Looking for Adobe DPS Resources? Check out the DPSCreate Handbook and iPad app, our free Introduction to Creating & Publishing Folios With Adobe DPS webinar, the DPSCreate: Creating Interactive Folios With DPS webinar, and the DPSPublish: Publishing Folios With Adobe DPS webinar.

To start off 2012, we’ve put together 11 great tips for successfully producing digital magazines using Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite™, plus an extra bonus — our new iPad app!

DPSCreate™ Tip #1: Folio Builder Flattening
Did you know that in the Adobe DPS folio-building process, the Folio Builder flattens all non-interactive content to either a 72 ppi JPG or PNG file? If a page predominantly contains images (raster), it will be flattened to a JPEG. If a page predominantly contains text or flat color (vector), it is flattened to a PNG. Knowing this in advance of creating images for your tablet edition will save on storage space while you’re working, and it will also save on bundling time.

DPSCreate™ Tip #2: Video Overlays
Optimize your video overlays by resampling your video content to its intended target size on the page. Tapping anywhere within the video frame will play the video; creating a Play button is not required. This approach allows the frame to be larger or smaller depending on your design needs, while still allowing the video to play at target size. The InDesign Selection tool and Direct Selection tool allow you to reposition the video frame or the content as you would any image content.

DPSCreate™ Tip #3: DPS Naming Best Practices
To help keep track of multiple DPS hyperlinks, slideshow objects, and buttons, use content-specific names to organize your objects. By default, InDesign will apply generic names, such as Button 1, Button 2, etc. Changing these names to reflect the actual content and state will make it easier to track and update buttons, especially with complicated interactives.

DPSCreate™ Tip #4: PDF Pinch and Zoom
DPS PDF Pinch and Zoom is a great enhancement that’s set on an article-by-article basis to enable users to zoom in on pages. When creating pages to take advantage of Pinch and Zoom, save images at 96ppi rather than the usual 72 ppi to maximize the viewing resolution when zooming.

DPSCreate™ Tip #5: Optimizing Images
Placing high-resolution image files into an InDesign tablet layout can result in folio-building errors, as well as network slowdowns and inflated disk space. When a folio is built, any images that are not interactive will be downsampled to the target resolution of the device — 72 ppi. So plan ahead and save a set of downsampled images to place in your layouts as you build your folio.
5 Recommended Specs for Static Images:
1.    File format: JPEG
2.    Resolution: 72 ppi, saved with the “Resample Image” option checked
3.    Quality (in the Image Options dialog box): Maximum (10)
4.    Color space: RGB
5.    Maximum dimensions: 2000 x 2000 pixels

DPSCreate™ Tip #6: Creating a Workspace
To optimize your work habits and provide quick access to tools, create a DPS-specific workspace that contains the following panels: Hyperlinks, Media, Object States, Buttons, Folio Builder, and Overlay Creator. This will help you pull up all of the tools you need, organized the way you want them, whenever you’re ready to work on a DPS project.

DPSCreate™ Tip #7: Smooth Scrolling Pages in Horizontal Format
To add a longer-depth page to a horizontal format folio, use the Import command in the Article View of the Folio Builder panel. Do not use the Add command, as it will add a vertical page instead of maintaining the horizontal format and will not display properly.

DPSCreate™ Tip #8: Poster Images
In the DPS tools, a poster image is a static image that serves as a placeholder until a slideshow, image sequence, or other interactive content is played. Custom poster images can be created with instructions or icons for interacting with content. DPS can use poster images for videos, audio controller skins, and web content.

DPSCreate™ Tip #9: Scrollable Frames
You can now include interactive overlays (except slideshows, for now) in a scrollable frame using the Pan & Zoom “Pan Only” function. For more details on how to use this new feature, click here.

DPSCreate™ Tip #10: DPS TOC Preview Icons
When DPS files are viewed on the tablet interface, or “chrome,” a TOC icon is displayed in the upper left corner. By default, DPS renders this from the article’s first-page content. To create custom thumbnails for this list view, create a 70 x 70 pixel PNG file. Using the Article properties dialog box in the Folio Builder panel, select the custom TOC image to go along with each article.

DPSCreate™ Tip #11: Scrollbars
When creating DPS pages, leave a 6-pixel margin on the right edge of all pages for the tablet scrollbar. You can do this by placing a guide or page object such as a black bar to allow for this space.

DPSCreate Bonus Tip #12: Get up and running by creating your own app in no time with our new DPSCreate™ handbook and iPad app!

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Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini

Margot Knorr Mancini
A thought leader in the publishing industry, Margot Knorr Mancini has helped numerous publishers redefine their missions to become nimble content generators with the ability to repurpose content easily and efficiently. As Founder & CEO of Technology for Publishing, her analytical mind allows her to remain a step ahead of the industry, recognizing early trends and developing pivotal best practices.
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