This Week in InDesign Articles, Number 39

Anne-Marie Concepcion

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While David is otherwise occupied, I thought I’d lend a hand to his addicting “This Week in InDesign” series by plumbing my browser history for more great info for InDesign users.

• Cari Jansen is starting a series of three articles called “Moving Print Publications to EPUB.” (Recap: EPUB is the open source standard file format for many eBooks, such as the ones sold in the iBookstore on the iPad, and the ones you can check out from the library. You can export to the EPUB format from InDesign.) Her first article is all about the new CS5 feature that lets you use XML tags and the Structure panel to arrange story order. It’s an excellent article, and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the feature written up. I’m looking forward to parts 2 and 3.
• Speaking of EPUB, I taught the InDesign > EPUB > iPad workflow for the first time last week, and had so many links and resources to share I’m still working on the handout! It was one of the topics I covered during my two-day InDesignSecrets Live seminar in Washington DC last week. On Day 2, “Beyond Print,” we went from “how to make a hyperlink for a PDF” to “how to create a digital magazine app a la Wired” in the space of 7 hours! David’s presenting the same 2-day seminar in Los Angeles in October, sign up now to reserve your seat.
• If you’re looking for a free script for InDesign, it’s likely written up and linked to in one of these blogs and web sites: InDesign Snippets (apparently run by someone who wants to be anonymous), Marc Autret’s Indiscripts, Loic Aigon’s Scriptopedia, Peter Kahrel’s Free InDesign Scripts , and of course, the InDesign Scripting forum on Adobe’s web site. Those are also great places to hire a scripter for a custom job.
• On Facebook? The Adobe Creative Suite page is a good one to follow (I mean, “Like”).  It’s where they announce their weekly “Ask a CS Pro” free webinars, for one thing. (David did one a couple weeks ago, the recording is here. I’ll be doing one later in the fall.) If you Like the page, then their posts will show up in your personal Facebook page, and that’s how you’ll learn about the webinars.
• You do know that InDesignSecrets also has a Facebook page (and a Twitter feed), right?
• Objectified, the latest documentary from the director of Helvetica, is now available for streaming from Netflix. I haven’t seen Objectified yet, but its topic,  “the manufactured objects we surround ourselves with and the people who make them,” is promising. Sounds like one of my favorite books, The Design of Everyday Things. (I think of that book every time I need to figure out the shower faucet in a hotel room.)
• I had to haul out the Chicago Manual of Style just now and flip to the “Titles of Works” section to remind myself how to set Objectified and Helvetica. “7.143: Titles of motion pictures are italicized. Titles of television and radio programs are in roman type and quoted.” The CMoS knows all. Here are the significant rule changes in the new 16th Ed., just released.
• As part of the set decor in the television show “Mad Men,” you may have noticed a bright orange Helvetica poster. It’s actually a limited-edition print you can purchase online, each one signed by Gary Hustwit, the director of the Helvetica movie.
• If you like to hear me talk about InDesign CS5, Adobe, Lynda.com, David, and my wonderful clients, check out the most recent three episodes of the TechByter Worldwide podcast/radio show. Host Bill Blinn calls it “The InDesign CS5 Trilogy” of episodes. I’m just a 10-minute segment in a longer podcast, but of course, the best segment. ;-) Here are his show notes — incredibly detailed — for the episodes with our chats: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.  Scroll down each page to find the “InDesign CS5” subhead and the audio snippet of my interview. Why not subscribe to Bill’s podcast while you’re at it? He always has great info to share on computers and technology in general.
• Michael “TheInDesigner” Murphy just published a phenomenal 40-minute video tutorial on creating accessible PDFs from InDesign for AdobeTV.  For more resources on creating accessible PDFs from InDesign, download the white paper from Adobe, see the Adobe blog from the Accessibility team, and visit our Accessibility page.

There you go, that should keep you busy for a few days. ;-)