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• • June 23, 2010 at 4:34 am #56139
    GrizzlyHippo

    Member

    Hi everyone,

    I need some help here and am looking for advice and references.

    We run a small graphic design company and have a major client for whom we produce all their literature. All the brochures and manuals are produced in InDesign. We currently upload pdf's direct to their website.

    They have asked us to look into whether we can use content in the ID files to automatically update their web pages. For instance in a 52 page brochure there would be some sales text that they would want to use on various web pages and also some tables and technical data that they would like to use in other sections of their website.

    In general is this possible?

    I have a feeling it will mean a major shift in how we produce and store our ID documents but I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the client happy!

    Is this getting into the realms of XML and IDML and if so are there already products available that could do this for us?

    Any help is very gratefully received at this point.

    Thanks, Tom

    P.S. I'll post this in other InDesign forums, so sorry if you come across this elsewhere.

  • June 23, 2010 at 5:07 am #56142
    Colin Flashman

    Member

    this is repurposing at its best, and XML is the way to go. my go-to book is at work (writing this from home) but can tell you to hunt down a book called “A Designer's Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML” by James Maivald. this book describes getting XML into indesign, but also how to get XML OUT of indesign.

    hope this helps.

  • June 23, 2010 at 6:01 am #56146
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Instead of trying to get XML out, you might want to focus on getting HTML out instead. However, XML is a good way to get HTML out, as written in this post:

    https://creativepro.com/how…..of-cs2.php

  • October 1, 2010 at 6:11 am #57202
    Frederick Yocum

    Member

    @David pointer to Anne-Marie’s article is a good read – read it to the end, there is good stuff there.

    @collywolly suggestion of A Designer’s Guide to Adobe InDesign and XML is also good, though the focus is on getting XML into InDesign rather than out of it. It is the only indepth resource I have found dealing with InDesign and XML.

    In order to find the right process it helps to ask for or look at the specifics of their website. If they have a fairly developed Web site contained in a Content Management System, like Drupal or WordPress, you may have to break up the content you are adding into bits and won't need to export complete HTML pages or on the other hand, you might need to add class styles to the HTML tags you create, in which case XML transformed by XSLT may be the way to go.

    Taking time to think it through will save hours later. If they have a sympathetic web developer who is not threatened by your possibly taking work off their roster, making friends and getting their help is also a very good thing . . . There is more than one way to skin a cat, and on the web it could be a cougar, a chipmunk or a great dane, etc.

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