"Catbase has enabled us to complete projects at a fraction of both the cost and the time of doing so without the Catbase software. In addition the support that the Catbase team have given us has been superb."
- Peter Hopkinson, Publisher
Options for publishing with InDesign
Database
publishing simplified!
CatBase
makes it easy to publish your catalogue, directory, price list, membership
list, classified ads ... or whatever ... using InDesign. It does all
the hard, boring work for you!
If InDesign
is your publishing destination, there are three methods that you can
choose from to transfer your data from CatBase to your InDesign document.
Each has its advantages and disadvantages. The three choices are:
- InDesign Tags: This is InDesign's built-in tagging system
- XML: The industry-standard data interchange format
- Xtags: A plug-in for InDesign which adds important functions to
the tagging system
- Data Merge (delimited text files)
- Text files (eg Word, RTF)
- Delimited text files (using plugins)
Feature Comparison
Chart
The following
chart compares the features available with each option.
Feature
|
Indesign Tags
|
XML
|
Xtags
|
Data Merge |
Text Files
|
Delimited Text Files using plugins
|
Automatically place images |
Not supported |
Supported, but there is little control over their
formatting |
Fully supported: you have control over the image
sizing, placement and styling (borders, backgrounds, etc.) |
Supported, but little control over formatting; all picture boxes will be the same size and style. |
Supported by some formats |
Supported, with limited control over sizing and styling |
Tables |
Supported |
Not supported |
Supported |
Not supported |
Supported, with limitations |
Supported, with formatting limitations |
Create text boxes |
Not supported |
Not supported |
Fully supported. |
Not supported |
Not supported |
Options vary |
Price |
Free |
Free |
£249/$400 |
Free |
Free |
From around $150 |
CatBase is the only solution that enables you to create files in all these formats (and more!). Since CatBase is a database-based solution, you can either use it as your main database management application or you can import data from another source (such as a spreadsheet or another database) and let CatBase handle the publishing of the data. CatBase offers the most flexible database publishing solution because you can tell it how to format the data based on rules you set up.
Automatically place images
The chances are that you will need to include pictures
in your publication. In this case, you'll need to use either the XML
or Xtags option. With XML, the images are flowed in as part of the text,
with little control over their sizing and placement. This may be fine
some some projects, but if you need more control, then you'll need Xtags.
Xtags is a plug-in for InDesign, developed by Em Software
Ltd. With Xtags you can control the formatting and placement of the
images with the following attributes:
- Placement (anchored or unanchored)
- Border
- Picture size: Specify a set size for all pictures;
a set size for individual pictures; or automatic size based on the actual
picture size.
- Background colour
- Picture placement (Fit and maintain aspect ratio/centered/manual/shrink/expand
to fit)
- Scale, angle, skew, etc.
This screen shot shows all the options:
Create Text Boxes
Why would you want to create a text box? A text box
can be used as a container for elements of an item. For example:
- Display ads
- Property listings
- Catalogue items
For an example, please see the Items
in boxes tutorial.
What do do next ...
