The InDesigner

Inspired by a question from a podcast subscriber about creating a text frame that looks like a folder tab, and with the help of a technique suggested by another subscriber, this episode builds on the potential of Paragraph Rules revealed in Episode 49. By combining Paragraph Rules with First Baseline Offset options, a fully-editable, single-object tab-topped text frame is easy. But it gets easier and more interesting when Object Styles and Effects are added to the mix.

Watch the episode here (14:29 | 38.1 MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.

Posted in Design, Podcasts-Video, Styles, Transparency, Type & Text | 33 Comments » |

Normally, I pick one InDesign feature and build a whole episode around it. However, this is the second anniversary of the podcast, and I wanted to do something different, and demonstrate that combining InDesign features is far more powerful than using them individually. In this episode, I use six different features … (read more)

Posted in GREP, Graphics & Images, Podcasts-Video, Productivity, Styles, Type & Text | 3 Comments » |

Last night, I delivered an expanded, 90-minute version of my “Styles Equal Substance” presentation to a record-setting audience of more than 250 people at the Washington, D.C. InDesign User Group meeting. It was an amazing experience. The crowd was energetic, had great questions and made a first-time visitor to the nation’s capitol feel right at home.

“Styles Equal Substance” has been so well-received in both Boston and D.C., that I’ll be presenting an hour-long version of it at the upcoming InDesign Conference in Miami (February 26 - March 1, 2008). If you can’t make it to Miami, you can get a glimpse at the extent of styles throughout the application by downloading the handout from the D.C. meeting.

Photo by Mitchell Osborne, courtesy of the InDesign User Group web site. See more photos from the meeting.

Posted in News/Announcements, Styles | No Comments » |

Last night, I delivered two back-to-back presentations at the Boston InDesign User Group meeting. The first was called “Styles Equal Substance,” in which I took a big picture look at what, to me, is the warm, beating heart of the entire application: Styles. Styles are everywhere, and they’re connected to so many features, you can lose track of how it all comes together. Fortunately, I’ve combed through the application to discover all of the connections between styles and the features with which they interact. My handout posted on the InDesign User Group web site has a visual representation of styles everywhere in InDesign.

The topic for the second half of the meeting was “Understanding GREP,” which covered the new, advanced Find/Change capabilities built into InDesign CS3 under the GREP tab. This is an amazing new feature. For my money, it’s the best improvement of the entire upgrade and something I’ll be talking about a lot in upcoming episodes and in one of my sessions at The InDesign Conference in Miami in February. Can’t make it there or wait to learn more? Then take a look at my other handout for the GREP session that’s posted on the meeting notes section of the InDesign User Group web site.

Posted in GREP, News/Announcements, Styles | No Comments » |

Picking up right where Part 1 left off, this episode concludes my InDesign Inventory of features put to work in the design of a 256-page magazine. In two more examples, I cover working with Master Pages and Document Pages simultaneously, and deconstruct how … (read more)

Posted in Design, Document Set-up, Layout, Podcasts-Video, Styles, Type & Text | No Comments » |

When you design 4 full-page ads, 19 charts and graphs, and 123 page layouts in 24 working days, you really see how InDesign’s features make a big project much more manageable. Having just completed a 256-page magazine, I decided that this episode would take inventory of some of the ways that InDesign … (read more)

Posted in Layout, Podcasts-Video, Styles, Tables, Type & Text | 4 Comments » |

Control and update dozens of styles by changing only one or two. This episode demonstrates my method for creating master paragraph and character styles that are used to control many other … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Styles, Type & Text | No Comments » |

At last, the thrilling conclusion of the Style Sheets Trilogy. The final installment on this topic demonstrates some additional flexibility you can build into your style sheets to account for the unexpected by using samples of nested styles I’ve created. Also, for good measure, you’ll find out … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Styles, Type & Text | 6 Comments » |

Picking up right where Part 1 left off, this second installment on Nested Style Sheets shows how you can build in additional instructions to your paragraph styles, allowing you to apply multiple style sheets to … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Styles, Type & Text | 5 Comments » |

At long last, the video podcast that was “a week away” (according to my optimistic first episode) is finally here. This first-ever video episode is the start of a three-part tutorial covering … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Styles, Type & Text | 2 Comments » |