idm 47 liquid layout excerpt
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
1/15
By Pariah s. Brke
InDepth: Liquid Layout
Liquid LayoutAn adaptive layout solution for designers who dont wantto be re-designers
Any time a eatre is added to InDesign or any mission-critical tool, Adobe is always keen
to tell s whattat new eatre is. Many InDesign experts ten rs to tell s howto se
tat eatre trog articles, videos, blog posts, presentations, and so on. Bt in tis article
Im going to go one rter and tell yo te answers to te qestions tan we all need to
askbefore we wonder ow to se a new eatre: (okay, actally its several) Wat can te
eatre do or s? Will it impact or work positively or negatively and to wat degree in
eiter direction? Wat will it save sor cost sin terms o prodctivity? Does it solve
a need yo and I actally aveor will ave in te oreseeable treor is it jst some-
ting cool (or not) tat sonds like we migt want to se bt probably never will??
Te new eatre nder tat scrtinytoday is Liqid Layot in InDesign CS6.
And in tis article Ill tell yo ow to se
it, bt rst, ere are te answers to tose
oter qestions I mentioned. Liqid
Layot will elp s. It will make or work
easier. It will impact or work positively(by lessening it). It will cost a little bit o
p-ront learning time or a long-term
payo (like wit styles). And yes, i yo are
planning any mlti-otpt pblising, it
will solve a need yo actally ave.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 18
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
2/15
Figure 1: Te reslts o a Liqid Layot conversion rom por trait (let) to landscape (rigt)
InDepth: Liquid Layout
Whatiliqidlayot?Liqid Layot is a way to atomatically orsemi-atomatically adapt page content and
objects rom one page sie or orientation
to anoter. Its an alternative to sing te
it-or-miss Layot Adjstment eatre tat
as long been a part o InDesign; in act, its
intended as a direct replacement or
Layot Adjstment (tog Layot
Adjstment is still available in CS6).
So wat can liqid layot do or
yo? Sort answer: It can save yo
ors or even days o reworking te
same content into dierent layots,
page sies, and orientations. It can
do everyting Layot Adjstmentcan, bt wit a lot less manal
cleanp and only a little more
prep work.
OK, tat was te sort answer.
Want more details? Still need to be
convinced? have a look at Figre 1.
I started wit te page on te let, andLiqid Layot gave me te page on te
rigt ater I resied rom te original iPad
portrait-orientation (768x1024 px) to land-
scape (1024x768 px). I didnt do any manal
repositioning or resiing; I didnt even
manally cange te text rame rom2-colmn to 3-colmn. Te reslt isnt
perect, bt its a lot closer tan Layot
Adjstment cold get me.
Liqid Layot can move and/or resie
objects or yo any time yo cange te
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 19
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
3/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
page sie or orientationand not jst ordigital otpt ormats. Its igly sel
wen working wit mltiple print ormats,
too. For example, lets say yore laying ot
a non-ction book, and tat yoll be pro-
dcing bot ardcover and trade paper-
back versions o it. For most designers tat
sally means two completely dierent
layots, bilt independently o one anoter,
wit text pored in rom Word docs and
gres, sidebars, etc. manally positioned
separately or eac version. For more-
savvy layot artists wo se ancored
objects and sc, te workow is sally
to create a copy o te ardcover layot,
enable Layot Adjstment, and resie tepages. Layot Adjstment will do mc o
te eavy liting to reow and reposition
ancored objects, bt teres still a loto
manal cleanp to be done. Wit Liqid
Layots, te workow is: create te ard-
cover edition wit ancored objects, prep
te objects to resie wen needed, createa copy or te paperback edition, resie
te pages, and perorm minimal manal
cleanp. I yo need a tird edition
maybe a large-print or an on-screen or
on-tablet versiontats jst as easy
to create, becase te original version
was prepped to cange to any page sie,
any ormat.
Mintes verss ors. One day verss
two weeks. hmm. Tog coice.
Lets look at te workow o a website
or digital magaine. Typically layot begins
wit one orientation (say portrait) o pages
sied or an iPad. Te docment is ten
dplicated, reoriented or te oter viewingmode (landscape). From tere, it gets really
complicated becase not only do objects
need to be repositioned or te new orienta-
tion, otentimes te text rames need to be
adapted to te wider area, moving rom one-
colmn to two, two-colmn to tree, or wat
ave yo. And once tat labor is nised yostill ave to create portrait and landscape
versions or te Samsng Galaxy, and oter
7- and 10-inc Android tablets. On average
it works ot tat only approximately one
tird o te total prodction time on a digital
magaine is spent designing te magaine;
te oter two tirds, yore simply adapting
a nised design or alternate orientations
and layots.
