Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    InDesign CS5 Bible
    InDesign CS5 Bible
    InDesign CS5 Bible
    Ebook1,783 pages18 hours

    InDesign CS5 Bible

    By Galen Gruman

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Optimize the latest version of InDesign for your most efficient project workflow yet

    InDesign is a powerful publishing tool that serves as the standard program for professional layout and design. The latest version boasts a variety of updates and enhancements. Packed with real-world examples and written by industry expert Galen Gruman, this in-depth resource clearly explains how InDesign CS5 allows for better typography and transparency features, speedier performance, and more user control than any other layout program.

    • Shows you the vast updates to the newest version of InDesign, including speedier performance, sharper functionality, and new object styles
    • Offers insight for taking advantage of using the dynamic spell check, creating anchored objects that follow text, creating object styles that can be applied for consistent formatting, and more
    • Shares real-world tips and techniques as well as helpful examples from industry expert and popular author Galen Gruman

    Whether you are aiming to produce ad campaigns, magazines, interactive PDF files, or other forms of media, InDesign CS5 Bible offers everything you need to know to quickly get up to speed with the latest version of InDesign.

    Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWiley
    Release dateMay 6, 2010
    ISBN9780470770269
    InDesign CS5 Bible

    Read more from Galen Gruman

    Related to InDesign CS5 Bible

    Titles in the series (96)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Programming For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Assessing Ease Of Use

      Jul 28, 2020

      Assessing Ease Of Use
      3 min read

    • Article

      Best Free Software

      May 5, 2021

      Best Free Software
      2 min read

    • Article

      Best Free Software

      Jun 8, 2022

      OFFICE SUITE www.snipca.com/42063 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1 or 10, macOS or Linux Back in February (Issue 624), we recommended OnlyOffice 7.0 as a great free alternative to Microsoft’s expensive Office. But it wasn’t long before LibreOffice recla

      3 min read

    • Article

      Publishing Your Own Slick Ebooks

      Mar 8, 2022

      LIBREOFFICE Credit: www.libreoffice.org Missed Part One? Turn to page 62 to get hold of it Michael Reed is a Linux nerd and a selfpublished author. Guess which one pays the bills. If you need help when using LibreOffice for your book project, the Lib

      11 min read

    • Article

      Publishing Your Own Slick Ebooks

      Mar 8, 2022

      LIBREOFFICE Credit: www.libreoffice.org Missed Part One? Turn to page 62 to get hold of it Michael Reed is a Linux nerd and a selfpublished author. Guess which one pays the bills. If you need help when using LibreOffice for your book project, the Lib

      11 min read

    • Article

      Best Free Software

      Feb 15, 2023

      www.snipca.com/44985 What you need: Windows 7, 8.1, 10 or 11, macOS or Linux One of our favourite free office suites has received its first big update for six months, which includes a raft of new features and enhancements. LibreOffice 7.5 further imp

      2 min read

    • Article

      Canvas X Draw 7.0

      Dec 8, 2020

      Canvas X Draw 7.0
      3 min read

    • Article

      General Office tips

      Aug 12, 2019

      General Office tips
      5 min read

    • Article

      Make Office better

      Jun 24, 2024

      One of the best new features in LibreOffice 24.2, released in February, is a revamped ‘Notebookbar’ layout in Writer. Unlike several larger menus on the toolbar, this view rearranges the buttons, tools and options into tabs, similar to the way the cu

      2 min read

    • Article

      Master LibreOffice 24

      Jun 18, 2024

      Master LibreOffice 24
      8 min read

    • Article

      Canvas X Draw 7.0

      Oct 20, 2020

      $58.80 (about £45) per year FROM Canvas GF, canvasgfx.com NEEDS macOS 10.14 or later The Mac has always been a popular tool for graphics and design work, with programs such as Adobe Illustrator leading the way ever since the desktop publishing revolu

      3 min read

    • Article

      Make Office Better

      Dec 15, 2021

      LIBREOFFICE IMPRESS & MICROSOFT POWERPOINT LibreOffice Impress and Microsoft PowerPoint use a default 16:9 aspect ratio for slides in presentations, to match the format of most modern screens. You can change this by creating themes with a 4:3 ratio,

      1 min read

    • Article

      Discover Code Writer

      Jul 23, 2019

      YOU’LL NEED THIS You can grab the app from the Microsoft Store. ALTHOUGH MOST COMPETENT PROGRAMMERS can write code using anything from Microsoft Notepad to the back of an envelope, the majority of serious coders prefer to have a dedicated application

      4 min read

    • Article

      Embed An Excel File On Your Site

      Jul 20, 2022

      When you need to share data in an Excel spreadsheet, you could choose to extract it and then send it to members. An easier way is to embed it on your site for everyone to see. In our example, our local history club wants to share details of its yearl

      2 min read

    • Article

      Text Docs To Rich Docs

      Dec 17, 2019

      Text Docs To Rich Docs
      6 min read

    • Article

      Make Office Better

      Apr 24, 2024

      Make Office Better
      2 min read

    • Article

      Best Free Software

      Feb 16, 2022

      Best Free Software
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for InDesign CS5 Bible

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      InDesign CS5 Bible - Galen Gruman

      PART 1

      Welcome to InDesign

      IN THIS PART

      Chapter 1

      Inside the InDesign Interface

      Chapter 2

      Working with Windows and Views

      Chapter 3

      Setting InDesign Preferences

      Chapter 1

      Inside the InDesign Interface

      IN THIS CHAPTER

      Understanding global and local control

      Identifying InDesign terminology

      Discovering what's inside the application folder

      Exploring the document window

      Working with multiple document windows

      Using tools, panels, and docks

      Reviewing menu commands

      Undoing what you've just done if you change your mind

      The first time you use a program, it can be overwhelming. You're not sure what you can actually do with the program, and each program has its own interface idiosyncrasies. InDesign is no different. If you're familiar with other Adobe applications, such as Dreamweaver or Photoshop, the InDesign software interface will be familiar to you. Even if you've been using QuarkXPress, you'll be able to translate much of what you see in InDesign to QuarkXPress terms.

      When you first launch InDesign, you see the Tools panel on the left, and you may see several other panels on the right. InDesign is ready for you to open a document and start working.

      However, taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the interface is invaluable to learning new software. Without a basic understanding of what you're looking at on-screen, it's difficult to begin working in InDesign. And even if you've used InDesign before, Adobe has some changes to its interface in this version, so it's worth your while to peruse this chapter to see what's changed.

