Customer Reviews

How to Wow with InDesign

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

 

 

I would say it's good if you already know how to use InDesign so you can spot the errors.

So far I have spent a whole day going through this for my students for only two of the book's chapters so far!

I wish I had checked out the errors in this book before having my students buy this book.

The fonts that the CD files ask for are TrueType so you have to know how to edit your fonts when opening file one (chapter 2). If you have a Windows operating system you will not have the free dingbats that come on a Mac so just do the best you can by choosing web dings or similar font. Someone needs to update the book's CD files to include Adobe's Open Type.

I had to tell students that page 42 starts with page 2 of the start file that is on your CD, Ch2. The way the illustrations are arranged it is hard to tell which file you are to be working on. The way illustrations are arranged is even more confusing. If you have a Windows computer, the RTF will not work as the book indicates.

Page 45 note: The Vertical justification will not work unless you have a new document open and you place the text. It will work if you click on the "Ignore text wrap" option but then the type runs over the other type in that area. If you look at their example in the book, there is no other text on the page. Would a beginner know this? The CS book is correct but the CS2 book has all the same screen captures of the justification choices but they don't match the examples underneath. Students will have to create a new document and place the text and then choose Top, Center, Bottom and Justify. Then you'll see your type positioned like the examples shown in the book.

Page 46 note: If your baseline grid will not show up when you choose view>grids and guides>Show baseline grid, check page 47, 3rd line up. If your view is the default setting of 75% or higher you can see it. So how do you change your view? Lower left area has the % of view size and you can change it there. You can also type in 75% or just zoom in closer.

Note: for some things to work you have to be sure you have the appropriate "A" or the "P" chosen in the control palette. For example, the instructions on page 47 to align to baseline will not work unless you are in the Paragraph palette.

Pages 48-52 note:The text they supply and the text that is in the book is different so the lessons will not work exactly as shown. The end file is even the same as the beginning file so students may not know what they are supposed to do.

Page 53 note: The examples of text they use in the book has punctuation to align. The book's examples are good to show how Open Type works. However, the text they supply on the CD does not really give you an idea of what they are trying to communicate. Better examples are needed.
Page 57 note. Screen capture is wrong for optical kerning. Gee who put this book together?

Page 59 note: To alter the "earthwatch 2004" go to the Master pages in the top right of your screen. Pages can be set there and they will change for all the pages in the document. (Beginners would not know to go to the master pages)

Page 60 note: The word "watch" they try to sample is already the same in the CD files. The book shows a different font to begin with for the two words so you get the idea about formatting with the eyedropper. Beginners would be saying what's this supposed to do?

Now I see the disclaimer about the CD and the "notice of liability" and wish I had not been so trusting of good reviews.
Seems like the authors or Peachpit have had ample time to get the right files and right fonts on the accompanying CD for the CS2 version. Seems like they could place the right images since the book is mostly a redo of the CS book. I really don't find a reason to really buy the CS2 book if the CS version is a bit more accurate.

Lots of nice designs (pretty pictures) but content is much better in other books or the help section of InDesign. Like so many other books this is a redo of CS with negligible changes (for the worse).

I learned QuarkXPress in school ... hated it then, still hate it. Bought the Adobe package one version before CS came out (InDesign 2.0) and didn't care much for ID, so used Illustrator 10 for all my page layout projects.

I have recently discovered ID CS ... with the help of this book. It is clear, to the point, and tells you everything you need to know (the basics to intermediate) to get started using ID CS for everything. It even has a chapter on how to make interactive PDF files out of ID.

Did you know that there is no white swatch? There is only "Paper" ... which you can change the color of to simulate the printed paper color ... but this "background" will not print. Pretty cool, huh? Learn other awesome stuff in this book.

Being a new InDesign user of two months, the 189-page "How to Wow with InDesign CS2" was a good starting point for me to begin to learn how to more effectively use IDCS2. Written by two of Australia's experts in using InDesign, Wayne Rankin and Mike McHugh, I learned many of the IDCS2 basics and beyond through the text, numerous graphics, text boxes, and accompanying CD. The CD provides raw text and graphic examples from the text as well as templates to practice with and/or see how they changed during the development of the book. Almost every other page has one or more short tips or insights to help you with the topic at hand. The book was written with the beginner to intermediate user in mind although I think it's more toward the latter. The book also covers both MAC and Window applications.

"How To Wow with InDesign CS2" is broken down into nine chapters, a nine-page index, and accompanying CD that includes grayscale and RGB textures, templates, graphics library with custom-made elements; project files; document presets; stroke styles; and a list of keyboard shortcuts.

Chapter 1 covers the basics including your desktop workspace, creating a document, setting defaults, transforming (moving, resizing, and rotating) objects in your new document, how text frames are created and work, acquainting you with Adobe Bridge to work more effectively with other Adobe products, and using color management to name a few topics.

Chapter 2 "Text and Typography" covers the important features of importing, formatting, and positioning text, using grids, using the eyedropper tool to format text, and styles. One topic I noted not there was changing text direction which I'm using currently doing a lot of.

Chapter 3 provides help for converting Quark Express documents, creating templates, imposing document pages, and long document features.

Chapter 4 covers creating, customizing, fills and strokes, images, and more for tables.

Chapter 5 addresses using color, swatches, tints, gradients, and more.

Chapter 6 reviews graphic placing, positioning, and linking as well as PDF Illustrator & Photoshop files and formats, and Photoshop Layer Comps.

Chapters 7, 8, and 9 deal with "transparency, interactive elements, and output of which the former two may be more of an interest to the intermediate user although the output chapter is a must for any user.

My only wish for a future edition would be to interweave the text into the CD more so that the various examples would be better illustrated before, during, and after the finished action and/or product - perhaps a book on CD? I would recommend beginners look for a different book if they are not experienced with INCS2.

Just rec'd the book and I must say, I love the Illustrator, How to Wow book, and now I equally appreciate this book. Excellent layout and design, attractive examples (so important, who wants to learn the skills when poor examples are given?), large color graphics, enough detail to complete tasks. Short wide pages with fairly large text and helpful color blocking make it easy to actually use the book as you work if you have enough space to open it next to you. Only 1/2 an inch thick, but close to 200 pages, well-indexed, packed with exactly what you need to know and not a whole lot of extra. The nine chapters are very logically put together, abbreviating a bit, 1-Basics, 2-Text, 3-Pages & Documents, 4-Tables, 5-Using Color, 6-Importing Graphics, 7-Wkg with Transparency, 8-Adding Interactive Elements, and 9-Output. Handsome logical layout, beautiful but practical examples, well written. It zeroes in on exactly what I wanted to know and without glossing over the more intricate aspects, like some books do. I teach this application software at the college. InDesign is a marvelous, user-friendly application. This book helps to make all the possibilities of InDesign apparent. It would make a marvelous text book for teaching.

This has to be one of if not the best book for InDesign. It goes into detail for various aspects of the design process like preflighting for example. Also this book has very good tips.

Well worth the price.