Can you convert Indesign files?

HTML & CSS
1

A designer designed a site in Indesign and is saying they have either a jpg or the Indesign files to send to build the site. I don’t have nor have I used Indesign; only Fireworks, Illustrator and Photoshop. Any way to convert Indesign to any of those? Or, any suggestions? Should I just use the jpeg file?

Thanks so much!

2

I agree…

3

That’s what I thought but wasn’t sure. Okay, thanks.

Congrats on the Dan Shultz award! I just noticed.

4

Well, it’s probably the premiere print layout tool nowadays (and it’s a magnificent tool), but I don’t find it very useful for web site mockups that a coder has to work with.

5

I wasn’t sure if InDesign could export to PSD, if it can, get that, if not get JPEG

PS: A lot of people use InDesign, it’s basically Photoshop for the Print industry (desktop publishing).

6

Wait, what? PSD to jpg?

7

Well Photoshop and Illustrator can work with JPEG files (you can crop and add layers etc).

I would be tempted to ask them if they can’t convert it to PSD (within InDesign) to just send you the JPEG. :slight_smile:

8

I’ll ask for that too :-).

9

My exact sentiments. I didn’t think anyone used that software anymore. Great suggestion…I’ll ask for eps at best and PDF at worst (well, jpg at worst) and keep you posted.

Thank you both!

10

Doing the design in InDesign wasn’t the best idea, but you can export InDesign to various formats, such as EPS, PDF and JPG. The best would probably be to export to EPS, as then you can open it in Illustrator and edit text, manipulate images etc. You can do similar things by opening the PDF in Illustrator, but not as much (I think text just gets outlined).

JPG will obviously give you the image to work with, but it won’t be editable.

11

Designs done using inDesign are best sent straight to whichever printing company is being used to produce the magazine, newsletter, or flyer that has been designed.

The first step in creating a web equivalent is to extract all of the text into a .txt file and start over with the design in a web editor. Since the web design is likely to be totally different from the print design you will not lose any time in doing that.

The images should of course still be available in whatever source format they were produced in and can be easily converted using any graphics program into either jpg or png format for use on the web pages.