This Week in InDesign Articles, Number 21
Okay, look, I admit it: I want an iPad. Yes, I know I can’t use it to replace my laptop. That’s fine! It’s 150,000% better than the Kindle or other ebook readers except in battery time and weight. I know it doesn’t run Flash. Here’s some good readin’ about that:
- An iPad overview from Wired. I love it when the guys says he doesn’t really want the design to look good because it’s about the words. Oy. No, it’s about communicating the words, buddy. Design is about communication. A good screen and good design helps you read.
- This article on the Future Shock nature of the iPad hit home for me.
- Of course, the number one complaint with the iPad (and iPhone) appears to be: No Flash support! Here’s some articles about that:
- Wired prototype was laid out in InDesign, but is AIR based so it won’t run on iPad
- On the other hand, in another year or two, we might not care as much about Flash if HTML5 comes together. That’s a big If, though. Here’s a good article explaining what’s cool about HTML5.
- John Gruber really makes a good point in this article about Blue Boxes when he notes that Adobe’s attachment to Flash may cause themselves more pain than the users.
There is, of course, always more out there to learn about! Here are other things you should be aware of:
- CodeLine released a new version of SneakPeek Pro, which lets you see InDesign and Illustrator documents in the Mac Finder using quick-look (just select a file and press spacebar).
- Has it really been 20 years since Photoshop came out? Wow. I remember meeting John and Tom Knoll when I was the program “chair” at the first Photoshop conference (back in the Thunder Lizard days). This article really brings back memories.
- The Bezier pen… oh, how I love to hate it. I keep hoping Adobe will put a B-spline pen into InDesign (b-spline tools tend to be easier to draw with for “the rest of us”), but in the meantime, here’s a wonderful link to Sharon Steuer’s Zen of the Pen article.
- Do you use Font Explorer Pro? I do, so I was pleased to see that there’s a new version out.
- Even more new versions: Managing Editor sent me a note saying that vjoon’s K4 version 6 is out! W00t!
- Oh my goodness… one more! Stone Sans has been updated by Monotype to Stone Sans II! You can read about it here. I love this typeface and used it for a bazillion projects in the 90s. Looks like it’s time to pull it out again for the ‘teens!
Okay, so that’s not as much about InDesign as I had hoped… slow week. But there’s plenty of good InDesign stuff here in the blogs and, of course, in the InDesignSecrets forums!
Enjoy!
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Touchscreen EeePcs came out in 2009, nobody made a big fuss about them? Apple release a touchscreen iPad that can do a lot less than an EeePC and everyone is drooling over it. I don’t get it. But the price of the iPad is a bit much, and if it’s just for e-reading I won’t have much use for it, I have not yet read a single e-Book and I can but never do. (This Eee PC has me tingling https://tinyurl.com/yzmh4sf)
David, you’re really showing your age now – wow 20 years ago you were there. 20 years ago I was pulling wheelies on my BMX and jumping off ramps over people (nobody was injured :) ) I didn’t even hear of photoshop until about 10 years later.
I had to look up “B-Spine” never heard of that before, and after looking it up I still don’t know what it is?
Great list of articles and some very interesting reads. Thanks
@Eugene, that machine looks great, but it’s a $1,000+ computer, not a $499 eReader. The iPad is not a compelling device to do work on. It’s a compelling device to read books and magazines on, to play games on, to watch media… And it’s a device that both grandma and your niece can use with little training.
As for showing my age… oh yes… sigh… creak, creak… but then again, I started early. I was one of those geeks who started programming at 10.
B-spline: Instead of drawing points on the path and then managing tangent handles that describe the curve, a b-spline curve lets you click fewer points with more intelligence. See this Apple tech note on how they work in Motion.
Well the one I pointed to was pretty expensive, but there’s smaller models and less expensive ones.
I didn’t come here to bash the iPad that wasn’t the intention. Merely pointing out that EeePcs have touchscreen since last year, for anyone that was interested.
I’ll check out that tech note on B-Splines, sounds interesting.
Am I the only one in the entire world who loves the pen tool??? I have since the first time I used it…then I discovered handles and things got even better. Then again, I was just trying to “get it done” in Illustrator with absolutely no training for it.
David, please don’t feel old. 20 years ago, I already had 8 years in on this job and I’m pretty sure that I was still using a CompuGraphic EditWriter 7500, pens, tapes, and lots and lots of rubber cement. It was quite enjoyable!!!
Now, with 28.5 years on the job, I have bigger, badder, better toys to play with. I still have the best job in the entire school system, and I get to tell any unsuspecting person that walks into my office about CS4, IndesignSecrets.com, Lynda.com, etc. And they think I’m some sort of magician…please don’t rat me out.
Jennie-
You’re not the only one who loves it, but the Pen tool has its haters out there. Sometime do a Twitter search on “pen tool” and you’ll see some anguished cries and profanity-laced tweets. Most of ’em are design students wrestling with trying to learn the Photoshop Pen tool.
Once you get the hang of the pen tool it’s quite easy. I can’t believe I ever struggled with it. It was one tutor who pointed out to me exactly how to use it in about 5 minutes. Once you know it you know it and there’s no going back. :)
@Mike. If you don’t like that, then stop following me. :)
Seriously, I don’t like it, but it has nothing to do with the tool as much as my lack of talent when it comes to drawing.
I never could get past stick figures. I prefer to play with the pathfinder panel to make pretty shapes.
The iPad is far from an ideal ebook reading device. Some very basic tools found on most ebook reading devices are missing, such as the ability to bookmark and annotate. I am looking to replace my 3-year-old Sony 505 but continue to wait. There are a lot of devices in the works that will make excellent dedicated ebook readers, the iPad is not one of them.
Sneak Peak give a tip on better InDesign Previews
https://blog.code-line.com/2010/02/sneakpeek-pro-better-indesign-previews.html
In my opinion iPad seems to be one of the latest gadgets today and it’s a little bit expensive. But I’m planning to buy one someday. Interesting topic
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