Real world Adobe InDesign CS4: Interactive Documents | hyperlinks (2023)

Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner discuss the possibilities of InDesign for the rich media producer. Many of these tools don't have any visible effect on your InDesign pages, but they do change the behavior of the exported PDF or Flash SWF files.

From the book 

A hundred years ago, when David was a puppy, he handed in a school essay that he had typed on an amazing new device called a personal computer and printed on that technological marvel called the dot matrix printer. His teacher was so impressed that she wrote his numerous corrections on a separate page so as not to spoil the appearance of David's "professionally published" work. Today, a certificate is printed on a color laser or inkjet printerstrict,and teachers can question a student's work ethic if they don't have an appropriate website and PR team.

Data communications have come a long way, and while print is far from dead, you can bet the future of publishing isn't just about putting more ink on paper. Today's communicators need to be able to create interactive, printed documents—files that contain buttons, sounds, and movies. Luckily, InDesign offers a range of features for the rich media producer. Many of these tools don't have any visible effect on your InDesign pages, but they do change the behavior of the exported PDF or Flash SWF files.

Interactive only after export

The most important thing to know about InDesign's interactive features is that they only work if you export the file to a format they support, such as PDF, SWF, or XHTML. And different formats support different functions.

Acrobat-PDF.

You might not expect the PDF format to have the broadest support for interactive media — at least in terms of what you can export from InDesign. However, you should plan to use the Acrobat 6 (or higher) format. Earlier Acrobat 4 or 5 formats (i.e. PDF versions 1.3 and 1.4) support some file formats, embedding movies in PDF, CMYK, non-rectangular posters (more on what posters are later in this chapter), or do not support interactive objects on the same page as transparency effects (such as gradient and opacity).

However, even Acrobat 6, 7, and 8 files do not support all of the desired rich media tools. For example, there is still a limited number of page-turning transitions, and MP3 sound files do not work. Also note that you must be using Acrobat Reader or Acrobat Pro to view interactive PDF files - although other PDF readers (e.g. Preview on Mac OS X) can open them, most media features will not.

Unfortunately, while you can import most types of SWF files into InDesign (as we explain later in this chapter), when you export a PDF file, Acrobat has significant problems displaying the SWF file—even Acrobat 9, which has the built-in Flash Player features. 🇧🇷 So if you want to add SWF files to your interactive PDF files, we recommend adding them manually in Acrobat Pro after exporting the PDF file from InDesign. We hope this will be fixed soon.

We covered how to export PDF files in Chapter 7, "Importing and Exporting."

XHTML and ePub.

InDesign has very limited support for XHTML and ePub documents. However, hyperlinks created in InDesign are exported correctly. We covered how to export XHTML and .epub documents from InDesign in Chapter 7, "Import and Export."

SWF.

InDesign can export one or more pages of your document directly to SWF (Shockwave Flash) format. We'll discuss this in more detail later in this chapter, but it's important to note that only buttons, hyperlinks, and page transitions are reflected in your final SWF file—imported sounds and movies are removed. And in fact, buttons that interact with transparency effects and some button actions (e.g. go to next view) are also ignored.

XFL

InDesign SWF export works well for simple projects, but is limited to a few simple effects. If you are familiar with ActionScript or work with a Flash developer, consider exporting your InDesign document in XFL format, an exchange format that Flash CS4 Professional can read. But there are caveats here, too: the XFL format takes away from you all the interactivity you added in InDesign; So if you use XFL, you can skip creating hyperlinks, buttons, movies, and page transitions.

Hyperlinks

What is an interactive page without links? Links help your readers to search your file, jump between pages, to other documents or even websites. You can also add links to files for your readers to download and you can add links to email them. PDF files provide three types of links: hyperlinks, bookmarks, and buttons. Let's look at them in turn.

A hyperlink is essentially a button - it's a "hot" area that performs an action when you click it. There are two major differences between a hyperlink and a button: First, you can apply a hyperlink directly to an area of ​​text—though behind the scenes, InDesign still sort of draws a button around that text. Second, you can save a hyperlink destination and use it more than once.

To create a hyperlink, you need to open the Hyperlinks panel from the Interactive flyout in the Window menu. The Hyperlinks panel also contains the Cross References panel. We cover cross-references in Chapter 3, “Text”.

Named hyperlinks versus unnamed hyperlinks

When you create a hyperlink, you must decide whether you want it to be a shared hyperlink (referred to as a shared hyperlink target in InDesign) or a one-time link. Because they are similar in concept to named and unnamed color swatches, we usually call them named and unnamed hyperlinks.

Named hyperlinks are actually easier to create, but they can slow you down if you create dozens (or hundreds) of them, since each hyperlink you add occupies a position in the Hyperlinks panel's URL pop-up menu. Searching through 100 URLs is tedious. Therefore, although we tend to avoidKorFor example, we mostly use unnamed hyperlinks.

