08 Smart Connection 9 Element Labels This document is part of the documentation for Smart Connection 9 and is an extract from the former Smart Connection 9 User Guide for InDesign. For more information about using Smart Connection, visit the Online Help. This document describes in detail how to work with Element labels. Element labels are used for labeling any frame on the layout regardless of type and whether or not they are part of the Enterprise system. By assigning a label to a frame, the purpose of the frame can be made clear, thereby streamlining the workflow process between yourself and other users who are editing files as you work on the article, both in InDesign, InCopy, and Content Station. For example: labeling a text frame with the label Headline and another text frame with the label Body Text, makes it clear to all users what the purpose of these frames is: editors will know what type of content to add and designers will know how to format and position that content. 1
1. The Element Label Interface Element labels are fully controlled through the Element Label panel. The Element Label panel is accessed through Window > Element Label. The panel consists of the following components: A B A Label list B Flyout menu Figure 1. The Element Label panel components Label list Used for assigning labels to frames or to identify which label is assigned to a frame. Flyout menu Used for accessing the Element Label preferences where labels can be added or deleted. 2
1.1 Identifying Labeled Frames In order to verify if a frame has a label applied to it and if so, which one use one of the methods described below. Showing the Element Label as part of the frame The Element Label that is applied to a frame can be shown in the form of a label in the lower right corner of that frame. The label consists of the name of the Element Label and a colored background. To show Element Labels this way, do one of the following: With the option View > Extras > Show Element Labels enabled: View the layout in Normal Mode (View > Screen Mode > Normal). All labels for all text frames are shown. With the option View > Extras > Show Element Labels disabled: View the layout in Normal Mode (View > Screen Mode > Normal) and drag an article from the Smart Connection panel, Elements panel or Dossier panel over a frame that is part of an InDesign Article. Only the labels for the InDesign Article over which the mouse pointer is placed are shown. The label is always displayed in the bottom right corner of the frame, even when rotating and/or flipping it. Figure 1.1a. Element Labels displayed within the frame. When all frames are grouped by using the InDesign Article panel, all labels of the same InDesign Article are given the same color. By default, the color of the label is gray, but when the frame is part of an InDesign article (created by using the Window > Article panel) all frames that are part of the same article are given the same color, thereby making it easy to recognize an article and all its components. Figure 1.1.b Even with the frame rotated and flpped, the Element Label is always shown in the bottom right corner. Using the Element Label panel Select the frame and access the Element Label Panel. The name of the label that is applied to the frame is highlighted in the panel. This works for placed articles and for frames holding content that is not stored in Enterprise. 3
Using the Elements panel Select the frame or a section of text within the frame and access the Elements Panel. The name of the label that is applied to the frame is highlighted in the panel. This works for placed articles and for articles that have not yet been added to Enterprise. Using the Smart Connection panel or Dossier panel Access the Smart Connection panel or Dossier panel and check the name of the label in the Name column for the article component. This works only for placed articles, not for frames holding content that is not stored in Enterprise. Using the context menu Select the frame or a section of text within the frame and then right-click it to access the context menu. At the bottom of the menu, access the Element Label submenu. It shows a list of all Element Labels (in alphabetical order). The Element Label which is applied to the frame can be identified by the check mark in front of the name; if no check mark is shown then this means that the label is not applied. 4
2. Assigning an Element Label A default Element label is automatically assigned to the frame in the following scenarios: When a new text frame or image frame is created When an article, image or Layout Module is placed on the layout Table 2 shows an overview of the default labels for the various layout items: Table 2. Default Element Labels Layout item Article Non-Text (Layout Modules and images) Unassigned Default label Body Graphic Graphic Which label acts as the default label is controlled through the Element Label preferences. For more information, see section 3, Element Label Preferences. When a label other than the default label needs to be assigned, assign it manually by performing the following steps: Step 1. Select the frame(s) by doing one of the following: Select the frame(s) on the layout using the Selection Tool. (Placed Enterprise files only) In the Elements panel, select one or more articles, article components, Layout Modules, or images. Step 2. Assign the label by doing one of the following: From the Label list in the Element Label panel, choose a label to assign to the selected frame(s). Right-click the frame and choose Element Label > [label name]. The label is assigned. Take note of the following: When a text frame is part of a group of linked threaded frames, assigning an Element Label to one text frame sets that label for all frames of that group. When an article component is placed multiple times and you change the Element Label for one of the placed components, the labels for all placed instances of that component are changed (but only on the layout that you are currently working on). 5
