Preparing your InDesign Content
Alternate layout
In Twixl Publisher, you can create an alternate layout for phones. As of Twixl Publisher 22.2, there are two different sizes for phones, 'Phone' (for somewhat older phones with a 16 by 9 aspect ratio, and 'Phone XL' (for most recent phones, with an aspect ratio of 19.5 by 9).
To do this for an existing document, open your publication, then click the 'Alternate layouts" option in the plug-in and you'll have an extra option to create a 'Phone' and a 'Phone XL' version of your content. If you only want to create a phone layout in a new article, select the 'Phone (XL) Portrait' or 'Phone (XL) Landscape' template.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Do not use Adobe's built-in alternate layout "iPhone" from the Pages panel. Use the Twixl Publisher plug-in panel to create the phone versions instead.
Dimensions
The "Phone 16:9 V" alternate layout is 320 pixels wide and 568 pixels long. The "Phone 16:9 H" is 568 pixels wide and 320 long.
The "Phone 19.5:9 V" alternate layout is 393 pixels wide and 852 pixels long. The "Phone 19.5:9 H" is 852 pixels wide and 393 long.
When both 'Phone' and 'Phone XL' layouts are available, the image dimension closest to the screen resolution will be used, otherwise the images will be scaled.
Image Resolution
If you are creating content for phones, note that you should have an effective ppi of 280 in order to obtain optimal output quality on recent phones.
Automatic publication split
Twixl publications uploaded to the Twixl Distribution Platform will be split automatically into separate versions for the different platforms (iPad, iPad retina, Android 10" & Android 7", and phones).
You can check if you uploaded a publication that supports all the platforms by checking the file sizes of the publication.
The advantage is that a reader will only need to download the contents relevant for his device.
Export
When exporting a 'Phone' layout from InDesign, Twixl Publisher will automatically generate different phone resolutions. For Android phones, Twixl Publisher will automatically select the version that is the closest to one of the formats.
Preparing your App
Creating a build that supports phones
On the Twixl platform, the Build for option in the build settings for your app offers three choices:
- Tablets (only)
- Phones (only)
- Tablets & Phones (universal)
This let you decide which type of app you want to create.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Building for phones requires that your InDesign export contains a Phone alternate layout. Also, if you submit a universal iPhone/iPad app to Apple, it is not possible to later update this to a Tablet only or Phone only version.