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There is a bundle of information “out there” for working with the DPS Single Edition. In fact, there is so much it can be a little overwhelming.
For those wishing to take advantage of Creative Cloud, start by signing up (if you have not done so already). Once you are signed up for Creative Cloud, go to creative.adobe.com and sign in with your Adobe ID.
Click on the Apps menu item. Under Services, click Learn More for Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition. The page that opens is a great resource giving you links to videos on Adobe TV and a link for downloading the Step-by-Step Guide.
You will also want to get the free DPS Tips application for your iPad (see section under the Video 3 heading).
Read through this document and view some (or all) of the videos. There is a lot of information. What is needed to make Apple happy can be intimidating. Don’t try to take it all in at once.
Once you have an idea of the direction you need to go (and perhaps having gone so far as to get your Apple Developer credentials), you should get an idea of the workflow involved on the InDesign side.
The instructions below are for the totally uninitiated and will start you through the process of creating a simple one page project designed to be converted into an iPad App. For an unabridged version of the instructions complete with screen shots, download the PDF Tutorial: DPS Single Where to Start.
The App to be created will display a different layout depending on the physical orientation of the iPad. For this we need to create two separate layouts. This can be done by creating two documents, one named with an _h appended and one with a _v. But since we are using version 6.0 for InDesign, we will use its feature for creating alternate layouts.
Start by creating a folder for your project (the project folder).
Update Applications – Before you do anything in InDesign, make sure you update your applications (click Updates… from InDesign’s Help menu. This will launch Adobe Application Manager.
Workspace – Create your own customized workspace. Select the [Digital Pubishing] workspace from the Window > Workspace menu. Add other panels to your liking. (You may wish to add the Scripts panel, and the Paragraph, Character, and Object styles panels.) Once you have customized your workspace, choose New Workspace… from the Window > Workspace menu. Give your workspace a unique name.
Install or update Adobe Content Viewer on your iPad.
Start by creating a folder for your project (the project folder).
Cover Page – You can create a horizontal and vertical cover page in InDesign and export the pages as jpeg. Then place the images in an InDesign document. I prefer creating separate images in Photoshop. For a full-page image, set the dimensions to 1024x768px for horizontal and 768×1024 for vertical at 72 dpi. Before you save, be sure to add metadata to your images (File > File Info…). Then save using File > Save For Web… JPEG format with a compression setting between 60-80%. Save the images in a folder named “images” inside your project folder.
Image for Inside Page (Article 1) – For this page, create an image suitable for pan and zoom. For this, you will want the image to be significantly larger than the container on the page. I used an image 1571×1024 px at 72 dpi. This was designed to go into a frame 594×375 px. Add metadata to the image and save it for web as “Article1.jpg” as for the cover images above.
The folio will have two articles: a cover page and a page with a pan and zoom image. This will require creating two InDesign documents, each having an alternate layout.
Create a new document (File > New). In the New Document panel, use the following settings: Intent – Digital Publishing; Page Size: Select Custom and name it “Tablet_H”, Width: 1024 px, Height: 768 px; Orientation should be set to horizontal.
Place the image you created for the horizontal layout in this page. Open the Pages panel and Control-click on the Image for your horizontal layout. Choose Create Alternate Layout… from the contextual menu. In the dialog that opens select Preserve Existing for the Liquid Page Rule.
Double-click on the icon for the alternate layout just created. In the alternate layout, replace the image with your vertical cover image. Save the document but keep it open.
Create a new document similar to the cover document, but add some dummy text and a container frame for your image. Make sure that the image is scaled but overlaps its container.
With the container for the image selected, open the Folio Overlays panel. Scroll down and click on Pan & Zoom. Activate the On radio button. Close the dialog.
Create an alternate layout using the same procedure as for the cover. Move the items on the page as needed. Save the document but keep it open.
Open the Folio Builder panel. Click on the New Folio button at the bottom. Enter a name for your folio in the Folio Name field. Do not use any special characters for naming files or folios. Make sure settings are as follows: Target Device is set for Apple iPad; 1024 x 768 with dual orientation (last button); Default Format: PDF. For Cover Preview, click on the little folder icon opposite Vertical and navigate to the image for your vertical cover. Repeat for the Horizontal image preview using the image for your horizontal cover. Click OK.
Switch to your Cover document. In the Folio Builder panel, click on the down arrow next to the Add Article button. Choose Add Open InDesign Document from the drop down. In the dialog that opens give the article a name to identify the active document (Cover). Article Format should be PDF, with Smooth Scrolling turned Off. The Portrait and Landscape Layout fields should reflect the names for the layouts in your Pages panel. Click OK.
Switch to your Article1 document. Repeat the procedure above to add the article to the folio.
Connect your iPad to your computer using its USB cable. Slide to open, and click on Adobe Viewer in your Apps page. If needed, click on the top left corner of the screen to bring up the Home button and click to view your library.
Back in InDesign, in the Folio Builder panel, click on the left-facing arrow at the top to switch to the Folio listing. Select your folio from the list. Click on the down arrow next to Preview and select Preview from [your iPad name]. The folio should appear on your iPad screen.
Rotate the device to view for the opposite orientation. Swipe to advance to the next page.
On the next page, click on the image; pinch and zoom to view the image. When you get through playing with the image, click on the upper right corner of the page to bring up the navigation window. Click on the Home button to return to the library for Content Viewer.
Congratulations, you have successfully created a document for display on the iPad. Even though the functionality for the sample is limited, you should have a good idea of how it all works. Now you can start putting a real application together for submitting to Apple.