Hotspots & rollovers in InDesign

I have created "buttons" in InDesign which are custom shapes, not horizontally- or vertically-aligned rectangles or circles. The "hotspot" (sensitive area of the buttons), however, seem to be related to the "bounding box", instead of to the polygon! The problem is that the bounding boxes (but not the polygons) overlap.
The fill of the rollover state of each polygon is a colored transparency.
So if you mouse over a polygon, you can inadvertently activate the rollover state of the neighboring button and a portion of the neighboring polygon's transparent rollover state will appear. And if you click inside the overlapping portion of the bounding box, you will go to the wrong link.
I am using Creative Suite 5.5 on a MacBookPro running Snow Leopard.
Surely, it should be possible to define the hotspot to precisely the area you want -- to the polygon, not the bounding box?
Creative Suite has been positioning itself as an effective user interface that allows designers to design and export webpages that are fully interactive. Do I really have to use Dreamweaver of Fireworks to solve what should otherwise be simple problem? (I note that Fireworks has a "Polygon" tool, but couldn't figure out how to get beyond creating the polygon, to creating the button with rollover effects and actions).
Any suggestions? I would be so grateful.

Thanks for your prompt reply, Bob. If you're wondering where I got the idea, I can refer you to an Adobe TV "Evangelist" who explains how to created interactivity in your Adobe InDesign layout and then export it as an SWF file with little further work required for it to be used as a website (and that was with CS4, so I can only assume Adobe has continued moving in the same direction). I bought Adobe Design Premium, but am not yet up to speed on Dreamweaver, Flash or Fireworks. So for the current project I was looking to do as much as possible in familiar territory.
Maybe there's a work around? There are two things I would like to have happen: I'd like each polygon to change color (transparent) upon rollover. The button could be a rectangle containing a number, which would also change color upon rollover, and would jump to a URL or open a document when clicked.
Does Dreamweaver allow you define a custom area as a hotspot and rollover? In a post about Fireworks, I saw an example posted of a map of the U.S., in which the designer wanted each state to be highlighted with a transparency upon rollover, and also to jump to a URL when clicked. They did this with a "polygon" tool.
If InDesign included and promoted these tools for interactivity, why shouldn't one use them for export to a PDF or to an SWF file? I'm assuming Muse is Adobe's latest answer to the need for friendlier user interfaces for Designers? I've spent enough money on CSDesign Premium this year and can't afford to spend more right now.

Similar Messages

Would there be any reason for a hotspot created in InDesign to change size when exported as a SWF?

Hello
I've got a 280-page InDesign (CS5) document with invisible buttons/ hotspots throughout which I want to export as a SWF.
Once exported, the buttons/ hotspots appear to be sized/ positioned correctly on the first dozen or so pages. Afterwards, the hotspots are consistently sized and positioned incorrectly over the buttons; so that if you were to try and click on the button, you wouldn't actually be clicking on the hotspot at all.
Things I've tried so far:
Exporting the pages in smaller batches, rather than as a single 280-page file
Export the SWF at different sizes
Checking that the hotspost don't have any blank areas inside their boxes (in the same way you can move an image inside a picture box and have blank areas)
I've hit a wall with this – any help/ suggestions you're able to offer would be very much appreciated.
Thanks for your time.

Thanks, but I have searched here but have not found or heard a direct answer to my question as stated above...

Creating an interactive CV: mouse over / roll over pop ups, embedded documents and videos

Hi everyone,
I am pretty new to Adobe Acrobat Pro and new to this forum (1st post here!). Greetings from Spain... and apologies for grammar mistakes and misleading explanations (in advance). I have been checking this forum and googling quite a bit, but I do not get to many conclusions (maybe I sleep few due to our baby!).
I want to create an interactive CV with the following characteristics:
1) CV in 1 page in a PDF document (no problem here!)
2) Hyperlinks in the text which open embedded files (pdf of others) hidden to the viewer but which are in the pdf document. Possible? (I want the recruiter to receive just one file). Even better if they could be open in another window (doubt it).
How could it be done? I try add documents and they are attached at the end, so the original pdf gets to have more pages, all viewable.
3) Furthermore, mouse over / roll over pop ups which show you a preview of the file you may open clicking the hyperlink, for a quick view of the content.
I think that this may be done, but using other programs, like InDesign. I just try to add a document, but it's sort of a link to a document in my computer. I may add pdf, pps files.
4) Even more, would it be possible to embed a video which would open in a new window? If not, I tried to add a link to youtube and there was a warning as "this program tries to open a window, if you trust the owner... " (similar safety message) and the very last thing I want the recruiter to have to decide whether to decide to watch it or not.
I know its a questions in its very first stages, but the big point is to know if/what it is possible to do, so that I search in the right direction.
If you have any idea or advice (even if not related to PDF pro, of course), just please let me know.
Thanks a lot in advance. I hope this thread may help others.
Cheers,
tebanseeker

