Adobe Cs Indesign One-on-one

by Deke McClelland

Adobe InDesign is widely regarded as the page layout/publishing program for the new millennium. It gives you precise creative control over the layout and design of your pages and documents, and its... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1600330185
• ISBN13: 9781600330186
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 1.1" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Top Shelf Stuff

I buy about $2000 per year of technical books, mags, CDROM tutorials, etc. and let me say that this InDesign CS One on One is a real treat. I am a real stickler on proper screenshots that you can actually read. The extravagant use of cool layout for a work of this magnitude is just amazing. The precision of the instructions is perfect. The well-chosen focus on specific problems that actually crop up is excellent. The examples really drag me through a whole lot of good stuff in a short time. The flavor and inclusion of anecdotes and opinions, even with some emotion, in both the text and the Total Training walkthroughs is refreshing, and helps enliven what has to be mostly objective instructions. Deke's honesty in pointing out weaknesses as he sees them, even when this may slightly alienate a large publisher, is even more impressive. He takes the time to show you good practices and points out why certain practices are preferred by pros. The inclusion of 2 hours of Total Training CD tutorials makes it even more friendly. In short, Deke has gotten REALLY good at this. And let me tell you, people like me who spend lots of time learning stuff like this can really tell the difference -- it affects our mood and our proficiency. I am glad to see that here is one guy that is willing to go the extra 5 miles to deliver the Top Shelf Stuff!

A real treasure

This gorgeous, well designed and well written book is the perfect complement to those who use Adobe InDesign and want to get more out of it. I happen to be one of those people--I have to use InDesign on my job, but because I am learning to really appreciate the program, I have been using it on my club's newsletter for several months also. Coming from a longtime QuarkXPress user, that is really saying a lot. This book feels heavier than other books the same size. It is because the paper is of exceptional quality, even a little glossy. The graphics are all in full color. Perhaps the best part is that it comes with a 2-hour Total Training CD with the author, Deke McClelland giving tips and showing how to do things with InDesign. The book is also for training and is made up of 12 lessons (the files are on the training disc and can be copied to your hard drive). The book lessons are in addition to the tips and training on the CD. If you have ever watched a Total Training video with Deke McClelland, you know he is good. He keeps my interest and I find myself forgetting the time as I am watching. Of course, the videos can be paused or stopped at any time. They are organized and easy to get back to where you left off. Videos on CD or DVD are the way to go. I have discovered tons of shortcuts and tricks I didn't know about with InDesign, thanks to this book and CD. Knowing how to get the most out of a program makes it much more fun to use. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about InDesign CS.

Instructive in form and content

I was very impressed and happy with this book. Not only is the content of the book an excellent introduction to InDesign, the book itself is also wellspring of layout ideas. It gives you some perspective on what can be done with InDesign as the book itself is laid out with the tool. This is not a course book with questions at the end of each chapter. It's a introductory book that starts with the basics of creating documents, and finishes with the management of large documents, like books. Chapters include text layout, importing graphics, using transparency. The full spectrum of what's available to you in the application is described in full color with illustrative examples. This is an excellent book. It gets my full recommendation for users of InDesign.

Excellent

Of all the applications in the Creative Suite, InDesign is the one I have the least experience with. After acquiring the Adobe Photoshop CS one-on-one book (and loving it) I thought I would get a hold of this book to see if it could help me become, at least, comfortable with InDesign - and possibly help with putting it to good use rather than be the application I ignore from the Creative Suite. For all the reasons people like the Photoshop book in this series, people are going to like this one as well. It is visually elegant, bright, and colorful. The same "Pearls of Wisdom" break up the text to provide you with various insights and "Oh, by the way"s. As a novice InDesign user, I can't really speak to the content and coverage of InDesign, but it was plenty for me to familiarize myself with the features and functions. I also enjoy the author's relaxed tone and humor, which makes the book a lot easier to read than the stiff "Do A, then B, then C" voice of some tutorials. Be warned, some of the jokes will elicit a groan - but you'll be smiling when you do. =) I now have a great book to help me out when the time comes to fire up InDesign. =)