Wit Liqid Layot yo migt not even
ave to design te secondlayot, mc less
everyting ater it. Tink abot tat: te pro-
dction time o a digital magaine, ecatalog,
or media-ric ebook ct down by 66%.
HowtoueliqidlayotLike Gridiy, introdced in CS5, Liqid Layot
is a set o beaviors rater tan a tool, com-
mand, panel, or nction o InDesign. Its
part o te program, always tere, weter
yor actions expose its beavior or not.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 20
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
4/15
Figure 2: A very basic layot in InDesign CS5.5
Figure 3: Disabling Layot Adjstment in te Layot
Adjstment dialog
Figure 4: Ater enlarging te master in InDesign CS5.5
wit Layot Adjstment trned o
InDepth: Liquid Layout
Lets start wit a simple step-by-step toorce Liqid Layot to expose itsel (eek!).
1. In InDesign CS5 or CS5.5, open or create
a single-sided docment tat looks
someting like te one in Figre 2 (tis
one is 8.5x11 Letter-sied, tog te sie
dimensions arent really important).
Ideally, yo want a docment tat in-
cldes a mlti-colmn text rame andmaybe an image or two.
2. Select Layout > Layout Adjustment and
ensre tat Layot Adjstment is dis-
abled by clearing te ceckbox in te
dialog box (Figre 3).
3. Go to te master page controlling te
docment page we jst looked at, and
resie it via te Edit Page Sie btton at
te bottom o te Pages panel (CS5 and
later). I set mine to Tabloid. Now switc
back to te docment page to observe
te cange.
Tis action, done in CS5 or CS5.5 wit
Layot Adjstment o, wic it is by
dealt, wold reslt in te image yo seein Figre 4, were te docment page sie
grows otward rom its center to matc its
masters new sie, bt te objects on tat
page remain completely ncangedjst
oating witin a mc larger seet o paper.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 21
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
5/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
4. undo yor page sie cange witCmd+z/Ctrl+z.
5. Tis time, enable Layot Adjstment, and
ten resie te master page. Yor doc-
ment page sold now look someting
like Figre 5. Notice tat te text rame
now correctly resies to ollow te mar-
gin gides. Te text itsel doesnt cange
sie, bt te rame does, and it remains in
two colmns, wit eac colmn merely
enlarging to bisect te now-larger space
oered by te 11x17-inc page. Te n-
ancored grapic rame, owever, isnt
andled so well by Layot Adjstment.
Okay, Lets try it one more time, bt tistime in InDesign CS6.
6. Starting wit an identical docment,
sing a primary text rame lled wit
placeolder text in two colmns and te
same nancored image. (I yo adnt
yet noticed, CS6 replaces te notion and
beavior o a master text rame wit
a primary text rame, someting yo
dont manally ave to override! Waoo!)
7. Ater again making sre tat Layot Ad-jstment is disabled (Liqid Layot is still
tecnically available, in te Liqid Lay-
ot panel yot men), go to te master
page, and se te Edit Page Sie btton
at te bottom o te Pages panel to
resie it to Tabloid.
8. Switc back to te docment page and
compare te reslts to wat CS5/5.5
delivered. here we see te rst inkling
o te Liqid Layot beaviors exposed(Figre 6). Te text rame beaves exactly
te same way as in previos versions
o InDesign, bt te grapic rame
retains its relative position to tat
text rameagain, tat rame is not
ancored or inline.
Figure 5: Ater enlarging te master in InDesign CS5.5 wit
Layot Adjstment trned on
Figure 6: Ater enlarging te master in InDesign CS6
wit Layot Adjstment trned o
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 22
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
6/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
At this point you might be thinking:It moved a picture but otherwise aped the
behavior of CS5/5.5s Layout Adjustment.
Big whoop!Maybe youre also compiling a
list o wishul behaviors like the ollowing:
Resize the text along with the text rame.
Add (or remove) additional columns to ll
the new space instead o widening (or
narrowing) existing columns.
Resize the image instead o just moving it.
