What is the best suite to download to go hand in hand with photoshop?

[jamesd73893908]

I am designing Datasheets for all our products and I was thinking of using photoshop to do this.

Before I start is there any other suites that go hand in hand with photoshop to help avoid having to change every single datasheet individually when a minor change is made to the background template.

[JonathanArias]

I am sorry. i am confused. are you talking about a data merge? you would want adobe Indesign for that.. no photoshop

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Assuming your Data sheets are mostly text, then don't use Photoshop use InDesign. It's difficult to know what to suggest not seeing what they are like. You can make changes to a Master Page that will change the pages. For complex high-level data merge you can use XML, but that's a steep learning curve.

[jamesd73893908]

There is a balance between text, images and typical details (autoCAD drawings).  They are produced into a PDF and issued to clients and posted on our website.  I hope this helps clarify.

[Trevor.Dennis]

jamesd73893908  wrote

There is a balance between text, images and typical details (autoCAD drawings).  They are produced into a PDF and issued to clients and posted on our website.  I hope this helps clarify.

In that case, as others have said, InDesign is a no brainer.  It can produce what it calls Interactive PDF files that can contain live links to online data being web pages, high resolution versions of the image in the PDF, documents etc.  You can also output to snazzy page transitions using SWF format, but note I don't personally know what the hosting requirements of this would need to be.  Our Nancy would be able to point you in the right direction though

[Nancy OShea]

Since the browsers have killed off 3rd party plugins,  the PDF experience is very limited now. 

• Firefox 52 kills plugins – except Flash – and runs up a red flag for HTTP • The Register
• https://betanews.com/2017/01/30/chrome-57-plugins/

For example, if you launch an interactive PDF form in Chrome or Firefox, you can read it but you can't interact with it.  The same is true for other whiz-bang features like SWF page flipping,  PDF bookmarks,  and so on. 

If an end user has full scale Acrobat or Acrobat Reader they'll have a much better experience.  But that's contingent upon them a) having the software and b) downloading and opening PDFs directly in Acrobat.   What if their device does not have the right software?  Or what if they can't be bothered downloading the PDF and launching it in a separate app?   You've failed to reach your intended audience by not delivering content in a web friendly manner --  HTML5, CSS, JavaScript.

I actually use PDF on the web sometimes but  I also provide the same content in an alternative HTML or video format.   It's extra work but it covers all bases.

[Sebastian Bleak]

Hi James

Sounds like the best Adobe application for this would be InDesign:

http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign.html

The first topic to study up on would be Master Pages. That will help you with you minor changes to the background.

Hope you find this helpful!

Sebastian