The InDesigner

How does a person go about learning InDesign? What’s the best way? What resources are available? Where do you you start? Do you take a class? Buy a book? Hire a training consultant? There are a number of different approaches … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Audio | 3 Comments » |

One of the most long-awaited featues for a page layout program has been transparency support — and InDesign’s got it. But making the transparency you see on the screen translate to the printed page requires a process called Flattening. This episode discusses … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Audio, Transparency | 6 Comments » |

In Episode 8, I mentioned how I used Grep Pattern Searching in BBEdit to search for patterns in my text, rather than searching for specific pieces of text. The value of this is that, even though the actual text varies throughout my text file, if the patterns are consistent, I can do very complex and powerful search-and-replace operations that keep that variable text intact, while changing elements of the pattern around it.

Here’s an example from real life: A monthly magazine column of new products. Each write-up starts with … (read more)

Posted in GREP | 20 Comments » |

It’s a very unique time of year for me. I’m in the middle of massive annual project that I’m doing for the first time entirely in InDesign. It’s always a battle to meet this deadline, so this episode of the podcast consists of war stories about … (read more)

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Inspired by a question from a listener, this week’s episode takes a detailed look at InDesign CS2’s Data Merge function, which allows a level of automated, data-driven publishing and … (read more)

Posted in Automation, Podcasts-Audio | 6 Comments » |

The end of one year and the beginning of another is a time of change in many ways…giving us a chance to make a fresh start. As a designer, I feel that InDesign has given me that fresh start. A chance to learn new things, fix past mistakes, break habits, solve problems and explore options in a way that … (read more)

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As a designer, you know that when you get all the necessary elements onto your page, you can make something great, but getting those elements on that page was a pretty inflexible process back in the Quark XPress days. The fifth episode of the podcast runs down the many options … (read more)

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The fourth episode of the podcast is now available. It’s the second installment of “Get Out of Photoshop Free”, in which I cover the good, bad and ugly about drop shadows — how easy they are to create and how to make yours more effective — within InDesign. Also, how to avoid creating clipping paths whenever possible by … (read more)

Posted in Graphics & Images, Podcasts-Audio, Transparency | 1 Comment » |

I love Photoshop as much as anyone, but I don’t love jumping back and forth between my page layout and image editing applications for minor tweaks and adjustments. In the latest episode of the podcast, I explain how to take advantage of features that’ll give you more options in your layout without … (read more)

Posted in Graphics & Images, Podcasts-Audio, Transparency | Comments Off on Episode 3: Get Out of Photoshop Free, Part 1 |

Since it’s a four-day Thanksgiving weekend, I thought I would spend some time covering four things in InDesign that I’m thankful for. In this podcast, I cover … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Audio, Productivity | 2 Comments » |