Keep the content positioned the same
distance rom one or two margins while
increasing the space between the con-
tent and the other margins.
Or, in the same scenario, keep the content
xed to one or two margins and stretch orresize it in the direction o other margins.
Thats a pretty hety wish list. You probably
think its pie in the sky. Actually, Liquid Layout
can grant all o those wishes. You just have to
choose the correct rule and do a little o that
prep work I keep mentioning.
The Rules
Liquid Layout rules are like
directives you give InDesign to
govern the resizing and repo-
sitioning o elements on the
page in response to page-size
or page-orientation changes.
By deault, no liquid layout
rules are applied to master or document
pages. But i you select a document or master
page in the Pages panel, you can change it to
one o several very helpul rules.
Beore getting into those, however,
I should advise you that Liquid Layout
and Layout Adjustment are incompatible
with one another. I you enable LayoutAdjustment, it stops Liquid Layout behaviors
rom unctioning.
The Controlled By Master Rule
The rst Liquid Layout rule is Controlled
by Master, meaning simply that document
Figure 7: In this digital and print publication
designers humble opinion, the Liquid Layout panel
is miscategorizedon the Window menu within the
Interactive submenu.
Getting to know theLiquid Layout panel
Fact: You must be using the Page tool in order to
modiy a Liquid Layout rule. This is true whether
you change the rule on the Control panel or in thenew Liquid Layout panel (Figure 7). This behavior
runs contrary to what weve come to expect rom
InDesign; this panel is, to the best o my knowl-
edge, the only one whose controls you can access
or alter only when one specifc tool is selected.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 23
previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
7/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
pages adapt based on whatever liquidlayout rule youve applied to their master
pages. And because the deault rule or
master pages is None, until you change the
rule on a master page, this ends up being
little more than a slightly-improved Layout
Adjustment.
I thats all you need, well, there you go
Layout Adjustment improved. I you need
more advanced layout adaptation, youll
need to employ a diferent rule.
The Scale Rule
An easy way to understand the Scale rule is
to think about what happens when youre
manually resizing a bunch o objects.You group the objects, hold Cmd+Shit/
Ctrl+Shit, and click and drag one o the
groups control corners to resize the objectrames and their contentstext, images,
videos, whatever. The Scale rule does that
exact same thing (but without grouping
the objects) and it works in response to
page size changes. Lets try it.
1. Start out the same way we have been,
with a document page like we used
above, or something a little more
complicated, like my page layout in
Figure 8.
2. Lets say I need to create a copy o
this 8.511-inch layout that is 1117
inches. And in this case, we only want
this one page to change. So in order
to use any rule except Controlled byMaster, I need to change the document
page rather than its master. So, Ill select
the Page tool (third down on the Toolspanel), which sets the Control panel into
Page mode (Figure 9).
Figure 8: A more complicated layout I need to adapt to
multiple page sizes
Figure 9: The Control panel in Page mode (when the Page
tool is selected)
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 24previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
8/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
3. Te rst ting I want to do on te Controlpanel in tis mode is cange te Liqid
Page Rle dropdown toyo gessed
itScale. Ten, to te let o tat, Ill
cange te Widt and heigt (o te
page) elds to Tabloid, wic is 16x20
inces. Voil! Te page becomes wat
yo see in Figre 10, wic incldes all
rames and teir contents resied in pro-
portion, jst as i yod groped tem
and resied tat grop manally.
Te extra witespace on te sides o
my design is cased by te act tat te
Scale rle scales te entire page contents
in proportion ntil it reaces te edges ote page, eiter te oriontal or vertical
trim edges. Te content is ten centered on
te otherplane, leaving space as needed.
Wen te space is at te top and bottom,
its called letter-boxing; space on te sides
is called pillar-boxing. I yor old page sie
and yor new page sie are not tesame ratio, yoll wind p wit one
or te oter orm o boxing, reqiring
yo to eiter cange te page dimen-
sions or, more likely, adjst te con-
tent manally to t.
Scale, by te way, is te only Liqid
Layot rle tat actally canges te
sie o type, and images, at least wit-
ot sing te AtoFit tting option,
wic Ill discss later. All te oter
rles merely cange te dimensions
o rames, not teir contents.
