Ted Padova’s AUC Blog

One thing that always surprises me when I sit in an Adobe conference room or attend a conference session led by an Adobe employee is watching a Powerpoint presentation on an LCD. I know that creating presentations is handy in PowerPoint, but after preparing presentations in layout programs and converting to PDF for more that 15 years, I find that I can whiz through the creation stage about as fast using InDesign and Acrobat as I can using PowerPoint.

I enjoy much more creative freedom using Adobe InDesign than I have using PowerPoint. With features in InDesign such as Table and Object Styles, my creation steps are reduced to a fraction of the time I once spent assembling a presentation. Furthermore, with a little refinement of some tips offered by Dallas based designer Bryan Tamayo in his article Thinking Outside the Page and reported here on Acrobat Users, I can add a little more design freedom to my slide presentations.

Take Figure 1 as an example. I find that adding icons and page numbers off the document page provide me a little more real estate for adding bullet points on the document pages.

Figure 1

Let’s take a look at the circle on the lower right side of Figure 1. To create a similar design, I start on a Master Page in Adobe InDesign. The circle is off the page and the page number is reported inside the circle. When you place objects off the page, you need to have the center-point of the object within the page boundary. To get the circle to appear off the page, we need to finesse it a little.

Draw an object in InDesign or import an object from Adobe Illustrator on to a Master Page in Adobe InDesign. For the circle in Figure 1 I add a little stroke (just a 0-point stroke with about a 1-point length) offset to the left. All you need is a dot offset from the object. When I select the objects you something similar to the selection shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

With both objects selected I choose Object > Group. When the objects are grouped the bounding box changes to what you see in Figure 3. You can see that the center-point has now changed for the circle object and when I place the graphic off the page, I can keep the center-point within the page boundary (this is essential) while the circle is completely moved off the page.

Figure 3

My next step is to add a page number to the center of the circle. I draw a text box and right align (Command/Ctrl + Shift + R) my text. I can choose my font colors and styles from the Type menu to format the font. After formatting the font, I choose Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number or press Option/Alt + Shift + Command/Ctrl+N to set the text to an auto page number.

Next, move the page number to the position you want to appear on the object. Select both objects as you see in Figure 4.

Figure 4

With the objects selected, again visit the Object menu and choose Group. The bounding box and page position are shown in Figure 5. Notice that the center-point falls well within the page boundary.

Figure 5

The last step to finish off this graphic is to convert the object (now grouped as a single object) to a button and set the button action. With the object selected, choose Object > Interactive > Convert to Button.

The Button Options dialog box opens. Click the Behaviors tab and choose a Behavior from the drop down menu. For my button I want to use the button action to open the next page in my slide presentation. Therefore I choose Go To Next Page.

As a last step, click the Add button so the behavior appears in the left pane as you see in Figure 6. Then click OK.

Figure 6

If you want to change the button action to an action type that doesn’t appear in InDesign, you can do so by double clicking the button with the Select Object tool in Acrobat and click the Actions tab when the Button Properties dialog box opens. In the Actions tab you can assign any action Acrobat provides you by making selections from the Select Action drop down menu.

When you convert to PDF from InDesign, make sure you check the box for Interactive Elements in the Options area of the Export Adobe PDF dialog box (shown in Figure 7) you get when you choose File > Export.

Figure 7

Some other advantages you have in using InDesign as your original authoring program for slide presentations include converting to Adobe PDF Layers, using Table and Object styles to facilitate your design creations, and using the marvelous style sheets that only InDesign provides. Once in Acrobat you can import video and sound, add page transitions, link to other PDFs and external application documents, and of course all the other functions and features Acrobat provides you.

In regard to Adobe PDF Layers, if you happen to create multi-lingual documents you can add all graphics to a background layer in InDesign and add layers for different language versions. When you convert to PDF with the Create Acrobat Layers checkbox enabled in the Export Adobe PDF dialog box, your InDesign layers are viewed as separate layers in Acrobat/Reader. When making presentations in a different language you can toggle the layer view to the language you’re addressing.

An argument many PowerPoint users may advocate is that it’s easier to modify a presentation in PowerPoint than InDesign and recreating a PDF. I don’t see using InDesign as a problem for modifying my presentations. At times I’ve had to revise an entire presentation after adding all my links in the Acrobat PDF. Assuming the links remain the same, all I had to do is convert a second document to PDF and use the Document > Replace Pages command to replace the background pages while retaining my button links in the new PDF.

What about handouts and speaker notes? Admittedly, creating handouts and speaker notes is much easier in PowerPoint than InDesign. However, you can create these items in InDesign such as you see in Figure 8.

Just create a frame and design elements on a master page and place your PDF slide presentation using the Show Import Options item in the Place dialog box when placing your slide show on the document pages. Unfortunately, you need to place each page individually making it a much more timely task than using PowerPoint —but placing PDF pages in InDesign is a matter of just loading the cursor and scrolling pages to place the PDF pages on new InDesign pages. I find the trade-off for taking a little more time with an InDesign authored presentation not to be a hassle when I need speaker notes or handouts.

Figure 8

If I’m speaking on Adobe Acrobat and PDF, then my PDF presentations provide me much more credibility with my audience.

—ted

If you create a PDF document with Adobe PDF layers such as exporting layered files from Illustrator or Adobe InDesign and add a button field to the PDF, the button appears on each layer. It’s like the button has it’s own layer and you can’t assign a button field to a specific layer. This can present some problems if you want to use buttons to show/hide layers and invoke actions such as showing videos or playing sounds. If the buttons are accessible no matter what layer is in view, you have to be careful with your design so the user won’t inadvertently click the wrong button.

