Description:
Graphic designers everywhere have been eagerly awaiting their chance to use Adobe's new layout king, InDesign. InDesign for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide is a good choice since it boasts the ability to get beginners up and running right away, even with the most complicated tasks. InDesign is not a very difficult application since Adobe is adept at creating user-friendly and reasonably intuitive interfaces. Experience with any Adobe product means some ability to jump right in with its other applications. What is challenging about InDesign is the number of new features. It features a greater range of typographic controls, the ability to create or modify graphics, use of layers, flexible master pages, and other advantages over its competition. The format of this book (step-by-step instructions side by side with numerous screen shots) is particularly useful in this case since the reader can go through sequentially for an overall introduction or just quickly reference any problem area. The last two chapters deal with comparisons between InDesign, Quark, and PageMaker, clarifying many differences right away. Readers who have extensive experience with either of the latter two applications may want to read these first, especially when searching for things like the text box (with InDesign, every frame can hold text.) There's also help with customizing InDesign's interface to resemble Quark's. The writing style is casually personal, yet not overly so. For example, the author notes that although she often skips past opening chapters when learning a new software program, she usually has to go back later. Indeed, the opening chapter here offers a crucial introduction to InDesign's interface. For readers not familiar with Adobe applications, this chapter will prove valuable later, since InDesign's palettes play a key role in tool functionality. The author's many years of experience in the field also contributes to informative sidebars discussing issues or debates in printing or design. Overall, this is another fine entry in the Visual QuickStart series, one that will help designers become the first on their block to use the new killer app. --Angelynn Grant Topics covered: Cross-platform instruction on Adobe InDesign, including an introduction to the tools and palettes; creating and navigating a document; working with text and objects; using the pen tools; working with color; importing and manipulating graphics; working with long documents; working with styles; advanced text control; color management; preflighting; printing and exporting; customizing the interface and comparisons to Quark and PageMaker.
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