Category: Print Publishing/Desktop Publishing

1. Create an InDesign document and type a few words
2. Select the Text you just typed with the Text Tool
3. On the Control palette, change the font to Times New Roman and the Font Size to 84
4. Ensure the text you just formatted is still selected
5. Find the Tracking area on the Control palette
6. Type -10 into the Tracking area and press [return]

   

   The selected text should now be closer together.

7. With the text still selected, press the following keyboard shortcuts to change the tracking:

   Decrease 20 thousandths em space: [alt] [left arrow key]

   Increase 20 thousandths em space: [alt] [right arrow key]

   Decrease 100 thousandths em space: [alt] [command] [left arrow key]

   Increase 100 thousandths em space: [alt] [command] [right arrow key]

Follow the same steps to track individual letters, except don’t highlight anything. Instead, click between letter pairs to change the spacing between them.

Both Adobe InDesign CS2 and Quark’s QuarkXPress have controls that easily and automatically prevent orphans and windows. (The following steps assume you understand and use style sheets.)

1. Choose Edit > Style Sheets and Edit the Style Sheet you want to have the Orphan and Widow controls
2. Select the Formats tab
3. Select Keep Lines Together
4. Select Start 2 End 2 (click the radio button to the left of the word Start)

   

5. Click OK
6. Click Save

In InDesign CS 2

1. Ensure nothing is selected
2. Select the Selection Tool
3. Double-click the Style Sheet you want to have the Orphan and Widow controls
4. Select Keep Options
5. Select Keep Lines Together
6. Select At Start/End of Paragraph
7. Ensure that both Start and End are set to 2 lines

   

8. Click OK

When creating new master pages in Adobe InDesign CS 2, you can select Based on Master from within the Master Options dialog box. By using this feature, changes made to the "parent" master page trickle down to the "children," potentially saving you significant development time.

In the following scenario, you have already created a 3-column master page called A-3 Columns. Here are the steps you would take to duplicate A-3 Columns and use it as the "boss" of the other master pages.

1. Show the Pages palette (Window menu) and select the A-3 Columns master page
2. From the Pages palette fly-out menu, choose Duplicate Master Spread A-3 Columns

   There should now be two master pages: A-3 columns and A-3 columns copy.

3. On the Pages palette, double-click the text A-3 columns copy to select the duplicate master page
4. From the Pages palette fly-out menu, choose Master Options for A-3 columns copy

   The Master Options dialog box appears again.

5. Change the Prefix to B
6. Change the Name to 2 Columns
7. Select A-3 Columns from the Based on Master area

   Master page B-2 Columns will be “hooked” to master page A-3 Columns. Future changes you make to A-3 Columns will also appear on B-2 Columns. However, changes made to B-2 Columns will not affect A-3 Columns. The relationship between the two master pages is very much like a parent passing attributes to a child (A-3 Columns is the parent, B-2 Columns is the child).

The Shared Content feature in QuarkXPress 7 allows you to reuse content over multiple project layouts, much like the User Define Variables feature you’ll find in Adobe RoboHelp 6 HTML.

Once added to the Shared Content palette, items gain a sort of super-linked property. Should you duplicate an instance of a shared item, the duplicates are synchronized. Update one occurrence of the synchronized text, you update the same thing in any project layout where the item appears. For instance, I created a text box with a phone number in Layout 1. I added the text box to the Shared Content palette. Then I duplicated layout several times. Each of the duplicate layouts contained the same text box with the phone number. Here’s the cool part: I opened one of the layouts and edited the phone number. Bam! The number updated in all of the layouts.

In the following example, I will show you how to use the Shared Content feature to update multiple instances of text box content.

1. Create a new layout in QuarkXPress 7 and draw a text box
2. Using the Content tool, type This is a test of the Shared Content feature into the text box
3. Choose Window > Shared Content to show the Shared Content palette
4. Using either the Item or Content tool, select the Text box you were just working with
5. Click the New tool on the Shared Content palette

   The Synch Content dialog box appears.

6. Type a name into the Name area
7. Click OK

   The text box and its text has been added to the Shared Content palette.

8. Using either the Item or Content tool, select the Text box you were just working with
9. Press [command] [d] several times to make duplicates of the text box and its content
10. Using the Item tool, move the text box to different locations in the layout
11. Using the Content tool, change the content in any of the text boxes to This is an edited test of the Shared Content feature.

    All of the text boxes throughout the layout should have been updated to reflect your change to any of the synchronized text boxes.

Want to learn more about QuarkXPress? Click here.

Want to test drive some free online and totally interactive QuarkXPress 7 tutorials? Click here.

Believe it or not, you can perform complex data merges in InDesign CS 2 that allow you to create form letters, certificates, envelopes and mailing labels out of raw data.

