Export content to HTML

Exporting to HTML is an easy way to get your InDesign content into web-ready form. When you export content to HTML, you can control how text and images are exported. InDesign preserves the names of paragraph, character, object, table, and cell styles applied to the exported contents by marking the HTML contents with CSS style classes of the same name. Using Adobe Dreamweaver or any CSS-capable HTML editor, you can quickly apply formatting and layout to the contents.

InDesign exports all stories, linked and embedded graphics, SWF movie files, footnotes, text variables (as text), bulleted and numbered lists, internal cross-references, and hyperlinks that jump to text or web pages. Tables can be exported to HTML as well. InDesign retains the table formatting, such as table and cell strokes. Tables are assigned unique IDs, and can be referenced as Spry data sets in Dreamweaver. Placed audio and h.264 video files are enclosed in HTML5 <audio> and <video> tags. InDesign also exports objects you draw (such as rectangles, ovals, and polygons), pasted objects (including pasted illustrator images), and text converted to outlines.

What does'nt get exported

InDesign does not export Hyperlinks (except for links to web pages and links applied to text that jump to text anchors in the same document), XML tags, books, bookmarks, SING glyphlets, page transitions, index markers, objects on the pasteboard that aren’t selected and don’t touch the page, or parent page items (unless they’re overridden or selected before export).

Export to HTML

A document with the specified name and an .html extension (such as “newsletter.html”) is created; if specified, a web images subfolder (such as “newsletter-web-images”) is saved in the same location.

HTML export options

In the HTML dialog box, specify the following options.

General

Determines whether only the selected items or the entire document is exported. If a text frame is selected, the entire story including overset text is exported.

If Document is selected, all page items from all spreads are exported, except for parent page items that have not been overridden and page items on invisible layers. XML tags and generated indexes and tables of contents are also ignored.

lets you specify the reading order of page objects.

Based On Page Layout: The location of the items on the page determines the reading order.

If Based On Page Layout is selected, InDesign determines the reading order of page objects by scanning left to right and top to bottom. In some instances, especially in complex, multicolumn documents, the design elements sometimes do not appear in the desired reading order. Use Dreamweaver to rearrange and format the contents.

(Asian versions only) If Base On Page Layout is selected, InDesign determines the reading order of page objects according to the document’s binding (left to right or right to left).

Same As XML Structure: If Same As XML Structure is selected, the XML Structure panel controls the ordering of the exported content and which content gets exported. If your content is already tagged, you can simply drag the tags in the XML Structure panel to set the XHTML Export order. If your content is not tagged, you can choose Add Untagged Items from the Structure panel menu to generate tags that you can reorder. If you want to exclude an item in the export, you can simply delete the tag in the XML Structure panel. (Deleting a tag does not delete the content from the INDD file.) See Tag page items.

Same As Articles Panel: The order of elements in the Articles panel determines the reading order. Only the checked articles are exported. SeeInclude articles for export.

Select the formatting options for bullets and numbering.

Bullets: Select Map To Unordered List to convert bullet paragraphs into List Items, which are formatted in HTML using the tag. Select Convert To Text to format using the tag with bullet characters as text. If you have used native InDesign auto-bullets, subbullets are also included.

Numbers: Determines how numbers are converted in the HTML file. If you have used native InDesign auto-numbering, subbullets are also included.

●  Map to Ordered Lists: Converts numbered lists into List Items, which are formatted in HTML using the tag.

●  Convert to Text: Converts numbered lists into paragraphs that begin with the paragraph’s current number as text.

Starts the browser, if present.

Image

Specify how images are exported to HTML.

Original: Exports the original image to the <document_name>-web-images subfolder. 

Optimized: Lets you change settings to determine how the image is exported.

Link To Server Path: Rather than exporting images to a subfolder, this option lets you enter a local URL (such as “images/”) that appears in front of the image file. In the HTML code, the link attribute displays the path and extension you specify. This option is especially effective when you’re converting images to web-compatible images yourself.

Check to inherit the image object attributes from the layout.

Choose the resolution of the images in pixels per inch (ppi). While operating systems have standardized on either 72 ppi or 96 ppi, mobile devices range from 132 ppi (iPad), to 172 ppi (Sony Reader), to over 300 ppi (iPhone 4). You can choose a ppi value for each object selected. Values include 72, 96, 150 (average for all eBook devices today), and 300.

Specify if image size must remain fixed or resized relative to the text on the page. Relative to Text flow sets a relative percentage value based on the text flow relative to the InDesign page width. This option causes the images to rescale proportionally, relative to the text of the reading area.

Specify the image alignment - left, center, and right. You can also specify the top and bottom padding.

Lets you choose whether the optimized images in your document are converted to GIF, JPEG, or PNG. Choose Automatic to let InDesign decide which format to use in each instance. Choosing PNG disables the image compression settings.; use PNG for lossless images or for images that include transparency.

Lets you control how InDesign handles colors when optimizing GIF files. The GIF format uses a limited color palette, which cannot exceed 256 colors. Choose Adaptive (no dither) to create a palette using a representative sample of colors in the graphic without any dithering (mixing of small spots of colors to simulate additional colors). Choose Web to create a palette of web-safe colors that are a subset of Windows and Mac OS system colors. Choose System (Win) or System (Mac) to create a palette using the built‑in system color palette. This choice can cause unexpected results.

Select Interlace to load the images progressively by filling in missing lines. If this option is not selected, an image looks fuzzy and gradually becomes clear as the image reaches full resolution.

Determines the trade-off between compression (for smaller file sizes) and image quality for each JPEG image created. Low produces the smallest file and lowest image quality.

Determines how quickly JPEG graphics display when the file containing the image is opened on the web. Choose Progressive to make the JPEG images display gradually and in increasing detail as they are downloaded. (Files created with this option are slightly larger and require more RAM for viewing.) Choose Baseline to make each JPEG file display only after it has been downloaded; a placeholder appears in its place until the file is displayed.

Ignores Object Export Options applied on individual images. See Apply Object export options.

Advanced

Use the Advanced area to set CSS and JavaScript options.Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a collection of formatting rules that control the appearance of content in a web page. When you use CSS to format a page, you separate content from presentation. The content of your page—the HTML code—resides in the HTML file itself, while the CSS rules defining the presentation of the code reside in another file (an external style sheet) or within the HTML document (usually in the Head section). For example, you can specify different font sizes for selected text, and you can use CSS to control the format and positioning of block-level elements in a web page.

Select this option if you do not want to include classes in the HTML. It removes the class and id attributes present in the tag during HTML Export. Any redundant div tags present in the HTML are also removed.

Select this option to include classes in HTML.

Generate CSS: Specify whether you want InDesign to generate a CSS for the exported file. If you select the Generate CSS option, you can also select the Preserve Local Overrides option to include the local formatting such as italic or bold.

Preserve Local Overrides: Include local formatting such as italic or bold.

Specify the URL of the existing CSS style sheet, which is usually a relative URL, such as “/styles/style.css.” InDesign does not check whether the CSS exists or is valid. You can use Dreamweaver to confirm your external CSS setup.

Select Add Script to run a JavaScript when the HTML page is opened. InDesign does not check whether the JavaScript exists or is valid.