      Note

      InDesign lets you change both its menu options and the shortcuts associated with menu and other commands (see Chapter 3). Throughout the book, I assume that the menu arrangements and shortcuts you're using are the default ones.

      Understanding Global and Local Control

      The power of desktop publishing in general, and InDesign in particular, is that it lets you automate time-consuming layout and typesetting tasks while enabling you to customize each step of the process according to your needs. In InDesign, you use global controls to establish general settings for layout elements and then use local controls to modify those elements to meet specific publishing requirements. The key to using global and local tools effectively is to know when each is appropriate.

      Global tools include:

      General preferences and application preferences (see Chapter 3)

      Master pages (see Chapter 7)

      Text styles (see Chapters 7, 20, and 21)

      Table and cell styles (see Chapters 7 and 24)

      Object styles (see Chapters 7 and 13)

      Stroke styles (see Chapter 12)

      Text variables (see Chapter 25)

      Sections of page numbers (see Chapter 5)

      Color definitions (see Chapter 8)

      Hyphenation and justification (see Chapter 19)

      Libraries (see Chapter 7)

      Note

      Styles and master pages are the two main global settings that you can expect to override locally throughout a document. This is the case because although the layout and typographic functions that styles and master pages automate are the fundamental components of any document's look, they don't always work for all of a publication's specific content.

      Local tools include:

      Frame and shape tools (see Parts III and IV)

      Character and paragraph tools (see Chapters 19 through 23)

      Graphics tools (see Part IV)

      In many cases, it's obvious which tool to use. If, for example, you maintain certain layout standards throughout a document, using master pages is the obvious way to keep your work in order. Using styles is the best solution if you want to apply standard character and paragraph formatting throughout a document. When you work with special-case documents, such as single-page display ads, it doesn't make much sense to spend time designing master pages and styles — it's easier just to format one-of-a-kind elements on the fly.

      InDesign Vocabulary 101

      InDesign comes with its own terminology, much of it adopted from other Adobe products. The general terms include the following:

      Extension: A piece of software that loads into InDesign and becomes part of it, adding more capabilities.

      Frame: The container for an object, whether text, graphic, or color fill.

      Link: The connection that InDesign makes to an imported file. The link contains the file's location, last modification date, and last modification time. A link can reference any image or text file that you have imported into a layout. InDesign can notify you when a source text or graphics file has changed, so you can choose whether to update the version in your layout. (A hyperlink, often also abbreviated to link in casual conversation, connects elements in a Web page to other Web pages or other resources such as PDF files.)

      Master page: A template within a layout that contains elements that you want to occur on any page that is based on that master page. For example, a specific master page might contain page numbers and the standard text frame for body text, so when you add new pages to the document based on this specific master page, those new document pages automatically include the page numbers and standard text frames.

      Package: The collection of all files needed to deliver a layout for commercial printing. InDesign has a package feature that collects all these files for you.

      Pane: A section of a dialog box or panel whose options change based on the set of controls you've selected in the dialog box or panel.

      Panel: A container for controls that stays on-screen even when you aren't using it (in contrast to a dialog box, which appears only while you are using it). Panels can be docked to the right edge of the screen or free-floating. Panels can be combined into a single container called a panel group.

      Path: A shape in which the endpoint and start point are separate, keeping the shape open. Lines are a straight type of path.

      PDF: The Adobe Portable Document Format is the standard for electronic documents. No matter what kind of computer it is viewed on (Windows, Macintosh, Palm, or Unix), a PDF document retains high fidelity to the original in typography, graphics representation, and layout. InDesign can place PDF files as if they were graphics and export its own pages as PDF files.

      Place: To import a graphics file or text file.

      Stroke: The outline of an object (whether a frame, a line, or an individual text character).

      Thread: The links between text frames that route stories among them.

      In other cases, deciding which tool is appropriate is more difficult. For example, you can create a drop cap (a large initial letter set into a paragraph of type, like the one that starts each chapter in this book) as a character option in the Character panel, or you can create a character style (formatting that you can apply to any selected text, ensuring that the same formatting is applied each time) that contains the drop-cap settings and apply that style to the drop cap. The method you choose depends on the complexity of your document and how often you need to perform the action. The more often you find yourself doing something, the more often you should use a global tool (such as character styles).

      Fortunately, you don't have to decide between global and local tools right away while designing a document. You can always create styles from existing formatting later or add elements to a master page once you find that you need them to appear on every page.

      Another situation in which you can choose between local or global controls is specifying measurement values. Regardless of the default measurement unit you set (and that appears in all dialog boxes and panels), you can use any unit when entering measurements in an InDesign dialog box. If, for example, the default measurement is picas but you're accustomed to working with inches, go ahead and enter measurements in inches.

      Cross-Reference

      Chapter 3 covers how to apply measurement values and set your preferred defaults.

      Exploring the InDesign Application Folder

      Often, users simply launch an application from an alias or shortcut and never even look in the application folder. This approach is just fine until it's time to install a new plug-in or to share important information with other users. Familiarizing yourself with the basic contents helps ensure that you're not throwing away anything important and that you're working with the correct files and folders.

      If you locate the InDesign application folder on your hard drive and open it, you see that it's chock-full of stuff you may not even recognize. The two folders you need to know about in this folder are the Presets folder and the Plug-ins folder.

      The Presets folder

      The Presets folder contains eight kinds of standards: Shortcut sets, color swatch libraries, workspaces, auto-correction tables, find-change tables, button libraries, motion presets for animations, and page transitions. InDesign lets you create shortcut sets so that different users can have their own shortcut definitions. These preferences are stored in the InDesign shortcut sets folder in the Presets folder. Because these preferences are stored in files, they can be copied to other users' Presets folder to help ensure consistent options among all users in a workgroup. Similarly, the seven other kinds of saved standards you can create in InDesign are stored in the Presets folder and can be shared with other users by copying them to other users' Presets folders.

      Caution

      The Presets folder also contains subfolders that contain components that InDesign needs to function: the Default, Flash Export, Multimedia, and Start Page subfolders. Do not alter these folders or their contents.

      The Plug-ins folder

      The Plug-ins folder in the InDesign folder contains small software modules, called plug-ins, that add both core features and additional, optional features to InDesign. The Plug-ins folder contains a variety of subfolders, such as Dictionaries, Filters, and Graphics, that make locating files easy. The Plug-ins folder's plug-ins are components of InDesign itself, and you should not alter its contents.

