Comments on: New Free Tip of the Day Plug-in from Blatner and DTP Tools http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php InDesignSecrets Blog and Podcast Thu, 20 Nov 2008 23:07:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Jennie http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-263976 Jennie Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:25:10 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-263976 David, Thanks for the updated, upgraded, new and improved tip of the day plug-in. I've been missing that with CS3. The tip is a great way to start the morning with a WOW! David, Thanks for the updated, upgraded, new and improved tip of the day plug-in. I’ve been missing that with CS3. The tip is a great way to start the morning with a WOW!

]]> By: David Blatner http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-261885 David Blatner Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:27:09 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-261885 Thanks, Klaus! The Adobe feedback site appears to be back up this morning. Thanks, Klaus!
The Adobe feedback site appears to be back up this morning.

]]> By: Klaus Nordby http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260084 Klaus Nordby Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:24:33 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260084 OK, David, point taken. But I gave your web visitors two great examples of your splendid tips -- consider it free advertising! :-) I just tried your Adobe suggestion link -- "site down." OK, David, point taken. But I gave your web visitors two great examples of your splendid tips — consider it free advertising! :-)

I just tried your Adobe suggestion link — “site down.”

]]> By: David Blatner http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260070 David Blatner Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:10:11 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260070 Klaus, I appreciate your comments and suggestions for Adobe, but please let InDesign users read the tips using the plug-in (that's what it's there for). Also, your suggestions are good ones, so please send them to the <a href="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=68" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">people who can make a difference</a>. Klaus, I appreciate your comments and suggestions for Adobe, but please let InDesign users read the tips using the plug-in (that’s what it’s there for). Also, your suggestions are good ones, so please send them to the people who can make a difference.

]]> By: Klaus Nordby http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260030 Klaus Nordby Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:51:03 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-260030 "Tip #12: "The problem with underscores (underlines) is that they cross right over the descenders in characters like p and y. You can make the underscore break at descenders by applying a 1-point white stroke to those characters. Use Find/Change to search for the letter p with an underscore and apply a stroke to it. Now repeat for y, and so on. (I suggest making a character style to apply this quickly and accurately.)" Well, *I* suggest that the InDesign engineers give us a "don't underline descenders" underscore option in CS4! It's really too dumb we humans should have to spend our brainpower and time on such an obvious computer-automatizable function. “Tip #12: “The problem with underscores (underlines) is that they cross right over the descenders in characters like p and y. You can make the underscore break at descenders by applying a 1-point white stroke to those characters. Use Find/Change to search for the letter p with an underscore and apply a stroke to it. Now repeat for y, and so on. (I suggest making a character style to apply this quickly and accurately.)”

Well, *I* suggest that the InDesign engineers give us a “don’t underline descenders” underscore option in CS4! It’s really too dumb we humans should have to spend our brainpower and time on such an obvious computer-automatizable function.

]]> By: Klaus Nordby http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-259851 Klaus Nordby Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:53:05 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-259851 Addendum: to be precise, the *em* is used in both tracking and kerning values -- though that's really the same, conceptually. Addendum: to be precise, the *em* is used in both tracking and kerning values — though that’s really the same, conceptually.

]]> By: Klaus Nordby http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-259849 Klaus Nordby Sat, 19 Jan 2008 18:50:37 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-259849 Tip #91: "You can make type appear reversed out of a dark background by assigning a thick Rule Above to the paragraph (Ctrl Alt J). For instance, on a paragraph of 18-point type, you can add a Rule Above 22 points thick, with a vertical offset of -6 points. Finally, set the text to White to make it reverse out of the rule. The exact values always depend, of course." And this, folks, is exactly why we need to be able, hopefully in CS4, to use the *em* as an enterable unit. That way, we could do stuff like the above, and easily scale our text up & down just by changing the text size. The *em* units of the Rule Above's thickness and its Offset would then make it scale perfectly. Now, we have to fiddle with those two absolute values every time we tweak the text size. This is one more area where InDesign could take a tip from CSS -- all types of units can be used everywhere, like the splendid *em*. (As of now, the only place -- AFAIK -- where *em* exists in InDesign is in the tracking values, which are 1/000 of an *em*. A good start, but not enough.) Tip #91: “You can make type appear reversed out of a dark background by assigning a thick Rule Above to the paragraph (Ctrl Alt J). For instance, on a paragraph of 18-point type, you can add a Rule Above 22 points thick, with a vertical offset of -6 points. Finally, set the text to White to make it reverse out of the rule. The exact values always depend, of course.”

And this, folks, is exactly why we need to be able, hopefully in CS4, to use the *em* as an enterable unit. That way, we could do stuff like the above, and easily scale our text up & down just by changing the text size. The *em* units of the Rule Above’s thickness and its Offset would then make it scale perfectly. Now, we have to fiddle with those two absolute values every time we tweak the text size. This is one more area where InDesign could take a tip from CSS — all types of units can be used everywhere, like the splendid *em*. (As of now, the only place — AFAIK — where *em* exists in InDesign is in the tracking values, which are 1/000 of an *em*. A good start, but not enough.)

]]> By: David Blatner http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258841 David Blatner Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:53:54 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258841 Boris, new tips get loaded over the internet when available. Also, if there is a new version of the plug-in, I think it will check for that, also. Boris, new tips get loaded over the internet when available. Also, if there is a new version of the plug-in, I think it will check for that, also.

]]> By: Boris http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258807 Boris Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:42:11 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258807 Hi, David! In a plug-in is an option of automatic updating through the Internet. Whether following tips from the Internet will be to be loaded, or the constructive part will vary only? Hi, David! In a plug-in is an option of automatic updating through the Internet. Whether following tips from the Internet will be to be loaded, or the constructive part will vary only?

]]> By: Eugene Tyson http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258332 Eugene Tyson Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:29:18 +0000 http://indesignsecrets.com/new-free-tip-of-the-day-plug-in-from-blatner-and-dtp-tools.php#comment-258332 I don't know, I just love that sketch and the Moose reminded me that we need more cow bell. I don’t know, I just love that sketch and the Moose reminded me that we need more cow bell.

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