MAGAZINE

December 2007 | January 2008

21

Build PDF Tool Tips Inside InDesign

next page

full screen

hover over me

check me out

I have a secret

Build PDF Tool Tips Inside InDesign

Adding tool tips to your PDFs is an easy way to let your reader learn more about your subject. By Keith Gilbert
I love the tool tips that appear when you hover over icons in most modern applications and Web sites. These tool tips give you a written explanation of an icons purpose or a texts meaning, and so are a user-friendly way to save on screen real estate. Move over, software developers and Web site engineers now you and I can include this type of help in PDF files generated from InDesign! Lets say youre laying out a document thats loaded with technical jargon and acronyms. It will be distributed as a PDF to a wide audience that may not know all those terms. Rather than bury the usual acronym glossary in the back of the document, you can enhance the PDF so that when readers hover over an acronym, the tool tip defines the mystery word. You can add these handy tool tips in InDesign CS2 or CS3 in just a few steps. Ill show you how to create an invisible button in InDesign that contains a tool tip; then export the InDesign file to PDF with the proper settings. Along the way, youll also pick up tricks on anchored graphics and Find/Change techniques.

MAGAZINE 21 December 2007 | January 2008

previous page

next page

full screen

Tip
Im using the CS3 term panel; CS2 users, mentally substitute the word palette and youll be fine.

hover over me

check me out

I have a secret

Prepare Start InDesign, open your States panel (Window > Interactive), and position it somewhere handy on your screen (Figure 1). Make your Frame edges visible (View > Show Frame Edges).

Build the Button Create the pages of your document normally. I add the tool tip text descriptions as I create my layout; you can also do so as a final step just before you finish the document. When youre ready to add a tool tip description, select the Button tool and draw a box around one of the acronyms in your document. (Youll find the Button tool below the Rectangle tools in the Tools panel (Figure 2), or press b to access the tool from the keyboard.) Look in the States panel and youll see that InDesign has created a button named Button 1 (Figure 3).

Specify Button Options In the States panels fly-out menu, choose Button Options or double-click on the button with the Select (Black arrow) tool. In the Button Options dialog box (Figure 4), enter a new name for the button if you wish, but the name of the button isnt important. Type the meaning of the acronymwhat you want to appear in the tool tipin the Description field. Make sure that the Visibility in PDF: field is set to Visible, and then click OK.

Figure 1: The States panel.

Figure 2: Ive highlighted the Button tool icon in the Tools panel. Figure 3: It may not look like it, but the blue box with the X through it is a button. Figure 4: The Description field is very important: what you enter here will show up as a tool tip in the final PDF.

MAGAZINE 21 December 2007 | January 2008

previous page

next page

full screen

Tip
Because you can apply Object Styles to buttons, you could create an Object Style that removes any fill or stroke from the button with a single click. Or, with no button selected, click on the button tool and change the stroke color to None. This changes the default behavior of the tool, so all future buttons you create in this document with the button tool have no stroke.

hover over me

check me out

I have a secret

Format the Hover Area If you dont want the hover area around the acronym to be visible, use either the Stroke panel or the Control panel to remove any stroke from the button. However, if you want the hover area to be visible to the reader, you may want to give it a stroke or semi-transparent fill. Alternately, you could format the text beneath the button to indicate that its a hot spot.

Test It Thats all there is to ityouve created your first acronym description button. To test it, go to File > Export and choose Adobe PDF for the Format, then click the Save button. You can tweak the PDF export options as you wish (Figure 5), but you must set Compatibility to Acrobat 5 and check the Include: Interactive Elements option. Finally, click the Export button. Open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. The button you just created should be invisible, but when you hover over the acronym, the full definition should be spelled out (Figure 6).

Anchor the Button The button you created wont move with the underlying acronym text if the text reflows in InDesign. To accommodate this, embed the button object as an anchored object. Use the Selection (black arrow) tool to select the button you just created. Choose Edit > Cut. Doubleclick on the acronym to switch to the Type tool, and then click in the middle of the acronym. Choose Edit > Paste (Figure 7).

Figure 7: This looks odd, but youre not done yet.

Switch to the Selection tool again (in CS3, press the Esc key to quickly switch from the Type tool to the Selection tool) and select the button once again. Choose Object > Anchored Object > Options.

Figure 5: The two most important options here are Compatibility (Acrobat 5) and Interactive Elements (Include).

Figure 6: That small yellow box is a tool tip.

MAGAZINE 21 December 2007 | January 2008

previous page

next page

full screen

hover over me

check me out

I have a secret

Complete the dialog box exactly as shown in (Figure 8), then click the OK button. You may need to adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the button slightly with the Selection tool. Now the button is anchored to the acronym and will move where the acronym moves (Figure 9).

www.indesignmag.com
Sign up for free weekly tips Download a free trial issue Subscribe for 1 year ($39)* Subscribe for 2 years ($69) and get all back issues free* Buy individual issues

Figure 9: This button will move with the acronym even if text reflows.

Build a New Tool Tip Making the first tool tip is the hard part. After you have one, you can duplicate it or create a new one pretty easily. To make a second button for a different acronym, choose Type > Show Hidden Characters. Use the Type tool to carefully select the Yen symbol that marks where the first button you created is anchored to the middle of the first acronym. (You will either need to zoom way in to see the Yen symbol through the button, or choose Edit > Edit in Story Editor, and select the Anchor Symbol [Figure 10] in the middle of the acronym.) Choose Edit > Copy, click in the middle of the next acronym you want to define, and choose Edit > Paste.

what are you waiting for?

Figure 8: Replicate the settings in this dialog box.

Figure 10: The anchor symbol (circled) is an important marker.

* Use promotional code keith for this discount.

MAGAZINE 21 December 2007 | January 2008

previous page

next page

full screen

hover over me

check me out

I have a secret

Select the new button with the Selection tool. In the States panel menu, choose Button Options. In the Button Options dialog box, type the new tool tip text in the Description field. Make sure that the Visibility in PDF: field is set to Visible, and then click the OK button.

Build Multiple Instances of the Same Tool Tip If an acronym appears a few times in your document, you can easily copy and paste the acronym with the Type tool, and the button thats attached as an anchored object will come along for the ride. But what if an acronym that occurs dozens or hundreds of times, and you want it tool tip to appear every time? Not to worryyou can accomplish it quickly with Find/ Change if you have InDesign CS3.

With the Type tool, select an acronym (the entire chunk of text in which the buttons anchored, not just the Yen symbol). Choose Edit > Copy, then choose Edit > Find/Change (Figure 11). In the Find What field, choose the acronym youre looking for. In the Change to field, type ^c (which means Clipboard contents, formatted). Next, click the Change All button, and youre finished!

Keith Gilbert is an Adobe Certified Instructor and an Adobe Print Specialist and has taught classes and seminars throughout the US, as well as Bridgetown, Barbados, and Nairobi, Kenya. Keith is one of a select group of individuals nationwide to be certified for on-site training in InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat. He has been consulting and training for 22 years and still loves his job. For more information, visit www.gilbertconsulting.com or read his blog at gilbertconsulting.blogspot.com. Figure 11: InDesign CS3s Find/Change box is ideal for acronyms that appear frequently throughout a document.

MAGAZINE 21 December 2007 | January 2008

previous page

next page

full screen

Hungry for more?

Get a new subscription at a special price. Just go to www.indesignmag. com/purchase.php and enter the discount code keith to receive a 1-year subscription for $39, or a 2-year subscription for $69.

previous page

full screen