This section provides information on things you should consider when creating a Web publication that requires the Plexus Plug-in.
In Creator you can create a Web publication using either:
Opus Flex an option in the Type tab of the Publication Properties dialog. This will create a Adobe Flash SWF file when the publication is published. Certain options within Creator will be turned off because they are either not available in Creator or not supported in Adobe Flash.
HTML5 the recommended publication type for web publications.
Create a Web Publication option in the Publish Wizard this requires the Creator Plexus Plug-in and extends both the Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers to allow them to play Creator publications without the compromise of HTML. However, because most browsers now restrict the use of plugins for security reasons we recommend you only use Plexus in a controlled intranet environment where you can be sure of the browsers settings.
The Plexus Plug-in downloads your Web publication in sections. First it downloads only those first portions of the publication it needs and will then download the remainder in the background while your user reads the current page. Therefore optimum results will be obtained if the publication has a very small first page, (perhaps by using Text and Vector objects only) and that the rest of the publication is divided up into small sections.
Furthermore, the Plexus Plug-in reads the remainder of the publication in the order in which it appears in the Page Organiser, irrespective of the next page you want to go to, and there is no random access via internet download it reads it in a linear fashion.
When you publish to the internet the Publish Wizard offers you three choices as to how the file should be created these are available on the General tab of the Publish Settings dialog see General tab for more information.
You should use these options to publish your file in chapters or pages or as a single data file according to the following recommendations:
Single Data File Use this where your publication is completely linear i.e. page 1 moves on to page 2 and no other, which in turn moves on to page 3 and no other, and so on.
Data File for each Chapter Useful where the publication has an initial menu page which links to sections that are themselves very linear
Data File for each Page This is the best option where there are multiple links on multiple pages. However it is still best if you try to organize the links so that they refer to pages close to them in the Page Organiser.
You should also try to avoid a publication which allows users to jump around too much as this will mean more and more material has to be downloaded for Creator to cover all the requirements.
Although you can display video in Web publications you need to use it judiciously. If you use ASF format video it will be streamed across the internet, otherwise large amounts of video will probably try your visitors patience too much to be practical.
If you want to put animations on your web page, just for the sake of making it interesting, you should use Animation and small Slideshows similar to those provided by animated GIFs. Keep video for content that cannot be efficiently reproduced in any other way.
Sound should also be used cautiously. MP3 is a very compact format and so should be the preferred format but in any case be aware of using large files.
As with Adobe Flash, Vector objects drawn in Creator are very small and will download quickly.
When using Plexus via an intranet you can specify a dedicated path from which to install the plugin instead of having to install it from the internet. The option is the PlugIn Path setting in the Advanced tab of the Publish Settings.