The Re-Center Rule
Te Re-center Liqid Layot rledoesnt resie anyting. Rater, it merely
keeps te content perectly centered bot
oriontally and vertically to te page
edges. Yo dont really need a ll walk-
trog jst or tat, bt tis conveniently
also gives me te opportnity to make sre
yo know abot te new look and nctionso a page and te Page tool wen manally
resiing a page.
1. Select te Page tool.
2. On eiter te Control panel or te Liqid
Layot panel, set te rle to Re-center.
3. As yo may ave already noticed, wit
Figure 10: Te reslt o resiing te page to 16x20 inces
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 25previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
9/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
te Page tool active, CS6 displays abonding box wit a niqe set o con-
trol corners on te page itsel (Figre 11).
Now, instead o merely being able to
select te page and cange te sie
view in te Control panel as was oered
by CS5/5.5, yo can manally resie te
page jst like any rameor like cang-
ing te sie o an artboard in Illstrator
merely by dragging a control corner. Go
aead, drag one o tose control corners.
Yoll see te page resie and te content
stay centered.
Ten, wen yo let go o te mose
btton, te page retrns to te way it was!
Yo didnt do anyting wrong; yor copyo InDesign CS6 is nctioning as it was
designed. Adobe (in a decision I am con-
vinced was solely to conond and bed-
dle creatives already deadline-addled and
too-many-mlti-tasking minds) made it so
tat dragging a pages control corner wit
te Page tool merelypreviews te cange
rater tan committing it. I yo really want
to cange te page sie, yo mst rst old
Option/Alt and ten begin dragging te
pages control corner.
Te logic, says Adobe, is tat Liqid
Layot is predicted to be sed most oten
or otpt to ormats tat inerently sp-
port liqid layots, sc as hTML,SWF, and, in a tre release, Adobes
Digital Pblising Site Content
Viewer or tablets. Adobe wants yo
to be able to set Liqid Layot rles
on content tat te viewing device
may employ to create te cange.
Tereore, tey say, sing te Page tool totemporarily resie te page, ts preview-
ing wat will appen to te page in a web
browser or mobile device, is someting
sers will do more oten tan actally resi-
ing te page wit te Page tool.
Someting else to keep in mind wen
sing te Re-center rle: It only really works
or making te page bigger. For instance,
its ideal orweb content. I awebsite
design cant be made lly liqid, i.e. adapt-
ing to ll all dimensions o te browser
window, mostweb designers will create a
xed- or max-widt layot o 960px, or te
largest teir content can spport beore
te layot breaks down. Te entire pagecontent will ten center in te browser
window, pillar-boxed, wit empty space
(or a backgrond image) to eiter side. I
yo sie a page smaller tan its content,
te Re-center rle will orce tat content
to all otside te page trim area, croppingFigure 11: Te new page control corners
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 26previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
10/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
tat content pon export. In oter words:i yore going to resie pages down, dont
se te Re-center rle.
The Guide-Based Rule
heres were we start getting to te real
potential o Liqid Layots beaviors. Ts
ar, sing te Scale and Re-center rles, weve
scaled te content and moved it arond, bt
ave always been keeping te same relation
between te component objects. Te objects
temselves really avent adapted to page
sies and orientationstey avent been
liqid, i yo will. Gide-based and Object-
based rles control ow Liqid Layot trans-
orms individal objects to make trly adap-tive layot canges.
Tere really isnt any correlation between
te Gide-based rle and oter beaviors
in InDesign. Altog Adobes idea started
ot drawing inspiration rom 3- and 9-slice
scaling in I llstrator, Fireworks, and Flas,
te implementation as evolved com-pletely away rom tat initial concept. Its a
totally new way o doing tings.
Te idea is tat by placing a gidea
new, special kind o gide called a liqid
gideso tat it toces one or more
objects on te page, tose objects will
ten expand or contract, grow or srink, in
dierent ways to adapt to canging page
dimensions. I it sonds consingly sim-
ple, tats becase it is simple, and it will
conse yo. Give it a try.
1. Beginning wit a mixed-content layot
like te one sown in Figre 12, drag a
vertical rler gide and drop it so tat
it toces one or more, bt not all, o teobjects on te page.
