Indesign Production Cookbook: Easy-To-Follow Recipes for Desktop Publishers and Graphic Designers

I wish they update this book for InDesign CS4. When I bought this book, we were still using CS3 so it helped. It has a very beautiful easy to follow layout. I use this book as a reference all the time at work. I highly recommend this book instead of those boring Killer Tips or Classroom in a Book. Once you know one type of Adobe product, they all mimic the same usability.

Having just begun using Indesign CS3 I purchased this book based on previous reviews here. All the material in this book was aimed at the CS2 version but it all applies in CS3 as well. I haven't come across anything as yet that doesn't work as described when using the CS3 version so you won't find the book out of date. It's not a 'How To' book in the sense that it will teach you every one of the functions in Indesign but rather a quick reference so you can quickly achieve a style or formatting that you may require in your documents. There is a lot of information covered such as creating frames and using tables, applying colour, special effects, working with images, using grids and guides, shapes..... and the list goes on. The layout is very pleasing to the eye as it uses lots of colour photos of screen shots and has many tips and pointers to grab your attention. I am very pleased with this purchase, it's saved me much time when it comes to applying effects and character formatting to my pages, highly recommended.

This book really won't teach you the basics of Adobe's layout program. Beyond that, it contains how-to-do recipes that make tasks seem easier. In fact, the book is more than a collection of recipes - it's inspiration for you when you want your layouts to look out of the ordinary. Flip through the pages, and you'll be amazed at the possibilities - yes, this book is a collection of possibilities. That in itself makes it a great title to own. And yes, it's full color and lavishly illustrated. Geetesh Bajaj/Indezine.com

In a book like this I look for two things. Are the examples any good? Definitely. These are real world examples that look good. So not only will you see how the InDesign is used well, but also get some inspiration. The second question is, are the features explained well? Yeah, pretty much. It's all done very graphically with an emphasis on what it looks like to go through the operation. Which leaves the text somewhat terse. But if you like to see it done, as opposed to reading about it. Then you will like that style.