Thursday, May 15, 2008

InDesign Tip of the Week! yeeha!

Tip of the Week: Reposition as You Create Objects
So you're right in the middle of drawing a frame or a line and you realize that you need the object a little further up the page so you can get a better idea of how big it should be. There's no need to stop the drag and reposition -- just hold the spacebar and you can move the object anywhere you want. When you're satisfied with its position, release the spacebar (but not the mouse) and continue to draw. This tip also works while drawing in Photoshop or Illustrator!

-- Sandee Cohen

Senior Editor, InDesign Magazine; Author, InDesign CS3 Visual QuickStart Guide

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Email Standards Project Acid Test | Email Standards Project

http://www.email-standards.org/acid-test/

Photo.net - Jpeg Compression by Gordon Richardson - photo.net

This site has great visuals that will help you explain the visual difference
between a high quality jpeg and a low quality jpeg. HINT: Click on the "Jpeg
Quality Settings" link at the top of the article.

http://photo.net/learn/jpeg/index.html#qual

Let me know if this helps.
Thanks,
Sarah

Friday, February 15, 2008

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P  O F  T H E  W E E K ===========

Use the Script Label Panel for Notes
How do you add notes to others working on a document? If
you're working within text frames, you've got the handy Note
tool. But what if you want to make a comment about an image
or other non-text element on a page? How can you give the
next person who works on the file instructions about that object?

Here's how to do it in CS3: Select the image, then open the
Script Label panel (Window > Automation > Script Label). Write
anything you want in the area inside the panel -- there's room
for hundreds of words.

Tell the next person working on the document to keep the Script
Label panel open. When any object is selected, the note will appear
in the panel.

-- Sandee Cohen
Senior Editor, InDesign Magazine
Author, InDesign CS3 Visual QuickStart Guide
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321503066/creativeprocom

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

InDesign Magazine: Tip of the Week

=========== T I P O F T H E W E E K ===========

Place EPS Images without the "White Background"
If you have legacy vector files saved in the EPS format (this includes
Illustrator, FreeHand, and CorelDraw files), they may show up with
a white background when you place them into InDesign. There are
many ways to fix the problem, but here's my favorite:

Choose Show Import Options when you place an EPS file and check
the Rasterize the PostScript option under Proxy Generation. Don't
panic, you're not actually rasterizing the vector information; you're
only changing how the preview appears.

From that point on, you don't have to select Show Import Options;
InDesign applies the setting to all new placed images.

I prefer this solution because other methods require changing the
file from EPS to AI. That's not always possible for FreeHand or Corel
files, and it can take a while to process a large library of legacy
documents. My method also works with any platform and doesn't
require changing any other ID preferences.


-- Sandee Cohen
Senior Editor, InDesign Magazine
Author, InDesign CS3 Visual QuickStart Guide
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321503066/creativeprocom

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P  O F  T H E  W E E K ===========

Resizing Tables by Dragging
You can resize a table with the Type tool by dragging the
right or bottom edge. But if you want to resize all the rows,
hold down the Shift key while you drag the bottom edge.
To resize all the columns proportionally, Shift-drag the right
edge. Or, to resize the table rows and heights at the same
time, just drag the lower-right corner of the table with the
Type tool. Resizing the table using this technique does not
scale the text in the table.
--David Blatner
Editorial Director, "InDesign Magazine,"
co-host, InDesignSecrets.com

Monday, September 10, 2007

Thursday, July 26, 2007

InDesign Magazine: Tip-of-the-Week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Apply Only Color Attributes with the Eyedropper
If you load the attributes of an object with the Eyedropper tool
while holding down the Shift key, the Eyedropper loads only the
color of the object (ignoring all other object attributes). If you
load attributes of an object with the Eyedropper and hold down
Shift while applying the attributes to another object, InDesign
applies only the color to the object.

