InDesign CS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide [Paperback]

Sandee Cohen (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321573579 | ISBN-13: 978-0321573575 | Publication Date: November 27, 2008 | Edition: 1

Adobe InDesign CS4, Adobe's page-design component of Creative Suite 4, offers exciting new enhancements to its already powerful tools. Among the exciting features users will find are new Live Preflighting capabilities and seamless integration with Adobe Flash, including direct translation of InDesign pages into SWF files. Adobe InDesignCS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide will highlight the important new features, as well as covering the ones readers have relied on in previous versions of InDesign.

Using the task-based, visual approach that readers count on in the Visual QuickStart Guides, this volume introduces readers to all aspects of InDesign CS4. Users will learn how to create and automate documents, import and style text and objects, manage long documents, export files for a wide variety of purposes, and much more.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Sandee Cohen is the graphics curriculum instructor for the New School Computer Instruction Center in New York City, senior contributing editor to InDesign Magazine, and a popular speaker at many conferences (including Macworld Conference and Expo, the InDesign Conference, the Creative Suite Conference and other events). She has also written Visual QuickStart Guides on Macromedia Fireworks and Macromedia FreeHand in addition to coauthoring other books on graphics and desktop publishing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (November 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321573579
• ISBN-13: 978-0321573575
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #248,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy way to get up to speed on InDesign, September 1, 2009

By 

James Beswick (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: InDesign CS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

This book offers probably the quickest way to get your head around what is basically the best DTP packages out there. It covers all of the major productivity tips that are not obvious from the interface or the help system. While some readers may not like the methodical style that essentially walks you through every single feature, I personally found this provided the most effective way of understanding functionality.

I've read other books that take the approach of employing features to achieve a task - and while this is useful, I've found it leaves you short when trying to find some arcane button or menu to get something done. In this book, you get to thoroughly understand every single menu option, keyboard shortcut and panel, so there's really no mystery at all. If you are relatively comfortable with Microsoft Word, you should find that 10-20 hours of study will make you a highly proficient user of InDesign.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Learn InDesign the quick and easy way?" Maybe not., December 6, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: InDesign CS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

This series is probably one of the most practical for users of CS4, but as a newcomer to the Adobe design series of programs, I have had a great deal of difficulty finding any text that breaks down the program in a way that I can easily understand and use. While this is clearly a reference guide rather than an instructional text, it is one of the few options that I have found helpful as a neophyte.

The chapters cover everything from document setup to text, color, placing objects, effects and graphics. Unfortunately, this well-organized information is meaningless to anyone unfamiliar with the terminology of the programs. The author assumes I already know how to use the program and all I need are design tips. I can look up tool panels and their uses, but not how and when to apply them- or where they are located. I cannot draw a line until I stumble upon the information that a line is called a "stroke" in this program- even the index didn't help me with this issue. I don't just want shortcut keys, I am looking for a definition of terms, and so far have not found this issue addressed in any book I have purchased.

I blunder through chapters trying to accomplish one thing or another, learning how to apply color or text, sometimes successful, sometimes not. And how about glyphs? I would love to use glyphs to create more interesting text, but cannot navigate my way through this feature to activate it. As well-planned as this text may be for those already familiar with Photoshop and Illustrator, things are pretty dicey for those of us with just minimal skills. Although I have found this book to be the most helpful of any I have purchased- and I have bought many- it still has many limitations for me. If anyone out there in the design community can recommend a better text for a beginner, I would be most grateful. Luan Gaines/2009.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute Best Introduction to InDesign CS4, December 16, 2009

By 

PRB "Paul" (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: InDesign CS4 for Macintosh and Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide (Paperback)

I am a writer/photographer and fairly skilled with Photoshop CS4. Printing companies now want copy in the PDF format, and I was encouraged to get into a more up-to-date format than MS Word or Quark Express. My impression was that Adobe InDesign CS4 was a cutting edge publishing program. So, to make a long story short, I invested in the program and began to try to come to grip with its complexities. I believe the key to finding a useful "how to" book is to find one written the way you, personally, think. Most self-help books for computer programs are mediocre to poor...they just fail to communicate with your thought processes. To make a long story short, I invested in seven books from Amazon marketed to aid in learning InDesign CS4, from an InDesign for "Dummies" book to a supposed "Bible" for the program. I was disappointed in all but the Visual Quickstart Guide titled "InDesign CS4" written by Sandee Cohen and published by Peachpit Press. This book communicates with me. I'm no dummy, and have a Ph.D. degree in the sciences, but most manuals pretending to teach you a complex program don't present a logical and intuitive flow of information. I congratulate Sandee Cohen for helping me to learn InDesign CS4.