My New Year’s Resolutions
Given the time of year, I thought I’d list my New Year’s Resolutions for working with the Creative Suite 2.
In this case, my resolutions are which features I need to delve further into:
#1: XML! I must, must, must (!) get a little more XML for InDesign under my belt. I’m able to do the very basic stuff, but I’d like to see how XML can help me automate the formatting of database information.
#2: JDF Job Options! I need to learn more how to create these job options that tag along with PDF documents. A JDF describes job options such as paper stock, finishing options, color information, and trap settings. JDF is in Acrobat 7 under Tools> Print Production.
#3: Flash! My Flash skills are back at Flash 4 or 5. And Macrodobe (Adomedia) has done such a great job of making Flash easier and smarter, that I have got to open the most recent version and learn some new tricks. (Yes, I’m such an old dog.)
#4: Adobe Camera Raw! I don’t have a digital camera that takes Camera RAW shots, so I haven’t played around with the cool things you can do in Bridge with Camera RAW files. I’m hoping that I get a camera this spring that will let me take RAW shots.
#5: Scripts for InDesign! As anyone who has listened to the InDesign Secrets Podcast knows, I took a class in scripting this past year. But have I written any scripts yet? Naaaahhhh! I gotta get my act together and make a script.
We’ll see next December how well I did with my resolutions.
On a personal note, I will be at Macworld next week. Steve Werner and I will be doing our two-day class on “Mastering the Creative Suite.” I think there are a few spaces left.
Of course if you can’t make it to Macworld, you can always pick up a copy of Real World Adobe Creative Suite 2 by the two of us. It’s all about how the applications in the suite work together; what they can do; can’t do; and tricks to make them work better.
#1: XML! I must, must, must (!) get a little more XML for InDesign under my belt.
My suggestion is dive into the table model that InDesign uses. If you have a table and export it as XML, the XML follows a particular model. If you code your input in the same model, InDesign will build your XML into a table. It is very cool, but I wasn’t able to look into it enough to put it in the workflows at my last job before I left. I did write a DTD for it at some point, which I think I have… but it’s not too difficult of a model to use anyway. The big advantage I found (besides auto generating tables) is that any XML that is put in the data is kept, and not whiped clean as if you bring in tab delimited text and convert it into a table in InDesign.
XML is my #1 as well. I understand XML but am having trouble producing mutlitple files using indesign.
Found the adobe tutorials but they don’t explain how to automate the processing. If you know of any basic tutorial, hook it up with some links :>)
Great site by the way!