1 [LET’S START WITH A BLANK PAGE]
So that we’re all on the same page, literally, create a new blank 8.5×11″ page in InDesign by choosing New>Document from the File menu or by pressing Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N) on the keyboard. Uncheck Facing Pages and make your margins .5″ all the way around. Click OK.

2 [CREATE A TEXT FRAME WITH THE TYPE TOOL]
Select the Type tool (T) from the Toolbox and use it to drag out a new text frame on the page. Make it as close to 5×7″ as you can when you’re dragging it out. Of course it’s difficult to be precise when you’re dragging, so switch to the Selection tool, which should automatically select your frame as an object, and then key in the exact 5×7″ measurements in the Width and Height fields in the Control panel.

3 [ADJUST THE INSET; KEY IN YOUR HEADLINE]
We’re going to add a border to our frame a little later and I don’t want that border to actually touch the text in our frame, so before we get started putting text in the frame, let’s set an inset.

Choose Text Frame Options from the Object menu. Set the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right Inset Spacing to .25″. If the little chain icon is enabled, setting one measurement makes all measurements the same. Click OK. Now that you’re back to your text frame, double-click on it with the Selection tool to switch to the Type tool and key in your headline.

4 [CENTER HEADLINE; BRING UP THE TABS RULER]
When you keyed in your headline in Step 3, chances are it was left aligned. So before we go any further, go ahead and insert a couple of new paragraphs (press the Return [PC: Enter] key twice) after the headline. Now select the headline and click the Align Center icon in the Paragraph Formatting controls in the Control panel. Once your headline is centered, adjust the font and size aspects to your taste. Now put your cursor on the last new blank paragraph that you created after your headline and bring up the Tabs ruler from the Type menu.

5 [SET A RIGHT TAB WITH LEADER DOTS]
We’re going to create a list with leader dots. When most people do this, they usually go about it the hard way. But here’s the easy way: Click the Right-Justified Tab (third one from the left) and then click on the ruler near the right indent to add a tab stop. While the tab stop is still selected, go ahead and key in a period in the Leader field.

6 [TEST IT BY KEYING IN A SAMPLE LIST]
Now you can key in your sample list. On the left side, which is where your cursor should be, key in the item name, then press the Tab key on your keyboard, and your cursor should jump over to the right tab that we set. Now when you key in your price/time/place, etc., it will be right justified at the tab stop and there will be leader dots from the item name to the item description that you just keyed in. Just press Return (PC: Enter) to create the next paragraph and your tab stop will be carried down automatically.

7 [KEY IN PARAGRAPH TEXT]
Now that you’ve created your list, it’s time to create some paragraph text with indents below the list. First, let’s create a standard paragraph of text and then we’ll add a second paragraph that we’re going to indent in the next step. You can close the tab ruler at this point.

8 [ADJUST THE INDENTS ON THE CONTROL PANEL]
For the second paragraph of text, let’s indent it on both sides using the Indent controls (circled) in the Paragraph Formatting section of the Control panel. Set both the Left Indent and Right Indent to 0.25″.

9 [ADJUST THE FIRST LINE INDENT]
Many times when I receive Word documents that I need to place into InDesign, the sender has taken the time to tab in the first line of each paragraph. If you use Indents especially in your Paragraph Styles, this becomes a very unnecessary step. Instead of tabbing in the first line of each paragraph, just set a First Line Left Indent in the Control panel. I’ve set mine to 0.25″.

10 [USE “PROPORTIONAL PLACE”]
Now it’s time to place an image to dress things up a bit. In InDesign CS4, there’s a wonderful new feature I call “Proportional Place.” This means you can use the File>Place command, choose your image, and click-and-drag the image onto the page in the exact size you want. InDesign will constrain the proportions of the frame to the image you’re placing. Using this method, place an image over the right side of the first paragraph of body text.

