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Adobe Acrobat Pro – #26 Customizing the Appearance

The Portfolio interface uses an SWF template, called the Navigator. Use the Navigator feature to enhance the portfolio’s appearance and functionality.

Pick a Picture

One of the layout choices offers an image background. Once your portfolio is started, follow these steps to use an image:

  1. Select On an Image from the Choose a Layout pane. The files selected for the portfolio move to the bottom of the preview area as thumbnails.
  2. Click Pick an Image to locate and select the background image, which can be a JPEG, GIF, or PNG file.
  3. Once the image loads into the portfolio, drag the thumbnails from the preview to any location you’d like on the background image.

You can customize the appearance of a portfolio by configuring the layout and color. Start a portfolio as described in the previous technique, and select and add the files or folders you want to use.

Choose a layout. Select one of these options:

  • Basic Grid is the default view that arranges content based on a thumbnail grid.
  • The On an Image option displays your portfolio content with an image as the background. Click the thumbnails placed on the background image to display their contents. For details on building this layout, see the sidebar “Pick a Picture.”
  • Revolve presents the content as a sequence where one file comes into focus at a time, great for displaying images or other highly visual content. You can include a description on the pages; click page icons to navigate.
  • Sliding Row presents the content on a horizontal slider with the central three files in focus, ideal for displaying visual sequences of images and content that needs descriptions. Click page icons below the slider to navigate.

Select a color scheme. Click the Select a Color Scheme bar to display the default color schemes. Click Customize Color Scheme to open a list of the colors used in a scheme. Click an item (such as Background Color or Primary Text Color) to open a color picker that lets you choose a custom color.

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

If you plan carefully, the image background can greatly enhance your portfolio. For example:

  • Show scenery as the image background in a portfolio describing convention and tourist venues in that scenic location.
  • If you use a suite of business materials, coordinate the portfolio with your other pieces by using an image of the background used for PowerPoint presentations.
  • For educational pieces, use an image of the subject of study—say, a windmill—and place files corresponding to discussions on the blades, the grindstones, and so on, at the appropriate locations on the image.

Bring Your Colors Along

You can customize the portfolio colors to use your corporate or team colors. Unfortunately, Acrobat 9 doesn’t offer a method to import color swatches from other programs, such as Photoshop or Illustrator. However, you can make a list of the Hex values for the colors you want to use in the portfolio, and then type them into the appropriate display elements’ fields in the Custom Color Scheme list.

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