Ajar Productions

Merge TextFrames for InDesign Updated with Highly Requested Features

Justin

puzzle pieces representing re-connect textframes

Way back in 2008, I wrote my first InDesign extension at the behest of then InDesign Product Manager, Michael Ninness.

The MergeText Frames extension combines multiple textframes into a single frame so that your text can easily be edited.

This is especially useful if you’re using the PDF2ID extension from Recosoft.

It was wonderfully promoted by the community and has been one the most popular items on my site ever since.

Why update it now?

There are two main reasons that I’m releasing this update.

The extension is still useful and these feature requests continue to come in.
I can apply my years of experience to improve the script. 🙂

What’s new?

There are three main, major changes in this update.

Getting Started with in5 (InDesign to HTML5)

Justin

I’ve heard from a few people lately asking for introduction to in5.

This post has some resources to help you go from “zero to hero.”

I’ll explain what in5 does and how it can help you publish yourAdobe InDesign content online.

The Very Short Version

in5 lets your export your layout, animation, and interactivity directly from InDesign.

in5 uses InDesign’s own interactive features, so you can focus on your design, instead of learning how to use unfamiliar software.

This video above gives you a quick intro in less than 2 minutes.

The slides above (In5 Benefits: A Quick Overview) offer a quick 30-second glance if you’re in a rush. 😉

How to Load a PDF in a Lightbox on Mobile Safari (and elsewhere)

Justin

A lightbox—which opens on top of the site (or app) that you are currently viewing—is a great way to load external content, but remain on the same page once the content is closed.

As a designer, a lightbox is a useful tool to keep readers in your “experience” and not force them to find their way back to your page.

Technically speaking, a lightbox loads external content into an <iframe>.

in5 (InDesign to HTML5) lets you add lightboxes with a single checkbox—no coding or hassle required (and no thinking about iframes)!

The Problem: iOS, Lightboxes, and Multipage PDFs

A handful of in5 customers found that when loading multipage PDFs into a lightbox on iOS devices (iPads and iPhones), you can’t navigate to the second page.

This happens in part because iOS has a PDF viewer built into the web browser.

Normally, the built-in PDF view is quite handy, but when it’s loaded into an iframe, you don’t have access to the page navigation.

Google Drive to the Rescue!

Fortunately, if you

upload your PDF to Google Drive and
grab a shareable link (details below)

The Google online PDF viewer will let you navigate through all the pages (even in a lightbox).

Simply replace the hyperlink to your PDF with the Google Drive shareable URL.

Other sharing services that can view PDFs online would probably work too (e.g., Dropbox), but you may want to factor in how much user interface (UI) and branding of the service itself adds around the document.

Details on How to Get the Shareable Link

While previewing your PDF in Google Drive, go to the fly out menu in the top-right of the viewing window.
Then grab only the URL portion from the Embed dialog (leave the HTML code).

Google Drive will keep the UI minimal if you add &embedded=true to the end of the URL.

Original Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15480804/problems-displaying-pdf-in-iframe-on-mobile-safari

Bonus Tip

You can also view files through the Google Docs viewer, even if they are external and not hosted on Google Docs, using the URL below:

https://docs.google.com/gview?url=EXTERNAL_URL_TO_YOUR_DOC

Interactive White Paper Made by in5 Customer

Justin

Another fantastic project created with InDesign and exported with in5.

Check out the video below to see what Jake Hoisington and Brenda Fletcher created for Lincoln Financial Group.

Test Drive in5

How to Build a Drop Down Menu in Adobe InDesign

Justin

An expandable menu is a great way to collapse content that is only needed some of the time. Hiding the navigation helps the user focus on the content.

Click to see a larger image.

This sample article from the InDesign UX Design Patterns guide details the steps to creating a drop-down menu.

How to Build an Expandable Menu

On a Master page, create an MSO with an “empty” state (see the Modal Dialog in the full guide for details on this step).
Build the menu background and buttons inside the “active” state of the MSO.
Add Go to Page (or Next/Back, if you prefer) actions to each button. You may also want to add a Go to (empty) State
Add an action to trigger the hiding and showing of the menu. If you have a single “toggle menu” button and a two-state MSO, you can use Go to Next State
Apply the Master page to the pages where you want the menu to appear.

* Yes, a button can have multiple actions. 🙂

The Extra Mile

You can also create a sequenced animation within the menu state of the MSO to visually “build” the menu onto the screen.

Compatibility

in5, FXL ePub, PO.

Interactive PDF cannot be used because it does not support MSOs.

Tip: If you absolutely have to create a PDF-compatible version, you can use hide and show buttons.

The Magic Way to Create a Menu

The Menu Builder Wizard that comes with in5 makes this entire process very easy (it even adds the button actions). Check it out in the video below.

More UX Design Patterns for InDesign

Do you want to learn how to create more working User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) elements from InDesign without coding?

Check out the complete InDesign UX Design Patterns guide (it’s free with an email sign-up).

Get the guide