Linking to Illustrator files

Adobe GoLive lets you import Adobe Illustrator files into a Web page. As with Photoshop files, Adobe GoLive creates a copy of the source file in a Web-safe format and maintains a link, called a Smart Link, between the two files. If you later make changes to the source image or resize the Smart Illustrator object, Adobe GoLive automatically updates the Web-safe copy when you return to the page containing the image.

Note: Automatic updating does not occur if the file resized is in the Flash or SVG format since those formats are vector-based. Accordingly, Illustrator does not open in the background.

You can also double-click a Smart Illustrator image in the document window to open the original source image in Adobe Illustrator. The Smart Illustrator object icon will not be available in the Smart tab of the Objects palette unless you have at least Illustrator 9.0 installed on your computer.

To add a Smart Illustrator object:

1 Drag the Smart Illustrator icon from the Smart tab of the Objects palette into your document window, or double-click the icon in the palette. You can also drag an Illustrator file onto your Web page. If you do, skip to Step 4.

2 Select the Smart Illustrator placeholder, and click the Browse button next to the Source text box in the Smart Image Inspector.

Note: You should size the source image in Illustrator to nearly the size you want on your Web page before you create a Smart Illustrator object.

3 Select the desired Illustrator file, and click Open. Illustrator starts in the background.

You can also select an image by dragging from the Point and Shoot button () to an Illustrator file in the Site window or by dropping a file from the Site window. The Destination text box will be filled in automatically when you choose and import a source file.

4 Choose the desired Web format from the Conversion Settings dialog box, and click OK.

Illustrator comes to the front and displays an optimization dialog box appropriate to the Web-safe format you choose in the previous step. See the Adobe Illustrator User Guide for details on choosing optimization settings for the various formats.

5 Select the desired optimization settings, and click OK.

6 Specify the folder where you want to save the converted image (it must be inside your site folder or the link will be invalid).

7 Click Save.

To make changes to conversion or optimization settings of a Smart Illustrator object after the image has already been imported, see Using the Smart Plug-in Inspector with Illustrator files for details.

Images and Page Design > Linking to Illustrator files

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