By: Anne-Marie
December 7 2007 • 1:04 PM
InDesign Secrets Podcast 066
Listen in your browser:
InDesignSecrets-066.mp3 (12.0 MB, 26:11 minutes)
(or read the transcript)
- Typefi AutoFit, free plug-in from Typefi
- Numbering Paragraphs across unthreaded frames
- Obscure InDesign Feature of the Week: Assignments panel
Links mentioned in the Podcast:
Typefi AutoFit plug-in (CS1, 2, or 3)
Cari Janssen’s AutoFit tip
Anne-Marie’s blog post on numbered paragraphs
Listener Comment Line: +1-206-202-6483
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Speaking of tabs, I would love to have a Tab Setting whereby you could say I want my first tab to 5mm after the longest word. For example, if I for some reason set up a list of (i)(ii)(iii) on different lines, and I insert a tab and set up a style. By the time I get to (xxxv) the tab is no longer relevant, so it calls for a new style. Where if I had a tab that would set itself about 5mm from the last character. That would be cool.
Typefi broke InDesign, I was clicking and pulling and I wasn’t sure what I was doing and the InDesign crashed. I pressed the two down arrows on the tool panel, and I “linked” two boxes. Then I moved the parent below the child, back onto the top of it and then up above and it crashed. At which point I have to load my Shortcuts back in. Not sure why? Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that?
I use the USERS feature as there could be 4 or 5 people working on the same files, and notes and colours make it easy to recognise who worked on what.
I find with the unlinked numbers that when you move them around they retain their numbers, regardless of position. Move it off the pasteboard and it goes to the last number, move it back on and the numbers are reinstated. But if I just cut the box out with the number I want to move and paste it it reorders the numbers.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, great podcast guys. There’s loads of nooks and crannys of InDesign that hasn’t been covered yet, so I can see there being many more podcasts. What’s common knowledge for some people is not for others.
Keep ‘em coming and thanks a million for this and all the podcasts.
Eugene
Oh, we don’t mind you being hyperbolic, Eugene!
Obviously, we get excited about this stuff, too.
I’m not sure why ID would crash when you move the objects around or adjust their stacking order. I haven’t had any problems like that. Perhaps you were just due for a crash? Can you repeat the crash with the same steps? If so, we’ll try to get someone from TypeFi to help.
I like your idea for tabs. Yes, this kind of “formatting based on what else is going on on the page” is very important to me. It’s all about maintaining the relationships among the objects and text on the page.
Jeez, this was a dreadfully bad episode — the worst podcast EVER in human history!!! How can you live with yourself, after this public humiliation?!
Still got no problem with hyperbole, David?
Just kiddin’, your podcast was fine! Just a tad . . . short?
Yeh the idea came to me the other day when I was setting footnotes, that were manually set, more like section endnotes, and where I have a reference for 1005, or reference 24, 25, 26 ,27 I have to adjust my tab for that particular line of type.
Anywho. I can’t retry the crash, I probably was due a crash, and if others are having joy then I’m sure everything is ok.
I can’t wait to play with the new toy Typefi on Monday. That is a sure sign that I’m fast becoming an InDesign geek, sigh.
Well, I just tried Typefi now, doing two different things — and twice it totally froze ID! My CPU shot to 100% and I had to kill ID manually. Typefi is a great idea, which I hope soon will be bug-fixed better — but it’s presently a troubled young tyke.
Klaus and Eugene - This is Typefi. If you can provide us with more information about any inconsistencies or bug-like behavior that you experience with AutoFit it would help us determine what is happening and why.
I really enjoy the podcast! Thank you! Question: my boss wants to be able to enter text without drawing a frame, like in illustrator (just click and type). Is there a plugin for this?
Great show! Thanks!
Question: Is there a way to enter text without having to draw a text box, like in Pagemaker (just click and type)? Plugin?
Josh E and Josh E (wow, amazing that two people with exactly the same name would ask such a similar question within 2 minutes of each other
)… no, I don’t know of any plug-in that does that. Click-and-type is for word processors, as far as I’m concerned.
Caleb: Thanks for jumping in. Most people have had no problem with this plug-in, but everyone’s system is slightly different. If Eugene or Klaus have other plug-ins present, they might be conflicting.
David: “If Eugene or Klaus have other plug-ins present, they might be conflicting.”
I’d like to take this opportunity to Klarify something: Contrary to your assertion, Eugene and I are not in any way conflicting!
Hi guys, as always enjoyed the podcast!
Re the numbered paragraphs thing. For something like captions should be great, but man oh man imagine having to “cut and paste in place” some 50 of the things? Why can’t we have “actions” in ID?
Caleb, thanks for your post, I’ll try to track down if it is in fact Typefi. I don’t have that many plugins, but I can try to recreate and turn off plugins and so on. I’ll try a few things, I’m sure everything is ok, InDesign was misbehaving of lately.
Taysh, you’d only need to cut and paste in place that many times if you had 50 separate text frames on a page. I can’t think of many projects where that would be true. If 50 numbered paragraphs are in a single frame on a page, they renumber themselves fine. (Maybe that’s what you were thinking?) If the 50 paragraphs were divvied up into say four separate, standalone frames on the same page, then you’d only have to cut/paste in place four times. And all this is only applicable to the numbering inside a page … page-to-page they renumber themselves fine.
Anyway I agree, an Actions panel would be great!
Ahh, thanks Anne-Marie. That makes it a lot clearer. I was actually thinking of more than one page where you’d have separate caption frames explaining diagrams, possibly 3 or 4 per page and spreading over about 10 pages (current project). Easier to do that manually
I think. The body text has references to the diagram/caption number and is laid out in numbered sections to correspond.
But yes, I’ve often wanted an Actions panel in ID.
Again, thanks you two for the podcasts - I really enjoy them!
The tip on how to make numbered lists across stories is great.
But the limitations on how to change the numbers later on in the workflow almost destroys the usefulness of the features to begin with.
For me the problem is not just updating the figure numbers across stories (as in captions); it’s also making the caption reference number in the same story update along with the figure.
I suspect that in my documents setting up the figure captions to use an auto-number but being limited in the main story from using that feature will cause utmost confusion.
Meanwhile, I’m surprised no one mentioned that the episode didn’t open with a commercial, and hence no chance to hear David’s a capella version of the theme song.
That’s my favorite part of the show!
LOL, Sandee. We should start offering that as a prize on the show, just like Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me: “David will record a message on your voice mail, humming the InDesignSecrets theme song.”
Sandee, thank you, you’ve explained it better than I did. My project is similar to what you’ve described, and I’ve decided it’s better to do it manually.
I’ll be listening for David’s cheery humming in the next podcast!