In this InDesign® tutorial, we will build the Table of Contents for our fixed layout ePub project. We will use InDesign's hyperlink feature to build our TOC.

InDesign has a built-in process for creating a TOC but we will not be using this. As this is a fixed layout ePub and not a reflowable ebook, our TOC will have simple text-based hyperlinks that will point to various pages of the ePub.

View Sample Project Page 3

The Hyperlinks

First, we will add the title text for each hyperlinked page in the ePub. In the example, we have only two hyperlinked pages, which are the first page of the poem text and the first page of the game second. Therefore, title text for these hyperlinks will be Read the Poem and Play a Game.

The Read the Poem link will take the reader to page 4 of the ePub, which is the first page of the poem text. The Play a Game link will go to page 12, which is the page after the last page of poem text. This page will also have hyperlinks that point to each individual game in the ePub. Therefore, we have the following pages in the ePub.

Page 1 - Cover
Page 2 - Copyright page
Page 3 - Table of Contents
Page 4 - First page of poem text
Pages 5 - 10 - Poem text
Page 11 - Last page of poem text
Page 12 - Games TOC

The Graphics

Besides the full page background graphic, which we added to the page in a previous tutorial, the TOC page will have two Christmas ornament graphics. We will add a simple Dance animation to these ornaments, which will make them appear to swing back and forth on the greenery at the top of the page. Let's begin by adding the ornament graphics to the TOC page (see screenshot).

1. Open the project file and go to page 3.


2. Click File - Place to add an ornament graphic to the greenery at the top of the page. Repeat this for the second ornament.

Now let's add the title text for the two hyperlinks. We will place the Read the Poem text slightly under the ornament on the left side of the page and then place the Play a Game text under the first title text.

Remember that InDesign creates a default text frame on each page. We will paste the title text in to the text frame, as we did in a previous tutorial.


3. In the Layers panel, drag the text frame layer above the background graphic layer.


4. Select the text frame and paste the title text Read the Poem in to the frame.


5. Select the text and change the Font and Font Style to Noteworthy and Bold or that of your choice (see screenshot).


6. To make the text larger, set the Font Size to 72, the Leading to 80 and Tracking to 50. Set the color to green (1C804D) or that of your choice.


7. The text frame covers the entire page. Reshape the text frame to the size of the text.


8. Position the text frame to the left side of the page.

Let's make the second link.


9. With the text frame still selected, click Edit- Duplicate in the top menu.


10. Drag the second text frame in to position under the first.


11. Change the title text to Play a Game.

Now we will add the hyperlinks.


12. Select the text frame for the first hyperlink.


13. Right-click and choose Hyperlinks - New Hyperlink from the pop-up menu.


14. In the New Hyperlink window, set the Link To drop-down menu to Page (see screenshot).


15. In the Destination section, set the Page to 4.


16. Keep the other default settings and click OK.

You should see a blue dashed line around the text, indicating that the text is now a hyperlink (see screenshot).


17. Repeat the process for the second link.

We will test the hyperlinks in the EPUB Interactive Preview.


18. Open the Animation panel and click the Preview link at the bottom of the panel.


19. Place your mouse over the text and the cursor will change, indicating that the text is now a hyperlink.

Save your work.

Index - InDesign Fixed Layout ePub

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