So I got my boss to cough up for Adobe’s standard Creative Suite. Illustrator 11 seems roughly similar to 10, so no confusion there, I don’t really use it much anyway. Photoshop 8 seems similar, too, no problem. BUT, I’m switching from Quark 4 to InDesign 3, and while it seems like they do the same thing, the way they do it differs greatly, especially in regards to shortcuts. So most of my questions revolve around not being able to do something that I liked to do in Quark, and I want to be able to do in InDesign. So help me out, guys and gals.
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How can I apply a color to a placed image, like I could in Quark to a pure black and white ‘bitmap’ graphic?
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I’m having trouble creating new spreads. Every time I try and drag master pages down to create a spread, I end up with two pages to one side of the spine. I can’t seem to get them to line up one on each side, even if I then take those two pages and drag them to the side so that they look like they should be in the right place. What gives?
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How can I select one object within a group, specifically a text box. In Quark, if there was a group of objects you could use the content tool to select just one of them. In InDesign, it seems you can do the same thing, but if it’s a text box I don’t get the top, bottom, and side handles to change the size of the box in one direction. Is there a way to do this?
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How do I select something that’s behind something else? Again, in Quark, you could hold down shift-option-command and click on something, and repeated clicks would select what was behind that, then behind that, etc. Can you do this in InDesign?
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In Quark, you could double-click on a placed image with the content tool, getting info about it, and there was a button that let you jump directly to the original file in it’s parent app, like a photo in Photoshop. Is there something equivalent in InDesign?
Thanks in advance.
Classroom in a Book
Best book on InDesign I’ve used. I don’t have the program right now, so I can’t help you with specifics, but this book will answer EVERY question.
Once you get used to it, InDesign is 1000 times better than Quark.
I got the Visual Quickstart book, and it’s o.k., but these specific things I can’t find in it. Any of y’all daytime people around can help me out?
You can change shortcuts in InDesign CS to suit your needs. Every command is available there.
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Just select, and then choose a swatch. Selection tool (V) will color the box. Direct selection tool (A) will color the image.
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Go to File>Document Setup and click on Facing Pages. If you want trifold or more, click on the arrow on the pages pallete and select “Keep Spread Together”.
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To select a specific object in a group, use direct selection tool (A). To get the resize handles, press (V) right after choosing it with (A).
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Depends on your shortcut setup. To see what the current keys are, go to Object>Select.
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Right click the picture and go to Graphics>edit original.
How do you like the transition? Anything you prefer about either Quark or InDesign?
PS, Quark 6 is AWFUL.
I found everything just like you said, except the creating spreads thing. Occasionally it will place files right, but more often than not it puts two pages on one side of the spine. Maybe it’s a matter of dragging it to just the right place, but the little arrows that appear when you’ve got it in a certain spot don’t seem to help me figure out where it needs to go.
And how do I change the shortcuts?
So far, I like InDesign scads better than Quark. It does seem like there are an awful lot of palettes to go in and out of to get somthing set up right, but I imagine that once I start getting the shortcuts figured out that’ll get simpler.
I bought all three Adobe pieces of software for $1000. I am staggered that Quark is still charging $800 just for version 6. It doesn’t seem to even be any different than 4 (which is what, 8 years old?), just OS X native. Someone at Quark needs to wake up and realize that they aren’t as entrenched as they seem to think.