Click here to interact with an online simulation that will teach you how. Or, read the steps to success below:

A data merge consists of three parts: a data document, a target document and a merged document.

The data document contains the information that changes from document to document. For instance, if you wanted to create certificates, the names you want to appear on each certificate would be typed into the data document.

The process for creating a data merge in InDesign is surprisingly simple. First, create the data. You can use just about anything to create the data. But if you want an easy test document, type the data in a word processor like NotePad. Separate the data by pressing the TAB key on your keyboard. Keep in mind that the first row of your data will become the HEADER row in your data and will translate into Data Fields in InDesign.

After you finish creating the data document, start InDesign and create a target document. You create the target document in InDesign as you would create any InDesign document–except you add data-field placeholders that will serve as a conduit between the InDesign document and the data document.

After creating the target document in InDesign, it’s a simple matter of merging the data document with the target document. Really!

1. Select the Window menu
2. Select Automation
3. Select Data Merge

   The Data Merge palette opens. This is where you select the data document file as your data source.

4. Click the Fly Out menu
5. Select Select Data Source
6. Select your data document
7. Click the Open button

   As mentioned earlier, the items in the first row of the data document appear in the Data Merge palette as data fields. Now you will add the data fields to the InDesign document.

8. Click the data fields to insert them into the InDesign document.

   All you need to do now is merge the document.

9. Click the Fly Out menu again and choose Create Merged Document

   A new, merged document will be created that is a merge between the data in your data document and the InDesign target document.

Still don’t believe it’s easy to create a data merge in InDesign? Seeing is believing! Click here to interact with an online simulation and I bet you will soon be convinced. Don’t worry, the price is right. It’s free.

You may need to show a line above and/or below body text paragraphs. You could easily use your line drawing tools to create the line; however, since the lines you draw are not "anchored to the text," as soon as you add text or move the paragraph, you would have to manually reposition the lines. With InDesign, you can add Ruled Lines as attributes of a paragraph. The rules that result look like lines you create with the Line tool, but they will move and resize with the paragraph to which they are anchored.

Follow these steps to add paragraph rule above selected text:

1. Select some paragraphs
2. Show the Paragraph palette by choosing Type > Paragraph
3. On the Paragraph palette, click the flyout menu button at the right of the palette (you can also use the flyout menu on the Control palette, but you will have to resize the Control palette if you cannot see the flyout menu)
4. Select Paragraph Rules (or press [command] [alt] [j])
5. Select both Rule On and Preview (put check marks in both boxes)
6. Change the Weight and Color as you like
7. Change the Offset (the Offset controls the distance between the rule and the baseline of the first sentence)

And here is how you add a paragraph rule below selected text:

1. Click the arrow beside Rule Above and select Rule Below
2. Select Rule On
3. Change the Weight and Color as you like
4. Change the Offset (distance below the baseline)
5. Click OK

Back in the old days, you went to the library if you wanted access to shared assets–mainly books. The library had them, you didn’t.

If you had a library card, you could check out a book or two. Of course, if the book was not available, you had to wait until it was returned–if it ever was returned. And then, horror of horrors, you actually had to bring the book back by some random due date– or there would be big trouble.

Welcome to 2006. Both Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress have libraries all their own. And you are gonna love them–mainly because they’re like the old libraries in name only.

You can use libraries to store commonly used graphics and text that you can pull onto your layout anytime you need them. Any bit of text and graphic that you use frequently in your layout is a good candidate for being copied into a library. Objects used many times, yet in differing locations on the page could be put into a library, and thus your productivity could be increased.

There’s really no limit to the number of elements that you can add to a library, and there is no limit to the number of libraries you can create. The only limiting factor is the amount of free space on your hard drive.

To create a library in either QuarkXPress or InDesign, choose File > New > Library. Give the library a name and then save it.

A new library palette will appear on your screen. It will look like a floating palette but is actually a file. If you were to close it by mistake, you could get it back by choosing File > Open.

Once the library is on your screen, you can drag any object into it (including text, pictures and groups). While you can name any library object in both QuarkXPress and InDesign, InDesign goes several steps farther than QuarkXPress and allows you to treat the library like a database (you can assign keywords and Object Types to library objects) and search for any objects in the library.

And once an object is in the library, it’s as simple as a "drag and drop" to use library objects in your layout. Unlike your father’s library, there is no limit to how many times you can use library objects, and once borrowed, you never return them.

Want to learn more? Read our print publishing books.

