CreativePro Forum

Return to Member Forum

• Author
  Posts
• • May 14, 2010 at 10:08 am #55705
    erickp

    Member

    Ok.. so I just sent off the new company catalog to the printer and I couldn't be happier. Soon after, I a couple of sales reps swing by and show me their new iPads and how excited they are to use them in the field. The next question from them is obvious, “Can you give me a copy of the new catalog to put on my iPad for quick reference in the field?” Well, I told them I could make them a PDF and can use an app like “Air Sharing” & “GoodReader” to view it. Then I thought how great would it be to have the catalog show up as a book with an index, so they can go directly to a particular section.

    My question I suppose is obvious by now… Is there a way to make our existing catalog (InDesign CS4) into an ePub book for the iPad?

    Thanks!

    ~erick

  • May 14, 2010 at 3:02 pm #55706
    Roland

    Member

    You should be able to export to ePub (Digital Editions in CS4) but I'm not sure of the process.

    I did a google search and found this (link opens in a new window), and it's quite good to watch as it shares quite some info on what you have to watch out for (graphics, links, etc.).

  • May 14, 2010 at 5:28 pm #55707
    erickp

    Member

    Yeah, I actually saw this video before and was hoping that there was another way but it's looking rather bleak. Seems like the whole “ePub” format is extremely restrictive and doesn't leave much room for most seriously formatted InDesign documents. I've heard publishers having a hard time porting certain publications to the “ePub” format because it just can't handle the type of layout/formatting that you would normally do within InDesign. Still have a LONG way to go.

  • May 15, 2010 at 11:51 am #55711
    Adam Jury

    Member

    erickp said:

    Then I thought how great would it be to have the catalog show up as a book with an index, so they can go directly to a particular section.

    If you generate bookmarks for your PDF file (build a Table of Contents, hide it somewhere in a margin, export to PDF with the Bookmarks option turned on), GoodReader (and I assume other PDF readers) will be able to use those bookmarks. You can sort the Bookmarks alphabetically when you generate them to make a basic index, if that sorting is more convenient.

    Or: if you make a fully hyperlinked/cross-referenced index and put it at the front of the file, that would work great, too.

  • May 15, 2010 at 8:09 pm #55715
    erickp

    Member

    I've created interactive PDF's in the past but I was more interested in the “epub” format for the iPad, iPhone and beyond. PDFs don't seem to have the same support these days. It would be nice if that changes over time but right now, it's technically still a proprietary format and the industry as a whole seems to want to move towards more of an open source format, which I can't blame. I don't understand the big push for publishing for “epub” at this point, when it's just a generic experience. What's baffling is how interactivity is so prevalent throughout the Adobe suites and people are still hyping the whole epub thing. Perhaps I'm missing something but I'm still to hear a compelling reason to focus on epub.

  • May 19, 2010 at 1:34 pm #55763
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    You are absolutely right to be disappointed, erickp. ePub is actually great for novels and other “linear flow” types of documents. But it's not really appropriate for magazines, catalogs, and most other non-linear designs.

    I did a presentation on this at the Print and ePublishing Conference last week. Basically, my conclusion was that epub was just one of five different ways to publish to the iPad. Perhaps I should write that up as a blog post… would that help?

  • May 19, 2010 at 2:40 pm #55765
    Roland

    Member

    David, you could make it a series, going somewhat in-depth into what each options' strengths and weaknesses are, also in terms of re-using existing InDesign documents, and you'll surely make lots of folks happy. I know I'd be happy with clear information :)

  • May 19, 2010 at 4:34 pm #55770
    erickp

    Member

    @David: I think that is a wonderful idea. Especially now that this topic is attracting so much attention. The various ways to publish for the iPad platform and others would give some clarity to this next frontier in publishing. As Roland mentioned, it might work as an ongoing series of posts if it's too much information. Thank you for the thought and I'm looking forward to the possibility of a future post on this subject. ;-)

  • May 19, 2010 at 6:48 pm #55774
    garricks

    Member

    David, I would really appreciate that blog post too. I try to stay a couple of steps ahead of the marketing department where technology and communication are concerned. I've been hearing a little uneducated noise about iPad content creation.

    I've read Terry White's ePub book on creating ePubs, but the more info the better!

    Thanks for all you do.

• Author
  Posts