      New Feature

      The Required folder used in previous versions of InDesign does not exist in InDesign CS5. Instead, the Plug-ins folder now contains all required components of InDesign CS5, and the optional and third-party plug-ins — now called extensions — are now managed by the Adobe Extension Manager application, as Appendix A explains.

      The Scripts folder

      The Scripts folder in the InDesign folder contains scripts that provide standard InDesign functionality, including XHTML Web export (see Chapter 33), e-book export (see Chapter 34), and document preflighting (see Chapter 30). You can create your own scripts and store them in the Scripts folder, as Chapter 37 explains.

      Exploring the Document Window

      When you're running InDesign, the first thing to do is create a new, empty document by choosing File New Document, or pressing +N or Ctrl+N, and clicking OK immediately. Doing so gives you a document window so that you can start exploring the application. (Never mind the settings for now — you're just exploring.)

      No matter what size document you're dealing with or how many pages it has, all documents are contained within a standard window. The window provides controls that help you create and place objects, change the view scale, and navigate between pages. FIGURE 1.1 shows all the standard elements of a new document window.

      607169-fg0101.eps

      FIGURE 1.1 The standard document window provides controls for managing documents on-screen, changing the view scale, displaying different pages, and placing objects on pages. At bottom: The Windows 7 screen is identical, except for where the window controls reside and stylistic differences between Windows and Mac OS X, such as fonts used and border designs.

      Title tab

      When you open or create a document, by default InDesign opens a new tabbed window within the application frame. Each window is accessed via a tab; click the tab and the desired window appears. Each tab has the name of the document, as well as other information about the document:

      The current view percentage is shown at the end of the file name, such as @ 74% to indicate that the document is displayed at 74 percent of actual size.

      An asterisk (*) appears in front of the file name if the document has unsaved changes.

      If multiple windows are open for the same document, InDesign indicates the various windows by adding :1, :2, and so on to each window, with :1 indicating the first window, :2 the second, and so on. (Note that a colon precedes the number.)

      You can close a document quickly by clicking the Close box (the X icon) on the document's tab.

      Cross-Reference

      Chapter 2 explains how to work with multiple documents, as well as how to use the old-style document windows instead of the tabbed ones introduced in InDesign CS4.

      Rulers

      Document windows always display a horizontal ruler across the top and a vertical ruler down the left side. The horizontal ruler measures from the top-left corner of the page across the entire spread; the vertical ruler measures from the top to the bottom of the current page.

      You can use these rulers to judge the size and placement of frames and lines on your page. Although InDesign provides more-precise methods for placing objects — such as the Control panel, in which you can enter exact values — designers often use the rulers for rough placement while they experiment with a design, as shown in FIGURE 1.2.

      Tip

      When you create new objects, move them, resize them, or rotate them, InDesign provides an indicator near the mouse to show you the object's current status — called the transformation value — such as size or rotation angle, as you can see in FIGURE 1.2.

      By default, both rulers display increments in picas, but you can change the measurement system for each ruler in the Units & Increments pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign Preferences Units & Increments or press +K on the Mac, or choose Edit Preferences Units & Increments or press Ctrl+K in Windows).

      If you do make such a change while no documents are open, the rulers in all new documents appear in your preferred measurement systems. If a document is open, the rulers are changed only in that open document.

      607169-fg0102.tif

      FIGURE 1.2 This frame's right side is aligned with the 28-pica mark on the horizontal ruler (look for the dotted line in the ruler right above the frame's right edge). InDesign also shows the dimensions of a frame as you create it using the transformation value indicator to the lower right of the frame as it is being created.

      Cross-Reference

      Chapter 3 explains ruler increments in more detail.

      If you need more space on-screen or want to preview a design without all the layout tools, you can hide the rulers by choosing View Hide Rulers or pressing +R or Ctrl+R. Most users show the rulers all the time out of habit, but the rulers aren't really necessary in template-driven documents such as magazines in which all the placement decisions are indicated by guides and master pages. If you're editing text on a smaller monitor, you might appreciate the space gain of not having rulers, minimal though it might be.

      Zero point

      The intersection of the rulers in the upper-left corner of the page is called the zero point. Known as the ruler origin in other applications, this is the starting place for all horizontal and vertical measurements. If you need to place items in relation to another spot on the page (for example, from

      Keep Your Bearings Straight

      A powerful but confusing capability in InDesign is something called a reference point. InDesign lets you work with objects from nine reference points — any of the four corners, the middle of any of the four sides, or the center — such as when you're positioning the object precisely or rotating the object. You choose these reference points in the Control panel or Transform panel, using the grid of nine points arranged in a square.

      By default, InDesign works with the central reference point, which is great for rotating an object but can lead to confusion when you enter in the X and Y coordinates to place it precisely. That's because most people use the upper-left corner of an object when specifying its coordinates, not the center of the object. So be sure to change the reference point to the upper left whenever entering X and Y coordinates in the Control or Transform panels. (I use the upper-left reference point in this book unless otherwise indicated.)

      How do you change which reference point is active? That's easy: Just click the point in that preview grid. The active reference point — called the control point — is black, whereas the others are white.

      the center of a spread rather than from the left-hand page), you can move the zero point by clicking and dragging it to a new location. The X and Y values in the Control panel and Transform panel update as you click and drag the zero point so that you can place it precisely. The zero point is document-wide, so it changes for all pages or spreads in the document. To restore the zero point to the upper-left corner of the leftmost page, double-click the intersection of the rulers in the upper-left corner.

      After the zero point is moved, all the objects on the page display new X and Y values even though they haven't moved. Objects above or to the left of the zero point have negative X and Y values, and the X and Y values of other objects do not relate to their actual position on the page or spread.

      The effects of changing the zero point can be confusing, especially if you're in a workgroup with other users who may change the zero point and forget to restore it to the upper-left corner. To prevent this problem, you can lock the zero point, making it more difficult for users to change it. To lock the zero point, Control+click or right-click the zero point and choose Lock Zero Point from the contextual menu.

      Of course, a user determined to change the zero point can simply choose Unlock Zero Point from the contextual menu. But doing so is a conscious act on their part, and the fact that you locked the zero point usually sends the message that you want to keep it that way.

      Scroll bars

      Standard scroll bars run down the right side and across the bottom of the document window. As in most applications, you can either click and drag the scroll bars or click the scroll buttons to move around on a page or move to other pages in the document.

