Smart Layout 4 CS for InDesign 1 User
Smart Layout 4 optimizes layout by adding the Article concept to Adobe InDesign CS2. Smart Layout’s automatic processes and intelligent behavior improve the efficiency of InDesign users working with multiple columns of text, particularly in newspapers and magazines where pages must be made up efficiently under tight deadlines.
Article Concept
Smart Layout adds the Article concept to InDesign. An Article consists of several elements, such as the head, intro and body. Without Smart Layout, these are separate items with no real relationship to each other.
The Smart Layout features include:
- Smart Layout Item - one compound Article page item.
- Smart Elements - any page item can be part of Smart Layout items.
- Smart Resizing - minimizes the number of actions to resize Smart Layout Items and their elements.
- Smart Grid - Smart Layouts can have their own grid including both the column and baseline grid (!) for a perfect control.
- Smart Borders - Smart Layout items can have their own border and fill. Separate border elements are no longer necessary!
- Smart Tagging - Smart Layout ‘tags’ the elements inside a Smart Layout, such as head, intro, and body.
- Smart Library - Smart Layout together with InDesign libraries form a perfect shape library.
- Smart Linking - items can be linked with other Smart Layout items to form one thread of text.
- Smart Layout and Smart Styles - format complete Smart Layout items in a single action.
- Smart Copyfitting - allows you to make your copy fit with a single click
- Smart Frame Fitting - frames can be made to fit the content
Start layout in InCopy and finish in InDesign
To speed up your workflow it may be more efficient to start writing an article and lay out the page later. At some newspapers and magazines this is the rule rather than the exception. Smart Layout supports both design-first and editing-first workflows.
To remain within the guidelines of your existing workflow rules, Smart Layout allows editors to start writing an article in InCopy with structure already in place. Simply select which components you want in InCopy and write the content.
Text-driven workflow
From inside InCopy CS2 you can create structured articles consisting of multiple text components with control over the default number of columns and the depth per element. The InCopy layout view immediately shows you the results. This enables you to write an article, complete with a headline and body columns in place.
Of course, you can also remove Smart Layout components you placed yourself in InCopy. Once Smart Layout components have been placed in the InDesign document, you cannot change them.
For example, select a headline to run across the three columns of your next component, the body, and give a rough estimate of the column height you think you are going to need to write your article. Smart Layout will combine the headline, and the article into one structured file. Once this single file is opened in InDesign, the designer already has the head, the body and other elements in the right order and place, saving valuable time.
What’s more, the designer gets the structured article delivered to him in one single file. Imagine the benefits in terms of efficiency, system load and time-savings when a few hundred of stories are delivered this way instead of being sent as separate items!
Software Development Kit
As with each WoodWing solution, for system integrators, publishing system vendors and in-house developers, an SDK is available to integrate Smart Layout and its underlying technology into your database publishing system. Adding Smart Layout, increases the productivity of users and decreases development time.
