Use InDesign for online manual

Our training team would like to use InDesign to convert paper manuals to online manual.
What are the pros and cons of using InDesign for online manual. They also would like to have interactivity (e.g. exercises) created in certain part of the manual. Can it be done with InDesign? How easy is it to convert Word documents (it was originally created in) to InDesign and then to something viewable on SharePoint. What are the options in saving the files as interactive online manual? HTML? Flash? HTML5?
Thanks for your advice,
wfz

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How to use indesign for developing a magazine

Hi Friends,
i am using Indesign for the past 2 1/2 years. Now i have to use indesign for developing a magazine. But i come across few problems. Pls help me to solve.
1. the page dimension is 210 x 297 mm. i want a bleed area of 5 mm on each side. Then should i have the document size as 215 x 307 mm (for one side). Or is there any way to mark bleed.
2. Is there any scripts, especially to be used in pagination of the magazine.
3. I have placed Auto page number in the master page, but when im placing picture in a page for the full extent, the page number is not visible (as it is in the mater page). Should i manually type the page number there or any other way to do it.
4. Is there any exclusive tutorial to learn to the core about developing a magazine in indesign.
Should i furnish any more details?
Please help me in these problems. Thanks in advance to all.
regards
karthik.r

1. the page dimension is 210 x 297 mm. i want a bleed area of 5 mm on each side. Then should i have the document size as 215 x 307 mm (for one side). Or is there any way to mark bleed.
No you should make your indesign page size the size you want the magazine to be when trimmed. If it's 210 x 297 mm then make the size of your document that size.
When you make a new document you can click the More Options to reveal the bleed setting. Use 5mm for all sides.
Make your document using facing pages, you don't need bleed for the inside edges, as this for the spine. Make sure that all your images, backgrounds etc. go out as far (or beyond) the red line. You don't need to this for things that will not be near the edge of the page.
Set up a "Safe Area" for your images, that will be an area roughly 5 mm from each side where no text or anything will go near the edge of the page. If it goes beyond this area you should consider extending it into the bleed area.
DO NOT PUT TYPE near the edge of the page. Keep it well away, possibly 10 - 15mm.
2. Is there any scripts, especially to be used in pagination of the magazine.
Pagination is usually done by prepress when you send the final pdf. Setup your magazine with the pages flowing in sequential order, e.g., 1 - 100.
Make sure the amount of pages in the magazine is divisible by 4. That is, a 94 page magazine would not do, as that's 23.5. But a 92 page or 96 page would be better because it's dvisible exactly by 4, ideal for printing.
3. I have placed Auto page number in the master page, but when im placing picture in a page for the full extent, the page number is not visible (as it is in the mater page). Should i manually type the page number there or any other way to do it.
If you want page numbers on pages like this, you should think about putting master items on a new layer and sit that layer on top of all the other layers. You should also consider making different pages, based on the current Master Page (making child and parent masters
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Adobe-InDesign-1839/Parent-child-master-pages.htm
http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1323251&seqNum=12
http://www.adobepress.com/articles/article.asp?p=1324255
You can google more yourself
But the idea is to make master pages with different coloured folios, like white folios for pages with dark images, as black folios would not show up. But it's up to you. It's best not to manually inser the page numbers.
4. Is there any exclusive tutorial to learn to the core about developing a magazine in indesign.
Three are no hard and fast rules about developing a magazine in InDesign. Follow a logical procession of thought. Start with thumbnails, develop sketches for each content, create content in InDesign, proof it, etc.
There are some pointers here http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/articles/Magazine_layout.htm
You should look into Grids http://www.thegridsystem.org/categories/templates/
http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/layout/a/grid_system.htm
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/grids/Grids_for_Desktop_Publishing.htm
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/l/aa_balance4.htm
The rest is up to you.
Good luck.

I've been using InDesign for class. Now it "stops working" when I try to apply text and closes out

I've been using InDesign for class. Now I'm trying to do a newsletter for assignment and it keeps "stop working" and closes out the program.

What Operating System? Is ID patched to version 8.0.2 (the patch was released last week). Do you have a Font Manager?
Have you tried replacing your preferences? See Replace Your Preferences

Does anyone use RH7 for online help on their websites?

Hi,
I'm finding that this product isn't usable for online help
within a website. Using the RH_ShowHelp() JavaScript calling
convestions triggers popup blockers on most of the major platforms
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since the help and the page that links to the help are in the same
domain. Requiring customers to manually reconfigure their popup
blockers is not a viable solution.
On the one where it works (Mac/Safari) I'm left with a very
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but the page in the content pane is the file-not-found page
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also seeing on the Mac (FF & Safari) that the Index &
Search areas aren't searchable like they are in Windows (no input
box to search with).
When we asked Adobe about this the answer was more or less -
"that's how it works" and they gave us a link to the following page
detailing the limitations by browser (notice that it hasn't been
updated since 2004 and the newest IE is IE4).
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=rb_69353b&sliceId=2
I was hoping there would be a new RoboHelp_CSH.js file (it's
dated 2004) Ideally one that didn't rely on browser sniffing but
instead checked for JavaScript capabilitites.
We missed testing this part when evaluating the product and
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Needless to say we've started moving on to other help
systems, but maybe someone can help save RH for us before we write
it off completely.

