Oz Creative Pro

November 30, 2005

Expert Experiences

Follow this link (down to the bottom of the web page) to a series of movies featuring Sandee Cohen, Deke McClelland, Anne-Marie Concepcion and David Blatner who share their experiences with InDesign on topics ranging from Why InDesign? to How does InDesign help me work quickly?

Steve

08:57 AM | Permalink | Comments [1]

November 29, 2005

Barcodes

Ever needed a barcode in you InDesign layout? Have a look at BarcodeMaker 1.0 from Teacup Software.

Steve

08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments [1]

November 23, 2005

digichicks!

Scrapbooking is a booming industry and digital scrapbooking sites are popping up everywhere. Photoshop Elements is a natural starting point for people keen to be creative with their growing catalog of digital images. With a large (and growing) number of tutorials on the web there is plenty for the budding scrapper to kick off with!

I have got to know at my own cost how huge this industry is, my old home office has been taken over by my wifes' scrapbooking shop...at the very least she didn't call her business the digi chick!!

Steve

07:46 PM | Permalink | No Comments

November 16, 2005

Ecksemell

If an InDesign user were to accidently click on the little double triangle symbol next to the view percentage in the bottom left hand corner of the main window they would be presented with the Structure pane. I have been asked on a number of occasions - what is it, how do I get rid of it and should I know more about it?!

What it is: The structure pane will display an XML structure for your document, by default only the <Root> displays.

How I get rid of it: You can't, but if you no longer wish to view it you can of course click the same button to close it (or choose View>Structure>Hide Structure).

Yes, you should know more about it! This link is a good place to start to understand more about XML and its application in InDesign. Our website has a useful tutorial with sample files to get you started understanding the power of XML.

Steve

09:49 AM | Permalink | Comments [2]

November 11, 2005

InDesign Sudoku generator free plugin

Martinho at Rorohiko has just released a cool Sudoku generator for InDesignCS and CS2.

Sudoku - for those who don't read newspapers - is a puzzle game that ... well, you can look it up in the Wikipedia, but essentially it is a "logic based placement puzzle ... The aim of [which] is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various digits given in some cells (the "givens").

Generate your own before the craze passes you by!

MS

02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments [1]

November 10, 2005

Hungry for More?

InDesign users are always hungry for information, tips, tricks and techniques for using their favourite page layout application. There are many great sources available. One such is the InDesign Magazine. With articles from industry heavyweights such as David Blatner and Sandee Cohen, this bi-monthly pdf magazine is an excellent read.

Visitors to the InDesign User Group website will be rewarded with an amazing array of news, information, tips and links (including a link to our esteemed local guru Nick Hodges' website).

Having attended the recent Creative Suite Conference in Sydney and learnt plenty I can testify that there is always a lot more to learn!

Steve

08:41 AM | Permalink | Comments [3]

November 01, 2005

Tender Memories

Newspapers and magazines have a long history with dealing with complex editorial workflows. InDesign and InCopy are integral to many of the solutions. But it is not Newspapers and Magazines I wanted to talk about, rather Corporate organisations.

In my previous life (before Adobe) I was fortunate (unfortunate?!) enough to work on plenty of tenders. Inevitably this would involve many overworked, overstressed, overtired people working massive hours up until the very last moment. Obviously anything that can be done to streamline processes to produce the final product is invaluable.

Designers/production artists have fought for many years to receive final copy, usually a losing battle. One reason was that is easier and quicker to layout an entire document than to make many small changes.

We no longer have to fight the losing battle, we can use InCopy. A series of articles running currently articulates this beautifully at quarkvsindesign.com. I can attest to the overtime hours required for tenders, I well remember seeing the sun rise and people returning to work wondering why you are in the same clothes!

InCopy gives writers access to the stories and layout without the ability to change design. Designers can fix layout issues while the editor(s) finalise copy. With the addition of features such as anchored objects, object styles and align to spine to InDesign CS2, InCopy and InDesign CS2 becomes the perfect proposal generating applications.

Steve

07:21 PM | Permalink | No Comments