Customer Reviews

InDesign CS3 One on One

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After trying out the cheap yet disappointing, glorified user manual entitled "Indesign CS3 For Dummies", I decided to give Deke McClelland's more expensive option a try. I am thrilled with this book! If one knows nothing about InDesign, then this book is recommended to provide a jump start on using the program. The book is accompanied by a DVD which provides great video introductions to every chapter. The premise is to show the user what they'll be learning, and then walk them through each step required to obtain the results shown in the video presentation. Right away, the author instructs the reader to install the provided lesson files on their hard drive and open up InDesign. This is a "learn by doing" book and well worth the money.

'InDesign CS3 One on One' is an outstanding book by the Adobe master Deke McClelland. Mr. McClelland follows in the footsteps of past Adobe book efforts and really nails it this time around either. With 500+ pages of content laid out on beautiful full color paper, examples jump of the pages saying TRY ME OUT!! Content is spread out into lessons, of which there are 12 in total. The flow is exceptional and the writing matches up just as well. Steps are easily laid out so the reader will have little problem knowing how, what, and why things are done the way they are. If the book alone wasn't good enough, a 3 hour DVD featuring lynda dot com tutorials comes along as well.

If you work in the publishing industry and want to learn or get better with InDesign, this is an amazing effort that will please all readers of this material. Flow, layout, writing, color, extra content, this is what all books should strive to be and Deke has done it again!

***** HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION

Are you a graphic design professional and design student alike that need a smart, sophisticated approach to page layout software? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Deke McClelland, has done an outstanding job of writing a self-paced book on Adobe InDesign CS3.

McClelland, begins by covering each recipe contained in this book, which is designed to help you quickly understand the problem, learn how to solve it, and find out any potential trade-offs or ramifications to help you solve your problems quickly, efficiently, and with minimal effort. Next, the author shows you how to use Adobe InDesign CS3's page layout and design software. Then, he discusses how to accelerate user productivity with loads of new features like: new Photoshop effects (including gradient feathering, inner shadows, and glows) that you can apply to objects on a page; finer transparency controls, which let you apply transparency settings independently to an object's fill, stroke, and content for more complex visual looks; numerous productivity enhancements; advanced find/change features; new table and cell styles; and, export to XHTML, and more. The author also focuses on why Adobe InDesign is no longer the industry newcomer--and, why it's a full-fledged, sophisticated program, tightly integrated with the other Adobe industry leading graphics and Web programs. He continues by examining why Adobe InDesign is the essential tool for anyone doing page layout and design. Next, the author discusses why with the release of InDesign CS3 (part of Adobe's perfectly synchronized, tightly integrated Creative Suite 3 (which now includes Photoshop CS3, Illustrator CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, and Flash CS3 Professional in the Design Premium and Web Premium packages)), that it takes its place in the design firmament! Then, he focuses on why real world Adobe InDesign CS3 offers industrial-strength and time-saving techniques for design professionals who need to start laying out, proofing, and printing pages with InDesign CS3, without missing a beat (or a deadline!) in their fast-paced production cycles. The author also discusses how design pros will find everything they need in this book to successfully master InDesign's advanced page layout tools, manage color, snippets, and use the program more efficiently. Finally, he shows you how to find complete coverage of essential features in InDesign CS3, which includ: new gradient feather, directional feather, and bevel and emboss effects; improved transparency controls; improved long document support; expanded Find/Change; and, an even more flexible and customizable user interface.

This most excellent book is ideal for beginning users who want to master the key features of this program, while readers who already have some experience with InDesign can use this book to familiarize themselves with InDesign CS3's newest features. More importantly, this book will show you how to build your InDesign expertise, one technique at a time.

McClellan's series of Adobe books are an invaluable reference for me. His tutorials are lessons I actually use in my work. He gives practical use of the software in a way even a novice user can understand and yet the professional will turn to time and again. Actually seeing the author use the tools in a video is the perfect way to learn software. I have many adobe manuals on my shelves, THIS one sits on my desk.

Like other Deke McClelland books, this one is a complete guide for learning InDesign CS3. The book covers almost every detail of the software and the author, with an extensive experience in graphic design, shows the tricks and advanced techniques for taking the maximum power of InDesign. As a plus, the book comes with a very nice DVD with almost 3 hours of video class. Highly recommended.

I do agree with the other reviewers that Deke is a good teacher and his instructions are easy to understand. BUT, they are way too wordy. He goes into so much detail that it takes about one hour to do something that could actually take fifteen minutes.

The lesson files have doc's all set up for you. I would have wanted a from scratch lesson in the beginning.

I like the InDesign Quickstart guide much better because, well, its quick.

The reason I am not getting rid of Deke's book is because there are some nice explanations to help people who basically know nothing about publishing, it just takes too long to read.

Good book, but i was disappointed that the text depends upon the cd. If you are looking for a book to look up tools and how-to's, this may not be the book for you.

I've been fumbling my way through InDesign for work for a while but got so frustrated that I decided I needed some help. I've started going through this book, chapter by chapter and have had so many, "A-Ha! That's how you do that!" moments. It's been very helpful and I've only had a little bit of trouble following along but that's bound to happen when you're trying to teach yourself.

This book with it's DVD let me accomplish thing I would have had to pay other thousands to do for me. Deke has a is very entertaining style.
I can not recomend this book highly enough!

Deke is a great teacher: easy to follow, speaks clearly and isn't boring.
I don't think everything in the book is on video, but the book is also easy to follow. It too is a great teacher with lots of illustrations, tips and concise directions. Though I was a Quark user and completely new to InDesign, One on One does a great job of teaching it.