2. Now, wit te black-arrow Selection tool
active, over yor crsor near te top o
te gide yo jst created. A sort dis-
tance rom te top o te gide, yoll
see an icon (Figre 13), signiying tatFigure 13: Gide icons indicating a normal rler gide
(let) and a liqid gide (rigt)
Figure 12: A vertical rler gide added to a mixed-content
layot
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 27previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
11/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
te gide is a rler gide. (Yo coldactally over yor Selection tool crsor
anywere over te gide and te icon
will appear at te top, bt its easier or
te next step i yo start ot tere.) Wile
te gide is still selected, click on tat
icon; te entire gide will transorm rom
solid to dased, and te icon will cange
as well. Yove now converted yor rler
gide into a liqid gide.
3. Switc to te Page tool and set te Liq-
id Layot rle to Gide-based.
4. Widen te pageeiter wit te Page
tool, te page sie Widt eld on te
Control panel, or te Page Sies btton
at te bottom o te Pages panel. SeeFigre 14 to view te reslts wen I wid-
ened my page almost 100% again. Did
yo notice tat te objects toced by
te liqid gide resied wile te objects
it didnt toc remained xed in sie and
location to te oter side o te layot?
5. undo yor resie.
6. Now, wile keeping te Page tool active,
drag a oriontal gide ot o te rler
and place it somewere on te page
overlapping some bt not all objects.
Note tat wen yo create a gide wit
te Page tool active, it atomatically be-
comes a liqid gide; doing so wit any
oter tool active creates or old riend
te standard rler gide.
7. Resie te page widt and eigt. For my
design, I converted rom an 8.5x11-inc
Figure 14: Ater resiing te widt o te page wit te Gide-based rle active
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 28previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
12/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
page to a 20x16-inc, wic gave mete reslts in Figre 15. As yo can see,
objects toced by te liqid gide can
adapt in bot dimensions wile oter
objects remain ncanged.
One ting tat bgs me abot te reslts
I received is te two-colmn text rame.
Widening te page like I did made tose
colmns too wide or my taste. O corse
its a simple matter to select te rame and
alter te nmber o colmns via te Control
panel, bt I soldnt ave to manally
make tat cange. Doing so manally isnt
veryliqid. Lets try tis one more time.
1. undo yor previos resie canges.
2. Select yor primary text rame, weterit as one, two, tree, or 4 colmns, and
go to Object > Text Frame Options.
In te Colmns drop-down men, yoll
see tat CS6 as added a tird option
(Figre 16).
3. Select te new coice, Flexible Widt,
and in te new Maximm eld nder-neat te Colmns men, speciy te
maximm widt o a single colmn
yore willing to live wit. Given te
act tat my docment started ot as
a two-colmn layot witin al-inc
margins on an 8.5-inc-wide page,
Im going to set my maximm colmnwidt to 3.5 in, wic, considering te
presence o te gtter, is a little bigger
tan wat ts on te original version
page. Wen yore satised wit yor
options, click OK.
Figure 15: Ater enabling stretcing in two dimensions on
some objects
Figure 16: Text Frame Options now incldes a tird
Colmns coice: Flexible Widt.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 29previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
13/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
4. Make sre tat teres a vertical liqidgide tocing tat text rame wose
settings yo jst modied, and ten
widen yor pagego big, nice and
wide. heck, like zz Top sang, go nation-
wide! Becase o setting a maximm
colmn-widt measrement, yo
sold now see yor text rame pick p
additional colmns wen its adaptation
to te new page widt wold oterwise
orce a colmn to exceed tat maximm
widt (Figre 17). Tink abot tat or a
moment: Wit tat one little alteration
yo can make text rames go rom one-
or two-colmn presentation in portrait
mode digital magaine layots to two-or tree-colmn presentation in land-
scape modeatomatically.
Altog it may seem a little weird in
practice, sing gides or tis prpose really
works ot. I liken it to sing rying pans
as blnt weaponsan obvios coice in
indsigt. To paraprase Flint rom Tangled:
Gides! Wo knew?
Object-Based Rule
Finally, we ave te most consing, con-
terintitive, n-InDesign-like, bt most
controllable o te Liqid Layot rles, teObject-based rle. Tis rle lets yo dene a
dierent adaptive beavior or eac object
on yor page.
1. Start wit a simple layot in wic tere
is only a placed grapic oating dead
center on te page (Figre 18).
2. Select te Page tool and click on te
grapic rame (I knowte Page tool isor resiing pages, not objects, bt tats
te way Adobe went wit tis). Now
coose Object-based rom te Liqid
Page Rle popp men in te Control
panel. Yoll now see a bnc o new
symbols perced on lines emanating
Figure 17: Te nmber o colmns adapts to meet exible
widt settings.
