Indesign and Acrobat help!

[TimmyC]

So a client wants me to create an interactve form! Its a 32 page form but for now I am completing a sample page.

This is the image



Basically the client wants it so that when you click online print that form will "pop up." As the user fills the form out there is more info that needs to "pop up." For example; 'Any current rebates from this vendor?' if the user clicks yes the part that says 'provide the amounts you have recieved ____" comes up, the other questions need to adjust and move down the page so that question ^ can fit in.

Two things, I have no idea how I can do this. Is it done in indesign or acrobat? I have had a look at multistate objects and button hotspots but I do not think it applies. Also each vendor is seperate, so when you go from online print to web design, the form is empty and can be filled out again. However when you click online print, all the original text the client filled out is still there. So each button is unique and has its own form.

It's definately a big project! the client wants this in a pdf, I have found out that you can load a swf object into a pdf. So would it be better if I construct the form bit in flash, and export that as swf and import it into the pdf. Please can someone help.

[squeezee]

Acrobat will create interactive forms, there's a wizard to get you started or you can import existing files and add the interactive stuff.

[TimmyC]

Hi Squeezee,

Ive been playing with it all and i know about acrobat creating interactive form. I need to know about showing and hiding layers with buttons. How do I do this?

[TimmyC]

Oh and expand is the word.. I need the form to expand!

[49thfloor]

We've done loads of these interactive PDFs over the years and I would suggest that whilst there may well be a creative happy medium between what your client is asking for and what is possible, whichever way you look at it this will be a complex undertaking if you haven't done it before.

You can do a lot of the hard work from InDesign - assigning object values to groups and then enabling show/hide features to buttons, but you'll need to tweak the resulting file from Acrobat to get the most from it - I'd avoid flash for this job if I were you.

You wouldn't be able to make it expansive in a logical way, but you might be able to achieve a similar result with blanking objects or layer states (easier). If you'd like to email me the page I don't mind doing a quick mock-up of what I mean.

Is this ultimately being used as a sales tool or by end users? And how does the client propose the completed form is to be submitted?

[TimmyC]

Hi,

Thanks for the info.. I know its alot to undertake but I need to learn it some time so I can do this in the future...

This is just a sample page to see how it looks, if they are happy they will give me the whole job (its a 32 page form).

What do I need to look for to start working (what can I google). Alot of people are using the LiveCycle but that is for window's, and I am Mac based.

I see that you have skype... could you PM me your skype account and I will add you?

Cheers,
Tim.

[49thfloor]

I looked into using LiveCycle myself also at one stage and I'm sure it's a powerful solution - but also being a Mac based studio we decided to leave it alone in the end as well. I'll have a look around for some decent links for tutorials and will post on here later on.

Before you make a start, I strongly recommend that you discuss with your client who the end user is to be and how the collected data is to be delivered. It may well be the case that they could implement a far simpler solution which is easier to manage and construct. This would lower development costs for them and save a headache for you. If they are worried about wow factor, advise them that a well considered graphic or layout will see to that - and that in terms of information management it's crucial that the user can navigate through the document and knows where to click.

We did an interactive PDF brochure for Vauxhall a few years ago which had all manner of menu systems, animations, video, sound, sections, pop ups and whatnot and although it was a technical masterpiece (if I do say so myself) it also received negative feedback from the users because being a PDF they didn't realise they were supposed to interact with it. The perception is that PDFs are static documents without other facets. You cannot legislate for ignorance of course - but it raises an interesting point. Our approach these days is to create a PDF document that can always be printed and filled in by hand as necessary (for the technophobes) but also that features the advanced interactivity for the more brave.

Feel free to contact me directly via our web site or Twitter and I'll do what I can to help you out, my Skype is rarely used I'm afraid.