Being a graphic designer, I use many professional and robust programs by Adobe. The other day I noticed a button in my InDesign CC 2015 navigation menu called “Publish Online.”
My curiosity lead to creating a new type of interactive PDF.
Let me show you what I mean…
My “traditional” downloadable interactive PDF
As a bonus for signing up for a one-hour ePub discover session, I created an ebook, Nancy Fields’ WordPress Wisdom for you!
It was designed with InDesign, and converted to a downloadable, interactive PDF. (Click on the ebook cover to download your copy of Nancy Fields’ WordPress Wisdom for you!)
At the time, I thought the most fascinating aspect of this PDF was begin able to include a video that plays inside the document.
But wait…there’s more
InDesign’s “Publish Online” feature takes my interactive document and creates a new type of PDF. Instead of receiving an ebook as a multiple page document to download, you receive a link to my document online: https://indd.adobe.com/view/5cf4315d-13ef-411a-93a2-f9f52fa4861d
Receiving a link is more convenient for cell phone and tablet users who want to read my ebook, but don’t want to spend the time or data minutes downloading a huge file.
For example, when I added a low resolution 1-minute video, the file size of my 8 page ebook grew from 291 KB to a whopping 10.3 MB. Depending upon your download speed it could take a few minutes to view my traditional interactive PDF.
With a link to Nancy Fields’ WordPress Wisdom for you! on Publish Online, you’re not downloading anything — just viewing my ebook online.
Wisdom gained
One mistake I made creating this ebook for “Publish Online” was setting it up vertically: 8 1/2″ x 11″.
“Publish Online” ebooks are far easier to view if they’re horizontal. Setting it up as an 11″ x 8 1/2″ would have been better.
Which would you prefer to receive?
Would you rather receive an ebook that you can download and save? Or would you rather receive a link to an ebook you can read online?
Ali says
July 5, 2016 at 10:37 AMUseful article. thnx