Excerpt from Dynamic Learning - InDesign CS3

What you’ll learn in this lesson: Boosting your InDesign productivity Enhancing text formatting Expanding your creative capabilities Using enhanced table formatting tricks

What’s New in InDesign CS3?

InDesign CS3 is a significant step forward in page-layout software. Whether you are a creative professional or a production artist, InDesign CS3 includes enhancements that make it easier to produce and distribute compelling content. We’ve highlighted some of the program’s key new features in this lesson, and included references to the lessons in which they’re discussed in more detail.

Starting up

This lesson provides an overview of the new features of CS3. If you are new to InDesign, or prefer to get started with the hands-on projects, skip to Lesson 2, “Essential Skills.”

Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. See “Resetting the InDesign workspace and preferences” on page 3.

You will work with several files from the id01lessons folder in this lesson. Make sure that you have loaded the idlessons folder onto your hard drive. See “Loading lesson files” on page 3.

See Lesson 1 in action! Use the accompanying video to gain a better understanding of how to use some of the features shown in this lesson. Click here to view this lesson's training video. This video is delivered by AGI instructors. You can take an InDesign Class delivered by AGI instructors or register for any of the InDesign Training Classes at AGI.

Improved styles

When designing your layouts, you may want to create the same border for all the picture frames or assign the same text attributes, such as color, size, and font, to all the headlines. InDesign makes it easier than ever to save a snapshot of these attributes, called Styles, for repeated use. You can save an enormous amount of time and maintain consistency in your layouts by using styles to apply formatting. You can create text styles for individual characters, such as the numbers used in the step-by-step instructions in this book, or for an entire paragraph. Object styles can include attributes such as the border or drop shadow applied to a graphic frame.

InDesign CS3 introduces styles for tables and the cells within a table. This allows you to quickly and easily format tables so they maintain a consistent look.

1 Open Adobe InDesign CS3. 

2 Choose File > Open. In the Open a File dialog box, navigate to the id01lessons folder within the idlessons folder you placed on your desktop, then double-click the id01.indd file to open it.

This is a one-page brochure with information about Stockholm, Sweden. If you receive any warnings relating to missing fonts, press OK and don’t worry about them, as you’ll be formatting the text over the next few steps.

3 From the Tools panel, choose the Type tool (). Click the cursor anywhere in the table listing city names in the upper-right corner of the document so that the insertion point is blinking within the table.

4 Press the Table Styles button () in the dock on the right side of the workspace to display the Table Styles panel. You can also choose Window > Type & Tables > Table Styles to display the panel.

5 In the Table Styles panel, select the City Table Style to apply this style to the table where the cursor is located. The table formatting, including rules (lines), background color, and text formatting, changes. You will work more with table styles in Lesson 7, “Creating and Using Tables.”

Table styles let you quickly format an entire table, including cell and text attributes.

Styles applied to text characters and paragraphs can be grouped together into a nested style. Nested styles let you quickly and easily apply multiple formats to text in a single step. InDesign CS3 now lets you repeat nested styles in a paragraph, such as a list, in a single step.

6 With the Type tool still activated, click anywhere within the text listing statistics about Sweden, located along the bottom of the document.

7 Press the Paragraph Styles button () in the dock, or choose Type > Paragraph Styles. The Paragraph Styles panel opens.

8 In the Paragraph Styles panel, click to select the Nested List Style and apply it to the text. Notice that two alternating formats apply to the text. This is called a nested style, or a style that accommodates multiple styles within it. You will learn more about nested styles in Lesson 5, “Working with Styles.” 

Use nested styles to apply repetitive formatting to text.

9 Choose File > Save As. In the Save As dialog box, type id01_work.indd into the Name text field. Navigate to the id01lessons folder, then press Save.

Quickly apply formatting to text and objects

Styles and other commands can be applied using the enhanced Quick Apply option to speed up the formatting of your documents. Simply select the object or text you wish to format, then press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Return (Mac OS) to access the Quick Apply feature. When the Quick Apply panel opens, type the first few letters of the style you want to apply, and when that style is highlighted, press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply it to the object or text.

1 From the Tools panel, choose the Type tool () and click the cursor in the blue headline text so the blinking insertion point appears anywhere within the word Stockholm.

