March 2012
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Apple is rejecting an iBook because of links to... →
Quoting Seth Godin:
»I just found out that Apple is rejecting my new manifesto Stop Stealing Dreams and won’t carry it in their store because inside the manifesto are links to buy the books I mention in the bibliography.
Quoting here from their note to me, rejecting the book: ‘Multiple links to Amazon store. IE page 35, David Weinberger link.’«
February 2012
13 posts
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The Data Speaks: Readers Love Their Digital... →
Data, Data, Data:
Consumers connect w/ brands they love: 56% of readers spend 25 mins to 2.5 hrs/month reading digital titles on tablet
(via Adobe Digital Publishing Suite on twitter)
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Anonymous asked: Hello, I have 3 questions: 1. is it possible to add an element in the sidecar.xml to force the creation of an article as pdf, and not as "automatic" 2. Sometimes I can not upload a dossier with a sidecar.xml, and I don't understand the reason. 3. It doesn't seem possible to place a pdf in a frame and activate "pan and zoom". any workaround? Thanks, Laurent De Wilde,...
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What Adobe wanted and planned for a digital...
You may have heard that Adobe was planning the DPS based on AIR (and comming from Flash) early in 2010, just between the announcement and the availability of the Apple iPad. (later Adobe had to drop the Air/Flash workflow and developed what we now know as the Digital Publishing Suite for InDesign).
In an old blog post and a video with Condé Nat from 2010 they demonstrated features they had...
zafdesigns asked: Utilizing the Pan/Zoom PDF ability in DPS, how to you set up the image resolution of your article so it looks sharp when you zoom in?
Anonymous asked: Is there anyway to attache an .ics (ical appointment) to a link in the Digital Publishing Suite?
iPad Magazine Readers Want More: Survey -... →
The report does offer some guidance for the industry: 89 percent of readers want publishers to adopt a uniform way of navigating magazines, and 69 percent like watching in-app videos that run less than minute.
Anonymous asked: Please Help. I am wondering how to accomplish sending and email from DPS similar to the one produced by National Geographic. Where the email contains an Image, Heads and subheads, paragraph breaks, links, etc. etc. etc. Kris
Anonymous asked: can i have a video auto play on page load as a background while an animated overstate slideshow plays at the same time? i've tried it but it seems that i need to tap on the video to initiate.
Education: Can The Obama Administration's... →
There’s a buzz around making learning digital, no doubt spurred by Apple’s recent declaration that iBooks 2 is the future of education. Now, the Obama administration has come out in support of digital learning, claiming that all students will be using digital textbooks within five years.
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Adobe DPS: Please hold your v18-Update [Updated]
[Update]
Adobe somewhat fixed this: If you built your own viewer (as Pro or Enterprise Customer) you can build you own Content Viewer again, wich will be version 2.3.1.x that fixed some problems with autoplaying MSOs that need to stop at the last frame and timing of MSOs.
For every other user who needs to rely on the Content Viewer that is available in the App Store, you need to wait for...
January 2012
6 posts
Anonymous asked: Hi! Huge fan of your Tumblr. Ive been using v18 since its lunch and had no issues. But i havent been able to use pinch to zoom on a PDF folio that has smooth scrolling. Is it not possible? Does smooth scrolling only works on standar sized PDF folios?
Anonymous asked: Hi there....I've built a rail map but need various highlights to appear separately as well as together on the same map using a triggered legend on the side. I used MSOs to trigger each object but can't figure out how to overlap lines, colors, and info on the map? Is that a super overlay? thanks Mel
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Apple's new take: iBooks and Education
I am sure you heard about the keynote apple hold at the Guggenheim Museum last week, where they announced their education and textbook engagement.
That day they also released a new version of iBooks for the iPad and a completly new software called “iBooks Author” for Mac OSX 10.7 (well, not completly new, as it looks and feels, they took the old iWeb code, smashed a bit of Pages and...
Drop18: Nested Interactivity, Preview on iPad and...
A few hours ago Adobe released the Digital Publishing Suite in it’s drop18. Wich brings huge improvements to the DPS experience. Grab the new Folio Producer Tools, Folio Builder Panel and Viewer Builder on the Digital Publishing Suite Dashboard.
Most important changes (see what else is new in this release):
Interactivity inside a multi-state object
This offers a whole set of new features...
Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition...
Finally, the Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition is available in Europe through your localized version of store.adobe.com.
You can buy a licence to publish a singe folio app Apple’s App Store for around 362 Euros (respective your currency). This serial number is valid for one year, within you can fix erros and typos or fix you app if it gets rejected by apple.
This is only available...
Jakob Nielsen: Overloaded vs. Generic Commands →
again, Jakob Nielsen has a take on the Kindle Fire and it’s magazine apps. This time he talks about multiple buttons serving the same or different commands.
The Kindle Fire has the ability to display apps in full screen by hiding the software buttons. Therefore, the home-button taking the user back to the homescreen needs to be in the app itself, resulting in two home buttons.
Two home...
December 2011
8 posts
iPad layout templates for the Adobe Digital... →
Keith Gilbert from gilbertconsulting.com put together some iPad layout templates with helping margins. They even contain an iPad-app-specific preflight template.
Understanding DPS Tool Versions « InDesign Docs →
To create and preview folios, you run two different DPS installers — the Folio Producer tools and the Folio Builder panel. Bob Bringhurst explains why.
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Share Articles via Facebook, twitter or eMail...
This is a post I am writing since weeks — in my head. Finally, I can share it with you.
