Comments on: InDesignSecrets Podcast 029

By: sy

sy — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:54:37 +0000

I am in CS2 limbo. I have had to upgrade to CS2 because our client is using it. Lo and behold I cannot buy it. All the major retailers have CS3 only! I do not want to upgrade the OS and so here I am.
I was able to get a copy of CS2 on ebay. They really force you to upgrade completely. I have tried juggling CS1 and CS2 docs but you can’t tell which is which? I have had to try and open the file and then get the incompatabliy warning. They should have made it much easier to get info on file and see what version of indesign is used. Sorry I had to vent my frustrations.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 04:30:40 +0000

Thanks Rufus! Will take extra caution with updating the links. =)

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 21:08:31 +0000

I uploaded a Guide to OpenType Fractions to the site today which I think a lot of users will find helpful. The link to the PDF is in the blog post I just wrote about the topic.

By: Bill Bowman

Bill Bowman — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:56:33 +0000

I teach Photoshop and InDesign, one day a week at a local community college. I am continually stressing to my students about how important it is that your file is layered correctly to avoid flattening problems. I recommend as a starting point, a layer structure like this for new documents:

Guides
Text
Vector Art
Photos
Layer 1 (for background images) .

I don’t want to always set this basic layer structure up, every time I create a new document. What I decided to do was create a file with the layers mentioned above and simply add 1 element (I used a yellow square), on each layer, then select them all and drag them into a library. Now every time that I create a new document, I drag this “layer set-up” library element onto my page and the proper layers come along for the ride. I then delete the yellow squares as they are no longer needed. * “Paste Remembers Layers” needs to be turned on for this tip to work.

I see the benefits of this tip as being three-fold. Firstly setting this up makes a good exercise for creating an InDesign Library that they can immediately put to use. Secondly, it gets the wheels turning about using the library for not such an obvious purpose. Lastly and most importantly, it encourages them to start each new document off on the right foot as far as a good layer structure goes.

I have also created special libraries for specific clients that combine corporate fonts, process colours and spot colours along with a desired layer structure. These libraries can be shared with others in the department which encourages consistency and speeds up workflow.

Bill

By: John Kramer

John Kramer — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 14:21:25 +0000

I try not to be a type snob but if you make fractions using the non OT-Pro method described in podcast 29, you will end up with fractions that are noticeably lighter in weight than the corresponding text. I do a lot of cookbooks, and I find that I have to use a heavier weight for the numerator and denominator, and of course the regular weight for the virgule.
I have found that by a series of search-andreplace-ing I can catch 99% of the single-digit fractions in a document, and tag each element with its own character style.
More details if anyone wants to know.
Great podcast.
John

By: Dave Saunders

Dave Saunders — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 12:05:01 +0000

Well, what do you know! Thanks Anne-Marie. There’s a button I’d never clicked before — More Info in Find Font.

Excellent.

Now if that dialog could only be made non-modal so you could really zoom in on what if finds.

Dave

By: Rufus Deuchler

Rufus Deuchler — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:48:07 +0000

Hi Tricia,
in InDesign CS2 in “Preferences > Type” there is a section about “Links”. There you can check “Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files”. After this checkbox has been activated, when you place a text or spreadscheet file these will appear in the Links palette.
However, this is something to be very careful about, because, when you do local corrections and formatting in InDesign and then decide to “Update Link”, if these external files have been modified, you WILL lose all of your local corrections and formatting and will have to start over.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:56:35 +0000

Thomas, I’m looking forward to your ameliorating my pain. Thanks for the helpful comment.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:53:41 +0000

You can tell which version of Myriad Pro you have by setting some type in it in InDesign and then selecting Myriad Pro in Type > Find Font. Click the More Info button there. The older non-fraction-savvy Myriad shows as v1.006, the new one shows as v2.006.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:44:19 +0000

Does anyone know if Indesign CS2 has a similar function to the “Link palette” but for word documents, to help keep track of imported files?