2 Using your keyboard, press Ctrl+Enter (Windows) or Command+Return (Mac OS). The Quick Apply panel appears.

3 Type ch and the Quick Apply panel lists all styles that start with the letters ch, including the chapter heading style. Click on the chapter heading style to apply it to the Stockholm text.

Use Quick Apply to easily format text or objects.

Quick Apply lets you apply character, paragraph, object, and table styles. It also lets you apply key commands and scripts. You can learn more about working with styles in Lesson 5, “Working with Styles.”

4 Choose File > Save to save your work. Keep this file open for the next part of the lesson.

You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through the various Quick Apply options, then press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS) to apply the desired style or command.

Importing files

When designing a page, you need to pull together assets from different locations. These can include a variety of content, such as images, illustrations, and text. InDesign CS3 took a process that had been relatively unchanged for the past decade, and improved it dramatically. You can now import multiple files in a single instance, obtain a preview of text or graphic files as they are being placed, and cycle through files before they are placed into your document. These capabilities save you time, and help ensure that you are importing the correct file before you place it into your document.

Additionally, you can now place native InDesign files, which means that it is no longer necessary to create a PDF of an InDesign page that you wish to use in your layout. This is useful if you have a cover design, created using InDesign, for a book or magazine that you want to promote in a brochure.

Import InDesign documents into your layout without converting them to another file format.

You’ll find these features demonstrated throughout this book, especially in Lesson 4, “Working with Text and Type,” and Lesson 6, “Working with Graphics.”

Fitting frames

In the past, you would have to manually fit the frames of text and images placed into your layout to the content. While this level of manual control is still possible within InDesign CS3, you can now set your text and graphics to automatically fit to a specific size. If you have dozens, or hundreds, of images to import into a catalog layout, InDesign can now automatically reduce or enlarge each item automatically to the appropriate size as it imports the image.

You can define frames’ fitting settings even before you import the content.

Synchronizing master pages

Book publishers need to keep their individual sections and chapters consistent. In previous editions of InDesign, this involved building one template file and hoping that all designers working on the file maintained the original design. If a master page needed to be changed, all chapters had to be manually updated.

InDesign CS3 makes this a one-step process; master pages can be defined in a single document and then distributed to all documents that are part of a book. You can learn more about these capabilities in Lesson 10, “Advanced Document Features.”