Hi Dave,
Thanks a lot for the input.
(3) Right, I could not find either a way using just Acrobat Pro (I'm using XI). Sad thing that you confirm it... But it looks like you may do it using other programs on the PDF, but I don't know to use them. You may take a look at this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEyJuT8SSME (popup rollovers using Illustrator)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOVRMVdZbVE (popup rollovers using InDesign)
(4) I think that embedding would make the file to big, so I may opt for the hyperlink to youtube option, even if I deeply dislike that message, although youtube is a reliable source for the viewer.
Any other input is very welcome. I am pretty illiterate in the field!
Have a nice weekend,
tebanseeker

How to make CS5 hotspots work like rollovers

Hello,
I have this project where I am taking a map of a country and wanting to make each state a hotspot that when you click on it, will show 2 or 3 images of that state that the person can click on for more information.
I want to create hotspots so that when you click on them, they make 1 or more images appear on the same page as the hotspot. These images can themselves contain links. Not so much pop-ups, but rather just some nice images alongside the image map.
Further, when you click on another hotspot on the same image map, it closes whatever images were previously open, and opens one or more new images relevent to that new hotspot (still on the same page). We have not left the page yet that has the image map.
The thing that is different here is that these hotspots do not link to a new page, they behave more like a rollover. I don't want to use rollovers because my image map will contain probably a dozen or more of these hotspots.
Does this make any sense? I hope someone can help me with this, thanks!!

I created an image map of the US that links to each state but I want to have a different color fill each state as you rollover it.
Use jQuery MapHighlight plugin.
http://alt-web.com/DEMOS/jQuery-maphighlight.shtml
Nancy O.
Alt-Web Design & Publishing
Web | Graphics | Print | Media Specialists
http://alt-web.com/

Is inDesign the best product for publishing an interactive training manual?

I am building an interactive training manual for a fire department and I need to find out the best way to publish this document for use on an iPad or other tablet. I will be embedding video, text, and photos, along with stacking photos for the 360 degree view. So far I have read that there is a 2GB size limitation for articles. I've also read that there is was way to publish privately if it becomes difficult to download from acrobat.com. I would like this training manual to be all inclusive without having to break it up into multiple articles. I would like to embed over 3 hours of video, over 200 photographs, over 260 pages of text, and have interactivity throughout. Is this out of inDesign's scope? Is there a way to publish this large of a document to multiple iPads without using the App Store or Android Market? I'm just starting out so I'm looking forward for any constructive help I can get.

HOW interactive are we talking here? Buttons with rollovers, menus, or the ability to fill in answers like a workbook?
A freelance client of mine wanted to prepare a workbook with "interactivity" and all looked well... until i was told what "interactive" meant. This example was a science workbook for schools which behaved as a facsimile of the normal book which would be filled in by hand, except that answers were not always checkboxes or text. Sometimes answers would be:
plot a graph
draw a picture of an amoeba (for example) and label the parts; or draw the diagram of isopropyl alcohol;
fill in a crossword
join the correct reducing agent to the correct oxidising agent
AFAIK this kind of interactivity isn't possible with the off-the-shelf indesign, and i don't know of any third party software which provides this kind of interactivity. Yes, the author could have been asked to rephrase the questions to fit the limitations of indesign's fill-in forms and interactivity, but the author did not want this.
Also, is tablet-specific software the right platform to use? Perhaps a website with a paywall may be a better form of distribution and construction, allowing a RIA (Rich Internet Application) to be made for the project.

Text disappears on buttons in InDesign cs6

I'm doing an interactive pdf from InDesign CS6. I have buttons that I've created using just a solid rectangle and reversed white text in the rectangle and the buttons are on my master page. I want my buttons to change to a different colour when you click or mouse over them (only text to change to a different colour). When I go to 'click state' or 'rollover state' (I've tried both), the button is copied and I can change the colour but then in my normal state, I have an overset text, (I get a red plus sign) my text disappears. When I try and correct my normal state, the same thing happens in my click or rollover state. When I export a file to an interactive pdf, my normal state button is without text and my over or click state button has text with the colour that I've selected. Does anyone know why this happens or how to fix it?
Thanks,
NZ

We might be able to help you but you'll have to drop the attitude. We're not Adobe here, but users like you.
You'll need to tell us exactly what you're doing and what's not working for you. By "rollovers," you could mean the change of appearance of a button. You could also be meaning what are sometimes called Show/Hide buttons where clicking a button causes another button to appear. Which is it?
And what kind of output are you attempting? Interactive PDF? SWF (Flash)? DPS?

