The InDesigner

I got an e-mail question from someone who said:

“I’m having trouble with the type on a path thing, trying to get the type to go on a circle. When I do the bottom part of the circle it makes the type upside down. Is there a quick fix?”

InDesign considers the path a single line, so when it sees the bottom of the circle, it sees it as the line turned upside down…and puts your type on it accordingly.

There definitely is a quick fix. While you still have your upside-down text selected (or just your cursor somewhere in the type), control-click … (read more)

Posted in Type & Text | 2 Comments » |

Designers have very strong opinions about type…so I’m anticipating a lot of questions, and perhaps complaints, about my justification choices in Episode 25…particulary concerning Glyph Scaling.

Purists may say that this should never be done, but I would argue that doing it only as much as I did in this episode is definitely an option to consider. InDesign will only apply this if the Adobe Paragraph Composer evaluates the whole paragraph and finds it necessary to … (read more)

Posted in Type & Text | Comments Off on More Type and Tracking Tips |

If you’re only using tracking to control the look of your type at the paragraph level — like I will confess to doing in the past — you’re missing out on features that give you far greater control of your type and make for much better-looking paragraphs. This episode covers … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Type & Text | 5 Comments » |

I usually stick to things that can be done automatically within InDesign, but every now and then, you can’t avoid the fact that some things just haven’t made it into the product yet. In this episode, I demonstrate two methods for getting a solid-to-transparent gradient … (read more)

Posted in Graphics & Images, Podcasts-Video, Transparency | 5 Comments » |

On April 21st, I wrote a post about the podcast reaching the 1000-download mark. Two months later, I’m thrilled to say that, for every episode I’ve done since that date, that download number has doubled. In a mere two months, the average has climbed to nearly 2200 downloads. I can only hope that means there are 2000 designers around the world who are working faster and smarter, finding the time to be better designers, and enjoying what they do more than ever.

Again, I thank everyone out there for their support and interest.

Posted in News/Announcements | Comments Off on My 2K |

In response to a subscriber who was concerned about using Transparency without causing output problems, this episode provides guidelines for best practices in documents that contain transparent objects. From layers to flattening to exporting, I lay out my four simple rules for … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Printing & Production, Transparency | 9 Comments » |

One question I got during my presentation at the InDesign User Group — and one that I’ve been asked via e-mail about the podcast — is how I get that spotlight effect when I’m trying to call attention to a specific part of the screen. I was about to answer that question but got interrupted by some of the other presenters who said it was a “presenter’s secret.” Well…no one ever told me what this secret was, but it didn’t take more than a Google search using words that described the on-screen functionality to find out that it was actually Boinx Software’s wonderful — and free — Mouseposé application.
Don’t tell anyone you heard it from me, though.

Posted in Other Software | 6 Comments » |

Last night I discovered the whopping difference between sitting in a quiet room cobbling together video tutorials and presenting before a live audience: I did my first official public speaking gig at the New York InDesign User Group meeting (see the extremely unflattering photo of me in action here).

Scary as it was, I really enjoyed it. Luckily for me, it was on my absolute favorite InDesign topic: Styles. So there was plenty of … (read more)

Posted in News/Announcements | 2 Comments » |

I recently exchanged some e-mails with the editor of InDesign Magazine, Terri Stone, and she asked if I was interested in passing on a special offer to my audience. I’ve subscribed to this magazine since its very first issue, and I’ve said in previous episodes that its one of the best investments you could make to stay ahead of the curve with InDesign.

So here’s the deal: You can go to www.indesignmag.com/idm/purchase.html, select a two-year subscription for $69. Then, in the Promo Code field, type “theindesigner”. What this will give you is two years of new issues, plus all 11 back issues, which would cost an additional $98, if you bought them without this deal.

Just so you know…I have no investment in this, and get nothing from it, but I have no problem endorsing something I think has real value to my audience. InDesign Magazine definitely falls into that category.

Posted in News/Announcements | 2 Comments » |

Collect your custom characters into an easy-to-use set by using the Glyphs palette and a little-known feature explained in this episode. Whether you need quick access to dingbats, accented characters, fractions or any other special glyphs … (read more)

Posted in Podcasts-Video, Type & Text | 6 Comments » |