Participant

Question

How to create interactive documents without Flash?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
June 27, 2017
4 replies
7739 views

Hello everyone. I imagine similar questions have been raised already. I need to create an interactive user guide for a company (how to access it, where to park, where to eat, how to set up your desk chair, how to use the printer, and so on). The guide will include text, pictures, maps, sounds and videos, forms, etc.. It will be used on PCs, mobile devices (Android, Apple),… It should be usable even with no Internet connection. Flash is not an option. I have been trying to find the ideal format for a while but it is not that easy. Interactive PDF would have been a nice option as it supports multimedia but you need to have the Flash Player installed to make it work, and that is impossible in this case. Would you have any recommendations? Thank you.

This topic has been closed for replies.

S

Shanderson00717972200

Participant

I have not read therough all the answers so my apologies if this has already been said put a Fixed format Epub would anwer all your problems. It can be exported right out of InDesign and is a standalone package that is readable on most devices with a Epub reader.

THre are a couple of quirks in the export and the finels are not small but they work well.

Let me know if you have any questions,

Shan

D

DocMagician

Participant

Born out of frustration of a need to have fully interactive documents, at InfoSlips, we built a solution that can composite and distribute fully interactive and responsive documents (HTML) that can operate in a number of different ways including a fully offline mode. The document is encrypted, can be optionally authenticated and is legally compliant. We have solutions that work with PDF (option 2) or standalone.

Documents are built from a template (HTML; CSS; Widgets; Script etc.) merged with source data and then packaged in a fully interactive file (.ifs) than can be distributed as an email attachment (offline) or any other file sharing method. A number of other distribution channels, apart from email, are also available including using mobile apps; an online portal or print and post.

The document consumption options are as follows:

Fully offline: The recipient uses a viewer (mobile or desktop) to engage with a fully interactive version offline. No connectivity is required.
Hybrid: The recipient receives a summary non-interactive PDF with an embedded link to a supporting online document.
Fully online: The recipient clicks on a link, the already composited document is unpacked and streamed to the browser.

Option 1 may be a solution to your issue.

A

Anonymous

Pdf can do it with Javascript.

You can link to other files in the same directory or other pages of the same doc.

You can embed avi video search "acrobat embed rich media".

Is it essential that it's delivered as one file or would you consider a folder on usb stick with resources that is auto-run when usb stick is plugged in?

Joel Geraci

Community Expert

Without programming it in multiple languages?... HTML5

Olivier_GilkainAuthor

Participant

I am not against this idea. The problem is: how do users access the user guide when they are offline?

Joel Geraci

Community Expert

Offline?!? [shudder]

There are several "packagers" available that will turn your HTML into an app but then you have the joy of getting it into the various app stores.

That said, even with PDF, you wouldn't get consistent behavior across all the platforms you are requesting especially with the kind of interactivity you want to create. You're better off dropping the offline requirement and going with a responsive layout in HTML5.

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