This image shows the activated Geometry controls in the Placement Options for Automated Production tab in the Asset Manager of the BLOX Total CMS client for Adobe InDesign.
There are Three controls:
A Geometry menu, or drop down list, that shows the currently available geometry items for the given publication code of the active document and the selected Page Location
A Search field. Enter text here to limit the displayed items to those with the entered text.
A Limit to Space checkbox. This checkbox's major action is to prevent showing in the Geometry menu those items which would exceed the available width and height of the selected Page Location
This is the BLOX Total CMS Plug-in version 6.0.0's Export Snippet dialog. It has both the Publication Codes and the Page Locations areas highlighted.
If no publication codes are selected then the snippet is usable for any publication code. If codes are selected then the snippet will only present itself when the active document has that publication code.
It is highly desirable to list which page locations a Design Element snippet can be used in. Many, because of size, shape, or place-head formatting, can only logically be used in certain page locations.
This image shows a Geometry Item (Design Element Snippet) applied to an Article Asset. This is accomplished by using the Print Publications tab in the asset editor.
The legacy BLOX Total CMS Client for Adobe InDesign version 5.72 further increases the ability to work with Design Element Snippets. This article explains those changes and revisits some of the legacy behavior.
Snippets vs. Geometry Items
In this document, and elsewhere in BLOX Total CMS and its documentation, you will see these terms used interchangeably.
Historically the BLOX Total CMS client for Adobe InDesign used the term Snippets. For example, Page Design Snippets and Design Element Snippets. However, in the browser interface, specifically in the Publications accordion, the term Geometry is used for Design Element Snippets.
Here, Geometry Items are equivalent to Design Element Snippets. The terms Geometry and Snippets are used interchangeably.
What's New?
Besides under-the-hood support for the new snippets produced by our new BLOX Total CMS Plug-in (see later in this article), this legacy client 5.72 version fully allows assets to be placed in snippets with Automated Production. This works in all three Automated Production modes. This means the page's design can be determined before the page is built! However, the assigned snippets need to be exported using the new 6.0.0 or newer plug-in.
In addition, the Geometry area has three controls that will be discussed later:
Geometry menu
Search/Filter text field
Limit to Space checkbox
This image shows the activated Geometry controls in the Placement Options for Automated Production tab in the Asset Manager of the BLOX Total CMS client for Adobe InDesign.
There are Three controls:
A Geometry menu, or drop down list, that shows the currently available geometry items for the given publication code of the active document and the selected Page Location
A Search field. Enter text here to limit the displayed items to those with the entered text.
A Limit to Space checkbox. This checkbox's major action is to prevent showing in the Geometry menu those items which would exceed the available width and height of the selected Page Location
The Geometry menu
With an asset and a Page Location selected, this menu will show Design Element Snippets (Geometry items). Without both selected, the menu will be empty.
The displayed items will be limited to those appropriate for the active Publication Code and Page Location. Legacy client snippets could appear if they are new enough, but you can get unpredictable results. The 6.0.0 or newer client should be used for best results. That plug-in has a built-in function to update legacy snippets and is quick to use if good template management procedures have been followed.
Again, the listed snippets are automatically filtered by two things:
Publication Code
Page Location
Publication Codes and Page Locations can be set in the Export Snippet dialog of the BLOX Total CMS Plug-in version 6.0.0 or newer. Those areas are highlighted below:
This is the BLOX Total CMS Plug-in version 6.0.0's Export Snippet dialog. It has both the Publication Codes and the Page Locations areas highlighted.
If no publication codes are selected then the snippet is usable for any publication code. If codes are selected then the snippet will only present itself when the active document has that publication code.
It is highly desirable to list which page locations a Design Element snippet can be used in. Many, because of size, shape, or place-head formatting, can only logically be used in certain page locations.
If any Publication Codes are selected, the snippet can only be used by those selected. If none are selected, the snippet can be used by all the publications, including ones added to the domain in the future. Don't ignore this area when exporting snippets. Some snippets are clearly for specific publication codes or specifically not for other publication codes.
