InDesign CS4: Introduction

DAY ONE

The InDesign interface

• Creating a new document
• Creating and using frames
• Selecting frames and content
• The N-up View

Working with text

• Placing text
• Selecting and editing text
• Handling missing fonts
• Drag and drop text
• Smart text reflow
• Smart guides and smart spacing

Formatting characters

• Character-level formatting
• Choosing a composer
• Hyphenation and justification
• Using the Eyedropper tool
• Creating drop caps

Working with styles

• Character and paragraph styles
• Creating styles
• Editing and applying styles
• Introducing nested styles
• Removing style formatting
• Organising styles using Style Groups

Importing graphics

• Different file formats
• Placing graphics
• Placing multiple graphics
• Manipulating graphics
• Understanding fitting options
• PSD and PDF layer options

Combining text and graphics

• Wrapping text around graphics
• Introducing snippets

Understanding colour

• Spot and process colours
• Loading swatches
• Working with swatches
• Using stroke and fill options
• Creating tints
• Sampling colours from images

Laying out pages accurately

• Using rulers, grids and guides
• Using the Info panel
• Creating grids
• Working with layers

Questions and answers

DAY TWO

Multi-page documents

• Using the Pages panel
• Targeting pages and spreads

Editing copy

• Using the Story Editor
• Using Find/Change
• Using the Spell Checker

Introducing transparency

• Creating drop shadows
• Feathering edges
• The Flattener Preview panels

Transforming objects

• Scaling objects vs contents
• Transforming objects
• Grouping and ungrouping
• Rotating a spread

Finessing text content

• Threading/unthreading frames
• Flowing text through frames
• Multi-column text frames
• Setting text frame options
• Document baseline grids
• Redefining styles
• Hanging punctuation
• Using special characters
• Viewing composition options

Working with Master Pages

• Master Page guidelines
• Creating and editing Masters
• Applying Master Pages
• Auto-numbering pages
• Basing one Master on another
• Overriding Master objects
• Reapplying Master objects

Combining text and graphics

• Image import options
• Images with clipping paths
• Creating a new clipping path
• Removing image backgrounds
• Editing clipping paths
• Tolerance and threshold options
• Advanced text wrap options

Exporting and printing

• Exporting as a PDF
• Using Live PreFlight
• Spotting potential problems
• Packaging files for handoff

Questions and answers