Quark Forums

Hi, all,

here's a small guide on how to avoid having to first export as SWF and then reimport in web layout.

QuarkXPress can do that for you automatically:

1. Create your interactive layout.
2. Create your web layout (in the same project, so use "Layout > New" NOT "File > New")
3. Go to "Advanced Layout Properties" (sub menu in Layout menu) of your Interactive Layout and enable Share there.
4. Go to the web layout and open "Shared Content" palette.
5. Drag your interactive layout - which appears there now - into your web layout and adjust.
    You can even overlay it (e.g. put SWF over HTML).

When you export as HTML, then the interactive layout is also exported (as SWF) automatically.

Enjoy!
Matthias

Thank You Matthias. Your small guide saved my day. An interactive layout with another embedded interactive layout wouldn't export properly untill I used this 'shared content' trick. Thanks again Gerard

You are welcome. Graag gedan.

Developing my website was an absolute joy in XPress 8! Using composition zones to embed swf's inside other swf's. Using homepages to hold the navigation elements. Using layers to maneuver around stacks of pictures. Every corner of the XPress environment has been intelligently put to use by the developers of QID. I did come across some odd things though. To edit composition zones containing interactive lay-outs, I control click them and choose edit. I found no other way to do this, nor can I find these parts anywhere. Shouldn't they show up in the tab bar along with the "button" parts? And a simple feature request: it would be most convenient if the (print) default cmyk black was automatically changed to rgb black in Interactive lay-outs. gerards regards If you would like to see the result of my study got to http://www.biknewz.nl - never saw one line of code, everything was made in XPress.

Hi bik104,

Very nice website. Great work!

You can edit Composition Zones using Shared Content Palette(available in Window menu).

Regards,

Jyoti

Jyoti Bhatnagar (Quark):

Hi bik104,

Very nice website. Great work!

You can edit Composition Zones using Shared Content Palette(available in Window menu).

Regards,

Jyoti

Thanks for the kind words. In Shared Content is where I looked for them, but somehow my Composition Zones do not show up there, nor in the tabs of the document window. I will have to think hard how exactly I created them. It probably was by duplicating the first Composition Zone. Everything works very well, all Composition Zones are accessible from the context menu. regards Gerard

The composition zones in your project are not shared then.

You can use Item menu > Composition Zone > Edit.

If you want to see the composition zone as a separate layout in your project then perform following steps:

1. On main layout select Composition Zone > Select Item menu > Composition Zone > Edit. 
2. Go to Layout menu > Advance Layout Properties > Check Show Tab in Project Window option.

Hope it helps.

Regards,

Jyoti

 Hi Mathias, sorry to trouble you with such basic stuff.

i've created a couple of content boxes in interactive (my first attempt at it) to reveal with a rollover in web layout. I can see the layout in the 'shared content palette' but can't pick it up to drag across to the web page layout window. Grateful if you could tell me what stupidity I'm perpertrating here

Thanks

BB

 

Hi Bruce,

You need to click on the layout name say 'layout1' in shared content palette and just drag and drop it on the web layout. And it should work.

 

Hope it helps.

Ok.. I'm following along too... NEVER MIND... figured it out. david

Thank you Matthias. ..but when I preview or export and upload the Flash part all I get is just a white box. (I was previously exporting the interactive file as swf but when I tried to re-import it I got the caption 'Cannot access the XPress Preferences file' - is this part of the same problem?) Paul

Hi Reggielondon,

can you please explain a bit more in detail what you are doing?

And when you say "re-import", do you mean reopen the QXP?

If you cannot access preferences, make sure you have access rigths to the user folder or wherever your preferences are stored. Are you on Mac or on Windows?

Thanks
Matthias

Mac OSX 10.4.11 running Quark 8.02 Essentially I am creating an HTML layout (that's OK) and inside that I want to have a page containing a box (so I've created a picture box) which will have a SWF also created in Quark. Initially I made the SWF in Quark and Exported it to my Desktop. This creates a file with a Flash icon (but no SWF suffix) and is only 136Kb although it has 6 pages of images and is 800 x 400px overall - isn't 136Kb really small? Then I opened the Quark layout (which was building the HTML page) and went 'Import' and tried to load in the interactive file. Then I got the caption 'Cannot access the "XPress Preferences" file [12]'. I have tried removing the Quark Prefs file, repairing permissions through Disk Utility and running Applejack - but the problem remains. Secondly, I tried the method you outlined by creating the interactive part as another layout in the same project and sharing content. I dragged the shared content in from the interactive layout and the first page of it appears OK in the web layout. When I try to preview this HTML layout (which should now have the interactive element embedded) the interactive element is not there. In terms of 'access rights to the user folder' my set up is just me and my Mac G5 - no other users - no drives connected (apart from back-up).

Hi Reggie,

first, I'd apply the update to QuarkXPress 8.1.6. It's free and fixes bugs:
http://downloads.quark.com/Details.aspx?fid=162&&mid=2&lang=us

Secondly, when you export (or after you exported), please add the file extension ".swf" to your Flash file.

Now, please drag the SWF into an open browser window (Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer). Does it display now?

Thanks
Matthias

Thanks Matthias The download did it. On restart all my Flash files with a blue logo had changed to red and had SWF as part of the logo. I haven't needed to add the extension as it all now works.