11 [WRAP YOUR TEXT]
Of course, the image is now covering part of your text and this is where Text Wrap comes in (Window>Text Wrap). With the image still selected, click the second icon, Wrap around Bounding Box, and your text should automatically wrap around your photo. Now you can adjust how close the text will appear around the sides of your image by adjusting the Offset measurements (as shown). If you like, you can use negative measurements to bring the text closer.

12 [PLACE AN IRREGULARLY SHAPED GRAPHIC]
Wrapping text around a square or rectangle is easy; however, wrapping text around an irregularly shaped object requires a few more steps. An irregular object can be a vector graphic such as an Illustrator or EPS logo or a Photoshop file where you’ve removed the background. In this example, we’re using a photograph where I removed the sky and saved it as a layered PSD file. I also added a third paragraph to the document.

13 [WRAP TEXT AROUND IRREGULAR SHAPE]
Now go back to the Text Wrap panel and choose the third option, which wraps around an object shape. But you’ll see that it still looks like all it did was wrap around the bounding box. This is where you have to choose the right Contour Options: For a transparent PSD file, use the Alpha Channel option; and for an Illustrator or EPS file, choose the Detect Edges option.

14 [ADD A FRAME BORDER]
Now to put the finishing touch on this design, we’ll add a nice border to our frame. Select the Frame with the Selection tool and then choose the weight and style of border that you want from the Control panel (we chose 4 pt, and Thick – Thin).

ALL IMAGES BY TERRY WHITE UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

1 [FIRST, WE’LL NEED A NEW DOCUMENT]
You can certainly use one of your existing documents for this, but if you’re going to follow along, you might want to go ahead and create a new document. Choose New>Document from the File menu. One page should be fine.

2 [CREATE A LARGE TEXT FRAME]
In this example, we’re going to lay the foundation for a model release form that will vary depending on whether the model is an adult or a minor. So create a large text frame using the Rectangle Frame tool (F).

3 [KEY IN TEXT FOR YOUR FIRST CONDITION]
Choose the Type tool (T), and at this point you can key in all of your text that will be a part of your first condition. For this example, we’re going to key in the bulk of the text for the release form as if it were for an adult model.

4 [OPEN THE CONDITIONAL TEXT PANEL]
Conditional text is a new feature in InDesign CS4, and it has its own panel. You can open it a couple of ways: you can simply choose it from the Window>Type & Tables menu or you can select the built-in Book workspace from the drop-down menu at the right side of the Application Bar.

5 [CREATE A NEW CONDITION]
You can set up as many conditions as you need. Think of conditions as layers for your text within a text frame. So our first condition will be for models 18 and over. This will be the language in the agreement that states that the model is at least 18 years old and doesn’t need parental consent to sign. Click the New Condition icon at the bottom of the Conditional Text panel. Name your condition in the resulting dialog and click OK.

6 [APPLY YOUR NEW CONDITION TO YOUR TEXT]
With your new condition created, the next thing you need to do is apply it to all of your text that matches that condition. Don’t worry about the text that you want to remain the same for all versions of the document, as it automatically defaults to Unconditional. You only need to apply the condition to the text that you want to show and hide. So in this example, we’ll highlight “I’m of full age” and then click the Over 18 condition to apply it. We’ll also repeat this with “Model’s Signature.” You should see a wavy blue line under any text you applied the condition to.

7 [HIDE YOUR FIRST CONDITION]
After you’ve highlighted each instance of your first condition and applied it in the Conditional Text panel, you’re ready to key in the text for your second condition. However, it would be much less confusing if the first condition’s text wasn’t showing. So click the Eye icon in front of your first condition to hide all the text matching that condition. This will also help you find anything you may have missed.

8 [KEY IN THE TEXT FOR YOUR SECOND CONDITION]
Now that you’ve hidden the text for your first condition, it’s time to key in the text that will be used for your second condition. In this case where it originally said, “I am of full age,” we’re going to key in the text “I’m under the age of 18 and therefore my parent or legal guardian will sign.” We’ll also type “Parent’s Signature” where “Model’s Signature” originally appeared.

