Customer Reviews

Adobe InDesign CS4 One-On-One

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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Recently my employer bought me and team members the Adobe CS4 suite. Photoshop was the key product in the suite I had to focus on -- but I also set about exploring the other products. The one that interested me most was InDesign. In my days as a technical writer, I used Framemaker and wanted to compare how the tools functioned.

I decided I needed a bit of help and I immediately thought of the O'Reilly "one-on-one" series. The Deke McClelland books (packages, really) in that series for Photoshop really impressed me [ Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One (Digital Media) ] and [ Adobe Photoshop CS3 One-On-One ] and as it turns out, he also did one for InDesign so I did not hesitate to get it.

McClelland and co-author David Futato used InDesign to produce their book and I cannot imagine a better proof of the abilities of the tool and the mastery of that tool by the authors. There is not even one page here without richly detailed color illustrations laid out in continually interesting ways.

The other key element that makes this a winning package is the accompanying DVD with megabytes of lesson example files and several hours of video instruction that is also entertaining. These aren't those 3 in. by 2 in. movies some books or sites have. The movies play at 1280 resolution so you don't need a magnifying glass to see all the controls being demonstrated.

The book is over 500 pages long but is not overwhelming. The 12 lessons are paced really well. The independent designer or graphics person will probably appreciate the self-paced hands-on approach. People in a classroom scenario, on the other hand, will go for the structured exercises and quizzes (with answers). *Everyone* will benefit from the extra tips and the way the videos are integrated into the content of the book.

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I read Amazon.com reviews and thumbed through various CS4 InDesign guides at local retailers for a week before deciding to purchase this book. I couldn't be happier with my choice to buy the One-on-One guide. This book and accompanying disc present 3 specific benefits for me:

1. Method. With each chapter, step one is to watch a video (each is approximately 10 minutes). The video shows an actual project being manipulated (in high resolution, so you can see all the icons clearly) and "sets the hook," so to speak, with regard to what the reader will learn in that chapter. With so many tools and options, it's nice to be able to see and say, "Oh - THAT'S why it's worth learning." Next is to work, step by step, through the provided sample exercises. This was much easier for me than books where the techniques are listed, and then there's an instruction like, "now, try this on the supplied examples." If you do something wrong, your document doesn't look like the full-color illustration in the book, and you know exactly where you went wrong. Last is a little vocab quiz to ensure you got the key concepts and terms. I find the approach to be ideal; the work is going quickly and I'm retaining a lot.

2. Detail level. I'm going to need to use InDesign in my work extensively. Which is not to say that I'm going to be expected to lead seminars on it; I need to know how to command it in day-to-day operations, and know enough about the program to consult other sources for the really fine details that I might not know offhand. This book nails that usage range. I don't expect to know every keyboard shortcut and every way to manipulate every character (and am appreciative that the author's scope takes that into account). But upon its completion, I'll know how to do virtually everything I'll need to do - and will know enough about the various menus and functions that I'll be able to get real results when I look up a more detailed operation online or in a bible-type guide.

3. Tone. Others have complained that Deke needs an opiate:) While I'm amused at the comment, I respectfully disagree. Sure, he's a tad sales-y, but he's interesting. No approach could appeal to the entire audience to whom this book is marketed - but I find that I'm not bored, it's easy to pay attention to the text in the book as well as the accompanying videos, and I get the vibe that Deke actually, PERSONALLY knows what he's talking about and wants you to see what he does and WHY he does it the way he does. It's easy to see that he has real world expertise; he's not just reading the same book you are and "presenting" the highlights. Brief, occasional notes about how the CS4 compares and relates to previous versions, other Adobe products, and competing products like Quark and PageMaker underscore this as well. The included sample documents run the gamut from cheese and humor to modern and professional. Bottom line - yeah, Deke is selling his product - but he's also trying to maintain the attention of students he's never met, and impart serious knowledge about a complex program. I'd take him over 80% of my college professors any day of the week, and am learning a ton with his approach.

One other ancillary benefit is that Deke imbues other non-Adobe lessons too. I've written copy for years on a freelance basis, but have always handed off my stuff in Word format. As a guy who's going to be writing proposals 9 to 5 every day, and who is going to be responsible for getting them into InDesign and printed respectably, I appreciated the little bits of editing know-how as well. I haven't incorporated all of them yet (as evidenced by my double spaces between sentences here...that's going to take some time), but there's some very practical advice here also to be gleaned from a guy who makes his living publishing books with this particular program.

I love this product, and I'd give it six stars if I could. Buy it and you won't be disappointed.

A video is paired with lessons and exercises to make for an excellent classroom-in-a-book format perfect for classrooms and self-learners alike in Adobe InDesign CS4 One-On-One. Here are all the basics for using InDesign more efficiently, from self-paced tutorials paired with real-world projects and applications to over four hours of new video instruction, multiple-choice quizzes for testing, and all backed by the expertise of an author with over 20 years of professional experience. With over 800 color photos and screen shots - what more could you want?

i used quark as a magazine editor (at Mondo 2000), hated quark and swore to never use it again. i used Macromedia Freehand for my layout and design needs for periodicals and books after that (1997-2007) and became highly proficient with it. meanwhile, Pagemaker became InDesign, and kept getting better and better. finally in 2008, for a 3-400 page book, i became convinced of the need for InDesign, and got it.

