Give them more than just a “PDF for the Website”

So the job has gone to print and the client is happy with the terrific layout and design you have produced for their latest brochure, annual report, leaflet, whatever it might be. The next request is “Can I have a pdf for the website please?” and you are happy to oblige by supplying a lo-res pdf suitable to view on screen or print out from their website. Everyone happy! But what if, without a lot of work or effort, you could give them more? Something very exciting that allows their job not just to be downloaded to view but to publish it and make it available to view on a tablet or smartphone? Welcome to InDesign CC 2015‘s feature – Publish Online! https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/indesign/how-to/self-publishing-online.html

This amazing feature allows the HTML version of your document to be viewed on all modern desktop, tablet, and mobile browsers. It automatically adds on features like zooming, navigating from page to page and viewing thumbnails of your document. Once you’re happy with the published document, share the URL with anyone using a hyperlink in email, or post it to Facebook and Twitter; or embed it in a website.

But here’s where it can get really powerful. You can spend some time adding interactivity to your document, ensuring a truly engaging experience. Animation, video, audio, slideshows, hyperlinks are all supported features. No coding required just a knowledge of InDesign‘s many interactive features.

You can view, manage and delete your published documents in the Web Dashboard within InDesign. The Web Dashboard is where you go to track views, unique visitors, and average time spent by visitors. Over 1000 publications can be uploaded and existing documents can be updated and re published.

So surprise your clients with a new service and publish InDesign documents online!

Publish Online is a Technology Preview.

Not to be confused with “betas” (features or new products that are complete but not fully tested), Technology Previews are intentionally “unfinished.” In other words, the features are fully tested and supported, but we’re still perfecting their capabilities; “previewing” the technology gives Creative Cloud members the opportunity to trial the functionality and give feedback to the product teams—who use the information to further shape the development of the features. http://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/technology-previews-and-creative-clouds-future-features/

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New Year, New Budget – Invest in some training

I’m happy to say that March has always proven to be a busy period for me. With the end of the financial tax year companies seem keen to spend some of what’s left of their budget on providing training to their staff. It’s great to see a company investing in their employees and ensuring their skills stay up-to-date, but it’s also very telling. This busy end of year implies some companies wait to see what money is ‘left over’ before organising training rather than making training a priority.

Every time I deliver a training session the general feedback from the learner is one of enthusiasm. Having gained new skills, delegates are keen to get started utilising this new knowledge and approach their next project in a way that will streamline their workflow and get the job done more efficiently. Using best practices they are confident they will be delivering a more accurate piece of work and within a quicker than before timeframe. So with that said, why would you wait until next year before reaping the benefits of getting your employees trained properly? Rather than seeing if you can afford to spend money on training, decide this year to invest in training.