9 [CREATE YOUR SECOND CONDITION]
Now that your text is in place for your second condition, let’s create it. Go to the Conditional Text panel, click the New Condition icon, name your second condition (in this case “Under 18”), and click OK.

10 [APPLY THE SECOND CONDITION TO YOUR TEXT]
Just like you did in Step 6, you’re now going to apply your second condition (Under 18) to the new text. Using the Type tool (T), highlight each instance of text matching your second condition, and then click your second condition in the Conditional Text panel to apply it. You should see a red wavy line this time. (Note: When you’re creating a new condition, you can change how it’s going to be highlighted in your document by changing the settings in the Indicators section of the New Condition dialog. Or you can double-click an existing condition in the Conditional Text panel to change those options.)

11 [SHOW AND HIDE YOUR CONDITIONS TO TEST]
At this point you have an InDesign document working with Conditional Text. You can show and hide either condition to allow for printing and exporting. You can use this technique for a variety of situations, not the least being price lists. The beauty here is that your text will automatically rewrap based on which condition is showing.

12 [CREATE MORE CONDITIONS AND APPLY THEM]
Now that you know how to create conditions and apply them, it’s time to make it a little more interesting. Let’s say it’s a paid shoot versus a trade. Either of those conditions could apply to either of the previous two conditions. So it could be an over 18 model doing a trade or an under 18 model doing paid work, or vice versa. Create two new conditions revolving around the first line that talks about pay.

13 [USE CONDITIONAL TEXT SETS]
When you have two or more conditions that could be used together, then it’s time to break out conditional text sets. A conditional text set is a group of conditions that can be turned on all at once. Choose Show Options from the Conditional Text panel flyout menu. Then turn on the conditions that will apply to your new set. Example: Paid and Over 18. Then from the Set drop-down menu, choose Create New Set. Now you’ll have a set to choose that will automatically turn on those two conditions and turn off the others. You can make as many sets as you need.

Luckily, the Adobe engineers felt the same way and introduced Adobe Bridge with Creative Suite 2 as well as with the individual point products such as InDesign CS2. Bridge is a standalone application that doesn’t require another CS2 application to run. You can use Bridge to browse all kinds of files, not just the ones that Photoshop can handle. So it’s like having the old File Browser detached from Photoshop and being able to use it for all CS2 applications.

An image placement palette
Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with InDesign. The answer is, “A lot!” I use Bridge with InDesign all the time. InDesign and Bridge are almost as tightly integrated as Photoshop and Bridge: probably more integrated than the other CS2 apps. You can use Bridge as an image browser for the images and content you’re going to place into your InDesign layouts.
Not only can you browse the content, you can actually drag the content from Bridge directly into your InDesign layouts. This might seem unnatural at first, and I can understand why. You probably want to keep the Bridge window open at full size and your InDesign document at the full size of your display. So, unless you have multiple displays attached to your computer, how on earth are you going to easily drag from Bridge into InDesign? Believe it or not, there’s a very cool way to do this! Simply put Bridge in Compact mode. You can do this by either clicking the Switch to Compact Mode button in the upper-right corner of the Bridge window or by hitting Command-Return (PC: Control-Enter) on the keyboard. Once Bridge is in Compact mode, it will float on top of all other apps by default, thus turning it into an image placement palette for InDesign.

Once you have it floating above your InDesign document, you can either drag images onto your InDesign page and have InDesign build the frames for you, or you can create your frames first and then drag from Bridge directly to your frames. InDesign will create a link to your image wherever it’s located on your drive or removable media. Once the image is in the frame, you can use InDesign’s various image fitting commands to size the image down to fit the frame as you like.

Okay, that’s pretty neat, but what else can you do?
Bridge acts as the serving plate for InDesign CS2 templates. You may not have noticed that InDesign CS2 ships with a variety of professionally designed templates in various categories. The easiest way to get to the top-secret location of the bundled templates is to launch InDesign and on the Welcome Screen, click the button that says New from Template.

