9.3

Interactive layouts
The versatility of the format and the ubiquity of Flash Player have made SWF the format
of choice for any creative group seeking to develop interactive projects that are visually
stunning, capable of sophisticated interactivity, and within the reach of anyone who looks
at a screen.
With Interactive layouts, you can create vibrant, interactive SWF projects, complete with
sound, movies, and animation, using the time-tested feature set that makes QuarkXPress
the world's best page layout application — without having to learn a new and complex
authoring environment.
Understanding Interactive layouts
Adding interactivity to a QuarkXPress layout is easy. You just need to understand the
following three concepts.
• Objects: An object is a text box, a picture box, or a line that has been given a name using
the Interactive palette. You can think of an object as "something the end user interacts
with." Examples are a Text Box object and an Animation object.
• User Events: A user event is something the end user does with the mouse. You can think
of a user event as "the way the end user interacts with an object." Examples are Click
Down and Mouse Enter.
• Actions: An action is what happens when the end user triggers one of an object's user
events. You can think of an action as "what an object does when an end user interacts
with it." Examples are Play Animation and Display Next Page.
For example, let's assume you select a picture box, turn it into a Button object, select the
Click Up user event for that Button object, and assign the Display Next Page action to
that user event. When an end user runs the SWF presentation and clicks the picture box,
the presentation jumps to the next page.
The process of creating an Interactive layout is simple. You just draw the objects in the
layout using the same QuarkXPress tools and features you use in Print layouts, including
text and picture boxes, style sheets, and so forth. Then you select these "Creating interactive
building blocks" objects and make them interactive with three simple steps:
274 | A GUIDE TO QUARKXPRESS 9.3
INTERACTIVE LAYOUTS