If any of the Page Locations are selected when exporting Design Element Snippets then they will only appear in the Geometry menu when the Placement Options:'s Page Location menu is set to the matching Page Location. A Design Element Snippet for a Centerpiece has a unique design that is completely inappropriate for use in most other locations. Think before clicking, for better results.
Besides the active Publication Code and the Page Location menu, the items in the Geometry menu are further limited by the Search/Filter and the Limit to Space checkbox.
The Search/Filter text field
Beneath the Geometry menu is a simple text field. Add text there and the Geometry Items in the menu will be limited to those having that exact text anywhere in their names. Every site has their own naming convention, but a consistent naming really pays off.
The Limit to Space checkbox
When checked the Geometry Items will be limited to those whose column widths are less than or equal to the remaining open space of the selected Page Location.
For example, suppose the Placement Options are set to the Left Rail. Since that space is always a single column, then only single-column wide snippets will be available in the menu. This is the case even if neither the Left Rail nor Right RailPage Location was chosen when the Design Element snippet was exported. Knowing the column width is part of the 6.0.0 client's functionality.
However, assume that the page has partially been built and thus the entire left half of the page is filled. Then any of the full-width Page Locations would now be limited to just 3-columns wide. In this case, the snippets displayed in the Geometry menu would be limited to those that are either 1, 2, or 3 columns wide.
In addition to the width searching, the Geometry Items are further filtered to not use a snippet that would exceed the remaining column inches of the selected Page Location. For example, assume a snippet was configured for the full height of one of the two rail locations. Assume that is 1 column x 20 inches tall or a total of 20 column inches. Assume, however, that an advertisement blocks the bottom 4 inches of the rail. The full 20-inch tall snippet will not appear in the Geometry menu because it too tall for the open space of the page location.
The Limit to Space checkbox is sticky. It follows the way you last changed it. Thus, if you click it once, it will remain clicked until you change it. It does, however, remember each the setting for each domain you use.
The Publications accordion's Geometry menu
For many years, the Asset Editor's Publication's accordion in the browser has allowed Design Element snippets to be selected. It has even shown previews of them as shown below:
This image shows a Geometry Item (Design Element Snippet) applied to an Article Asset. This is accomplished by using the Print Publications tab in the asset editor.
When selected here, even translations using the Basic Search tab of the Asset Manager should automatically replace the selected frame with the designated Design Element snippet. This behavior has existed for years. But it only recently was expanded to Automated Production.
The newer versions of Page Tracker on non-appliance based BLOX Total CMS sites allow for easier snippet selection in that menu. Luckily, with the End of Life for appliances now passed, all sites have the most current versions of Page Tracker!
Putting it to use
For Automated Production's One and One+ modes, the user can select a snippet in either the browser's Publications tab or the newly enabled Geometry menu discussed above.
If a snippet was selected in the browser's Publications accordion, it may or may not, however, be displayed or selected in the Geometry menu in the Automated Production tab. If it is not available it is likely because the normal Publication Code and/or Page Location filtering has removed it. Or it could be removed by the Search/Filter text and or Limit to Space filtering.
For the Fill Page mode the first asset placed on the page follows the snippet access of the One and One+ modes. For all other assets, however, a site's users will need to select the geometry items in advance using the legacy options in the Publications tab in the browser-based Asset Editor for each Article asset. As each Article asset is placed, the designated snippet will first be placed on the page and the translation will happen in that snippet. The client, however, will prevent bad selections that the browser interface can allow. In that case, the Rulesets would take over to determine the position of the element frames and the formatting of the place-heads.
The BLOX Total CMS Plug-in version 6.0.0 and newer
The BLOX Total CMS Plug-in, version 6.0.0 and newer has the functionality to export both Design Element snippets to Page Tracker for use with Automated Production and the legacy Page Design Snippets. It also adds enhanced searching/filtering options and previews of the snippets. This makes it easier to place snippets manually than the legacy menu-based structure.
Eventually, the client will completely move to the plug-in version. The snippet features in the 6.0.0 version is the second step of the process after the BLOX Total CMS Plug-in client for Adobe Photoshop which is available here on Adobe's site.
