Friday, January 22, 2010

CSS: How BatchXSLT for InDesign creates and handles CSS

"BatchXSLT for InDesign" creates a CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) file for each exported document representing the document's internal paragraph, character and table styles. Such CSS files may be found in the XSLCSS folder within the 'Export' folder structure. CSS file names are ending with '.css'.

CASE #1: If NO special CSS file name is stated in the export dialog, a css file is created with the InDesign document's name.
Example: If an InDesign document named "01_20100122_Frontpage.indd" is exported, a CSS file named "01_20100122_Frontpage.css" is created.

CASE #2: If a special CSS file name is stated in the export dialog, a css file with the indicated name is created.
Example: No matter what name your document has: if a css name is stated like "NYT.css", a css with this name will be created.

IMPORTANT: A css file is created only, and really ONLY, if it does not already exist.
Existing CSS files are NEVER overwritten!

The real world example:
The exported NYT daily Newspaper should always reference the same external css file "NYT.css".
Proceed like this:
1. At the export dialog state the CSS name "NYT.css" and it will be created.
2. Edit this css to match the web site's needs (change font names and sizes...).
3. Make an export of any other "NYT document" and it will reference your modified existing NYT.css file.

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