October 10 2007 • 10:27 PM
By:
David Blatner
Real World InDesign CS3 and InDesign CS3 Visual QuickStart Guide Now Available
I’m pleased to announce that there are several new books about InDesign CS3 rolling out of Peachpit Press this week:
Real World InDesign CS3 (by myself and Olav Martin Kvern). This is the big boy… the 912-page comprehensive look at everything InDesign (including every feature, including xml and scripting). The last edition had an average five-star 
rating at Amazon.com, and I hope it’s not hubris to say that this edition is actually even better than the last. This is not a workbook or tutorial; it’s just lots and lots of information and cool tips on how to use InDesign in a real world setting.
InDesign CS3 Visual QuickStart Guide (by Sandee “vectorbabe” Cohen). If you’ve just started using InDesign, you need this book. Period. This will give you everything you need to get up and running for the first month or two using InDesign. It’s easy to read and digest — each topic fits onto just one or two pages — and Sandee really knows her stuff.
- The third book is actually a book/video combination called Adobe InDesign CS3: Video Training Book. This is an interesting new hybrid — basically Peachpit took the InDesign CS3 Essential Training video I did for Lynda.com and packaged a bunch of the movies alongside a book (with major help from our friend Ted LoCascio). The book gives you visuals from the movies, along with time codes, so you can always start the movies on disc and find a topic quickly. It’s a lot less expensive than buying the whole DVD, but to be honest, if you already have a subscription to Lynda.com and have watched my videos there, there’s not a lot new here for you.
As I type this, Amazon.com lists the first two books as not-yet-available, but believe me, they’re off press and probably just sitting on a truck. If you pre-order them, they’ll almost certainly be shipped out within the week. Best of all, if you order them by clicking on the links above or from our bookstore, you’re helping to support InDesignSecrets.com (every little bit helps).
Enjoy! And happy InDesigning!
David,
I learned how to use Inesign from Real World InDesign CS. Excellent book! I skipped Real World ID CS2 because I thought there would be to much repetition. But I just ordered Real World ID CS3. Through two versions there has gotta to be a lot of new stuff.
Congrats!
Fantastic, I have mine pre-ordered. Cheers.
Mazel tov, you two! (err, three)!
Can’t wait to see ‘em …
David, you must have been crazy busy lately. I see that your Real World Quark 7 is going to ship next week too.
Two huge books in one week, yikes!
912 Pages…. of good stuff! Wow! I’m sure you will get over 1000 pages for CS4 and in three tome for CS5.
Well, Fritz, to be fair, for the first time in 17 years, I was not the primary author on RWQX7. Instead, we had a wonderful team of writers, including Pariah Burke, Claudia McCue, Ted LoCascio, Chuck Weger, and others! I’m listed as “Editor,” though the real editing genius was by Susan Rimmerman at Peachpit, who pulled it all together.
That let me focus on the book and product that I love these days: RW InDesign.
(I know that sounds like I’m just being loyal or something, but the truth is that I just have a hard time writing about anything that I don’t personally get excited about. QX7 is far better than I had expected, but it’s still painful to use when compared to ID.)
Jean-Claude: There are limits to how many pages Peachpit can print economically!
What I am curious to find out is if RQQX7 was layed out in ID or Quark?
LOL! RWQX7 was laid out in PageMaker 5… no, just kidding. (It was interesting to find that a competitor’s ID book was laid out in QX. But he doesn’t do the layout himself, while we do.)
Why is the cover different here compared to the one displayed at amazon? Last minute change?
The publisher needed to send a cover to Amazon several months ago, but the cover (cool illustration by Louis Fishauf) wasn’t finished until about a month ago. You’ll often see book covers change on amazon after the book ships.
First: Great book as always, congratulations
Just one small question: Is there a possibility to post or find already found (unavoidable, especially in such a huge book, so no problem, but …) errata? For example on page 40, upmost paragraph, about the option of ticking “adjust scaling percentage”
thank you
… err – erratum on my side ;o) … Maybe I should add: I’m talking about the book “Real World InDesign CS3″