ActionScript 2 from InDesign CS4??

Hi
I am making a ebook using some software I purchased. The mag itself is made up from a PDF version that the software converts to a pageflip. I have created a number of additional popups in InDesign CS4 which are used as embedded hotspot links from the main mag. The popups themelves have URL links to external websites, designed within InDesign CS4 and exported as SWF files. The SWF files work if loaded themselves, however the emag software only allows for ActionScript 2 functionality.
So I wanted to check if anyone knows of a way to export SWF files in ActionScript 2 rather than the default ActionScript 3?
Thanks for your input!

I don't think it's a stupid question, but I don't think it's possible.
Harbs

InDesign to PDF - Client wants clickable ads

I'm laying out a magazine with ads in InDesign CS4 that will be converted to PDF for online distribution.
The client would like the reader to be able to click on the ads to be taken to the advertiser's website. I'm not making up the ads myself; I'm just placing provided image files.
How would this be accomplished either in InDesign or in Acrobat? I'm striking out on searches, since I don't know what the feature is called.
Thanks for your help,
Michele

THANK YOU! That's the information I needed.
Michele
1106 Design will be closed the week of June 29 through July 3, 2009.
Normal business hours will resume on Monday, July 6.
Thank you.
From: SavvyPop <[email protected]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:22:14 -0600
To: Michele DeFilippo <[email protected]>
Subject: InDesign to PDF - Client wants clickable ads
You can easily do this in the already created PDF providing you use Acrobat
Pro...I assume you do.
Open the Adavanced Editing tools, and select the Link tool. From there you can
marquee whatever area you wish to be the hotspot clickable area to trigger a
action...the actions include open a webpage amoun other options.
>

Interactive PDF meltdown with InDesign CS5

Howdy,
I've just switched from InDesign CS3 to CS5 and I was creating interactive PDF's for my portfolio.
I work as a retoucher and all I was doing was making an image change from the "before" to the "after" image when the cursor rolledover the image. Easy-peasy job done.
For some unknown reason, when I now open my images in Acrobat, the images are terribly pixelated and the rollovers do not work.
It seems the images have to be at 300dpi, whereas before I can downsample them a little to reduce file size and still get a creditable "before" and "after" pic.
Now it's just a mess mith a massive file size! This seems to have happened all by itself and it's gone into meltdown!
Any ideas welcome

Rollovers are currently not working properly, we expect a fix shortly.
InDesign's PDF export system does not have any connection to Acrobat, so your main question needs to be posted on the InDesign forums.

Layering images on top of one another and adding hotspots that reveal a different picture below

This is the page Im currently working on http://www.andrewtoyota.com/2014-highlander If you look on the right there is an image of a car with 9 different colored circles below.
First I was trying to find a way to apply a hover effect to the circles to display the correct image of the car with the corresponding color. It wasn't working correctly because I couldn't find a way to have the images lay on top of each other with all the circles (being separate images) to (when clicked) link to the correct car image.
So I brought my images into Dreamweaver and I'm trying to figure out how to do it in there. I know there is a way to apply certain behaviors to images, clickon, but I can't figure out how to lay my images on top of one another. There has to be a div tag to do so right?
I have a jpeg for each image (a horizontal jpg including the text on left then the car then the colors below) I thought if I uploaded all the images then applied a hotspot to each circle on every image then linked that circle to the right image, when clicked, it would work. Its not seeming to work. One problem is all my images are layed on one above the other... I need to get it so only one shows at a time and then get the hotspots to work so when clicked the user is still in the same page just a different image. Either clicked on or hover.
This is what im working with right... I have applied hot spots to the different colors... how do I have only one image showing at once... yet each hot spot linked to the correct image?!

You are looking for "remote rollover" or "disjointed rollover" if you were to do a search on Google.
Basically, you have a "starter image" and then when remote images or hotspots are moused over, the starter image is changed to a new image by javascript. There is only ever 1 actual image in the source code on the page at any given time.
Layers (APDivs, position:absolute, etc) is a terrible direction to go for this.
In DWCC...
1. Insert your starting (no rollovers) image
2. Click the image and give it an ID in the Properties window
3. Click/select the link image/hotspot/text that will fire the rollover
4. Click the + in the Behaviors panel and choose Swap Image
5. Select the id of the image set in step 2
6. Browse to the "on" version of the image for the "Set Source To" text field
7. Make sure Preload Images is checked and click OK.
8. Click the + in the behaviors again and choose Swap Image Restore and hit OK
Repeat for each hotspot.