2.1 Unassigning Element Labels Element labels can be unassigned from a labeled frame by doing the following: Step 1. Select the frame(s) by doing one of the following: Select the frame(s) on the layout using the Selection Tool. (Placed Enterprise files only) In the Elements panel, select one or more articles, article components, Layout Modules or images. Step 2. Do one of the following: In the Elements panel: 3. Element Label Preferences The Element Label preferences are used for changing the default label, adding or deleting labels, or applying XML tags or paragraph styles to labels. To access the Element Label preferences, do one of the following: Open the flyout menu of the Element Label and choose Element Labels. For Mac OS, choose InDesing > Preferences > Element Labels. For Windows, choose Edit > Preferences > Element Labels. The Element Labels preferences are displayed. For frames that all share the same label, click once on the highlighted label name in the Label List, or at the empty space below the list (expand the panel if necessary). For frames that have different labels applied, click once at the empty space below the list (expand the panel if necessary). Right-click the frame and from the Element Label sub-menu, choose the label with a check-mark in front of it. The label is removed. In case of Enterprise files, Unknown appears in the Label column of the Elements panel. Figure 3. The Element Labels preferences 6
3.1 Changing the Default Labels As stated in section 2, Applying an Element Label, when a frame is of a certain type, a default label is applied. Controlling which label acts as a default label for a particular type of frame is achieved by doing the following: Step 1. From the Element Labels list, choose the label you want to use as a default Element Label. Step 2. Select the check box for Default Text Element Label (applied to all text frames), or Default Non-Text Element Label (applied to all Layout Module frames and image frames) respectively. The selected element label will now act as the default for that element. 3.2 Creating a New Element Label To create a new Element Label, do the following: Step 1. In the Element Labels preferences dialog box, click the New button. The New Element Label dialog box appears. Step 2. Enter a descriptive name for the label. Step 3. Click OK. The Element Label is added to the Element Labels list. When closing the Preferences dialog box, the label will also be available in the Element Label panel. The definitions of all custom made Element Labels are stored in the ElementTags.xml file which is located in the Plug-Ins\WoodWing sub folder in the InDesign application folder. By default, the file does not exist until a new Element Label is added manually. Distribute the file to other systems to share the labels within the workgroup. 7
3.3 Deleting an Element Label To delete any of the Element Labels either the default labels or the custom made labels do the following: Step 1. In the Element Labels preferences dialog box, choose the Element Label from the Element Labels list that needs to be deleted. Step 2. Click the Delete button. The Element Label is deleted from the list as well as from the Element Label panel. If the label that was deleted was assigned to any frames, those frames will become unassigned. 3.4 Applying Labels to XML Tags Element labels can be automatically assigned to XML tags through the Map Element Labels to Tags command found in the flyout menu of InDesign s Structure Pane. The Structure Pane can be accessed through View > Structure > Show Structure. To apply an Element label to an XML tag, do the following: Step 1. Open a document that contains XML tags. Alternatively, create XML tags manually using the InDesign Tags panel. (For more information about XML Tags, see the InDesign documentation.) Step 2. Display the Element Label preferences dialog box. The XML tags that are present in the document are now also available in the XML Tag list. Step 3. Choose an element from the Element Labels list and subsequently choose the XML tag from the XML Tag list with which the element needs to correspond. Choose [No XML Tag] if an element does not need to be assigned to an XML tag. Step 4. In your layout, assign labels to text frames, Layout Module frames and/or image frames by using the Element Label panel. To automatically have the correct XML tag assigned to each labeled object, choose the command Map Element Labels to Tags from the flyout menu of InDesign s Structure Pane. 8
3.5 Applying Paragraph Styles to Elements When assigning an Element Label to a text frame on a layout, a paragraph style can be automatically applied to that text frame. This is achieved by doing the following: Step 1. In the Element Labels preferences dialog box, choose a label from the Element Labels list to which a paragraph style needs to be associated. Step 2. Select the check box Paragraph Style and choose a style from the list. (The list will show all paragraph styles that are present in the layout.) 4. Revisions The following sections list the changes that have been made to this document. 4.1 Version 1.0.0 Released November 2014 First version created by extracting chapter 8 Elements Labels from the Smart Connection User Guide for InDesign. When next creating a labeled text frame, the paragraph style will be automatically applied to that frame. 9