Welcome to our community, wjens
Hopefully you realize that you aren't forced to use the
WebHelp API to establish links to help.
Take a look at the following links:
Link
one
Link
two
Hopefully something here helps... Rick

Preparing images for Dreamweaver cs3, using InDesign for templates

Hi, I'm about to start putting all my files together for my
website, but need to know in what form to save my images. I know
they should be jpegs or gifs, but what resolution, and what size?
Should I size them close to the size I want to see them on my
website? For example if I want to make a little linked (like a
thumbnail that you click on) image of a painting, and have the full
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Also, the tutorial I'm learning from says I can make a
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I'd rather use InDesign. Can I use InDesign files as templates in
Dreamweaver? If so, in what form should I save them?

> Can I
> use InDesign files as templates in Dreamweaver?
it won't be of any practical use, except to print out and use
as a guide.
on the images, make them the PIXEL size they need to be in
the web page.
If you aren't sure yet what exact size they will be, make
them a bit
oversize. Then after changing the html display size of them
in dreamweaver
(click on the image, then press shift key and drag corner of
image to
resize) you can jot down the pixel size shown in the dw
properties
inspector, and resize the image in an image editor to those
pixel
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Adobe Community Expert, dreamweaver
http://www.adobe.com/communities/experts/

Use Sharepoint for machine manuals

Hi guys,
this is my first time in this forum. I'm working for a mechanical machines builder.
I would like to put the machine manuals to internet, so the client can download it.
Any manual is composed by several .pdf documents. Some .pdf files are the same for many manuals.
I want give a user-name and password to any client, (I don't want to create a domain user) , so he could access only documents I want.
I would like to use sharepoint for doing that. Is it possible ?
Thanks for any help
Massimo

Hi Massimo,
Welcome to SharePoint on premise product forum. As I understand, you have some .pdf files to share with other users via Internet.
In the first place, you would like to know that install SharePoint farm without active directory is not supported. You could refer to the article below for detail information:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2764086
SharePoint 2013 product is more than sharing document, working with SharePoint can help us
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http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/sharepoint/sharepoint-2013-overview-collaboration-software-features-FX103789323.aspx
If you just want to save and share document on the Internet, Microsoft OneDrive product could also be taken into consideration. You need a Microsoft mail account to log into OneDrive, and you could share your document with others on different permission.
See this:
https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-us/
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Rebecca Tu
TechNet Community Support

I am having problems exporting to PDF using InDesign for Mac.

Hi all!
I just started using the Creative Suite on Mac and have run into a couple problems. One is that when I set up a document in InDesign using "Facing Pages" and then export to PDF, the document exports each set of "Facing Pages" as one singular spread (my 20 page InDesign document becomes a 10 page PDF). Once it is a PDF, there are no page break lines in the center of the spread to indicate that they are two separate pages, and when I try to set up viewing preferences in Acrobat (single or double page), it too recogrnizes each spread as a single page.
When I used to do this in InDesign using Windows, whether I exported to PDF or printed to PDF from a document set up with "Facing Pages," each page would still be considered separate once converted to PDF (20 page InDesign docment becomes a 20 page PDF).
This also leads me to my next question : I see that on Mac, there is no option for printing to PDF, but I notice a quality difference specifically when it comes to linework (vector information) that has been "placed" in the document from Illustrator. Is there any way to achieve the quality of printing to PDF on Mac?
Thank you in advance!
Gabby

Hi Bob, I just tried your suggestion, but the interactive PDF is in spreads by default, no way to change the setting. When I choose to view by single page in Acrobat, it displays a single spread.
When I choose to view by spreads, it displays 4 pages, two spreads. That's the topic of this whole discussion, I believe. I do own CS 6 at home, however my employer supplied me with CS 5.5. And I have very little, if any, influence on purchasing.
So, I have no good way to make an interactive PDF (with differing recto/verso headers and footers), that is accessible and shows the correct header/footer. It's either single pages (with one header/footer), or recto/verso headers/footers but PDF only as a spread, as well as I can tell.
Unless you know something else I can do...
Best, Marilyn

Detecting if the user doesnt use InDesign for a certain time

Hi,
I made an InDesign CS3 plug-in that logs in to an extern program.
What I now want is to detect if InDesign isn't used for 5 minutes.
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Many thanks,

hi Harshmeet,
you can use Alerts (reminder) to show your message on contextArea on Web Client (IC scenario).
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just take a look to the [http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_timing.asp]
best wishes,
Hakan

Using simulations for online control?

