Create an Inline Element

Typefi Inline Elements are used for inserting content, such as sidebars, callouts, figures, and small icons, into the main story text. You can use them for any object that you want to be associated with a particular word, line of text, or paragraph.

During the automated page composition process, Inline Elements are attached—or anchored—to specific text and travel with that text as it flows. They can be positioned in three ways: relative to the baseline of the text in which they are anchored, above the text, or in a custom location within or outside of the frame they are anchored to.

Creating an Inline Element involves four key steps:

1. Set up the Element framework.
2. Create the Element.
3. Apply the Element.
4. Specify how the Element will be positioned.

To create Inline Elements, you should already be familiar with creating Typefi-ready templates in Adobe InDesign.

Set up the Element framework

The first step is to set up the foundational framework of the Element. It may consist of one or more Typefi Frames (Element Content, Element Image, Element Audio, or Element Video), Typefi Fields, lines and shape objects, and any other boilerplate text and objects that remain the same in each iteration of the element.

Place the element framework on a parent page. This is important because any document pages in the template are removed during the page composition process. Also, be sure to place it on a parent page that is not assigned to a Typefi Section; otherwise, an unwanted duplication of the element will appear when that Section is inserted into a layout.

You may also want to use the Typefi AutoFit tool to link objects into parent-child relationships, and the AutoFit panel to automatically resize text frames when content is added to them (see AutoFit overview).

Create the Element

To create a new Inline Element:

1. Choose Window → Typefi → Elements to open the Typefi Elements panel.
2. Select the Create new element icon at the bottom of the panel; or choose New Typefi Element from the panel menu.
   
3. In the Typefi Element Options dialog:
   
   1. Enter a unique Element Name. To optimise your publishing workflow for multi-format publishing, choose element names that only contain alphanumeric characters, dashes, and underscores. Symbols and spaces are not supported in EPUB and HTML.
   2. Choose Inline from the Element Type menu.
   3. Choose an option from the Default Paragraph Style menu to choose which style will be applied to the element text by default when the element is inserted into a Word document, using Typefi Writer. The default paragraph style can be overridden with another style in Word.
   4. Choose an option from the External Paragraph Style menu to choose which style will be applied to the paragraph that the Inline Element is anchored to. This allows you to control the horizontal alignment, left and right indents, space above and below, and other paragraph attributes.
   5. In the Fields tab, specify which Element Fields are required in the Element.
      
4. Click OK.

The new Element appears in the Typefi Elements panel, identified with an anchor icon ().

Apply the Element

After creating an element, the next step is to apply it to the element framework you set up in Step 1.

To apply an Inline Element:

1. Select the Typefi Frames and any other objects that form the element. For example, a figure element may contain two frames: an Element Image frame for the graphic and an Element Content frame for the caption.
   
2. In the Typefi Elements panel, select the Inline Element you want to apply and then click the Apply selected element icon at the bottom of the panel; or choose Apply Element from the panel menu.
   

When you apply an Inline Element to multiple frames, they are grouped (if they were not already) and a frame border (light Blue by default) is applied to the parent element (as shown below). The name of the element is displayed at the bottom left corner. When you apply an Inline Element to a single Typefi Frame, the original border colour is preserved.

Specify how the Element will be positioned

During the page composition process, Inline Elements become InDesign anchored objects, which makes it possible to position them in a variety of ways. By default, they are aligned with the baseline of the text to which they are anchored. They can also be positioned above the text or outside of the text frame while remaining anchored to the text (see About anchored objects from InDesign’s user guide).

To specify how an Inline Element will be positioned in a layout during page composition:

1. Create a new object style (see Define object styles from InDesign’s user guide).
2. In the Object Style Options dialog, select the Anchored Object Options category and specify one of the following options:
   
   • Choose Inline to adjust the vertical position of the Inline Element above or below the baseline.
   • Choose Above Line to position the Inline Element above the line of text to which it is anchored.
   • Choose Custom from the Position menu to position the Inline Element anywhere within or outside of the text frame in which it is anchored (see Position a custom-positioned anchored object from InDesign’s user guide).
     
3. Apply the object style to the Inline Element. During page composition, the object style will be applied to each iteration of the element.

The position options available within the Size and Position Options category of the Object Style Options dialog conflict with Typefi. If you require more advanced positioning options, use a Floating Element.