      Pasteboard, pages, and guides

      Inside the rulers, you see a white area surrounding the black, drop-shadowed outlines of your pages (see FIGURE 1.1). The work area surrounding the page is called the pasteboard, and it's designed as a workspace for creating, experimenting with, and temporarily storing objects. You can also use the pasteboard to bleed objects off a page so that they print to the edge of a trimmed page. Each page or spread in InDesign has its own pasteboard. By default, there's 1 inch of pasteboard above and below each page, and a space equal to the page width to the left and right of each page or spread. (As Chapter 3 explains, you can change the pasteboard height and width.) For example, a spread consisting of two 4-inch pages has 4 inches of pasteboard to the left and 4 inches of pasteboard to the right, as well as 1 inch of pasteboard above and below.

      Pages, drawn with black outlines, reflect the page size you set up in the New Document dialog box (choose File New Document, or press +N or Ctrl+N). If it looks like two pages are touching, you're looking at a multipage spread. By default, you see magenta lines across the top and bottom of each page showing the top and bottom margins you specified when you created the document. Violet-colored lines indicate the left and right margins (for single-page documents) or inside and outside margins (for facing-page documents). These lines are nonprinting guides that can help you position objects.

      You can change the placement of these guides by choosing Layout Margins and Columns, and you can create additional guides by clicking and dragging them off the horizontal and vertical rulers.

      Cross-Reference

      I cover guides in detail in Chapter 7.

      If you can't see the guide colors well, you can change them for all new documents. When no documents are open, choose new colors in the Guides & Pasteboard pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign Preferences Guides & Pasteboard or press +K on the Mac, or choose Edit Preferences Guides & Pasteboard or press Ctrl+K in Windows). The Margins color changes the horizontal guides and the Columns color affects the vertical guides.

      Page controls

      InDesign has several controls for maneuvering through pages: page-turning buttons, and the Page field and pop-up menu. All are at the bottom left of the document window, as shown in FIGURE 1.1.

      Use the Page pop-up menu (to the right of the Page field) to get a list of available pages, including master pages (see FIGURE 1.1).

      The Page field and pop-up menu are encased by two sets of arrows; these arrows are page-turning buttons, which let you turn pages sequentially or jump to the first or last page in the document. From left to right, clicking these arrows takes you to the first page, the previous page, the next page, and the last page.

      To jump to a specific page number, highlight the current number in the Page field, type a new page number, and press Return or Enter.

      Tip

      You can use the shortcut +J or Ctrl+J to open the Go to Page dialog box, in which you can select a page number to go to.

      To jump to a master page, type the first few characters of the master page's name in the field. Jumping to document pages can be a little more complicated. Because the page number that displays and prints on the document page does not have to match the position of the page in the document — for example, the third page might be labeled iii instead of 3 — there are two methods for entering the page number you want to jump to: section page numbers and absolute page numbers.

      Cross-Reference

      Chapter 5 covers these page-control methods in detail.

      Reveal pop-up menu

      This menu lets you find the original file on your computer using one of three menu options: Reveal in Finder (for Mac OS X) or Reveal in Explorer (for Windows), Reveal in Bridge (which opens the Adobe Bridge application), and Reveal in Mini Bridge (which opens the Mini Bridge control panel).

      Application frame

      The application frame lets you put all the InDesign elements in their own container, preventing them from floating freely and keeping other applications from peeking through.

      You can turn the application frame on or off. If you use a Mac, you're likely to have it off so that all the InDesign interface elements float freely — the standard on Mac OS X. If you use Windows, you're likely to have the application frame turned on, because the Windows default is to provide an application frame for all programs. Because InDesign was created to work on both Mac and Windows systems, you can use either interface style no matter what type of PC you use.

      To hide the application frame (or bring it back), choose Window Application Frame.

      Platform Differences

      On the Mac, the application frame is turned off by default. In Windows, it is turned on by default.

      Application bar

      Above the Control panel is the application bar, which offers easy access to other Adobe applications, such as Bridge, and to controls pertaining to various view options (see Chapter 2). The application bar appears by default if the application frame is enabled, as shown in FIGURE 1.1. But when the application frame is hidden, you can show or hide the application bar by choosing Window Application Bar.

      The application bar has eight handy elements. From left to right:

      The first element is the set of quick-access buttons to Bridge and, if you've installed Creative Suite, other Adobe software.

      The second element is the Zoom Level field and pop-up menu (see Chapter 2). Choose a view percentage from the menu or enter a percentage in the field and press Return or Enter.

      The third element is the View Options pop-up menu, which lets you hide and show frame edges, rulers, various guides and grids, and hidden characters from one handy location. (These options are also available through a variety of scattered View menu options and via Type Show/Hide Hidden Characters.)

      The fourth element, the Screen Mode pop-up menu, duplicates the screen-mode buttons' settings at the bottom of the Tools panel (covered later in this chapter).

      The fifth element, the Arrange Documents pop-up menu, gives you fast access to InDesign CS5's controls over how document windows are arranged (covered in Chapter 2).

      The sixth element, the Workspaces pop-up menu, gives you quick access to the workspaces you've defined (covered in Chapter 2).

      The seventh is the Adobe Community Search field, an online feature that lets you find help on the Adobe Community Web site.

      The eighth is Access CS Live, a set of online subscription services (CS Review, Buzzword, and Share My Screen) for sharing previews of your documents with others so you can get comments and feedback online, as well as to do basic text editing in a shared file.

      New Feature

      The CS Live service is new to InDesign CS5. The subscription-based collaboration service extends Adobe's previous Acrobat.com offerings, as explained later in this chapter.

      Using Tools

      InDesign by default displays a docked panel on the left side of the screen called the Tools panel (longtime users also know it as the Toolbox, the name used in early InDesign documentation), which contains 31 tools plus 12 other functions. It appears by default at the upper left of the screen (see FIGURE 1.3).

      The tools let you create and manipulate the objects that make up your pages. The tools work similarly to those in other Adobe products (such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver) and they work somewhat like the tools in QuarkXPress. But the tools do not work like the toolbars in your word processor, which are more like macros that make things happen. With InDesign's tools, for the most part, you select the tool and do something with it — draw a new frame, rotate a line, crop an image, and so on.

