: InDesign HTML 5 plugin or web apps to create HTML 5 ebooks based on InDesign project I am designing e-books for iPad & Android tablets. The problem is I have very little options to add

@Bryan765

Things have developed since this post. You might try in5 (http://ajarproductions.com/), a plug-in that promises to do most of what you want.

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@BetL875

There's a big red flag in your question: "export the e-book in HTML5 format".

There is no such thing as an "HTML5 ebook" at the moment. ePub 3.0 is coming, and is essentially HTML5/CSS3 (such as they are) under the hood, but the currently supported ePub and mobi standards are a subset of HTML and CSS2. If you plan to create ebooks, you really must get familiar with the standards and supported features (different among Nook, Kindle, iPad and others).

InDesign does generate HTML, albeit somewhat rudimentary. But if you want an ePub, why not go ahead and create an ePub, rather than taking the extra steps? As of InDesign CS5.5 the ePub export capability is excellent, requiring minimal tweaking and plenty of customization. Amazon has a Kindle plug-in that will allow you to create Kindle (mobi) versions, although you can also convert ePub to mobi easily enough. Be aware that Kindle is a more primitive format than ePub. Anne-Marie Concepcion has three excellent titles on Lynda.com on ePub from InDesign (CS4, CS5 and CS5.5), Liz Castro's book and website are terrific resources, and there's the new ePub Secrets blog devoted to the subject.

Apple has (again) gone proprietary by jumping the gun with the iBook version of ePub, so what works in an iBook won't necessarily work except on iThings, and won't necessarily be compliant with ePub 3.0 standards (they aren't right now). I recommend staying well away from that (especially the new authoring tool, which has a draconian license agreement) if you plan broad market for your ebooks.

There is no "add HTML arbitrary code" functionality in InDesign, even using a plug-in. Such a thing doesn't exist in the DOM, so even with a plug-in there'd basically be nowhere to put it.

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@Shelley591

Given the track record of software 'spitting out HTML' I'd be wary of anything that could claim to do the above.

Note that HTML5, by itself, doesn't make an app. It'd still have to be compiled into an app (ignoring the ability to run local web sites--which I assume isn't what you are talking about).

As such, you likely need to get this all into PhoneGap at some point so the HTML5 can be compiled.

Before doing any of that, though, I'd take a look at Apple's new eBook authoring software:
www.apple.com/ibooks-author/
Which was designed specifically for creating interactive eBooks.

UPDATE

After reading more of your comments, I think what you are really looking for is a way to create a self contained HTML 5 app. There are two ways to handle that:

1) create a web site with a manifest file and implement local storage. That allows a user to download your site and store it locally on their device.

2) Use phonegap to create an App from your HTML5.

Option 1 is slick, but rarely used for a number of reasons...the big ones is that people don't really know you can do that and it makes it hard to create a paywall.

Option 2 is not too hard, though I don't think InDesign will help in any way. You basically just build your HTML5 site as you see fit (animations would be CSS or Canvas) and then compile it into apps for each platform.

The reason I mentioned iBook Author is that it's an authoring tool, akin to InDesign. So that's a solution coming at it from the authoring standpoint more than it is on the distribution end.

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