-- Eliot Harper, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

========================================

Monday, July 23, 2007

The Learn List

A cool portal for the best Adobe tutorials everywhere and anywhere.
http://www.thelearnlist.com/photoshop.html

Thursday, July 12, 2007

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Switch Swatches
The New Swatch button on the Swatches palette duplicates any
selected swatch. To duplicate the swatch and open the New Color
Swatch dialog, hold down Option/Alt while clicking it. To create a
spot color version of a swatch, select the swatch and hold down
Command/Ctrl while clicking the new swatch icon. You can also
switch among RGB, CMYK, and Lab modes inside the Color Swatch
dialog box by holding down Shift while clicking on the color proxy.

-- Eliot Harper, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

InDesign Tip of the week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Find Missing Fonts
If you search for a missing font using the Find Font dialog box
and can't locate the troublemaker on a page, cancel out of the
Find Font box and bring up the Story Editor. Your cursor will be
where the missing font is.

--Jamie McKee, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

Thursday, June 28, 2007

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Quick Single-spread Documents
Do you want a two-page spread all by itself in its own file?
Simply create a new two-page document and check the
Facing Pages option as you create the file. Then turn to page
one and choose Layout > Numbering & Section Options and
start the page numbering at 2. Click OK to leave the dialog
box, and you're done. Because it?s an even number (page 2),
InDesign moves it to the left side of the spread

-- Keith Gilbert, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Fix Flaky Files
If your InDesign file is behaving erratically, it may be damaged.
One easy troubleshooting technique is to choose File > Export
and export the file in the InDesign Interchange format. This will
create an .inx file. When you open the .inx file, InDesign rebuilds
the file from the ground up -- hopefully without the problems
of the original.

-- Keith Gilbert, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

Monday, May 28, 2007

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Adobe - TechNote : Opening InDesign CS3 files in InDesign CS2

Thought you guys might be interested in this. Keep it close for reference
for the next few months or so. We're basically waiting for our suppliers to
catch up with us and purchase CS3.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?event=view&id=KC.kb4006
68&extid=kb400668&dialogID=13321945&iterationID=2&sessionID=12128ab6065e7131
3668&stateID=1+0+94626884&mode=simple

Thursday, May 10, 2007

InDesign Tip of the Week

=========== T I P - O F - T H E - W E E K ===========

Obtain Exact Color Values
The eyedropper tool lets you view the exact color used in a
psd, .tif, or .jpg file. However, it provides only an approximate
color match for .eps images or for vector artwork. Furthermore,
it doesn't sample spot colors from vector artwork. To see the
exact CMYK or spot color that will be used to output any image
or artwork on your page, activate the Separations Preview palette
(Shift-F6). Choose Separations from the View popup menu and
move your cursor over your artwork. The exact ink percentages
are displayed next to the inks in the Separations Preview palette.

-- Keith Gilbert, from InDesign Magazine
http://www.indesignmag.com/idm/issues.html

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Pantone Colour Bridge and Adobe



It seems that Pantone has updated their swatch books again, calling them Color Bridge. What does this mean? I intend to find out. What I do know is the Solid to Process conversion for Pantone 433 has changed. The previous conversion was CMYK 33/3/0/95 the new version is 90/69/40/89. The new CMYK breakdown is definitely better looking and more accurate, I can't argue with that.

If you use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and/or InDesign you need to update your Swatch Libraries. Adobe's Knowledgebase section has an article with pretty good instructions, including a link to Pantone's website to download Color Bridge. I really fail to understand why the link goes to Pantone's Home Page, useless. Now I have to search for the download link. I got it! It's under MyPantone, create a new account and then on the new page select "Support files + fun tools" from the bottom left menu bar.

RANT: My big beef is that we had to find this out from our printer in the process of working on 8 pieces of collateral for one client. It was fate that we had a press check in the early stages of the process and the printer happened to have the new Pantone books and that our designer happened to notice the new books and order them for us. Why isn't Adobe and Pantone broadcasting this to people who are using these products? This is the second time I've run across this in my career. The first time was probably around 10 years ago, when they changed the process breakdowns to accommodate for Stochastic screening and it seemed like it was a much larger inconvenience then.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007