Now, if you’re like most InDesign users, you’ve probably unchecked the Show This Dialog at Startup checkbox and closed the Welcome Screen, never to see it again. If that’s the case, simply go to the Help menu and choose Welcome Screen, then click the New from Template button. This will automatically launch Bridge if it’s not already open, or take you to Bridge and the top-secret folder containing all the templates that ship with InDesign CS2.

The templates are organized as collections and folders actually containing the templates. Double-clicking on either one will take you to the folder containing the templates of the category you selected. At first glance, you’ll see the thumbnails for each template. While that’s cool, you’ll probably want to know what the inside pages look like. Here comes some more of that InDesign/Bridge integration that I mentioned earlier. When you click on a template, you can page through it right in Bridge’s Preview panel. This way, you can decide if the template is appropriate for you or not. Unfortunately, this feature only works with InDesign templates and not actual InDesign documents. However, even with InDesign documents, you’ll be able to see the thumbnail of the first page right in the Bridge window.

Taking stock
Lastly, Bridge includes a stock photography service called Adobe Stock Photos. Although I love taking my own pictures, there are times when it’s easier to find an image that someone else has already shot, rather than going to shoot it myself. When you go to Adobe Stock Photos in the Favorites panel of Bridge and do a search, you can download low-res comps. You can drag these downloaded comps right into your InDesign layouts so your client can see the photo before you actually purchase it.

That’s cool, but what happens when your client decides to go with the image you used? No problem. Simply bring up InDesign’s Links palette, select the link for the stock photo image, and choose Purchase This Image from the palette’s flyout menu. This will take you back to Bridge and to Adobe Stock Photos so you can get the prices and purchase the royalty-free image.

1 CREATE A MULTIPLE-PAGE DOCUMENT
One of the main things we’ll want people to be able to do is turn the pages of our document on the Web. So for this we’ll need a multiple-page document. You can either work with an existing document or create a new one (from the File menu, choose New> Document, create at least two pages (we used five in our example), and accept the defaults.

2 SWITCH TO THE MASTER PAGE
We’d like to create navigation buttons so that users will be able to turn the pages of the document from within their Web browser. The best place to do this is on the Master Page. This way, you only have to create the buttons once. Bring up your Pages panel (Window>Pages) and switch to the A-Master page.

3 BRING UP THE SAMPLE BUTTONS LIBRARY
The way we create buttons in InDesign CS4 is a little different than we did in CS3, where we actually had a Button tool. In CS4, the Button tool is gone, but we don’t need it anyway. You can turn any frame into a button using the Buttons panel, and in CS4 we also now have a library of Sample Buttons. Bring up the Buttons panel (Window>Interactive>Buttons) then from the Buttons panel’s flyout menu, choose Sample Buttons. Scroll down to the buttons shaped like arrows.

4 CREATE YOUR BUTTONS
We need a Left Arrow button and a Right Arrow button. Pick your favorite ones from the library and drag them onto your A-Master page at the bottom of the page. Once they’re in place, close the Sample Buttons library. With one of the buttons selected, go back to the Buttons panel, and you’ll notice that the default action is already set for the arrow button to Go to Next Page and Go to Previous Page.

5 REMOVE BUTTONS YOU DON’T NEED
Now switch back to Page 1 in your Pages panel. You’ll notice that both Arrow buttons are there. Well we don’t need the Left Arrow on Page 1 because there’s no previous page. So let’s delete it. Hold down your Command-Shift (PC: Ctrl-Shift) keys and click on the Left Arrow button with the Selection tool. This unlocks it from the A-Master page so that now you can just delete it. Do the same thing on the last page for the Right Arrow button.

6 ADDING URLS
Since this document will be on the Web, we can take advantage of hyperlinks. Users will be able to click on your text and objects to navigate to other webpages or websites.

Return to the A-Master page in the Pages panel. Create a text frame in the lower-right corner of the page and type the name of the site you want to link to. This text will be for display purposes; it doesn’t have to be the actual site address.