      607169-fg0103.eps

      FIGURE 1.3 InDesign's Tools panel (at left) has 31 tools available, but many are hidden in pop-out menus (shown at center). You can see a tool's name by hovering the mouse over it to get a Tool Tip (at right). The Marker tool (at bottom left) appears after you've used the Eyedropper tool; it cannot be selected in the Tools panel directly.

      Note

      The one tool not directly accessible from the Tools panel is the Marker tool. It appears after you've used the Eyedropper tool to select an object's color, so you can apply that color to another object, as Chapter 8 and the special color insert explain. You can also use the Eyedropper tool to select an object's or text's attributes and then apply those attributes via the Marker tool to another object or to other text, as Chapters 12 and 19 explain.

      Selecting tools

      To select a tool and start using it, click it in the Tools panel. As long as you're not using the Type tool, you can also press a keyboard shortcut displayed in parentheses in the Tool Tips (covered later in this chapter).

      In addition to the tools you can see, the Tools panel contains a few hidden tools consolidated into little pop-out menus. Any tool with a small arrow in its lower-right corner is hiding one or more similar tools, as shown in FIGURE 1.3. There are several ways to access these hidden tools:

      Control+click or right-click a tool that has a pop-out indicator. When the pop-out appears, click one of the new tools to replace the standard tool with the pop-out tool.

      Click and hold a tool that has a pop-out indicator. When the pop-out appears, click one of the new tools to replace the standard tool with the pop-out tool.

      Option+click or Alt+click a tool with a pop-out indicator to select the next tool. Each time you Option+click or Alt+click a tool, the next tool in the pop-out is selected, even though the pop-out itself does not appear.

      Use the keyboard shortcut for the desired tool; FIGURE 1.3 shows the shortcuts for each.

      New Feature

      The Option+click or Alt+click method to select a tool is new to InDesign CS5.

      New Feature

      InDesign CS5 no longer has the Position tool that combined aspects of the Selection and Direct Selection tools. InDesign CS5 adds two new tools — the Page and Gap tools — and rearranges some of the tools on the Tools panel.

      Understanding what the tools do

      In real life, you can often get by using the wrong tool for a job — using a flat screwdriver instead of a Phillips, or a shoe instead of a fly swatter. This doesn't work in InDesign. Whether you're typing text, reshaping an object, or applying a color, there's one — and only one — tool for each job. Loosely organized with the most commonly used tools at the top, the Tools panel includes tools for creating and manipulating frames and lines — the objects that make up your designs (see FIGURE 1.3).

      Note

      Frames are shapes and containers that you can size, position, and reshape with precision. InDesign has three types of frames: Empty (unassigned) frames for blocks of color, text frames for type, and graphics frames for imported images. By default, most frames are empty but you can easily convert them to text or graphics frames. Other frames are created specifically as text or graphics frames.

      Selection tool

      The Selection tool (shortcut V or Esc) lets you select objects on the page and move or resize them. You might want to rename this tool in your mind as the Mover tool because it's the only tool that lets you drag objects around on-screen.

      Tip

      If you're working with text and have the Type tool selected, you can switch to the Selection tool temporarily by holding down or Ctrl instead of using the Tools panel.

      Here's how the Selection tool works:

      To select any object on a document page, click it. If you can't seem to click it, it might be an object placed by a master page (a preformatted page used to format pages automatically) or it might be behind another object.

      To select an object placed by a master page, press Shift+ or Ctrl+Shift while you click.

      To select an object that is completely behind another object, +click it or Ctrl+click it.

      To select multiple objects, click and drag around the objects or Shift+click them individually. Because you need to press Shift anyway while selecting objects placed by master pages, you can always multiple-select those objects.

      Then apply the desired transformation or effect. For example, to move selected objects, click somewhere within the objects and drag the mouse. To resize a selected object, click and drag any handle. (Press Shift+ or Ctrl+Shift while you drag to maintain the proportions of the object.) To resize both a selected frame and its graphic, press or Ctrl while you drag. Press Shift+ or Ctrl+Shift to keep things proportional. To rotate an object, hover the mouse just outside a corner; when you see the curved-arrow pointer, you can then use the mouse to rotate the object. You can also use the Control panel and the other tools explained in Part III on the selected object.

      Tip

      To resize multiple objects simultaneously via the mouse, you must first group them (choose Object Group, or press +G or Ctrl+G). Otherwise, only the object whose handle is being dragged resizes. Ungroup by choosing Object Ungroup, or pressing Shift+ +G or Ctrl+Shift+G. You can resize multiple selected — but ungrouped — objects by using the Control panel or Transform panel.

      Direct Selection tool

      The Direct Selection tool (shortcut A) lets you select the contents of graphics frames, such as to move them independently of their frames, as well as the nodes in lines and other objects (the modes are the hollow circles that appear at corners, at the beginning and end of lines and curves, and at direction transitions in curves).

      Cross-Reference

      Chapter 10 explains InDesign CS5's selection methods in more detail. Chapter 16 explains how to use the Direct Selection tool to work with nodes, which are also known as anchor points.

      Here's how the Direct Selection tool works with graphics frames' contents:

      To select a graphics frame's contents, click it to display the inside frame for the graphic, as shown in FIGURE 1.4. (The inside frame is brown, whereas the outside frame is the current layer's color, which is blue by default; Chapter 6 explains layers.)

      607169-fg0104.eps

      FIGURE 1.4 Left: A graphics frame with its contents selected using the Direct Selection tool. Right: As the content's inside frame is being reshaped (the top edge is being moved down), InDesign shows the entire graphic, including the portion that extends beyond its outside frame and thus will not print.

      To select the contents in graphics frames placed by a master page, Shift+ +click or Ctrl+Shift+click, as with the Selection tool. The Direct Selection tool lets you easily select objects behind other objects and select items within groups.

      To select multiple graphics frames' contents,click and drag around the objects or Shift+click them. Because you need to press Shift anyway while selecting objects placed by master pages, you can always multiple-select those objects.

      Then apply the desired effect. For example, to move a graphic within its frame, click inside the inside frame and drag the graphic. Or move an inside frame's edge or corner to resize it or reshape it. You can apply effects to the selected inside frame such as rotation using the tools in the Control panel or by using the techniques explained in Part III.

      Note

      Both the Selection and Direct Selection tools can be used for threading (linking) text frames (see Chapter 18). This is one of the few cases when you have more than one tool to handle a task.

      Page tool

      The new Page tool (shortcut Shift+P) lets you move an entire page's contents, as well as open a set of menu options to change the page size and orientation. Chapter 5 covers this tool in more detail.

