ASSET BROWSER
Create catalog and circular layouts with simplicity and speed 
Xinet® WebNative® Suite Asset Browser helps to automate the production of large, complex design layouts, freeing up your designers’ time to focus on the creative process.
Feature Overview
Asset Browser acts as a Web browser within Adobe InDesign that can be used to search for and place assets from a WebNative Suite site to a layout document, quickly and easily. Asset Browser’s functionality can be further enhanced to provide a drag-and-drop method for placing and formatting the metadata associated with the images, in addition to placing just the assets. This is possible when the WebNative Suite site has been configured to work with a script on the WebNative Suite server.
This feature allows designers to focus on the creative side of producing catalog and circular layouts rather than the mechanical side of entering data, such as item descriptions, pricing and sale dates—and the result is a noticeable savings of both time and resources.
View the Asset Browser Window
Designed as a plug-in to InDesign, Asset Browser remains active within the layout window while designers continue to work—so there’s no need to switch between applications during the layout process. Because this tool was created with InDesign palettes in mind, it can be moved, resized or minimized as needed. For added security, users must log into Asset Browser to access files on the server, and a session time-out period can
be established when necessary. To log-out, a separate button is located
at the bottom left corner of the Asset Browser window.
The Asset Browser tool offers simple navigation and searching capabilities, as well as three different views from which designers can select images: Tile View, Gallery View and Detail View. Within each view, asset previews can be displayed in three different sizes, as shown in the following images:
Tile View: This view displays equally-sized image previews and file names.
Images here are displayed at the smallest possible size.
Gallery View: This view displays multiple image previews across the bottom of the window, with the selected image at
top and center. Images here are shown at a mid-range size.
Detail View: This view displays image previews with expanded details about each asset. Images here are all displayed at the largest possible size.
Customize Formatting and Placement
Asset Browser can be used to do more than just
place images. For users who create complex, time-consuming layouts, an added layer of customization can automate the formatting and layout of both assets and metadata.
This customization can be created with a scripting language, such as AppleScript. Once the script is in place, users can simply drag an image from Asset Browser, and the layout, placement and formatting are conveniently handled by the script, saving considerable time in the studio.
With scripting, any formatting a user needs can be automated. For example, the custom scripting might place an image at a specified size, depending on the value of a metadata field associated with the image. Or the script might place text boxes containing metadata values alongside the image to save creative staff the tedious, repetitive task of re-entering text for each asset.
Localize for Different Markets
Designing for multiple regions, variable pricing, or
a wide range of item descriptions is also simplified
with Asset Browser. Scripting can be set up so that
localization is reflected in different layers of the design file, with no added effort from the designer.
With scripting in place on the WebNative Suite server and assets viewed through a WebNative Suite site, customization can be automated for virtually any design element.
Localization: When an image is dragged to a document from Asset Browser, layers are automatically added to the InDesign file as needed, based on scripting and metadata.
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