7 CREATE A HYPERLINK
Highlight the text with the Type tool. Now bring up the Hyperlinks panel from the Window>Interactive menu, key in the actual URL for the site you want users to go to when they click this link, then press the Return (PC: Enter) key. Once you’ve entered your link, you can return to Page 1.

8 ADD PAGE TRANSITIONS
Both Flash and Adobe PDF support page transitions and now we can create those transitions right in InDesign CS4. Bring up the Page Transitions panel from the Window>Interactive menu. Choose your favorite Transition from the list and then use the flyout menu to apply it to all spreads.

Note: If you want to have a different transition for each page, you can set them individually, page by page.

9 EXPORT TO SWF
Now we’re ready to export to SWF. By exporting to SWF, we can take the work we’ve done in InDesign with all of our interactivity and go straight to a SWF file that can be placed on the Web—no additional knowledge of Flash is needed for this.

Choose File>Export and in the Export dialog, select SWF from the Format pop-up menu. Choose a location or folder and click Save.

10 SET YOUR SWF OPTIONS
At this point we’re pretty set. The defaults in the Export SWF dialog are good. The ones you may want to adjust are: Scale, if you’re trying to fit your SWF to a certain screen size; Range of pages if you don’t want all of your pages exported; and Image Compression if you have certain requirements. Make sure the View SWF after Exporting box is checked and click OK.

11 TEST IT
You’re now looking at your new SWF file in your default browser and you should be able to click your navigation buttons and hyperlinks. And there’s a hidden goodie…because Include Interactive Page Curl was checked by default in the Export SWF dialog, we can also turn our pages by peeling the actual corners of the pages back. How cool is that?

12 EXPORT TO XFL
We could stop here and be happy; however, if we want to do more with Flash, then we’ll need to export our InDesign document in a format that Flash can actually open. InDesign CS4 supports exporting to a new document type called XFL, which can be opened directly in Flash CS4. Choose File>Export, select Adobe Flash CS4 Pro (XFL) from the Format pop-up menu, and then click Save. You can accept the defaults on the next dialog as well and click OK.

13 ADD FLASH CS4 ANIMATION
Once the export is complete, you’ll be able to double-click on your XFL document to open it in Flash CS4 Professional. Each of your pages will appear as keyframes on the Timeline. Also each spread will appear in your Library as movie clips. At this point you’ll need to know how to use Flash to go further; however, you should now be able to animate your pages, add more interactive elements, and create full-blown interactive magazines, resumes, brochures, etc.—all starting with an InDesign CS4 document.

Smart Guides

1 OPEN DOCUMENT; LAUNCH BRIDGE CS4
We’re going to take a look at proportional placing first. You can either work with an existing document or create a new one. To create a new document, choose New>Document from the File menu and accept the default settings. Although you can place images from the File menu in InDesign, it’s actually easier to do it from Adobe Bridge. Choose Browse from the File menu, which will switch to, or launch, Bridge. Navigate to the folder containing your images, select one image, and choose File>Place>In InDesign. This will take you back to InDesign with a loaded cursor.

2 PROPORTIONAL PLACE
At this point you could just click on the page and InDesign would dynamically create a new frame and place the image at 100% size. However, in InDesign CS4 when you drag out a frame on the page, the frame will maintain the same proportions as the image. This is a huge improvement! Deselect the frame by hitting Command-Shift-A (PC: Ctrl-Shift-A).

3 PLACE IMAGES AT THE SAME SIZE
Now let’s take a look at the new smart guides in InDesign. Make sure you have smart guides turned on by choosing View>Guides & Grids. Click the Bridge button in the Control panel to go back to Bridge. Select another image and choose File>Place>In InDesign. Back in InDesign, line up your cursor with the top-right corner of the first image that you placed and drag out the new frame. As you drag, smart guides will appear to let you know when the new frame is the exact same size as the first image.