Figure 18: A simple, clean page will elp make sense o te
not-so-simple constrctions tat will sow p m omentarily.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 30previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
14/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
rom te grapic rame. Soon, tose oddlines and symbols will mltiply.
3. Open te Liqid Layot panel and set
yor options to matc te ones sown
in Figre 19. Now tere are a ew more
lines and symbols bot witin and ot-
side o te grapic rame. Follow along
in Figre 20 and Ill explain wat tose
symbols mean.
Lets start otside te object and work
or way in.
On te top and let, lines emanate rom
te rame and connect to solid circles on
te pages top and let edges, respectively.
Tese solid lines, wit lled circle termi-nses, indicate tat te object is pinned
to te top and let, meaning tat wen
te page resies, te rame will always
be te same distance rom te top and
let; only te distances to te bottom and
rigt sides o te page will cange, wic
is indicated by te open circles on tose
sides o te rame.
Moving along to te inside o te rame,
dased lines delineate te oriontal and
vertical dimensions o te rame. On teoriontal line is a padlock icon, wile te
vertical displays a spring. Tese two sym-
bols, respectively, commnicate tat te
widt o te rame will not cange in
response to te page sie (lock), wile te
eigt will spring.
In oter words, te rame will always be
owever wide it is, no matter ow widete page gets, bt it will grow or srink in
dept along wit te page eigt canges.
Te lled circles commnicate te same
tingnotice teyre on te line wit te
padlockas do te open circles or te
liqid or springy dimension.
Figure 19: My options on te Liqid Layot panel
Figure 20: Wit te Object-based rle active and te
object selected wit te Page tool
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 31previous next fullscreencontents
-
7/28/2019 IDM 47 Liquid Layout Excerpt
15/15
InDepth: Liquid Layout
Finallyand tis isnt a symbol on teramete Ato-Fit option on te Liqid
Layot panel means (i selected) tat te
image inside te rame will also resie along
wit its rame, keeping watever tting
metod was cosenFit Content to Frame,
Fill Frame Proportionately, Center Content,
and so on. ( Tis is te same Ato-Fit eatre
tat was in CS5, bt now it sows p in tis
panel, too.)
4. Assming yo ave te same options set
tat I do, i yo resie te page yoll see
te rame lengten bt not widen, and
yoll see tat it remains te exact same
distance rom te top and let margins.
Now, imagine setting tese object-
specic movement and siing options on
all te objects witin a complex layot des-
tined or mltiple otptsa big poster,
a small yer, and a blowcard, or a digital
magaine bond or te iPad, te XOOM,
te Transormer, te Fire, te Galaxy Tab,te Playbook, and so on, in portrait and
landscape versions or eac device. Imagine
te amont o time and energy involved
in reworking te layot. I yo become
amiliar wit te Liqid Layot options and
prep eac object carelly, setting ato-t
options on te images and exible widt
options on text rames, yo cold almost
entirely atomate te process o adapting
te one layot yo actally ave to design
to all tose oter devices and orientations.
A ew mintes o prep time in advance
and a ew mintes o minor cleanp ater
wolesale layot resiing or reorienting,
and yove jst saved yorsel ors,days, maybe even weeks o tedios and-
ministration o te objects.
Tis is te power o Liqid Layots.
An once o preparation really is wort a
pond o layot.
Can I get a allelja?
n
Paria S. Brke (ttp://iamParia.com) is a sotware trainer
and design, pblising, and digital pblising workow
expert bringing creative efciency into stdios, agencies,
and pblications arond te world. he is te ator o
ePublishing with InDesign CS6, Mastering InDesign for Print
Design and Production, and oter books on InDesign,
Creative Site, Adobe Illstrator, QarkXPress, and digital
pblising; a prolic article and blog wri ter, an Adobe
Commnity Proessional; a reelance grapic designer wit
20 years experience; and te pbliser o te Workow:
Network (ttp://workownetwork.com) a network o
websites. Paria lives in Poenix, Az were e writes (a lot)
and creates (many) projects and pblications to Empower
and Inorm Creative Proessionals.
I N D ES I GN MA GA ZI N E 47 April | May 2012 32previous next fullscreencontents
http://iampariah.com/http://workflownetwork.com/http://workflownetwork.com/http://iampariah.com/