The InDesigner

I’m a big fan of InDesign’s HTML export. I use it a lot to get magazine content created for print with InDesign to export cleanly and efficiently for posting online. However, the more I work with HTML export in CS6, the more baffled I am at the changes that have been made, and the more I pine for the markup I was used to in CS5.5. … (read more)

Posted in CS6, HTML, Styles, Workflow | 5 Comments » |

A brand-new, two-part video series I recorded for Adobe TV launched today. It takes an in-depth look at the new features in InDesign CS 5.5 (and some improved older ones) that make the entire InDesign-to-accessible-PDF process faster, easier, and more reliable.
Part I explores the new features that greatly reduce the time and number of steps involved in creating accessible PDFs—setting up a content order in the new Articles panel, creating anchored images within a text flow, applying “Alt” text and tagging instructions to images, and mapping paragraph styles to PDF tags.

Part II starts with the finished InDesign document, exports it to a PDF, and show how well all the new InDesign CS5.5 features pay off in Acrobat X Pro. It also demonstrates how to further speed up the process using Actions in Acrobat X Pro.

If you watched the accessibility video I did last year, using CS5, you’ll be amazed how much work has been done by the InDesign team to take all the pain out of the process and enable real communication between InDesign and Acrobat.

Posted in Accessibility, Acrobat, CS5.5, Layout, Styles, Workflow | 12 Comments » |

Launch day for Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 is here, and so is my first podcast episode dedicated to the newest version of InDesign.

In this episode, I take a look at a number of very cool new features in InDesign CS5. There’s a lot more (see the full list below), but I’ve focused on some of my favorites, including span/split-column paragraphs, multiple page sizes, simplified transformations, metadata captions, the new Layers panel, and animation features (hinted at in my last post).

This episode is kind of a a long one, but I’ve included chapter markers so you can quickly jump to the section of the episode (there are five demo segments) you want to see.

Watch the episode here (36:46 | 70.1MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.

Here’s a (just about) complete list of the new features in InDesign CS5. There are numerous other small details and enhancements, but here’s the biggest and the best: … (read more)

Posted in Automation, CS5, Design, Document Set-up, Graphics & Images, Interactivity, Layout, News/Announcements, Podcasts-Video, Productivity, Styles, Type & Text | 18 Comments » |

Checkboxes and radio buttons and comb fields…oh my! After the podcast’s longest hiatus ever, and a cliffhanger gap worthy of The Sopranos, The InDesigner returns with a new episode that (finally!) finishes off the topic of designing smart for Acrobat forms.

In this episode, I take a look at adding form elements to an InDesign layout to create Acrobat-friendly checkboxes, radio buttons and comb fields, all of which can be achieved with a little help from anchored objects, GREP find/change and tables.

You may also notice new feature added to the podcast starting with this episode: chapters. You can now jump right to a specific part of the lesson using the chapters built into the video file.

Watch the episode here (15:30 | 45.5MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.

Posted in GREP, Layout, Podcasts-Video, Styles, Tables, Uncategorized | 10 Comments » |

After a seven-month hiatus…the podcast returns!

Recently, I’ve been doing a lot of work designing forms, which present their own unique design challenges, one of which is that more forms are being completed digitally as PDFs. As we’ll see in this episode, when you’re designing a form to be as Acrobat-friendly as possible, the same principles that make for a clean, function, well-organized form on the page also lend themselves to fast and easy form field recognition in Acrobat.

Watch the episode here (14:58 | 49.6MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.

Download the InDesign Interchange (.inx) file with the flexible form line style used in this episode

Posted in Design, Interactivity, Podcasts-Video, Styles | 30 Comments » |

After six months, tens of thousands of words, and many late nights, I have finally completed my book for Adobe Press, “Adobe InDesign Styles: How to Create Better, Faster Text and Layouts” which is available for pre-order at Peachpit.com and at Amazon.com and will be shipping in the second half of April, 2009. I’m both glad to be done with it and very pleased with the end result: the first ever exploration of every InDesign style type, and all other features in the application that are “wired into” styles.

As many of you know from the podcast, I’ve got a passion for styles that’s finally seen a comprehensive outlet in this book. Below is the final table of contents for the book, so you can see what’s included between its covers, as well as in two bonus chapters that you can download for free when you register your copy of the book on the Peachpit web site (it doesn’t matter where you actually bought the book). I wrote way too much to fit in its 256 pages, but the material that got pulled from print will still see the light of day as … (read more)

Posted in Designer's Bookshelf, News/Announcements, Styles | 28 Comments » |

Today, Adobe announces the Creative Suite 4 in all of its various iterations (Design Premium, Web Premium, Production Premium, and so on). This updated Creative Suite includes another evolutionary and significant new version of InDesign, and in this episode, I take a look at some (but by no means all) of my favorite new features including Smart Guides, Flash export, and GREP Styles.

Watch the episode here (14:14 | 51.7MB), or you can subscribe via iTunes.

Posted in GREP, Interactivity, Layout, News/Announcements, Podcasts-Video, Styles | 26 Comments » |

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 | 36 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 Graphics & Images, GREP, Podcasts-Video, Productivity, Styles, Type & Text | 5 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 | 2 Comments » |