How to Wow with InDesign [With CDROM]

Being a new InDesign user of two months, the 189-page "How to Wow with InDesign CS2" was a good starting point for me to begin to learn how to more effectively use IDCS2. Written by two of Australia's experts in using InDesign, Wayne Rankin and Mike McHugh, I learned many of the IDCS2 basics and beyond through the text, numerous graphics, text boxes, and accompanying CD. The CD provides raw text and graphic examples from the text as well as templates to practice with and/or see how they changed during the development of the book. Almost every other page has one or more short tips or insights to help you with the topic at hand. The book was written with the beginner to intermediate user in mind although I think it's more toward the latter. The book also covers both MAC and Window applications. "How To Wow with InDesign CS2" is broken down into nine chapters, a nine-page index, and accompanying CD that includes grayscale and RGB textures, templates, graphics library with custom-made elements; project files; document presets; stroke styles; and a list of keyboard shortcuts. Chapter 1 covers the basics including your desktop workspace, creating a document, setting defaults, transforming (moving, resizing, and rotating) objects in your new document, how text frames are created and work, acquainting you with Adobe Bridge to work more effectively with other Adobe products, and using color management to name a few topics. Chapter 2 "Text and Typography" covers the important features of importing, formatting, and positioning text, using grids, using the eyedropper tool to format text, and styles. One topic I noted not there was changing text direction which I'm using currently doing a lot of. Chapter 3 provides help for converting Quark Express documents, creating templates, imposing document pages, and long document features. Chapter 4 covers creating, customizing, fills and strokes, images, and more for tables. Chapter 5 addresses using color, swatches, tints, gradients, and more. Chapter 6 reviews graphic placing, positioning, and linking as well as PDF Illustrator & Photoshop files and formats, and Photoshop Layer Comps. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 deal with "transparency, interactive elements, and output of which the former two may be more of an interest to the intermediate user although the output chapter is a must for any user. My only wish for a future edition would be to interweave the text into the CD more so that the various examples would be better illustrated before, during, and after the finished action and/or product - perhaps a book on CD? I would recommend beginners look for a different book if they are not experienced with INCS2.

Just rec'd the book and I must say, I love the Illustrator, How to Wow book, and now I equally appreciate this book. Excellent layout and design, attractive examples (so important, who wants to learn the skills when poor examples are given?), large color graphics, enough detail to complete tasks. Short wide pages with fairly large text and helpful color blocking make it easy to actually use the book as you work if you have enough space to open it next to you. Only 1/2 an inch thick, but close to 200 pages, well-indexed, packed with exactly what you need to know and not a whole lot of extra. The nine chapters are very logically put together, abbreviating a bit, 1-Basics, 2-Text, 3-Pages & Documents, 4-Tables, 5-Using Color, 6-Importing Graphics, 7-Wkg with Transparency, 8-Adding Interactive Elements, and 9-Output. Handsome logical layout, beautiful but practical examples, well written. It zeroes in on exactly what I wanted to know and without glossing over the more intricate aspects, like some books do. I teach this application software at the college. InDesign is a marvelous, user-friendly application. This book helps to make all the possibilities of InDesign apparent. It would make a marvelous text book for teaching.

This has to be one of if not the best book for InDesign. It goes into detail for various aspects of the design process like preflighting for example. Also this book has very good tips. Well worth the price.

I learned QuarkXPress in school ... hated it then, still hate it. Bought the Adobe package one version before CS came out (InDesign 2.0) and didn't care much for ID, so used Illustrator 10 for all my page layout projects. I have recently discovered ID CS ... with the help of this book. It is clear, to the point, and tells you everything you need to know (the basics to intermediate) to get started using ID CS for everything. It even has a chapter on how to make interactive PDF files out of ID. Did you know that there is no white swatch? There is only "Paper" ... which you can change the color of to simulate the printed paper color ... but this "background" will not print. Pretty cool, huh? Learn other awesome stuff in this book.