      Gap tool

      The new Gap tool (shortcut U) lets you change the gap between objects by automatically resizing the objects as you adjust the gap with the mouse, as Chapter 10 explains.

      Type tool

      The Type tool (shortcut T) lets you type, edit, and format text. The Type tool also lets you create rectangular text frames as you need them. (See Chapters 9 and 18.)

      Note

      You can place or drag and drop text files, and you can thread (link) text frames with either of the selection tools, but those tools won't let you touch the text.

      Type on a Path tool

      The Type tool has a pop-out menu to select the Type on a Path tool (shortcut Shift+T), which lets you select a path or frame and type text onto it so that it follows the path or frame's outline. (See Chapter 22.)

      Line tool

      The Line tool (shortcut \) lets you draw free-standing lines (rules) on your page. To use this tool, simply click it and drag the mouse. You can use the rulers, the Control panel, or the Transform panel to size and position the line precisely. Pressing Shift while you click and drag constrains the line angle to 45-degree increments, which is useful for creating straight horizontal and vertical lines. (See Chapter 9.)

      Pen tool

      The Pen tool (shortcut P) lets you create paths consisting of straight and curved segments. Modeled after the Pen tools in Illustrator and Photoshop, this is the tool for creating simple illustrations within InDesign. (See Chapter 16.)

      If a path you create with the Pen tool is left open, the object is essentially a line that you can color or adjust stroke settings for. If the path is closed, the object is basically an empty frame. You can import text or graphics into the paths using the Place command (choose File Place or press +D or Ctrl+D) or you can type into the path using the Type tool. If you decide to place text or graphics in an open path, the path closes automatically and becomes a frame. (To place text on a path, first select the Type on a Path tool [shortcut Shift+T] and then click the path.)

      Anchor and direction point tools

      The Pen tool includes a pop-out menu containing three additional tools for reshaping lines and frames: Add Anchor Point (shortcut =), Delete Anchor Point (shortcut – [hyphen]), and Convert Direction Point (shortcut Shift+C).

      Cross-Reference

      For more information about using the Pen and anchor point tools, see Chapter 16.

      Pencil tool

      The Pencil tool (shortcut N) lets you draw freeform shapes by having InDesign trace your mouse movements, creating a curve based on that automatically. (See Chapter 16.)

      Smooth tool

      The Pencil tool has a pop-out menu to select the Smooth tool, which lets you smooth lines, curves, and shapes. It has no shortcut. (See Chapter 16.)

      Erase tool

      The Pencil tool also has a pop-out menu to select the Erase tool, which lets you erase portions of an object. It has no shortcut. (See Chapter 16.)

      Frame tools

      InDesign has three frame tools: Rectangle Frame (shortcut F), Ellipse Frame, and Polygon Frame. Their icons are distinguished by a large X inside. The latter two tools, which have no shortcuts, are available from the Rectangle Frame tool's pop-up menu. The frames created by these tools are meant to hold either graphics or text. To create frames with these tools, click and drag using the rulers or information in the Control panel or Transform panel to judge the size and placement. To create a perfect circle with the Ellipse Frame tool or a perfect square with the Rectangle Frame tool, press Shift while you click and drag. (See Chapter 9.)

      You can fill and stroke the empty frames for use as design elements or you can import text and graphics into them using the Place command (choose File Place or press +D or Ctrl+D). You can also click in an empty frame with the Type tool to begin typing in it. (See Chapters 9 and 19.)

      Shape tools

      If you'd rather create actual graphics frames, use the Rectangle (shortcut M), Ellipse (shortcut L), or Polygon (no shortcut) tools. (The Ellipse and Polygon tools are pop-out tools available from the Rectangle tool.) The tools are meant to create shapes that you use as artwork rather than as containers, but you can place text or graphics into one of these shapes the same way as you would a frame. (See Chapter 9.) Essentially, the shape tools are superfluous and you can ignore them.

      Scissors tool

      The Scissors tool (shortcut C) lets you cut paths into separate paths. When you cut an open path (a line or curve), you get two separate lines. When you cut a closed path in one place, you get an open path. When you cut a closed path (a frame) in two places, you get two closed paths containing the same contents. Note that you cannot cut paths containing text. (See Chapter 16.)

      Free Transform tool

      The Free Transform tool (shortcut E) is handy because it lets you move, rotate, and reshape objects all with one tool. If you click and hold the mouse within the object, you can drag it. If you click any of the handles on the object frame, you can resize it. If you click and hold on any edge (except where there is a handle) or anywhere outside the object, you can rotate the object. (See Chapter 11.)

      New Feature

      In InDesign CS5, the Rotate, Scale, and Shear tools now reside in the Free Transform tool's pop-out menu. And you no longer even need to use the Free Transform or Rotate tools to rotate an object or its content, as Chapters 10 and 11 explain.

      Rotate tool

      The Rotate tool (shortcut R) lets you change the angle of selected items visually. To use the Rotate tool, first select an item with the Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool and then select the Rotate tool; or +click or Ctrl+click an object with the Rotate tool. Click and drag in any direction. The object rotates from the location of the active reference point, as shown in FIGURE 1.5.

      The active reference point is indicated through the nine boxes in the upper left of the Control panel or Transform panel — the black square is the active reference point (also called control point) from which the rotation pivots and from which all coordinates originate. Just click whatever square you want to be the active reference point. You can also click and drag the active reference point to a new location for a custom rotation.

      Tip

      To rotate an object in 45-degree increments, press Shift while you click and drag.

      Scale tool

      The Scale tool (shortcut S) lets you grab any object and resize it horizontally, vertically, or proportionally. When you scale text or graphics frames, the text or image within them is resized as well. As with the Rotate tool, the Scale tool doesn't let you select items to scale. You either need to select an object first with a selection tool or +click or Ctrl+click it with the Scale tool. (See Chapter 11.)

      Shear tool

      The Shear tool (shortcut O) works much the same as the Scale tool. Rather than resize the object and contents, the Shear tool slants selected objects in the direction you drag. But it also rotates the object, creating a more three-dimensional perspective effect. (See Chapter 11.)

      607169-fg0105.eps

      FIGURE 1.5 Objects rotate based on the active reference point: At right, the active reference point is the center point; at left it is the lower-right corner.

      Gradient Swatch tool

      The Gradient Swatch tool (shortcut G) lets you change the direction of existing gradient fills or strokes applied to objects. To apply gradients to objects, you use the Gradient panel. (See Chapter 8.)

