InDesign Tutorial: the Tools Palette - Part 3

Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Software>Document Design>Adobe InDesign

InDesign Tutorial: The Tools Palette Part 2

This is a second tutorial about InDesign's Tools Palette, which follows a previous post from May 2005.

Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Design>Software>Design>Adobe InDesign

InDesign: Basic Page Setup

InDesign is Adobe's replacement for the aging PageMaker application. In many ways, InDesign is very similar to PageMaker, but there are differences that can throw an experienced PageMaker user for a loop (albeit briefly). In this tutorial you will set up a simple layout and master page.

Iowa State University (2000). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

InDesign's Work Area

This tutorial goes through the different parts that compose InDesign's work area. If you want to drive a car, you want to make sure that you know where the break is, where your wheel is, where your indicator is and so on. The same is for InDesign. You want to know where you can find all the tools that you will be using to create your InDesign documents.

Bruno, Elisabetta. Designorati (2005). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

The Ins and Outs of InDesign

If you ever create multi page layouts such as brochures, newsletters or booklets there is an application that is made for you. InDesign, which can be purchased as a stand alone product or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite, has many, many tools for streamlining the process of setting up and working on these types of projects. In this article we will look at what InDesign is for and highlight some of the features that set it apart from other applications.

Dudley, Kim. Community MX (2006). Articles>Document Design>Software>Adobe InDesign

Inside "Skip Intro": An Author Interview

Flash has been in the news quite a bit these days, partly because of the current release and partly because of the ongoing fallout over the Jakob Nielsen article (Flash: 99% Bad). Even Macromedia has gotten into the act, working with Nielsen to improve the face of Flash and the challenge of usability. 'What Nielsen said, apart from the sensationalistic nature of the headline, was bang-on,' said Duncan McAlester, co-author of ‘Skip Intro.’ 'Flash, for the most part, had been used in a very poor manner up until that time (and still is in many cases).'

Segal, Nathan. Streaming Media World (2002). Design>Web Design>Software>Flash

Instructions for installing Adobe PS 4.26 for Windows 95/98 And Attaching it to Acrobat Distiller for use with FrameMaker 5.5x, with Acrobat 3.0x  

Instructions for installing Adobe PS 4.26 for Windows 95/98 and attaching it to Acrobat Distiller for use with FrameMaker 5.5x.

Halva, Wade C. InFrame (1998). Articles>Software>Document Design>Adobe FrameMaker

Introduction to Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is hands down, the most popular program for creating and modifying images for the Web. This is true not only because Photoshop is available on a wide array of platforms ranging from Mac to Windows to UNIX, but because after four generations of development, Adobe Photoshop has the most intuitive user interface, the most complete set of tools, and the largest number of reference books around.

Extropia. Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Introduction to Digital Painting

Believe it or not, Adobe Photoshop can be used for more than just photo editing and design. Yes, despite its name, Photoshop is one of the ever-expanding range of tools available for digital painters, illustrators, and just plain doodlers. These tools are allowing people incredible freedom to express themselves and create fun pictures. Imagine reliving your childhood days of drawing and scribbling, without ever having to worry about making a mess, or running out of supplies. Best of all, digital art is much more forgiving when you make mistakes. No other medium would let you erase 1000 times, without harming your canvas one bit. At the other end of the spectrum, Photoshop can be used to create professional, print-quality illustrations with great efficiency. Here's a general introduction to the world of digital painting.

Priest, Jeff. Design, Typography and Graphics (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

An Introduction to Illustration Software  

Follas describes the differences between various types of graphic editing software.

Follas, Brian J. Intercom (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Software

Introduction to Layers

This beginner's tutorial explains the concept of layers in Photoshop. Layers are a very powerful tool for image editing, and are a fundamental tool in Photoshop for creating complex images.

Elated (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Is Flash Too Flash?

