Comments on: InDesignSecrets Podcast 069

By: Jeff Kew (Vancouver InDesign User Group

Jeff Kew (Vancouver InDesign User Group — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:02:06 +0000

Hey folks, I’d like to comment on Adobe Indesign CS3 One-On-One by Deke McClelland. It’s a tremendous resource for the new and experienced InDesign user. Written for the new user, it starts with the basics of the ID CS3 user interface and starting your first document. As you progress thru the project based material you are exposed to invaluable tips and tricks that will make you an ID pro in no time.

“Pearl of Wisdom” are insightful little bits of info found throughout the book, that are like pull out quotes, but are Deke’s thoughts about some unique experience that he thinks you should know about to make the project go smoother.

The book comes with nearly 3 hrs of video training that is unique to this book (not extracted from his nearly 150hrs of training on lynda.com). It’s advised that you watch each video before or after reading the accompanying chapter in the book. The process of Read, Watch, Do is one of the most effective ways of learning InDesign. As well, Deke’s humorous writing style makes you think he’s right next to you.

For experienced users, Deke successfully explains complex subjects such as XML tags. As well, even thru the basics chapters, experienced users can pick up productivity tips and hidden features that only Deke can find.

I recommend this book for all users.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 03:46:56 +0000

Good point, John. Mixing sound isn’t our strong point, but we’ll keep trying to get it better.

By: John Rajendra

John Rajendra — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:03:22 +0000

Well this is an off the wall comment, and when I say that I mean to say off topic. When listening to your podcast, I noticed that at points, Deke’s sound levels were different than Anne-Marie and David’s. I had to up the volume a tad to hear properly – I think that I tuned down here and there when the levels went up and down. These podcasts are awesome, so I put them on my cell phone/mp3 player, but when the levels are off, and I’m travelling … it’s hard to hear. Love the shows by the way. You guys are doing a fabulous job.

By: Carol Berry

Carol Berry — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:26:57 +0000

Had to laugh, last fall I made a character style for None, and my keyboard shortcut is Command Zero. It works great, the style attributes are all blank and I use it to remove other applied character styles, such as when a phrase has an italic character style applied and I want to remove the italic for a couple of words in the middle.

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:31:12 +0000

I don’t know if Deke will be doing that; I don’t think so. But there is a disc with something like 3 hours of CS3 movies in his book! Note that my CS3 Beyond the Basics movie will be out within the next month (I just finished recording many hours worth; now it needs to be edited).

By: Areej Obeid

Areej Obeid — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:08:37 +0000

I’m wondering if Deke plans to make a one-on-one video series for InDesign on lynda.com? Although David’s videos are excellent, I’ve really enjoyed David’s one-on-one series for Photoshop and Illustrator and would love to see one for InDesign.

By: Rodrigo Cantini

Rodrigo Cantini — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 23:13:20 +0000

I wanna be Deke McClelland!!! (Does this sound like a movie?)
hehe

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:05:22 +0000

Well, of course most of us knew that USM had to do with gaus blur. That is, it’s based on two “unsharp” (blurred) images that are interacting. In Real World Scanning & Halftones and Real World Photoshop we describe this effect. But I’ve never seen an actual step by step on how to build-your-own USM using only gaussian blur. And the idea of reverse engineering Photoshop’s own system to achieve a pixel-perfect duplicate of USM is even more of a surprise! Inquiring minds want to know! (And then inquiring minds need to get back to InDesign topics.)

By: Klaus Nordby

Klaus Nordby — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:57:36 +0000

Of course, Deke might well have re-invented the wheel all by himself — I have myself re-invented a plethora of wheels! My simple little point was simply that this unsharp/Gaussian issue, to folks who’s “been around” the graphics field for some decades and know old, manual, non-digital techniques, isn’t such big news as you three — somewhat to my surprise — seemed to think it is. Margulis was certainly not the first to think of this unsharp/Gaussian stuff either, nor does he make any such claim.

By: Deke

Deke — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:09:37 +0000

Hey Wa, I didn’t know that the Transparency Blend Space setting changed the color display, so thanks for that! But I don’t see how it defends InDesign’s inconsistent handling of imported RGB images. In other words, whether transparency is involved or not, CMYK proofing and the color management process used to convert RGB to CMYK should be identical, particularly given that–more often than not–the affected RGB image is not itself transparent but merely occurs on a page spread that includes transparency. (The image is therefore somehow guilty by association?) The problem also affects imported grayscale images, which by definition are output to the black plate only.
Just my two cents. Regardless of how you dice it, it strikes me as a bug.