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Excellent Toolset for Interactive and Fixed-Layout eBooks
March 12, 2024

Excellent Toolset for Interactive and Fixed-Layout eBooks

Janeil Harricharan | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is used to format various print layouts, mostly in the desktop publishing space. The software supports detailed design, more than Microsoft Word. I believe it excels over Canva due to the precise nature of things can be tweaked, such as font spacing and layering.

The software has recently been used to create and tweak interactive fixed-layout eBooks, in which Adobe InDesign has the tools to embed media (video, audio, etc) for iTunes. As far as I can tell, this is the only software that supports this type of design.
  • Page overview and layout
  • Media implementation to eBooks
  • In-depth control of elements in layout
  • Preflight review feature to spot errors
  • Not naturally a WYSIWYG display (this is an option, and doesn't always work as intended)
  • Moving images and photos around while holding an additional key
  • Layers or objects are not easily clickable behind other objects.
  • Adobe InDesign does require some fair system resources to work smoothly
  • A law firm assigned me a $1800 contract job, using their in-house Adobe InDesign files for layout. I would not have been able to do the job if I did not have Adobe InDesign.
  • I have formatted a number of fixed-layout eBooks using Adobe InDesign. I could have done this with other software, but Adobe InDesign made it very easy to complete these jobs.
  • A US-Filipino author hired me to do media interactivity with her fixed-layout eBook. I would not have been able to fulfill her requirements without using Adobe InDesign.
Adobe InDesign may have a steep learning curve and advanced interface, but the functionality it provides is more advanced that Publisher.

I used Publisher briefly for some brochures and flyers, and it is a good software for simple, quick solutions that do not require a lot of design. It lacks when taking on complex ideas or projects.

Do you think Adobe InDesign delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Adobe InDesign's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe InDesign live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Adobe InDesign go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Adobe InDesign again?

Yes

Adobe InDesign is very well suited to image-heavy publications, such as children's books, cookbooks and coffee table books. It gives you almost complete control how to arrange these elements, and to be able to tweak them with precision.

The software is an absolute necessity if one is developing interactive eBooks, especially for the Apple iTunes store. Unless coded by hand, I am not aware of any other tools to handle this.

It is a powerful toolset, and can take on most anything publishing related that you throw at it. I personally have found that it doesn't do too well with reflowable eBooks (like for Kindle Amazon), but it retains that capability.