1. Enhanced interactive document features

Adobe have responded to the growing need for designers to create electronic documents by significantly enhancing the tools available for adding interactivity to InDesign files. The Hyperlinks panel now contains a URL field, enabling you to create a link by simply highlighting some text and entering the required URL.

Creating interactive buttons has been made easier than ever. Instead of a button tool, CS4 now has a Buttons panel which also includes button states. Having converted an element to a button, the Buttons panel allows you to add “rollover” and “click” states and assign actions.

Another welcome addition is the ability to add page transitions. Also, having added interactivity to a layout, you can now export to Flash (.swf) files as well as PDF.

2. Conditional text

The ability to produce slightly different versions of the same document is a fairly frequent requirement. It may be a case of having one brochure for distributors and another for end-users or producing different language versions of the same manual. Documents of this kind are ideal candidates for InDesign CS4’s new conditional text feature.

Image representing Adobe Systems as depicted i...
 

 

Conditions are created in a panel not unlike the layers panel. Initially all text within the document forms part of the default condition: namely, it is unconditional, meaning that, by default, all text will appear regardless of which conditions are active. You simply need to create a condition for each version of the document you wish to create: just choose “New Condition” from the Conditions panel menu. Next highlight the text you wish to associate with that condition and click on the name of the condition in the Conditions panel.

The conditional text feature can even be used with images and text frames, provided they are anchored objects. Once you have set up all the conditional elements, to produce a particular version of your document, you simply activate the appropriate condition in the Conditions panel. The document is then ready to be printed or converted to PDF.

3. Improved Links panel

InDesign’s Links panel keeps track of files imported into your document and indicates the current status of linked files: for example, showing you if a file has been modified or is missing. InDesign CS4 includes considerable enhancements to this useful utility. For a start, there is now a thumbnail next to each item listed in the Links panel and the page number shown next to each item is a clickable link which takes you straight to the image.

CS4 also introduces a feature called a “parent entry”. This refers to an image which has been imported several times within the document (a typical example would be a logo placed in a header or footer). Instead of creating a separate entry for each instance of the image, InDesign now offers a single entry with a show/hide arrow icon which, when clicked, shows you the detail of each image.

The Link Info window is also now integrated into the Links panel and is now much more interactive. You simply double-click an image to display it and it now contains buttons which allow you to move from image to image. Add to this the ability to customise which columns of information appear in both the Links panel and the Link Info panel and we have a really impressive tool for keeping track of imported images.

The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Training, an independent computer training company offering InDesign CS4 training in London and all over the UK.

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Kyle Tyndall is the owner and operator of this Tech Blog. He writes and host other writers articles about technology here. He is a computer technician for the school district he lives in and has worked in technology since 2001.  Thanks for stopping by.

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