On the other hand, if you use a hyperlink multiple times in a document, it's great to give it a name. That way, if you ever need to edit the link, you can change it once and it'll be updated throughout the file.

fast hyperlinks

The quickest way to create a hyperlink is to select text (using the Text tool) or frame (using the Select tool) and enter a web address in the URL field at the top of the Hyperlinks panel (seeFigure 13-1🇧🇷 After you press Enter, the link will appear in the list in the middle of the Hyperlinks panel.

Unfortunately, this method has several significant disadvantages: first, it always creates a named hyperlink; There is no choice here. Second, InDesign often puts a big ugly black rectangle around the text or object. Third, you can only link to URLs (no sidelinks and other things we'll explain in a moment). Finally, once you've selected a frame, the link will appear in the dashboard as something generic like "Hyperlink". If you have text selected, the text itself will appear in the list, which is often a source of confusion.

Editing hyperlinks

If you want to create a named hyperlink, using the URL field works well. But immediately after you create the link, you need to edit it. First, you can rename any link in the Hyperlinks panel by clicking on it and choosing Rename Hyperlink from the panel menu. If you do this often, create a custom keyboard shortcut.

Then double-click the link in the Hyperlinks panel to open the Edit Hyperlink dialog box. (You can also edit a hyperlink by selecting the text or frame and choosing Hyperlink Options from the panel menu.) You have several options.

link to and target.

You can tell InDesign what to link to by choosing one of six options from the Link To pop-up menu. The first three allow you to create untitled or named links; the last one is for named and shared links. If you've already created a named link using the URL field, you can convert it to a local link, but the original named link you created will still remain in the URL list - we'll explain later in this chapter how to remove it.

• URL.To target a URL, choose URL from the Link To pop-up menu and enter the address in the Target URL field. A URL is usually a location on the internet, e.g. B. an HTTP or FTP site. Note, however, that Acrobat or Flash simply redirects this URL to the default web browser.

(By the way, if you open a SWF file with a hyperlink on your local hard drive, the Flash plugin will probably warn you that there is a potential security vulnerability. This is one of many crazy problems with Flash, in our opinion. You However, you can avoid the warning by clicking Settings and then telling Flash Settings to always trust your local computer. If you post the SWF file to the web, the warning should not appear.)

• File.If you want your hyperlink to open another PDF file or file on your hard drive or server, you can choose File from the Link To pop-up menu. Unfortunately, Acrobat and Flash also offer these links to open your web browser, which is pretty crazy. If the browser knows what to do with it, it shows it; otherwise the file will probably download. To jump from one PDF to another, it's usually best to use a button, which we'll discuss in a later section.
• Email.If you want your link to email you, create a URL link that begins withmailto://, but it's easier to set the Link To pop-up menu to Email and then fill in the Address and Subject fields. When the viewer clicks this type of link, Acrobat launches their default web browser and creates a new addressed email message.
• book page.To create a link to another page in your document (but not to specific text or an object on the page), choose Page from the Link To pop-up menu. Enter the page number you want to link to in the Page field and the magnification you want to use to view that page in the Zoom Setting pop-up menu. Most zoom settings (like adjust window width) are fairly self-explanatory; The only two that we found confusing are Inherit Zoom and Fixed. Inheriting the zoom does not change the viewer's magnification setting. Fixed should be similar to the zoom setting in InDesign when you created the hyperlink target, but it seems to have exactly the same effect as zooming in on. Zoom settings are ignored in SWF files.

Note that you can also choose a different file from the Document pop-up menu (if you have another InDesign document open). That sounds good, but it doesn't really work - after all, you're asking Flash or Acrobat to open your other InDesign file, which it can't.

• Text anchor.If there's text you want to target, choose anchor text from the Link To pop-up menu. We'll discuss how to create anchor text later in this chapter.
• Common goal.If you want your hyperlink to point to a link you've already created as a named link, choose Common Target, then choose Link from the Name pop-up menu.

drawing style.

If the hyperlink is in selected text, you can tell InDesign to apply a character style to it. For example, you might want to underline the text in light blue to indicate to the reader that it is "clickable". Very helpful. What you cannoTo do this, you need to create a drawing style that automatically applies a hyperlink. We hope to see this in a future version of InDesign.

Looks.

Remember that a hyperlink is technically a button in the PDF. In the Appearance section you can control how this object is displayed in the PDF file. If you want it to be invisible, set the Type pop-up menu to Invisible Rectangle. If you do this, be sure to apply a character style to the text; Otherwise someone will only know the link exists if the cursor changes when hovering over it.

The other appearance options are pretty dumb. Perhaps one day InDesign will offer more interesting hyperlinking options, like highlighting text when you mouse over it and then glowing or bursting into flames when you click it. Until then, only buttons provide interesting link effects (see “Buttons” later in this chapter).

