InDesign. Variable info... possible??

wicky

wicky

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I have been asked by a client to produce a range of adverts (generic service ad's, recruitment ad's, etc), that they can update the text in themselves. They're PC based, and don't have access to proper design software... and wouldn't know where to start if they had.

The obvious debate about good typography, etc., aside, I would like to produce adverts that have an area of dynamic/variable content, that ideally could be updated using a very simple text editor or M$-Word.

Does anybody know if it is possible to achieve this, and if so how I would go about it?

Thanks, in advance.
 
You could make an editable PDF and they could edit the text of the PDFs with Acrobat Professional, as long as they had the same fonts installed on their system as the PDF uses... but, since they're using PCs, it's tough to find a font that will work on both systems flawlessly.

Basically, I gotta concur with Fryke -- there isn't any easy way of allowing someone to edit an InDesign document who doesn't have InDesign.
 
They'd still need Acrobat Pro (which isn't free exactly, either), and you can not edit the text as you would in InDesign. Text would not automatically reflow etc., you know... I'd say it's worth considering InDesign itself. Yes, it has its price, but you can work with layers (lock any layers besides the text layers) so all they would have to do is actually use the text tool.
 
Thanks for the response.

ElDiabloConCaca said:
... but, since they're using PCs, it's tough to find a font that will work on both systems flawlessly.
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I suppose I could generate a True Type PC version of the font being used, but it's still less than perfect.... and I'm thinking frought with potential problems.

The client buying InDesign isn't too much of a problem, learning it however, would be a VERY different story. I've been trying to teach them how to use the CMS for the website, and after that experience I really wouldn't want to tackle more complex software & certainly not the intricacies of typography.

What about XML? Would that offer any solutions?
 
How much of the text is going to be updated? How important is style and what type of style are you going for here?
 
Sell your services and tell them it's easier for you to just spend a 1/2 hour (or hour if that's your minimum rate) of billable time to avoid all the hassle and produce the ads yourself.
 
mdnky said:
How much of the text is going to be updated? How important is style and what type of style are you going for here?
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Not more than a paragraph or 2, the rest will be identical in that particular advert (eg. recruitment ads will have some text about the company that will be a constant, and a paragraph or 2 about the position that will be variable). Style is very important, but the variable part of the text would only use 1 style from the paragraph style sheets.

There's always a chance of dodgy linebreaks, but providing the style sheet is set up correctly, I don't see too much of a problem with a single style and limited number of words..... what could possibly go wrong!

Natobasso said:
Sell your services and tell them it's easier for you to just spend a 1/2 hour (or hour if that's your minimum rate) of billable time to avoid all the hassle and produce the ads yourself.
Click to expand...

Obviously this would be the first option, but it's a fairly large organisation with many ad's, and we are trying to make them as self-sufficient as possible with the dull work, so that we can concentrate on the more interesting stuff. Plus, they asked for it, so if there's a way to do it I'd like to give them a price.

Natobasso said:
And now some real information:
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/indservermain.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, I'll have a look at it.
 
wicky said:
Not more than a paragraph or 2, the rest will be identical in that particular advert (eg. recruitment ads will have some text about the company that will be a constant, and a paragraph or 2 about the position that will be variable). Style is very important, but the variable part of the text would only use 1 style from the paragraph style sheets.
Click to expand...
How about output? What format will they need to be in (i.e. would PDFs work?)

It might be feasible to rig up an online solution (intranet style) for it. Basically use a PDF for the constant material and forms for the variable material. Then use an export to PDF script to create a printable "final" file. I was trying to do something similar to that before for a realtor (listing flyers) and had good results, just never finished the project. Most of it was done with open-sourced scripts already freely available, so the cost is next to nothing and the ease of use is high.
 
mdnky said:
How about output? What format will they need to be in (i.e. would PDFs work?)

It might be feasible to rig up an online solution (intranet style) for it. Basically use a PDF for the constant material and forms for the variable material. Then use an export to PDF script to create a printable "final" file. I was trying to do something similar to that before for a realtor (listing flyers) and had good results, just never finished the project. Most of it was done with open-sourced scripts already freely available, so the cost is next to nothing and the ease of use is high.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this sounds very interesting, both for this project and others. Final output would ideally be a CMYK PDF. Can you point me in the right direction to find appropriate scripts?

Many thanks
 
You could also whip up an XML template and use Cocoon and XSL FO to make it really useful and flexible. Add a form to edit the template and you're set. Not too difficult really...
 
I'm loaded with projects at the moment, but I'll try to find the links I saved. This was done on my old iBook, so I'll have to search the external drive (when I get home) for it—should be able to do that later this evening or tomorrow evening at the latest.

I found them over about a month of looking. Basically a script to place/write the data from the form into the page, then a script to export to PDF the result. CSS (print specific) handled the positioning and document size. The only thing you'd have to watch is that they (clients) know not to put too much text in.

As far as CMYK...shouldn't be an issue since the bulk of the ad will be handled by the "template PDF" that you'll create in your layout program (InDesign). So it should already be CMYK. Setting the color-space on the combined PDF should be manageable...I'll have to double check on that though. The realtor was using a digital B/W copier for most output, when he did do color it was to either a production laser or a digital copier @ Kinkos—both which handled RGB files perfectly.
 
Creos Darwin Desktop will do what your asking its not cheap. Indesign has a built-in data merge functionality. You can setup your client using just about any database that will export tab del, or csv format, of course whoever is running out the final files will need indesign. I wouldnt say its simple but it can be done. Youll need to do some research.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
You could make an editable PDF and they could edit the text of the PDFs with Acrobat Professional, as long as they had the same fonts installed on their system as the PDF uses... but, since they're using PCs, it's tough to find a font that will work on both systems flawlessly.
Click to expand...

BTW, Open Type fonts can be used both in Windows and Mac environments.
 
You know, it's the "dull work" that pays the bills… :) You could even hire a junior designer or intern to do the work and in return that designer gets valuable job experience.

Otherwise you're hiring a much more expensive data specialist to program a solution for you that you then have to test and troubleshoot…
 
Natobasso said:
You know, it's the "dull work" that pays the bills… :)
Click to expand...

Too true!! Unfortunately.


Natobasso said:
You could even hire a junior designer or intern to do the work and in return that designer gets valuable job experience.

Otherwise you're hiring a much more expensive data specialist to program a solution for you that you then have to test and troubleshoot…
Click to expand...

The client is quite large (and growing), and we have already hired a full time junior to do most of the monkey work. The only reason I'm going down this route is because the client has specifically asked for it, and hating to be defeated I wondered if it was possible.

Cheers
 
No need to feel defeated. Just tell them it can be done if they want to pay for the programming/set-up work. Then, if they want to do this themselves they then have to monitor it. Are they prepared for that cost?
 
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