Both Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress allow you to place (import) graphics created in graphics programs such as PhotoShop, Illustrator and Freehand. You can place PSD, AI, PDF, EPS, TIF, DCS, JPEG, GIF, PNG, PhotoCD, PICT and other graphic formats. Although many file formats are supported, consider sticking with TIF and EPS images for prepress print workflow and cross-platform issues. Talk to your prepress service provider before choosing to work with PSD, PDF and AI files to ensure they can work with these types of images.

Here’s a description of some of the graphic formats that can be imported:

• DCS 2.0 (Desktop Color Separations): an EPS saved as a single file. This kind of file is pre- separated and therefore prints faster than a standard EPS.
• EPS (Encapsulated PostScript): can contain bitmap and object-oriented information. This format allows you to include low-resolution previews for screen display and non-PostScript printing. Since some EPS files do not have a preview when you go to import them into a picture box, a gray box appears in the picture box instead of the image. Even so, the picture still prints.
• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): a popular graphic file format for Web pages. These kind of images can support up to only 256 colors.
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): a popular format for Web pages that compresses very well. These kinds of images support 24-bit color. PhotoCD: developed by Kodak and meant for storage on CD-ROMs.
• PICT: developed for the Macintosh. PICTs contain bitmap and object-oriented information.
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics): a bitmap format that is touted as the replacement for the GIF format thanks to its better compression and color capabilities. PNG images are supported only by newer Web browsers.
• TIFF (Tagged Image File Format): can contain bitmap and object-oriented information and support bitmap, grayscale, RGB, CMYK and indexed color models. Like the JPEG format, compresses very well.
• WMF (Windows Metafile): developed for Windows. WMFs can contain both bitmap and object- oriented information.

When you import pictures, both InDesign and QuarkXPress remember the path to the original image file—called a link. When someone change the location of the image, modify or delete it, both programs prompts you to relink or update the graphic via the Links palette (InDesign) or Usage dialog (QuarkXPress).

All content, graphic or otherwise, is placed in a frame. You can place a picture into any selected graphics frame. Once placed in a frame, you can crop the graphic, resize it, reposition it and, if the picture is a one-bit or grayscale TIF, you can even recolor it. If you have not made or selected a frame before placing a graphic, InDesign creates the frame automatically. With QuarkXPress, you must create a Picture box before attempting to import a picture. Although both programs allow you to change size, skew, color, rotation and transparency effects, doing so can increase the size of the PostScript file— resulting in longer print times—and increase the possibility of PostScript errors. It’s better to make such changes in a graphics program before importing them into either InDesign or QuarkXPress.

The goal of many print publishers is professional- looking and readable typography. To help you reach this goal, both QuarkXPress and InDesign come with tools to ensure the best visual spacing between words and characters in your layout. To achieve the best results possible, you can use tracking or kerning.

Tracking is the process of loosening or tightening the spacing of a selected text. Kerning is the process of adding or subtracting space between two specific characters. Tracking and kerning are both measured in 1/1000 em, a unit of measure that is relative to the current type size. In a 6-point font, 1 em equals 6 points; in a 10-point font, 1 em equals 10 points.

Here are keyboard shortcuts to track or kern text in both QuarkXPress or InDesign. Keep in mind that if you want to track text, select at least two characters. If you want to kern, click between two characters.

QuarkXPress 7

• Decrease 1/20 em space: [command] [shift] [{]
• Increase 1/20 em space: [command] [shift] [}]
• Decrease 1/200 em space: [command] [alt] [shift] [{]
• Increase 1/200 em space: [command] [alt] [shift] [}]

InDesign CS 2

• Decrease 20 thousandths em space: [alt] [left arrow key]
• Increase 20 thousandths em space: [alt] [right arrow key]
• Decrease 100 thousandths em space: [alt] [command] [left arrow key]
• Increase 100 thousandths em space: [alt] [command] [right arrow key]

There are three types of fonts are available for you to use today: TrueType, PostScript Type 1 and OpenType.

TrueType is a scalable font format developed by Apple Computer, Inc., and built into Apple’s OS 7 and newer, as well as into the Windows OS. PostScript Type 1 fonts are the publishing industry standard for digital type. If you plan on using a commercial printer and service provider to print your document, quality-made Type 1 fonts are recommended, although good quality TrueTypes also image just fine. Neither TrueType nor Type 1 font files are cross-platform—a major frustration to publishers and service bureaus.

OpenType fonts are a newest PostScript format and are the wave of the future. The OpenType format allows for one file to have complete cross- platform compatibility between Macintosh and Windows. OpenType fonts can contain more than 65,000 characters as opposed to a limit of 256 characters in TrueType and Type 1 fonts. One font file can contain an entire family of style variations including ligatures, true small capitals, fractions and old-style figures. OpenType fonts are a two-byte character encoding that encompasses most of the world’s languages, including Asian characters. You can learn more about fonts on the Web at http://www.adobe.com/type/