In my magazine DONE, at the end of every article, you can share the article via twitter, Facebook or eMail or leave a comment. This is not an included feature in the Digital Publishing Suite yet. You need to stretch the DPS to integrate this feature on your own. This article will cover how to link to your...
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When people use different devicds →
More statistics in Tablet usage compiled by Luke Wrebowski.
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Nielsen's Kindle Fire Usability Finding →
Usability-Guru took the Kindle Fire, a reasonable audience and watched how they work and play with it. He has a lot of finding, and some are magazine-related:
The magazine reading experience could be good but actually is miserable because the content isn’t designed for the device or for interactive reading:
Many magazines don’t have a “homepage”
Headlines on magazine...
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Relink to a new InDesign file, sort of
This works only in single-orientation folios
How often have you read this?
When the source file for the layout changed it’s path, name or is not available, you cannot update the article. You need to delete and re-upload it, and loose all the associated metadata (author, thumbnail, settings, …).
Currently, the Folio Builder Panel does not allow to change the hard-wired link of the...
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showcase: Keith Gilbert is talking about the U... →
This magazine app combines the DPS tools with nice design.
See Keith’s Post for the complete showcase.
November 2011
17 posts
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Reducing the Table of Contents to the essentials
In my magazine DONE I reduced the automatic Table of Contents that will be generated by the Viewer to show only the chapter beginnings.
You can Hide Pages from the TOC by simply mark them as an “Ad” in the Folio Producer Editor on digitalpublishing.acrobat.com or in the Folio Builder Panel.
I made this for every page in my magazine except the Cover, Editorial and the Chapter...
yesiammark asked: Hi, If the Image Sequence overlay, with "Swipe to Change image" option turn on, covers the entire page (etc. iPad 1024x768), so how can i swipe to the next page? In earlier version i can do this by tap and slid on a empty frame button or object-state, but with last update i can't do this.
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FT's Web App now served to one million people
The Financial Times announced, that their HTML5 Web App was visited by over 1 million people since it’s launch in June. By that 15% of all subscribers where comming through the mobile web app.
Remember, FT startet it’s own Web App to bypass Apples 30% cut when they make subscribers and revenue through their native iOS app. Looks like they’ve done the right choice.
In the...
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Folio Producer Tools v1.7 available
Earlier this week, Adobe released the Folio Producer Tools internally referred as “drop17”:
Folio Producer Tools v1.7 (the backbone of interacitivity in DPS)
Folio Builder Panel v1.1.7.2 (the InDesign Panel managing folios)
Adobe Content Viewer for iPad/Android v2.2.0
Your Folio Builder Panel might told you that it needs to be updated. After Apple finally approved the new version...
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Single Edition for Digital Publishing Suite...
In the past days, the adobe.com store got an update and finally, the Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition is finally ready to buy for 395 Dollars. Just go the the Adobe.com Store and add the Single Edition to your cart.
You will receive a serial number that you submit to the Viewer Builder after you built that app (with all the neccessary icons and certificates). After you entered a valid...
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WebApps with InDesign: eDocker Tablet Publisher
In a few days, the finish Workflow-Company Prepress Center Oy will release their new version of eDocker Tablet Publisher. This tool allows designers to create beautiful HTML5-WebApps right from one InDesign document wich then can be uploaded to your own webserver and downloaded and cached on the Tablet as a WebApp or viewed on a desktop browser.
I’m happy to demonstrate you this tool before...
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Trivia: This might be a business blog
I run this blog since the beginning of 2011 as a way to publish the findings from my bachelor thesis with the same title, wich I finished in July this year. This blog will continue. It’s content about digital publishing, the industry and tricks for the Digital Publishing Suite in InDesign seem to be mainly interesting for people working in the industry, wether it is at publishing houses or...
Anonymous asked: I've seen some cool html5 tricks on Guitarist: Deluxe magazine. A nice javascript acordion panel, and etc. Do you intend to publish a list of that kind of scripts (such as Photoswipe) that are compatible with touchscreens? Thank you...
Anonymous asked: Any suggestions about animated hotspot icons? An html5 animation (by Adobe Edge) or a png sequence?
Anonymous asked: Thanks for an easy way to use Photoswipe. Can you explain how to add an external to the last image? Can't figure it out...
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October 2011
11 posts
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Adobe DPS: Glimpse to what's next
You may have heard about the Adobe & WoodWing announcment earlier this month. Last week, Victor Cardoso (WoodWing’s Product Evangelist) gave a Webinar at WoodWing about the transition they are doing onto the DPS distribution system. You can watch the record of the recorded session. Mainly, it focused wether the workflow changed for WoodWing tablet designers or not.
But for the...
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WatchSlideshows with Swipe
Creating Image Slideshows like in the iPhone image gallery, that is to say by swiping instead of fading, is a much requested feature for the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. Currently, slideshows only support fading images to each other.
You can build these swiping galleries for publications with Adobe DPS but you need to build them in HTML. I found a great javascript tool...
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Reducing Folio Filesize
Other than using PDF file format for your folio (wich causes other problems), here are a three techniques to reduce the overall file size of your folio.
Technique 1: Find the Big Articles
When your folio weights over 200 Megabyte and contains a lot of articles (e.g. DONE first had 49 articles at nearly 400 megabyte, reduced then to 230 mb) it is hard to find out where all the big chunks are.
...
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Pricing & Models: It's Chart Time!
Last week, Adobe announced the Digital Publishing Suite Single Edition. Also, they announced montly subscription to the professional edition. With that, Adobe has 4 pricing options. WoodWing transforms onto the Adobe DPS plattform. And with all that other solutions from other partners, there are plenty of possibilities for digital magazines out there.
Haeme Ulrich found a chart from Adobe,...