By the way, if you import a Word document with a lot of words surrounded by rectangles, they are probably hyperlinks. You can quickly make all those rectangles disappear by selecting all hyperlinks in the Hyperlinks panel (click the first one, then Shift-click the last one), choose Hyperlink Options from the panel menu, and change the Type pop-up menu ' in the Appearance panel from Visible Rectangle to Invisible Rectangle.

Creating a new untitled hyperlink

If you want to skip creating a named hyperlink entirely, select the text or frame and click the Create New Hyperlink button in the Hyperlinks panel (or choose New Hyperlink from the panel menu). This will open the New Hyperlink dialog box, which offers the same functionality we discussed in the last section.

Creating a new hyperlink target

InInDesign also lets you create a named hyperlink without actually applying it to text or objects. Of course, these links won't do anything, but it can help if you have a list of known targets that are targeted multiple times when the file is created. To do this, choose New Hyperlink Target from the Hyperlinks panel menu (seeFigure 13-2🇧🇷 You can choose from three types of hyperlink destinations: page, text anchor and URL.

• book page.After you choose Side from the Type pop-up menu, you can choose which side and zoom setting to use. Now give the hyperlink target of your page a name. Or, even better, check the Name with page number box, which will automatically name it. You'll use this name later to apply this hyperlink target to the text or object on your page.
• URL.The URL hyperlink target allows you to enter two values: the website or mailto address you want to target and a name for that target. You will also use this name later when creating the hyperlink.
• Text anchor.The Text Anchor option allows you to create an anchor for a specific section of text in your document. Once you've created anchor text, you can target it by creating a hyperlink (which we talked about earlier). To do this, first place the cursor on the target text (or select one or more characters from the text), otherwise this option is grayed out. Then simply give the anchor a name in the New Hyperlink Target dialog box. This is identical to how most HTML authoring programs create anchor text.

Edit hyperlink destinations

Unfortunately, although the URL pop-up menu in the Hyperlinks panel lists all named hyperlink destinations you've created in a document, you can't edit or delete them. To do this, choose Hyperlink Target Options from the Hyperlinks panel menu - this displays the Hyperlink Target Options dialog box. From here, you can use the Target pop-up menu to preview and select existing hyperlink targets. To edit a hyperlink destination, select it in the popup and click the Edit button. To delete a named hyperlink, select it and click the Delete button.

Hyperlinks von URLs in Text

If you've already entered a URL in a text frame and now want to convert that URL to a hyperlink, use the Type tool to select the URL and choose New Hyperlink From URL from the Hyperlinks panel menu. This is two for one: InDesign first creates a URL target (with the same name as the URL itself) and then applies that target to the selected text or object, also using the URL as the hyperlink source name pointing to which is displayed panel. cool what?

Note, however, that Acrobat 8 ​​now automatically creates clickable links from anything that looks like a URL, so you may not need to convert these to InDesign hyperlinks.

Delete and reset hyperlinks

We already mentioned that you can delete a hyperlink destination, but what about the hyperlink on the page? If you delete the source itself (the hyperlinked text or object), the hyperlink disappears. You can also select the hyperlink in the Hyperlinks panel and click the panel's Delete button. This leaves the text or page object alone, but no longer has a hyperlink attached to it.

If you need to delete two or more hyperlinks, you can select discontinuous elements by pressing Command/Ctrl and clicking them one by one. Or to select all, select the first one and Shift-click the last one in the list. Then click Delete.

What if you linked the wrong text or object? No problem—select the correct text or object, select the hyperlink name in the Hyperlinks panel, and choose Reset Hyperlink from the Hyperlinks panel menu. The link will move from the old font to the selected font.

Browsing Hyperlinks

Once you have a number of linked sources in your document, you need a way to navigate them. If you set the appearance of hyperlinks to Visible, you can preview them by choosing Show Hyperlinks from the View menu.

If you can't find the source of a hyperlink, select the link in the Hyperlinks panel and click the Go To Source button (or choose Go To Source from the panel menu).

Alternatively, you can select a hyperlink name in the panel and click the Go To Target button (or choose Go To Target from the panel menu) to go to the hyperlink itself. This means you can use hyperlinks to navigate your document (or documents) even if you never intend to export the files as PDF or SWF!

Don't forget that you can place hyperlinks on a master page so that they appear on all pages of the document based on that master page.

Update hyperlinks

If you used named hyperlink targets from another document and those hyperlink targets were later changed (for example, by a URL change), you need to update the hyperlink source. To do this, select the hyperlink source in the Hyperlinks panel and choose Update Hyperlink from the panel menu. If the other document is not currently open, you must hold down the Option/Alt key when selecting Update Link.

Export hyperlinks

As previously mentioned, hyperlinks are "live" only in your exported PDF or SWF files (with the exception of the Go To Hyperlink Target button in the Hyperlinks panel). However, your hyperlinks are not included in the PDF or SWF file unless you select the Hyperlinks check box in the Export PDF or Export SWF dialog box.