- Level 1
- Level 2
- InDesign XML
- InDesign JavaScript
- Booking
Adobe InDesign Level 1
(2 days - £450, plus VAT)
Prerequisites
Computer literacy: the ability to use a mouse and keyboard; familiarity with common computer software; the ability to open and save files.
Course Goals
To get delegates comfortable and confident with using the InDesign tools and to acquaint them with essential techniques for creating short publications such as leaflets and newsletters.
Course Outline
Starting a Document
Setting Up a New Document
Adjusting Margins and Guides
Creating Custom Workspaces
Using the Bridge with InDesign
Saving Your Document
Creating and Flowing Text
The Mechanics of Frames
Flowing Text into Frames
Adjusting Text Blocks
Editing Your Text
Checking Your Spelling
Joining Type to a Curve
Basic Text Formatting
Applying Formatting Attributes
Font, Size, and Color
Kerning and Tracking
Paragraph Spacing and Alignment
Hyphenation and Composition
Accessing Special Characters
Lists and Tables
The Power of the Indent
Adding a Drop Cap
Lists and Hanging Indents
Dashes, Spaces, and Breaks
Setting Tabs
Creating a Full-Fledged Table
Importing and Modifying Graphics
How Imported Graphics are Handled
Cropping and Scaling
Rotating, Slanting, and Flipping
Wrapping Text around Graphics
Inserting Inline Graphics
Working with Anchored Objects
Pages
Setting Up Master Pages
Adding Master Objects
Automatic Page Numbering
Applying Masters to Document Page
Using Style Sheets
Assembling a Custom Style
Creating and Applying Paragraph Styles
Updating a Paragraph Style
Augmenting Text with Character Styles
Employing Nested and Numbered Styles
Using Table and Cell Styles
Creating and Using Object Styles
Creating and Using Layers
Creating New Layers
Assigning Objects to Layers
Hiding and Locking Layers
Moving Objects Between Layers
Printing and Output
Printing Documents
Setting Print Options
Using Print Presets
Exporting Documents to PDF
Using PDF Presets
Preflight and Packaging
Checking for Problems with Images
Checking for Problems with Fonts
Checking for Problems with Colours
Packaging a Document
Files Produced by InDesign
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InDesign Advanced
(1 day - £245, plus VAT)
Prerequisites
Familiarity with InDesign tools, panels and fundamental techniques.
Course Goals
To provide experienced users with the skills necessary to produce longer and more complex publications and to generate interactive PDF files from within InDesign.
Course Outline
Drawing Inside Indesign
Homegrown Graphics
Drawing Lines and Shapes
Fill, Stroke, Color, and Gradients
Aligning and Distributing Objects
Compound Paths and Pathfinder Operations
Transparency and Effects
Gradations in Translucency
Adjusting Opacity and Blending Colors
Applying Dynamic Effects
Using Clipping Paths and Alpha Channels
Importing Layered Photoshop Artwork
Advanced Style Sheets
Using Find/Change to Apply a Character Style
Employing Nested and Numbered Styles
Using Table and Cell Styles
Creating and Using Object Styles
Working With Long Documents
Binding, Synchronizing, and Indexing
Assembling Documents into a Book
Synchronizing Book Documents
Creating a Table of Contents
Generating an Index
Hyperlinks, Bookmarks, and PDF
Tools for Interactivity
Creating Bookmarks
Setting Up Hyperlinks
Making Buttons
Embedding Sounds and Movies
Exporting to PDF
Using Data Merge
Creating a Data Source
Marking Image Fields
Using the Data Merge Panel
Selecting a Data Source
Assigning Fields to Frames
Previewing the Data Merge
Creating the Data Merge Document
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InDesign and XML
(2 days - £550, plus VAT)
Prerequisites
Familiarity with InDesign tools, panels and fundamental techniques.
Course Goals
To show experienced InDesign features how to incorporate XML into their workflows. Delegates will be given an introduction into XML, DTDs and XSLT as well as importing and exporting XML into and out of InDesign.
Course Outline
Fundamentals
About markup languages
What is XML?
XML and SGML
How mark-up languages work
Representation of document structure
Multi-platform publishing
Modelling content with XML
XML basics
XML elements
The root element
Creating XML tags
Parent and child elements
Entities, PCData, and CData
Element attributes
White space
Adding comments
Well-formed XML documents
DTDs
Overview of XML validation
XML parsers
Creating DTDs
Internal and external DTDs
Element declaration
Attribute declaration
Declaring internal entities
Declaring external entities
InDesign XML basics
Summary of XML features
Typical workflows
Using the Tags window
Creating and editing tags
Applying tags to text frames
Applying tags to image frames
Applying tags to inline frames
Importing tags
Show Tag Markers
XML and InDesign tables
XML and images
Importing XML
Importing XML files
Tagging preset options
Mapping tags to style
Manually formating XML
Embedding style names in XML files
Creating repeating elements
Using XSL stylesheets
Using DTDs
Industry-standard DTDs
Importing DTDs
Validating documents with DTDs
Exporting XML
Tagging items for XML export
Selecting elements for export
Setting export options
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InDesign JavaScript
(3 days - £895, plus VAT)
Prerequisites
Familiarity with InDesign tools, panels and fundamental techniques. The course is aimed at experienced users of InDesign CS5 and assumes little or no programming experience.
Course Goals
Our InDesign Scripting course shows users how to automate key InDesign page layout tasks using JavaScript. It covers the basics of JavaScript and shows users how to speed up InDesign processes and workflows through scripting.
Course Outline
Scripting Basics
Introduction to scripting
What is scripting?
Why use scripting?
What about macros?
Making script files readable
Commenting the script
Continuing long lines in JavaScript
Objects and classes
Object references
Values
Variables
Variable names
Assigning values to variables
Array variables
Converting values from one type to another
Finding the value type of a variable
Operators
Methods
Control structures
Conditional statements
LoopsSubroutines and handlers
Getting Started with InDesign Scripting
Measurements and positioning
Coordinates
Measurement units
The InDesign document object model
Looking at the InDesign object model
Using palettes to manage scripts
Using the Scripts palette
Using the Script Label palette
Testing and troubleshooting
JavaScript debugging
Using ExtendScript Tools and Features
The ExtendScript Toolkit
Configuring the Toolkit window
Selecting a debugging target
Selecting scripts
Tracking data
The JavaScript console
The call stack
The Script Editor
Debugging in the Toolkit
Basic document management
Creating a new document
Opening a document
Closing a document
Saving a document
Basic page layout
Defining page size and document length
Defining bleed and slug areas
Setting page margins and columns
Changing the pasteboard's appearance
Using guides and grids
Defining guides
Setting grid preferences
Snapping to guides and grids
Changing measurement units and ruler
Defining and applying document presets
Creating a preset by copying values
Creating a preset using new values
Using a preset
Setting up master spreads
Setting text-formatting defaults
Setting application text defaults
Setting the active document's defaults
Using text defaults
Adding XMP metadata
Creating a document template
Printing a document
Printing using page ranges
Setting print preferences
Using printer presets
Creating printer presets from printing preferences
Exporting a document as PDF
Using current PDF export options
Setting PDF export options and exporting pages separately
Exporting a range of pages
Exporting pages as EPS
Exporting all pages
Exporting a range of pages
Controlling export options
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