PDF file linking on a CD (Acrobat Pro / InDesign CS3)

Weve put 9 pdf documents on a CD (made in Mac InDesign CS3) for a client. The original plan was to hyperlink them together using icons (representing the other pdfs) that appear on each page of each document. Unfortanately were on to plan B as InDesign pdf links stop working once you copy them onto the CD.
Is there a way to globally or automatically to apply hyperlink hotspots in Acrobat Pro? While I know I can make links that work on a CD in Acrobat Pro -- the best I could do in this case was pasting and repositioning link hot spots by hand on every page - and that was just one document.
Any suggestions?
Phil

Will the Interactive PDF, along with the Word doc be written to the CD? And your hopes are the user will insert CD, open PDF, click link in PDF which opens Doc in Microsoft Word? You can accomplish this in many ways, but a few questions first...
1. Does the content need to remain as a Word Document?
2. Does the Word doc need to reside on CD?
3. Are you using Mac or PC?

InDesign cs4 Button Menu

I have a four page document that I have created multiple buttons for. I created remote rollovers and have to show/hide buttons often. My problems are as followed:
!. In the "Actions" drop down menu in the "Buttons" pallet, only three buttons from a list of about 40 are visible at a time. Is there any way to expand this view?
2. Every time I create a new button it is placed at the end of the list. If I create a new button for the first page it is placed at the end of the list not with the other buttons on the first page. Is there any way to manipulate this list to be more organized.
Thank You in advance.
Tom

I have never heard of fixes for the problems you're having with the Buttons feature. It has not been changed yet in the latest version of InDesign CS5.5. Sorry.

How to put hotspots using scripts

Hi Friends,
Can you please tell the ways in which the hotspots can be put in the Flash created from Indesign, using scripts ?
Is there a way to do it while designing in Indesign ?
Thanks
Joy

You require the proper Adobe deployment tools, which are avialable to any volume licensing customers or support program subscribers. There is no way to install Adobe software with just Windows native tools due to the licensing stuff and otehr specific services and configuration.
Mylenium

Issues with rollover buttons in Indesign CS6

Hi, I was wondering if anyone can shed some light on a issue i'm currently having.
I've produced a interactive map in Indesign, with rollover buttons which triggers an animation - all the buttons and animations seem to be set up correctly and once I export as a SWF they seem to work fine initially, but after a couple of rollovers some of the buttons just stop working. If I refresh the page or reopen the swf file it then starts working again for a period, but again after a few successful rollovers some stop working again. I'm wondering if this is a bug of some sort? Ive also tested the .swf on a different machine and I experience the same issue.
Any help with this would be be much appreciated.

We might be able to help you but you'll have to drop the attitude. We're not Adobe here, but users like you.
You'll need to tell us exactly what you're doing and what's not working for you. By "rollovers," you could mean the change of appearance of a button. You could also be meaning what are sometimes called Show/Hide buttons where clicking a button causes another button to appear. Which is it?
And what kind of output are you attempting? Interactive PDF? SWF (Flash)? DPS?

Can this be done with css rollovers?

Hi,
I'm using Dreamweaver CS4 on a Windows PC. I understand the basics of css rollovers where you change the background image position up or down but the text used will still end up being a common font that will suit every pc. What I'd like to do is use an uncommon font in my navigation bar. I made an image in photoshop that had two versions of a word like home for example one on top of the other like you would for a css rollover but once I created a link I had the link color border around the image, so it didn't work. Here is a link to a website that is similar to what I'm trying to do http://www.inksmithtattoo.com/. Look at the navigation, can this be done using css rollovers? If not how do you think it was done? Is there a way to use uncommon fonts in a navigation bar? I even did some research on using Dreamweavers hotspot function but found that there were issues in using it for navigation. I'm getting pretty familar with Dreamweaver but I'm not that good at coding so if anyone does have any ideas please include some keywords that I can google and read more about what your trying to say, links to the info would be even better but I realize that if your as busy as I am you can't take that kind of time.
Any ideas or help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you to all, dluthier

That site is using images only. It is not a text based link:
here is the css they are using:
#navAbout a {
-moz-background-clip:border;
-moz-background-inline-policy:continuous;
-moz-background-origin:padding;
background:transparent url(../_img/navAbout-Home.gif) no-repeat scroll 0 0;
left:473px;
top:318px;
As you can see it is an image only. See the attachment with this post. Also since it is a background image it won't show up if you right click on the so seemed text
Please install firebug or webdeveloper plugin if on Firefox and you will be able to inspect the elements and know what exactly they are.
Hope it helps
Regards,
Vinay

Hotspots & rollovers in InDesign

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