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A
Alma Strutt
Inspiring
February 6, 2018
Question

InDesign and HTML5

  • February 6, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 5998 views

Interesting article on in5 written by Keith Gilbert in the latest copy of InDesign magazine. Does anyone believe it's just a matter of time before we see such a feature as a menu item rather than a plug-in?

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      4 replies

      A
      Andy Galaxy
      Known Participant
      April 22, 2020

      Hi Alma, I've heard back from Adobe and they are working on the export to HTML5 as we speak. Hopefully we will not have to really on a third party plugin for this too much longer. 

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 23, 2020

      You're obviously new to this. Good luck.

      T
      Test Screen Name
      Legend
      April 22, 2020

      So, are you saying that if a plugin developer has a good idea, then Adobe should copy those ideas and put the plugin developer out of business? That’s a great reward for innovation. 

      A
      Andy Galaxy
      Known Participant
      April 22, 2020

      It seems to be the other way round - In5 has copied Indesign ideas and made a few wizards and some export functionality.

       

      And, are you saying that Adobe should never consider implementing a functionality that has previously been identified as needed by the users? 

       

      From what I've tested, In5 seems to be filling in the gaps that are currently lacking in Indesign - plus a few wizards to make it simpler to implement functionality that exists anyway. But what happens when Adobe actually adds the export to HTML5 properly? In5 would become irrelevant wouldn't it?

       

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 22, 2020

      You are quite the cynic. You also have no idea what you're talking about.

      When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

        JonathanArias
        JonathanArias
        Legend
        February 15, 2018

        Adobe would have to buy that company to bring it in.  It is a good product, i use it. it has limits and issues. so its not perfect but you can go from indesign to html fast with it.

        Derek Cross
        Community Expert
        Derek CrossCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 15, 2018

        Hi Jonathan – what are in5's limits and issues, I'd be interested in learning.

        JonathanArias
        JonathanArias
        Legend
        February 15, 2018

        good question.

        here is what i learned:

        1. You have options on how you can export. keep everything as images, keep the type selectable, svg the type. If you keep everything as images it all look like you made it in indesign, prefect. If you choose keep the text live ( staying in system fonts or google fonts is the thing you need have here) it has issues with bullets, it does not keep the indent. or text wrap issues
        2. You can't have links in an object that is inside a smooth scrolling frame. Unless you keep text live, but than you have the bullet indent issue i mentioned before. and text wrap issues.
        3. It has issues keeping big tables inside a smooth scrolling frame in place. its moves them sometimes.
        4. Animations all of the sudden don't work right. you might get it all set up. and after several rounds of editing other parts of the document you export and all of the sudden the animation blinks or its off.. just weird
        5. it forget button effects. i have done layouts of 90 plus pages with buttons all sharing state effects ( and running it in styles) and all of the sudden, you export and it forgets them or they are backwards.
        6. I have had numbered references at the end of an old document and i might have 4 pages with 100 plus references, in my layout the numbered bullets look fine. i export and the page number is off on one page.. again weird
        7. it has a limit of how much interactivity you can put on it. i had a popup, and inside of that popup i had an image with 19 buttons that would open other popups.  And it worked fine sometimes. other times one button would open the wrong graphic i had in the MSO..
        8. I have experience issues where the TOC worked fine till it just forgot the links.

        overall, i say that it does not like when you revisit the document a lot. you keep editing and re-exporting and things just go bunkers here and there. but if work with Justin and you MacGyver your way you can resolve the issue.

          Derek Cross
          Community Expert
          Derek CrossCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          February 15, 2018

          in5 doesn't belong to Adobe, it is a plug-in/add on for InDesign and is available for a monthly fee.

          Export HTML5 from InDesign with in5 - Home

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