InDesign has features 5 layers deep. i first got Deke McClelland's book, with DVD video tutorials, in order to get an overview. It was helpful in showing me, rapidly, many features i would have taken months to uncover. cool. but deke mcclelland, bless him, is like a spider monkey on crack: his voice and mannerism in the video are stressful just to listen to. the guy needs some good opiates, or at least a little loving THC. anyway, the book, InDesign CS4 One-on-One, does not balance the practical and the metaconceptual well enough for me. the exercises are directive but do not tell why we are doing what we are doing (just do this, then that, then this, and see, we have a cake!); i need more integration.

i got kvern and blatner's book, Realworld InDesign CS4, and it is the one i use easily and joyfully to plumb the depths of InDesign. it sits on my desk. and because of their knowledge (and wry humor), i enjoy it every time i open it.

mr.kvern has been writing great references for desktop publishing software for over a decade (i started with his Realworld Freehand 8 which is a better guide to the intricacies of freehand than many Freehand 9, 10 and MX books). mr.blatner is also a skilled technical writer (see his invaluable Realworld Scanning and Halftones); together they are unmatched.

get Realworld InDesign CS4, and discover this wonderful software and all it can do.

Terrific introduction to the InDesign netherworld. I find it amazing how the author simplifies the relatively complicated applications at hand and how entertaining he makes the journey.

A simple glance through the pages of these series books shows how much more in command the authors are of layout and simple, good, logical, and entertaining aesthetics. The book is a visual treat; I find the other Adobe tutorial texts pretty tedious just to look at.

And, sorry W.A., but I enjoy the video tutorials as much as the text. No voice/manner annoyance for me.

I highly recommend the deke press series.

This is an excellent introduction to InDesign, especially for someone who hasn't had any experience with the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. When you finish these exercises, you should be able to create most basic types of projects in InDesign. It also makes a good reference book when you've finished going through the tutorials. I am a graphic designer that rarely uses InDesign... but when I need to use it, I need to know how! The tutorials have helped me keep up my skill with the program and of course when I forget how to do something, the book is there with answers.

I think though that the videos are way too long for what information they offer, and they seem to be more focused on keyboard shortcuts (including the author's set of keyboard shortcuts that he has you install before you begin the tutorials) than actual info. If you can barely make it through the first video, don't bother with the rest, they're all similar.

Fortunately the content of the book makes up for what I think are shortcomings in the videos... it's WELL worth the money for the book and practice files, especially if you are a casual (but professional) user of InDesign.

Typography has a particular attraction for me. I remember the days when I was a typographical apprentice, mostly using hot type. It was at that time, in the early 1970's, when cold type first arrived. I remember the clunky and always problematic Alphatype machine, which seemed to be broken more often than not. But, it was the forerunner of our current typesetting technology. I suspected back in 1973 that computers would eventually take over the typesetting business, and I was correct. My former union (International Typographical Union) doesn't even exist any more and my Journeyman's card totally useless. It was in the early 1980's that the first real typesetting program came out, called Aldus PageMaker. I purchased it and started playing with it. It was unreal how closely PageMaker simulated how a typographer would approach type. Aldus was since bought out by Adobe, who later morphed PageMaker into InDesign, constantly adding new functionality. This book takes one on a whirlwind tour of InDesign CS4. It is quite amazing all the power that one now has in the program, compared to the first version of PageMaker. McClelland adeptly demonstrates many of the subtle functions of InDesign CS4. His instructions are quite easy to follow, compared to many how-to-do computer books. Each chapter is accompanied by a short video that highlights a particular segment of the upcoming chapter. My only complain about the book is the preoccupation with certain distractions, such as how to draw figures, that are nice to be able to do in InDesign, but best performed in Illustrator. I would be quite amazed if somebody owned InDesign and did NOT own both Illustrator and Photoshop. Many typesetting topics were glossed over. He could have spent more time on the use of styles, which is one of the strongest utilities in InDesign. His examples included portions of past books that he wrote, and a silly frog article called Professor Shenbop. I would have appreciated a fuller spectrum of types of publications. Deke did have a keen eye for typographical details, and I wished he would have mentioned his thinking more often regarding adjustments of type spacing, etc. In the 1970's, everything had to be -10% between-letter spacing, so that letters ran on top of each other--thankfully, that is bygone. In summary, Deke does a most capable job of giving one a great summary of what InDesign CS4, and what it can do. For somebody familiar with InDesign, it was still helpful to read, and I felt like I picked up many new tips to make InDesign more useful to me.

Since I started teaching myself about computers in 1985 mostly via books, I have lost count of the number of books I have purchased and learned from, many of them excellent.

This book is the best of them all. #1. It's more than a book. The CD that comes with it has hours of high quality tutorial videos on it which you cannot find online.

To take a tremendously complex program like InDesign CS4 and instruct someone (like me) who has never used it before, in such a way as to make it approachable, even fun to learn, is a great accomplishment.

I'm still working my way through the book, but I can say that it has anticipated every problem I might have encountered, and it has given an easy solution to each, right from the get go.

The only gotcha came when some of the example files spawned an InDesign error message about missing fonts. A little googling took me to the author's website where he explained why that happened and provided a free download of revised example files.

Now that's what I call class in a book like this.

Not only is it a great book for learning Adobe InDesign CS4, I consider it the best technical manual for any software I have purchased in the last 25 years. No exaggeration. If you want to learn InDesign CS4, buy this book without hesitation.

This is the highest review I can give to any product.

I am a beginner and this book is great! It walks you through everything and explains everything.

I feel this book and video tutorial are excellent! I like it that I can get an overview from the video and then go into the chapter and have a clue what's happening. InDesign is a huge program with amazing features and it takes someone skilled to teach something like that. I'm able to create pages and enjoy doing it thanks to this product (& I've never done page layout in any program before). I like Deke's manner of speaking on the video, finding it clear and understandable.
All in all, it's good value for the money!