Amongst Internet developers, Macromedia Flash is certainly something of a hot potato. On the one hand, many designers see Flash as a powerful multimedia tool that encourages originality and dynamism on the otherwise 'static' web. Proponents of usability, on the other hand, have argued that the presence of Flash on a website is a 'usability disease', '99% bad' and have even branded it as 'evil'. They ask the obvious question: why do the biggest, most well known and profitable websites in the world decide against using Flash? However, the reality is that although Flash presents many usability issues, it is not inherently unusable. It can be used to create usable websites - but this requires designers to follow strict implementation guidelines.

Gaine, Frank. Frontend Infocentre (2000). Design>Multimedia>Software>Flash

Issues in the Design of Computer Support for Co-Authoring and Commenting  

This paper reports on a project to develop a “work in preparation” editor, or PREP editor, to study co-authoring and commenting relationships. As part of the project, we have identified three issues in designing computer support for co-authoring and commenting: (1) support for social interaction among co-authors and commenters; (2) support for cognitive aspects of co-authoring and external commenting; and (3) support for practicality in both types of interaction. For each of these issues, the paper describes the approach the PREP editor takes to address them.

Neuwirth, Christine M., David S. Kaufer, Ravinder Chandhok and James H. Morris. ACM SIGGROUP (1990). Design>Software>Collaboration

Jazzing Up Your Links

You can take what you learn here to create as many different looks as you’d like for the links on your pages.

Mac Design Magazine (2005). Design>Web Design>Software>Adobe GoLive

John Trevino's Layers of Meaning

Drawing on a period of instability and change in her personal life, artist John Trevino calls on Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter to create a richly layer composition that evokes a transient state of being.

Trevino, John. Creative Pro (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Kinetic Energy  

Spaceships flying across your Web page? With dhtml and GoLive, you can make anything move.

Niemi, Melissa. Adobe Magazine (2000). Articles>Web Design>Software>Adobe GoLive

Large-Scale HTML Conversion Using a Word Processor  

The authors describe a process for converting Microsoft Word documents to HTML.

Hara, Takayoshi and Mayumi Seitou. Intercom (2002). Design>Web Design>Software>Microsoft Word

Learning PageMaker

One way to learn PageMaker is just to use it. If you have experience in publishing, PageMaker is designed to be familiar to you, like using a light table. There are a few 'gotchas,' of course, but if you're an experienced publisher, learning PageMaker should be a snap. It's a complex program. But the good news is that PageMaker is a lot easier to learn than competing products like QuarkXPress. In addition to the obvious — the PAGEMAKR mailing list — you may want to take advantage of the many training materials available. In 1985, desktop publishing was brand new and unexplored territory. Today, millions of people use desktop publishing software worldwide. Of course, there's a lot more to learning desktop publishing than learning PageMaker: there's typesetting and graphic design, for starters.

Adams, Peter C.S. Makingpages.org (2002). Design>Document Design>Software>Adobe PageMaker

A Lesson in Templates for Adobe Acrobat

Although Templates have been around since version 3 of Acrobat there was never any really useful supporting information or technical documentation to make use of them. Version 5 and 6 of Acrobat changed all that making it possible to take full control of Templates to create truly dynamic PDF documents.

Wraight, Dave. PlanetPDF (2004). Articles>Information Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

Let Photoshop Do the Driving  

Photoshop's Actions feature is a powerful tool for automating repetitive tasks or even batch-processing files, and you'll work more effectively with it if you know exactly what Actions can and can't automate.

Dayton, Linnea and Jack Davis. Adobe Magazine (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Lock Down that Layout!

Dreamweaver's Layers let you position images, text, movies and more with the same drag-and-drop ease print designers enjoy. Here's how to use them.

Blake, Geoff. Creative Pro (2006). Design>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver

Macromedia Dreamweaver Tips

Tips and tricks for using Macromedia Dreamwaver - all versions. Get the most out of Dreamweaver with extensions, tools, and other tips.

Kyrnin, Jennifer. About.com. Resources>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver