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Digital Publishing with InDesign: Types of Interactive Elements

Posted byJustin
DigPubIDCC one page

This is a guest post by Sandee Cohen, adapted from Digital Publishing with Adobe InDesign CC by Sandee Cohen and Diane Burns. This article highlights the methods for adding interactivity to an InDesign document.

Types of interactive elements that can be added to InDesign documents

  1. Links: Hyperlinks, Cross-references, Table of Contents
  2. Bookmarks
  3. Audio/video files
  4. Multi-state objects
  5. Buttons
  6. Forms
  7. Animations
  8. Page transitions
  9. Overlays

Each has its own particular uses, and some of the features may overlap. Before you start work, you need to decide which type of interactive element is right for your job or you could be stuck with an effect that can’t be exported for your finished project.

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Universal Scrolling Frames for InDesign

Posted byJustin
Universal Scrolling Frames From InDesign to HTML and EPUB

Adobe InDesign is full of wonderful interactive capabilities. The old DPS/AEM Mobile (Folio) Overlays panel adds several additional options, such as scrolling frames.

While this extra interactivity was supported by DPS, as well as our tool—in5 (InDesign to HTML5)—it’s not supported by InDesign’s native export formats: ePUB, HTML, and Publish Online.

In looking for ways for add this interactivity for all formats, I heard from many people that scrolling frames were a high priority.

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How to Add Advanced HTML Hyperlinking with in5

Posted byJustin

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).

hyperlink panel lets your control how your links open

Woohoo!

indesign new hyperlink

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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