MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/49191
FEA TURE Photo credit: Courtesy National Geographic Photo credit: Courtesy National Geographic tools to add interactivity and motion to an otherwise static print publication. You then launch the Folio Builder (another new panel) to log onto Adobe's publishing service to create a .folio file, the container that holds article. (An "article" can be an ad or cover page, as well.) You can allow a number of contributors to add to the folio. Adobe does all the heavy lifting that creates and manages the distribution of your publication online, building an app for your subscribers or setting you up on iOS5's Newsstand. As with moving virtually any preexisting content, whether a website or a publication, to a mobile device, there are a host of design decisions to be made and usually a goodly amount of redesign work to be done to accommodate the iPad's smaller screen size, resolution limitations, and options for horizontal or vertical layout. The ability to create both vertical and horizontal views requires two separate versions of each article (the tablet's position sensor will automatically switch between the two). After some internal discussion, decided to retain the look of its open magazine and preference for double-truck layouts, so only offers horizontal viewing. The Interactive Element When they were confronted with the challenge, Drew Onufer wasn't sure how editorial and design teams would take to the creative challenge of adding an interactive dimension to the already rigorous demands of producing one of the word's most beautiful magazines. Onufer describes his editorial team as "very excited" from the moment they first set their eyes on the iPad. Being able to an enhanced version of the publishing tool they were most familiar with helped made the digital edition "an extension of what they're already doing." Reporters and photographers out on assignment started bringing back ideas and content for interactive elements. The Overlay Creator panel is the gateway that transforms a static page into an engaging activity. It works without Flash or the need for coding so it is very much a designer's tool. The panel handles the routine tasks of adding links and video content. It can, for example, transform a static photo spread into a slide show. Pan and zoom tools make it quite easy to for readers to explore large, high-resolution images and stitched-together panoramas. Drill down into the options and you'll find that you have a great deal of granular control over the look and feel of the presentation. At first blush, Multi-State objects seem like little more than glorified rollovers. However, the variety of actions and animation options turns it into one of the coolest playgrounds for a creative mind. In a recent issue, used this feature to great effect to interactively illustrate the dramatic race of two teams of explorers to the South Pole. This went quite a ways beyond what Adobe's designers originally had in mind. Previews are handled by a second application, the Adobe Content Viewer. Though a mouse and scroll wheel is something less gratifying than a real road test (you'll get to do that a bit later on your iPad), it provides a reasonable sense of both the layout and interactivity. MacDirectory 109 N a t i o n a l G e o g r a p h i c N a t i o n a l G e o g r a p h i' c s N a t i o n a l G e o g r a p h i c