This Week in InDesign Articles, Number 46

David Blatner

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Notes from the treadmill… Yes, I am still happily walking along on my trekdesk at one mile per hour (1.6 kmph). Not losing weight, but I’m not gaining any either and my doctor says I’m fit as a fiddle (whatever that means). While I walk, I read, and while I read, I think, “hey, I bet indesignsecrets readers would like this!”

• I’m pleased to report that there are seven new “how to” PDF files listed on Adobe’s InDesign How To page! Two of them focus on exporting InDesign documents to EPUB, and the other five explore CS5 features such as live captions, multi-state objects, managing multiple page sizes, and so on. Check ’em out!
• Since we’re talking announcements, I’m also pleased to point out that Real World InDesign CS5 (along with hundreds of other titles from Peachpit Press and Adobe Press) is now available in EPUB Format in the iBookstore! Here’s the press release. Just use the Store Search feature in iBooks to find it!
• Cari Jansen continues her exploration of EPUB tricks with this new post on her blog, which focuses on working with grouped illustrations and explores how you can use the free (and awesome) LayoutZone to convert groups of objects into a single image that can be embedded in an EPUB.
• Our friend Russell Viers has come out with two DVD/book training packages, with the moniker Learn by Video (from Video2Brain and Peachpit Press), one on InDesign and one on Illustrator. Here’s the Adobe InDesign CS5: Learn by Video title at Amazon. The book part is very lightweight, but the videos are good stuff!
• A few months ago, Layers Magazine closed its forums. Now it appears they’re killing the whole magazine, even though they were apparently still profitable. Sigh. I’m sure that was a hard choice. Hm.
• Here’s a good quick tutorial on how to lay out a business card in InDesign from the folks at the dubiously named Creative Fail.
• Silicon Publishing says they have some kind of patent-pending technology that allows them to place content directly from the Web into InDesign. Sounds interesting, but I’m not sure what the patent could be, as InDesign already natively has that feature built-in for any developer to exploit. That’s right: InDesign’s Links panel can link to anything, even stuff on the Web… there is just no user-interface for it. (Except for CS5’s Place from Buzzword feature.) I wish more devs would take advantage of this underlying technology.
• Thinking about buying InMath? I.T.I.P. is having a special sales promotion for InMath CS3 and CS4 (there is no version for CS5). Until December 18, InMath is 395 euros (100 euros off) at the ITIP online store. Note that movemen (the developers) say you can upgrade InMath to their new mt.editor for 199 (from CS4) or 249 (from CS3) euros, or 20% off that before Dec 15.
• People who enjoy type and typography (and making pictures with type) will enjoy this blog post. If you’re into really tiny type, then check out Tiny, which might be the smallest font in the world.
• If you still wondered if there is a reason that publishers are trying so hard to create ebooks, here’s a report from Forrester Research that says the ebook biz is projected to explode.
• Most interactive documents are landscape (wider than taller), while most print docs are portrait. InDesign’s Layout Adjustment feature can automate a bit of the conversion from one to the other (in some circumstances), but what if 80% of a conversion could be managed, leaving only a bit of cleanup? That’s what one Swiss developer showed our friends at Ulrich Media recently; see the blog post and video here (translated into English).
• We’ve discussed the issues of splitting spreads into single pages for PDF export, but what if you have a PDF that is spreads and you need to split it into two individual pages? Here’s an Acrobat script from Karl Heinz Kremer.
• Want to replace one image with another one after the Place “gun” is filled with one or more images? Use the Option/Alt key, as shown in this little video tip from our friend Brian Wood.
• Everyone loves good design! Here’s some nice booklets to look at!
• Into indexing? I’ve long been a fan of indexmatic and index brutal, but here’s another option you need to look at, from Peter Kahrel.

Enjoy!