With book synchronization options, you can easily keep book formatting consistent across multiple InDesign documents Text wrap on master pages Wrapping text around an object is not a new feature. Page layout software has been able to do this for years. But previous versions of InDesign didn’t let you place an object on a master page and define a text wrap that would push the text away, regardless of the page on which the object appeared. Instead, you needed to manually apply the text wrap, sometimes referred to as run-around. With InDesign CS3 you can apply a single text wrap to an object on a master page, and the object is pushed away from the text regardless of the page on which it is used. You can learn more about this in Lesson 3, “Building Documents and Master Pages.” Applying text wraps in InDesign CS3 is easy, and more flexible. Photoshop transparency effects InDesign has borrowed some great features from Photoshop CS3, making it easier to design and apply interesting and artistic effects to images and objects from within InDesign. Many effects and designs that previously required you to work in both InDesign and Photoshop can now be achieved in one place. 1 In the id01_work.indd file, choose the Selection tool () from the Tools panel. 2 Click to select the picture of Stockholm located at the top of the layout. 3 Choose Object > Effects > Gradient Feather. The Effects dialog box opens. 4 In the Effects dialog box, click the Preview checkbox to preview the effect as you make adjustments to the settings in the dialog box. You can see the image adopt the default settings, and fade from full opacity to transparent. Keep all settings unchanged, then press OK. Apply Photoshop transparency effects without leaving InDesign. 5 Choose Edit > Deselect All so you do not affect this image with future modifications. 6 Choose File > Save, and keep the file open. Customizable interface You can customize your version of InDesign yourself, without the need for power tools or safety glasses. Simply make a trip to a couple menus and you can customize most menu choices and some of the panels. 1 Choose Edit > Menus. The Menu Customization dialog box appears. 2 In the Menu Customization dialog box, click the arrow to the left of File to display all the commands available from the File menu. 3 Locate the Save As command and click the eye icon () to the right of this command. When the eye is not visible, the command does not appear in the menu choices. Repeat this process to hide the Check In and the Save a Copy commands from the File menu, then press OK to close the Menu Customization dialog box. Personalize your menus and navigate through InDesign more quickly and easily. 4 Click the File menu and notice that the three choices you disabled are no longer visible. 5 Choose Edit > Menus. The Menu Customization dialog box appears. Click the area in the visibility column next to Save As, Check In, and Save a Copy so that the eye icon is once again visible. These items now appear in the File menu. Keep the Menu Customization dialog box open. 6 Click to select the Save command, then click the word None in the Color column. The word None becomes a drop-down menu. Click it again and choose Green from the color choices, then press OK to close the Menu Customization dialog box. 7 Click the File menu and notice that the Save option is highlighted in green. This feature makes it easier for you to locate certain commands. The Save command stands out because of the green highlight you applied. The Control panel can be similarly customized. 8 From the Tools panel, choose the Selection tool (). 9 Click once to select the picture of Stockholm. Notice that the Control panel, located above the InDesign workspace, displays the size, position, and other information about the selected image. 10 At the far-right side of the Control panel, press the panel menu button () and choose Customize. The Customize Control Panel dialog box opens. Click the checkbox to deselect the Object option; all the Object options become deselected. Click the triangle next to Object to display additional options and click the Transform X-Y-W-H so it is the only item selected. Press OK to close the Customize Control Panel dialog box. Reselect the image of Stockholm. Notice that the Control panel now only displays the transform information relating to the selected object.  Disabling the Object option leaves only the transform information in the Control panel. 11 Along the far right side of the Control panel, click the panel menu button again and choose Customize. The Customize Control Panel window opens. Click to reselect the Object option. All the Object options are once again selected. Press OK to close the Customize Control Panel dialog box. Keep the file open; you will continue to work with it in the next exercise. Exporting HTML InDesign CS3 makes it much easier to convert your print projects into content for the Web, especially if you use Adobe Dreamweaver CS3. 1 Choose File > Cross-media Export > XHTML/Dreamweaver. The Save As dialog box appears. Navigate to the id01lessons folder, then open the Web folder and press Save. The XHTML Export Options dialog box appears. 2 In the XHTML Export Options dialog box, you can choose options relating to the XHTML file that will be generated from your InDesign document. If it’s not already done, set the Export option to Document, not Selection. Keep all other settings unchanged and press Export to generate the XHTML file. Generate XHTML files from your InDesign documents to put them on the Web. You can open and edit the XHTML file that was generated using Dreamweaver CS3, or view the file using your web browser. Improved lists You may need to create documents that contain different types of lists. Maybe you need to use numbered lists, or perhaps lists with bullets. InDesign CS3 makes it possible to create sophisticated lists, but it does require a little bit of work. You can now create lists with multiple levels, span lists across multiple text frames that are not connected, and use the Paragraph Styles panel to more easily format the numbers or bullets used in a list. In Lesson 4, “Working with Text and Type,” these capabilities are covered in more detail. One way to add a more fun, or sophisticated, look to your lists is to use the Paragraph Styles panel. Text variables If you create documents with various sections, such as catalogs, magazines, books, or brochures, you can benefit from the variable text capabilities of InDesign CS3. In order for this exercise to function correctly, you must have formatted the headline using the Styles discussed earlier in the lesson. If you have not already formatted the headline using the chapter heading style, do so now. 1 Using the Type tool (), click to insert the cursor in the empty text frame in the upper-right corner of the page. 2 Choose Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable > Running Header. The word Stockholm appears in the text box. This is because the style applied to the Stockholm text has been defined as a variable. InDesign located the first usage of the text on the page, and then placed it into the running header. You’ll discover more about text variables in Lesson 10, “Advanced Document Features.” Go to Type > Text Variables > Insert Variable > Running Header to add a header to your Stockholm brochure. Choose File > Close to close the document. When asked if you want to save your changes, choose No. Now that you’ve had a chance to see many of the new and improved features in the latest version of InDesign, let’s take a quick tour of all that InDesign has to offer in Lesson 2, “Essential Skills.” Throughout the remainder of the book you’ll get a more in-depth look at specific features and capabilities of InDesign CS3.