Preparing your InDesign Content
Alternate layout
In Twixl Publisher, you can create an alternate layout for phones. 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 V" and a "Phone H" version of your content. If you only want to create a phone layout in a new article, select the 'Phone Portrait' or 'Phone 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 V" and "Phone H" versions instead.
Dimensions
The "Phone V" alternate layout is 320 pixels wide and 568 pixels long. The "Phone H" is 568 pixels wide and 320 long.
When exporting, the Twixl Publisher plug-in will automatically generate three renditions of the phone version:
- 640 x 1136 / 1136 x 640 pixels (for iPhone 4/4S, 5/5S)
- 750 x 1334 / 1334 x 750 pixels (for iPhone 6-12 Pro)
- 1242 x 2208 / 2208 x 1242 pixels (for iPhone 6 Plus to 12 Pro Max)
For Android phones, the image dimension closest to the screen resolution will be used, with a preference for scaling down instead of scaling up.
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 an iPhone 6 Plus.
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 3 sizes for 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 based on the iPhone 5/5S, iPhone 6 to 12 Pro and iPhone 6 Plus to 12 Pro Max formats. For Android phones, Twixl Publisher will automatically select the version that is the closest to one of these three 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.