Take Figure 1 as an example. The showVideo button opens the video layer where a video can be played. The play buttons are left of the button that brings the video layer in view. The proximity of the buttons can be confusing if a user wants to click the Stop button and accidently clicks the showVideo button. Since the buttons are visible on all layers, you need to create a workaround to help the end user avoid confusion.

Figure 1

A workaround in previous versions of Acrobat was to add a Show/Hide action that hides buttons that should be assigned to layers not visible in the present view. When you change a layer view, you had to go about showing the buttons on the layer where you want to invoke actions respective to the visible layer.

A better way to handle the problem is to assign buttons to specific layers. However, you cannot do that in Acrobat. But fortunately with a little help with InDesign CS3, you can add buttons to individual layers that are shown with the layer visibility in Acrobat. If the layer with a button is not visible, the button along with the design elements remain hidden.

Here’s how to do it.

Open InDesign and create your layout. Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle Tool. It doesn’t matter what size you draw or apply borders or fills to the button. The size and appearance settings can be changed in Acrobat.

Select one of the rectangles you drew and open the Object menu and choose Interactive > Convert to Button. Convert each rectangle to a button that you want to appear as a button field in Acrobat. Change layer views and add more rectangles and convert to buttons. The buttons you create on layers in InDesign will be visible in Acrobat only when the given layer is in view.

When you export to PDF be certain to check the checkboxes for Create Acrobat Layers and Interactive Elements in the Export to Adobe PDF dialog box. (See Figure 2).

Figure 2

In Acrobat you can change the appearance and size of the buttons. Although InDesign is limited in the number of different actions you can assign to a button, you can change all actions in Acrobat. For example, InDesign doesn’t provide an option to Run a JavaScript. However, just use the Select Object tool in Acrobat and double click a button you created in InDesign and you can select any action that Acrobat provides you including Run a JavaScript. Changing size, appearance and actions won’t affect the layer assignment you made in InDesign.

Another nice feature you have in InDesign is creating several more shapes than the single rectangle object you draw with Acrobat’s Button tool. Create a rectangle in InDesign and open the Object menu. Choose Convert Shape and a submenu opens with nine different options for an object appearance as shown in Figure 3. Any one of these objects can be converted to a button and the button appearance is shown in Acrobat.

Unfortunately you can’t change button appearances on objects other than rectangles in Acrobat. If you want a border color and/or fill applied to the button shape for all buttons other than a rectangle, you need to add the appearances in InDesign. Figure 3 shows the options choices you have in InDesign with borders and fills applied before exporting to PDF.

Figure 3

What about Text fields? Unfortunately we don’t yet have an option in InDesign to convert a text frame to an Acrobat text form field. Any fields you create in Acrobat will be visible on all layers.

I remember years ago when I had total control over my computer. No one —not even Microsoft, Adobe, or Apple, forced me to conform to certain configurations for my hardware and software. Those were glorious days when I could easily network my computers without having a bunch of security forced upon me. After all, they were my computers, I used them, and I wasn’t threatened by anyone breaking into my house and trying to steal data off my network. Heck, anyone who broke into my house was more likely to steal the computers!

Much of my freedom of choice was taken away due to complaints by IT managers who required more security in their workplaces. Hence, I was forced to add log-ons and passwords to configure my home systems even though I didn’t need it. The complaints of those representing the many outweighed the wishes of the few. As time passed by, I experienced more limits in my personal freedom for configuring my systems due to the whining of IT managers and the lack of creativity of software developers. Rather than offer choices for end users, we simply had to conform to new implementations of security that satisfied the desires of those barking the loudest.

Take Acrobat as an example. In version 8 we lost all those nice ExecMenu Items in the program. Rather than provide users the ability to disable certain features as a user controlled option, Adobe chose to wipe out a number of commands because some IT managers saw certain features as a security breach. Those who wanted access to all the commands were left out.

In Acrobat 6 we had a little plug-in that enabled us to search the Internet for PDF files using Yahoo. That changed to searching the Internet using Google in Acrobat 7. In Acrobat 8, we don’t have any plug-in to search the Internet for PDFs via a button using either Yahoo or Google. No doubt Google complained during the Acrobat 6 life cycle and Yahoo complained during the Acrobat 7 life cycle. The answer to the problem of course is, let’s just take the thing away from all the users and everyone will be happy.

Now in Acrobat 8, we have the entire printing industry complaining about a little plug-in that made it easy for end users to get some files duplicated at a copy shop. If I’m speaking in New York City, I could easily hit the FedEx/Kinkos button on the Reader/Acrobat toolbar to order some copies of handouts and have them ready when I arrive at JFK. Of course I could do a Google search (oops… maybe I should just say search because Yahoo may get on my case) to find a print shop. But having the button on the Reader/Acrobat toolbar just made it a little easier for me. Isn’t that what computers are supposed to do —make life easier for us? Well, the print industry did enough whining about the unfairness of giving FedEx/Kinkos an advantage and once again the answer is to just take it away from all of us to satisfy the needs of the complainers.

When do you suppose that a software developer will start to make efforts to satisfy the needs of the minorities as well as meet the demands of the masses? A little creativity such as providing a plug-in manager that could let us users decide whether we want to use FedEx/Kinkos, Sir Speedy, PIP, or some other print service puts more control back into our hands.

What are your thoughts?