systems uses a different programming language, and each one is reasonably complex.

Is There Some Universal Language I Can Use?

Short answer: yes. It’s HTML, the language of the web.

HTML can easily be packaged into a mobile app for many platforms. One way to package HTML into an app is using the PhoneGap code library.

PhoneGap Build

If the idea of a “code library” sends shivers down your spine, fret not, because there is a web service called PhoneGap Build. PhoneGap Build has a friendly user interface and does most of the work on the server translating your content into apps, so you don’t have worry about “compiling” or other such developer activities. And, it’s affordable!

Getting Started

Keith Gilbert has a video course on Ajar Academy to get you started.

Check out the entire Create a Mobile App with in5 & PhoneGap Build course to see how to turn an Adobe InDesign layout into a mobile app without coding.

The Best Part of Using HTML: You Don’t Have to Know HTML

You don’t have to know how to code HTML (or JavaScript, or CSS) to create HTML content. You can use a visual tool like Adobe Dreamweaver or Adobe InDesign in conjunction with our InDesign to HTML5 exporter.

Bonus Tip

If you’re looking for a way create an app for an Amazon Kindle Fire, you don’t even need PhoneGap Build. You can submit your HTML content directly to Amazon and they’ll do the packaging for you.