      Gradient Feather tool

      The Gradient Feather tool (shortcut Shift+G) acts just like the Gradient Swatch tool except that it fades the gradient to transparent rather than to a solid color, providing a quick way to apply a feathering effect. (See Chapter 12.)

      Note tool

      The Note tool lets you insert a nonprinting note (such as a reminder to yourself or another designer) in text. After selecting the tool, click in any text to insert the note. The Notes panel opens, in which you can type the note and navigate to other notes. (See Chapter 19.)

      Eyedropper tool

      The Eyedropper tool (shortcut I) samples the color and other formatting settings for the object at the location you click with it, as well as for text you click with it. If the Eyedropper tool is selected, pressing Alt or Option switches you to the Marker tool, which lets you apply the color or other formatting you just sampled to any object or text. (See Chapters 8, 11, and 19.)

      Measure tool

      Available through the Eyedropper tool's pop-out menu, the Measure tool (shortcut K) opens the Info panel and lets you draw a line whose dimensions appear in that panel so that you can measure an arbitrary distance. You can see objects' dimensions in the Control, Transform, and Info panels, but the value of the Measure tool is that it determines the distance between objects rather than the dimensions of objects. It can also come in handy when you're measuring the distance across multiple objects. (See Chapter 10.)

      Hand tool

      The Hand tool (shortcut H) lets you scoot pages around to view a different portion of a page or another page entirely. The Hand tool is an entirely visual method of scrolling, allowing you to see the page contents at all times. To use the Hand tool, click and drag in any direction. You can access the Hand tool temporarily without actually switching tools by pressing Option+spacebar or Alt+spacebar. (See Chapter 2.)

      Zoom tool

      The Zoom tool (shortcut Z) lets you increase and decrease the document view scale. You can highlight a specific area on a page to change its view or you can click on-screen to change the view scale within InDesign's preset increments (shown in the Zoom Level field and pop-up menu in the application bar).

      Apply buttons

      The bottom portion of the Tools panel contains buttons for applying colors to the edges of objects (strokes) and the insides of objects (fills). You use these buttons with the Stroke, Color, Gradient, and Swatches panels to apply and experiment with the colors applied to objects. (See Chapter 8.) FIGURE 1.3 identifies these buttons.

      Screen Mode buttons

      At the very bottom of the Tools panel (or at its far right if it's in horizontal orientation, as explained later in this chapter) is the Screen Mode iconic button, which has five options: Normal, Preview, Bleed, Slug, and Presentation. (If the Tools panel is configured to be in two-column mode, you'll see the Normal iconic button at bottom left and the Preview iconic button at bottom right; the Preview iconic button also acts as a menu to access the other three screen modes.)

      The Normal screen mode shows all InDesign indicators such as frame edges and the pasteboard, whereas the Preview mode shows the layout without any indicators, to simulate its final appearance to the reader.

      New Feature

      The new Presentation mode lets you show your layout as if it were a slideshow, such as for a client walkthrough presentation, as Chapter 2 explains.

      The Bleed screen mode shows any objects that bleed beyond the page boundaries, and the Slug mode shows the space reserved for information such as crop marks and color separation names used in final output, as covered in Chapters 4 and 31. You set these up when you create new documents or by choosing File Document Setup or pressing Option+ +P or Ctrl+Alt+P.

      Note

      These five view modes are also accessible by choosing View Screen Mode and then the desired option from the submenu, as well as from the Screen Mode iconic pop-up menu in the application bar (covered earlier in this chapter).

      Using tool tips and keyboard shortcuts

      To start getting familiar with the tools, first make sure that the Tool Tips pop-up menu is set to Normal or Fast in the Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign Preferences Interface or press +K on the Mac, or choose Edit Preferences Interface or press Ctrl+K in Windows). Point at each tool to learn its official name, as shown in FIGURE 1.3; let the pointer rest on the tool for a few seconds (if Tool Tips is set to Normal) and a tool tip appears, telling you the name and shortcut key of that tool.

      Knowing the actual name is the key to learning about any tool — after all, neither the InDesign documentation's index nor this book's index lists tools by the way they look (for example, little black pointer or empty square); instead, if you want to look up a tool, you need to know the tool's name (Selection tool or Rectangle tool, for example).

      While you're learning the tool names, you may notice a single letter in parentheses next to each tool name. This is the shortcut key to selecting that tool. For example, the (T) next to the Type tool indicates that pressing T selects the Type tool. The Tools panel's shortcuts don't use modifier keys such as and Ctrl. If you're editing text or otherwise have the Type tool selected — or if you're in a text-entry field in a panel or dialog box — typing these shortcuts simply inserts the text where your cursor is.

      Caution

      If you're not careful, you can type nonsense text in your articles because of the way the Tools panel's shortcuts work (without having to press or Ctrl).

      Tip

      To avoid typing these extra letters into your text, always use +click or Ctrl+click to click anywhere on the page or pasteboard. Doing so releases the live text that you were working on before typing a single-letter keyboard shortcut.

      After you learn all the keyboard commands, you can create and refine a layout without ever reaching for the Tools panel. In no time, you'll be switching from the Scale tool to the Rotate tool with a quick punch of the R key, and then you'll be pressing T to add a text frame. Now, obviously, you can't use the keyboard commands for selecting tools while typing or editing text, but they are worth remembering for switching tools while designing a layout. In many production environments, copy editors handle text changes, whereas layout artists handle design issues. In such environments, the layout artists learn these shortcuts and the copy editors avoid them.

      Opening and closing the Tools panel

      Opening and closing the Tools panel is easy. One method of opening (or closing) the Tools panel is to choose Window Tools. The other method of opening (or closing) the Tools panel is more obscure: Pressing Tab (with any tool but the Type tool selected) closes all open panels, including the Tools panel. To reopen those panels, press Tab again. To reopen just the Tools panel, choose Window Tools. You can also close a floating Tools panel by clicking its Close box.

      By default, the Tools panel is docked under the Control panel, but you can drag it out (drag the dark area at the very top) and make it a free-floating panel. Drag it back to the left of the monitor screen, right under the Control panel, to re-dock it.

      You can change the Tools panel's appearance, as FIGURE 1.6 shows, by clicking the double-arrow iconic button in the dock that contains the Tools panel. If the Tools panel is docked, you can toggle the panel between single-column and double-column. If the Tools panel is undocked, you get a third state: single-column horizontal. (Note how the double-arrow icons change direction as you toggle through the various states.)