Hi
When using Labview 8.2.1 what is the best way of implementing model based control, can the simulation environment, which has some nice transferfunction features be synchronized in a timed loop, to do online control in a real time system. I couldn't find an input in the simulation loop triggering the simulation with the timed loop rate. An example would be nice. Also is it at all possible to change integration algorithms, or should I make the desired adjustments myself.
Best Regards
soeren

Hi soeren
1) If you double click the simulation loop and choose the 'Timing Parameters' tab, you have to check the 'Synchronize loop to timing source' box.
Then if you expand the inputs on the left hand side loop you will see the 'Source Name' appearing. This is where you can wire in an external timing source.
2) Create a timing source and wire it to the inputs of the timed and the simulated loop that you want to sync. The timing source can be the 1KHz clock Windows use
or the 1MHz clock that can be found in the latest NI Real time controllers.
3) Determine the rate at which the loops will run. The simulation rate has to be expressed in seconds and the timed loop rate will be in ticks ( for a 1KHz source the tick will be 1 msec). The photos attached depict two loops that are synchronized to run every 10msec. Please note that you need to choose a Fixed step solver from the simulation loop configuration box.
With regard to the integration block, it's behavior will depend on the ODE ( Ordinary Differential Equation) solver you choose. Therefore, you can play around with the simulation loop parameters to find out which method gives you the most meaningful results.
I hope that helped,
Kostas
Attachments:
SimulationTiming.PNG ‏26 KB
Sync_Timed_Sim.PNG ‏20 KB

First time using inDesign for multi-page web design. Trying to "print" a pdf or jpeg to show client. But it comes in blank (white) but file size is 1.8mb. help!, First time using inDesign for multi-page web design. Trying to "print" a pdf or jpeg to show

Have created a web design using Master Pages. 5 pages in all. When I try to create a proof with pdf or jpeg the result appears blank (or white). How do I create something that I can send my client?

Hello all,
I appreciate your willingness to help.
Did a test. Copy and pasted a page of my graphics into a new indd file and into a new master. New file works fine for exporting jpeg as well as pdf.
Must just be something wrong with the original. gremlins. No time to wonder why.
but....Thank you again.

Using indesign for a website

Can I build a book in InDesign and export it to my web design program? I'm looking to incorporate a "turn the page" book on my website. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Thx, E.

If you're looking for the page curl that's a SWF feature. The SWF file can easily be placed into any webpage.
Bob

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It was a designer that I worked with a few years ago that said she did it in Illustrator. I think it was AI (I have the Master Suite but only use PS, DW and a tiny buit of flash (usually just, here we go again, editing text)) and yes, it was rasterization and not vector, I have them mixed up and not sure what the difference is...
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Hello,
Did not use Indesign for 10 years ... and - when starting it up again with a newer version - I was surprised in an unpleasant way that it is still not possible to create footnotes inside tables in a normal way without creepy workarounds. And a lot of other wacky stuff which prooves to me that Adobe uses this programm as their ever-living milky-cow without much thoughts about making its stable a little more confortable. But enough about it and sorry for my interruption.
So I want to create an index in my book ...
3 questions please ... and thanks for your help!
1) Is there a maximum of entries for the index?
2) Is there a way to have a better oversight when having hundreds of entries? Now topics, sub-topics and pagenumbers take 3 lines of space in my index-panel. So one has to scroll a lot when having many entries. Is it possible to have topics, sub-topics and pagenumber(s) on ONE line?
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Is there a solution without manually correct all pagenumbers after generating a new index?
Thanks again for your appreciated help!
Sincerely yours, Peter.
Message was edited by: mummiepoep-2

Dear Mr. Spier (Beste Peter), thanks for your help.
But I still do not understand how this index-panel works.
Let us take as a start a book with two non-numbered pages followed by automatically numbered pages.
So ...
An "indesign"-page 10 (just an example) is MY page 8.
Indesign page 10 is mentioned in the pages-menu and when adding topics in the index-panel of the SAME page, they ALL have a number 10.
But the strange thing is, that when I generate a new index and paste it somewhere in my book, the above mentioned topics do CORRECTLY refer to MY page 8.
So I'm happy with that but I seem have to missed something. For instance (looking around on internet) most people prefer to adjust page-numbering optins to their master-pages what I did not.
And (to Peter or someone else)
does anybody know the answers on my two other questions ...
1) Is there a maximum of entries for the index?
2) Is there a way to have a better oversight when having hundreds of entries? Now topics, sub-topics and pagenumbers take 3 lines of space in my index-panel. So one has to scroll a lot when having many entries. Is it possible to have topics, sub-topics and pagenumber(s) on ONE line?
Thanks.

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Use InDesign for online manual

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