Digital Magazine Advice

Ellen

Ellen

New Member
Hi all, first post here so I will get around to introducing myself properly later ;)

Anyway, I graduated from my graphic design degree this Summer, just got back from a 4-month internship in Berlin, and am trying to bulk up my portfolio. Basically, I want to create a full-blown interactive magazine (like you would see in the news stand on the app store). However, I'm more interested in developing skills and learning to use the "proper" software for the job, so really my question is, how would most people in the industry go about it? I'm good with InDesign, and have had a play with Adobe's Digital Publishing Suite as part of it, but I don't want to upload it to the app store or sell it, it's purely a personal project. Is there a way to use DPS to build the magazine and then export it so it can be emailed, put on my website, viewed on a tablet etc. without going through the DPS app builder and registering as a developer?

Orrrrrr should I just stick with making a normal interactive PDF (again, I'm more interested in learning more industry standard software and developing useful skills than the final result), or can I export as an interactive PDF from DPS with the full functionality of going through App Builder? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
 
Thanks hankscorpio, but I already have that all installed through InDesign CC. My real thoughts are: I want to make an interactive magazine for viewing on a tablet, for argument's sake, say an iPad. How do I go about this so I can export it with all functionality (videos, parallax scrolling, navigation menus etc.), attach it to an email, and open it for viewing how it should look. If I make it all in InDesign and export it as say, an interactive PDF, will it work fine? Is there a specific format I should build it for? Ideally I would go straight from InDesign, use folios, through DPS app builder, but it publishes straight to the App Store, and you have to be a registered developer, whereas of course mine is just a personal project that I want to be able to email to prospective employers. Any ideas?
 
You can publish individual Apps through the app store for free - you don't have to be a registered developer at all.


I suggest you look up Adobe Step To Step Guide to Publishing iPad Apps with DPS single edition.


If you want to email an interactive PDF with embedded video - you better pray they can take a large file size - else host it somewhere for download.


You can definitely make it all in InDesign - there are guidelines to making interactive pdfs and the correct video format etc for Acrobat.

But bewarned that PDFs don't play nicely with 3rd Party Apps like FoxitReder, Chrome Reader, Mac Preview, as these 3rd Party PDF solutions don't play nicely with all the adobe modules.

Best to advise people downloading the PDF that it's best viewed in Acrobat Reader (version number) and a link to download the free free reader.
 
Thanks, checking that guide though, still says "You must be enrolled in Apple’s iOS Developer Program to submit your app to the App Store. The iOS Developer Program costs US$99/year." Anyway I wouldn't want to submit it because it's going to be a sort of self-promo thing with all my inflated ego and contact details ;)

So you think interactive PDF is the way to go? Good advice about the file sizes, maybe I'll make it downloadable from dropbox. The only other thing that came up when I was searching for help was to share it through Adobe Content Viewer, but I don't want to make people download that (and possibly get an adobe account?) just for viewing it. My main concern is that even interactive PDFs viewed in Adobe Reader might have limited functionality? I guess I will have to do a test file and see how it works.
 
It seems they would require the Adobe Content Viewer - which is not great. And there's a learning curve with building Folios.

Interactive PDFs are the way to go I'd say - but they'd still have to download Acrobat Reader if they don't have it - much like having to download Adobe Content viewer. Guess the plus side of the PDF is that you won't need a user account.

Linking to Dropbox is a good idea, something I do a lot.


There's a lot to think about - I suggest doing a small portion and trying several output options and see which one works best for what you need.
 
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