For years, the PDF was how design left the page. You finished a layout in InDesign, exported a PDF, and sent it out. It looked the same on every screen. That was the point.
But where people read has changed. Most readers are on a phone now. A PDF holds one fixed size, so it does not bend to fit a small screen. Readers pinch and zoom to see your work. The layout you built with care becomes hard to use.
in5 takes the same InDesign layout and exports it to HTML5, the standard format of the web. Same design. Now it lives where your readers are.
There are really three ways to get an InDesign layout in front of people: a PDF, Adobe's built-in Publish Online, or in5. This article covers what in5 gives you that the other two do not.
Who this is for
in5 is built for designers who already work in InDesign and need their layouts to live on the web: digital magazines, catalogs, portfolios, annual reports, sales sheets, presentations, and flipbooks. If you have a layout you are proud of and you need it to work on a phone, this is for you.
It fits every screen
A PDF holds one fixed size. On a phone, that means small text and a lot of zooming. An in5 export can be responsive. It adjusts to the screen it opens on. Your layout reads well on a phone, a tablet, and a desktop. You design once, and it works everywhere.
When exact placement matters more than reflow, you can also choose a pixel-perfect mode that keeps your fixed layout intact on small screens. You pick which one fits the project.
A single side-by-side — the same layout as a pinch-and-zoom PDF on a phone, next to the in5 responsive version — will do more work than this entire section. Add one here.
It can move and respond
A PDF sits still. An in5 export can do more. You can add animation, video, audio, and slide shows. You can build flipbooks that turn like real pages. Readers tap, swipe, and explore. Interactive content holds attention longer than a flat file.
Link one real in5 example here and invite the reader to open it on their phone. "It opens in one click on any device" is far more convincing right after the reader has done it.
It opens instantly
A PDF often asks the reader to download a file first. Some readers need a separate app to open it. An in5 export is a web page. It opens in any browser, on any device, with one click. No download. No extra app. Fewer steps mean more people see your work.
You can see what readers do
Once you send a PDF, you learn nothing about it. You cannot tell if anyone opened it. An in5export is web content. You can add standard web analytics. Then you can see how many people viewed it and which pages they read. That tells you what is working.
People can find it
A PDF is a file, and search engines read files poorly. An in5 export is a web page with real, selectable text. in5 also pulls a title, description, and keywords from your InDesign document so search engines have something to index. Your content becomes something people discover, not just something you send.
It works offline and bypasses the App Store
An in5 export can be packaged as a web app and cached to work offline. A sales team can load a catalog onto an iPad and present it with no connection. You can put an app-like experience on a home screen without going through the App Store approval process. For some teams, this alone is the reason to use in5.
It stays your design
None of this means giving up control. in5 keeps your fonts, spacing, and layout intact. You can choose pixel-perfect text when exact placement matters. The export looks like the file you built-in InDesign.
You own what you export
This is the part that separates in5 from Adobe's free Publish Online button.
Publish Online hosts your content on Adobe's servers. You do not get the underlying code, customization is limited, and the file lives where Adobe puts it.
in5 exports standard HTML5 files to your hard drive, just like a PDF. They are yours. You can host them anywhere, open and edit them without re-exporting, and build them into other platforms. There is no proprietary lock-in and no monthly hosting fee for the files you export.
How it works
There is no new software to learn and no code to write. in5 runs inside the InDesign you already use.
- Install the in5 plugin.
- Open your InDesign layout.
- Export with in5.
- You get a folder of open-format HTML5 files, ready to post or share.
Your changes always live with your InDesign file. When you update the layout, you re-export.
What it costs
in5 is a paid InDesign plugin. There is a free trial, so you can export your own layout and see the result before you pay. Pricing is on the in5 site.
The proof
Designers at companies like Adobe, Disney, Merck, Cisco, Pearson, Penguin, Amazon, BBC, and Nintendo use in5 to turn InDesign layouts into interactive web content, as do teams at universities including Yale, Harvard, MIT, Duke, and Oxford. Per Ajar Productions, in5 has been on the market for more than 13 years, with over 500 tutorials to guide you.
Try it on your own layout
The fastest way to know if in5 fits your work is to run your own file through it. Download the free trial, open a layout you already have, and export it to HTML5.