      You can also set the display to any of these three settings — whether the panel is docked or not — in the Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box, using the Floating Tools Panel pop-up menu.

      Note

      A docked Tools panel has square corners, while an undocked Tools panel has rounded corners.

      607169-fg0106.eps

      FIGURE 1.6 The five forms of the Tools panel: docked and single-column, docked and double-column, floating and single-column, floating and double-column, and floating and horizontal. Note how undocked panels have rounded corners whereas docked ones have square corners.

      Working with Panels and Docks

      Initially, software developers used floating palettes to provide convenient access to commonly used options such as swatches, fonts, and styles. Palettes provide a more interactive method of working with features because the screen is not obscured by a large dialog box and you can access the controls quickly.

      Eventually, palettes started to move away from serving as a convenient alternative to commands and became the primary method — often the only method — for performing many tasks. InDesign calls these floating palettes panels. Panels can have multiple sets of functions, with each set in its own tabbed pane. FIGURE 1.7 shows the interface elements in panels.

      There are so many panels in InDesign CS5 — even more than in previous versions — that you might want to consider hooking up a second monitor for displaying them. Break out the computer glasses and your decoder ring, because the panels are small and laden with mysterious icons.

      As with the tools, if you make sure Tool Tips is selected in the Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box (choose InDesign Preferences Interface or press +K on the Mac, or choose Edit Preferences Interface or press Ctrl+K in Windows), you can get some pretty good hints as to what the panel icons and fields do.

      You can also manage what panels display, and switch among these view settings, using the workspaces feature described in Chapter 2.

      607169-fg0107.tif

      FIGURE 1.7 Anatomy of a panel. Panels contain a flyout menu that provides additional options. Floating panel groups also have a Close box to remove them from the display. Some panels have a hide/show options button to display and hide additional fields.

      Arranging panels

      InDesign places a set of panels in a dock at the right edge of your screen. The goal of this dock is to keep panels in a self-contained area, minimizing interface clutter. Because the Tools panel resides in its own dock, I call the one at the right side of the screen the main dock.

      Note

      The only panel that cannot be docked is the Quick Apply panel.

      You access a panel by clicking its tab (if it is on-screen) and/or by choosing the desired panel from the Window menu. If you choose a panel from the Window menu not already in the dock, that selected panel appears on-screen as a free-floating panel.

      Note

      InDesign CS5 displays just a limited set of panels in the main dock when you install it — those in the Essentials workspace. I suggest that you switch to the Advanced workspace to get a useful set of panels in the dock as your default; to do so, choose Advanced from the Workspaces menu at the right side of the application bar, or choose Window Workspace [Advanced]. (Chapter 2 explains how to work with, and create your own, workspaces.)

      You can move panels in and out of panel groups, dragging them by their tabs. You can drag panels within the main dock or outside the dock (dragging them outside the dock makes them free-floating). (If the dock is collapsed, just drag the panels by their names to pull them out or move them.) You can also drag free-floating panels into the dock.

      Tip

      To drag an entire panel group — all the panels whose tabs are in the same row in the dock — hold Option or Alt when you drag the tab of one of its panels. If a panel group is collapsed into the dock, just drag the dashed line that appears over its name to drag the entire panel group out of the dock.

      Some panels have additional fields that you can display by clicking the up/down arrow iconic button in the panels' tabs. Clicking the icon again returns the panel to the normal display.

      Tip

      To close an individual panel, whether it's inside the main dock or free-floating, you must drag it out into its own free-floating panel and then close that panel using its Close box. (To bring back a closed panel, select it from the Window menu.) Note that you can close an entire panel group by clicking its Close box.

      Changing the dock display

      As with the Tools panel, you can drag the main dock from the right side of the screen and make it float, as well as drag it back and dock it there. (You can also drag the Control panel to make it free-floating.)

      In addition to being able to move the main dock, you can adjust how it appears. You can widen or narrow the dock by its left edge when docked, and any edge when undocked.

      You can also add panels to it by dragging them at the boundary of any existing panel or panel group on the dock, as well as remove panels and panel groups from the dock, as explained in the previous section.

      The Interface pane of the Preferences dialog box gives you additional control over the dock's display: If you enable Auto-Collapse Icon Panels, an open panel closes as soon as you click somewhere else in the program. This way is handier than manually collapsing the panel when done.

      Sometimes, panels get in the way of working on your layout. To quickly hide all panels, press Tab. (Make sure no text is selected if the Type tool is active; otherwise, you'll enter a tab in your text. And make sure no dialog box or panel field is enabled; otherwise, you'll move to another field.) To get them all back, press Tab again.

      Tip

      If you enable the Auto-Show Hidden Panels option in the Interface pane of the Preference dialog box, you can quickly open certain panels. (To set this preference, choose InDesign Preferences Interface or press +K on the Mac, or choose Edit Preferences Interface or press Ctrl+K in Windows.) When you hide all panels by pressing Tab, you see a dark gray border on the left and right side of InDesign's document window. Hover your mouse over the left border to display the Tools panel. Hover over the right border to display the main dock and any floating panels. (Note that you cannot show the Control panel this way; you must press Tab again.)

      Using panels

      To use a panel, first you need to activate it. You can do this by clicking its tab (if the panel containing it is open) or by choosing its menu command in the Window menu (if the panel is not open or if another pane in that panel is active). You need to be on the lookout here — if a menu command brings a panel forward in the main dock or in a free-floating panel group, you might not even notice.

      When a panel is active, you use its controls in the following ways:

      Click a pop-up menu to display and select an option, or click an icon to select an option; the changes take effect immediately.

      Highlight a value in a field to enter a new value. To implement the value, press Shift+Return or Shift+Enter, or you can press Tab to move to the next field or Shift+Tab to the previous field; or just click in a different field or elsewhere in the document. To get out of a field you've modified, leaving the object unscathed, press Esc.

      Some fields include up and down arrows that you can click to increase or decrease the value in the field.

      Fields accept values in all different measurement systems. (I cover field values in detail in Chapter 3.)

      In addition to typing values in fields, you can enter calculations. You can add to, subtract from, multiply, and divide values in fields using the following operators: +, –, * (multiply), and / (divide). For example, to reduce the width of a frame by half, you might type /2 next to the current value in the Width field (such as 4.5"/2). Or, to

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1