4 EVENLY SPACE YOUR IMAGES
Smart guides can also even out the spacing between multiple images. Place a third image to the right of your first two images. (Note: You can select multiple images in Bridge and place them one by one without having to go back and forth between the two apps.) Now drag the middle image until you get the amount of spacing you want between it and the first image. The magic comes in when you drag your third image into position. When the spacing between your second and third images matches the spacing between your first and second images, your smart guides will kick in to let you know the spacing between all three is the same.

Smart Text Reflow

1 ADD ANOTHER PAGE
The next feature we’re going to look at is smart text reflow. In order to use smart text reflow you need at least two pages in your document. So if you don’t already have a document open with at least two pages, go ahead and insert another page. Choose Add Page from the Layout>Pages menu.

2 CHANGE YOUR SMART TEXT REFLOW PREFERENCE
InDesign CS4 defaults to only allowing smart text reflow on master page text frames. We want to use this feature on regular text frames, so we’ll need to make a change in our preferences. Open your Type preferences by choosing Type from the InDesign (PC: Edit)>Preferences menu. Be sure to uncheck the Limit to Master Text Frames box in the Smart Text Reflow section and click OK

3 THREAD TOGETHER TWO FRAMES
For smart text reflow to work, you’ll need to thread together at least two text frames on two separate pages. So grab your Type tool (T) and create a new text frame on the first page. Switch back to the Selection tool (V), click the out port of the frame you just created, and drag out a new text frame on the next page. The second frame will be automatically threaded to the first frame. If you want to see this link visually, choose Show Text Threads from the View menu.

4 ADD SOME TEXT
Switch back to your Type tool and click in the first text frame you created. Your cursor will be flashing ready for you to type. For the sake of example, you can choose Fill with Placeholder Text from the Type menu. This will fill both frames with text.

5 ADD MORE TEXT
Since your text frames are now full of text, if you add any more text you’d normally be in an overset situation; however, because you have smart text reflow enabled, adding more text will now add an additional page. So if I put my cursor at the end of the text on the second page and continue typing, InDesign will add a page with a new threaded frame for the additional text.

6 REMOVE EXTRA PAGES
Having InDesign create pages automatically as needed is great; however, what happens when you remove text and no longer need the additional pages? We can turn on a feature that will automatically remove those extra pages that InDesign created. Choose Type from the InDesign (PC: Edit)>Preferences menu. Enable the Delete Empty Pages option in the Smart Text Reflow area and click OK. Now if you remove enough text from your threaded frames, InDesign will automatically delete the extra page. Keep in mind that this only works if the page is empty of any other items.

1 CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT
While you could use an existing document for this tutorial, it’s probably best to begin with a new document. This way you won’t have any extra styles in your Styles panels that are left over from other things you’ve formatted. Choose File>New>Document and click OK to accept the Default settings.

2 CREATE A TEXT FRAME
The best way to create a style sheet in InDesign is to first build an example of how you want your final style to look. Because this is going to be a nested style that formats text, we’ll need a text frame. Select the Type tool (T) and drag out a text frame on your page, then add the text you’ll use to create the styles.

3 STYLE YOUR TEXT
Nested styles can format different paragraphs of text that read differently, but the structure of the text has to be consistent. For example, if you want your nested style to format the first five words of a paragraph, you can’t have the style format four words sometimes and six words at other times; it has to always be the first five. In this example, we formatted the first five words of the paragraph to be a different font, style, and color than the rest of the text.

4 CREATE A CHARACTER STYLE
Now we need to create a character style based on the red text. Open the Character Styles panel (Window>Type & Tables>Character Styles). Highlight any of part of the red text, press-and-hold the Option (PC: Alt) key, and click the Create New Style icon at the bottom of the Character Styles panel. In the New Character Style dialog that appears, name your new style “lead-in” and click OK.

5 CREATE A PARAGRAPH STYLE
Open the Paragraph Styles panel. Place your cursor anywhere in the paragraph, except the red text. Hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key and click the Create New Style icon at the bottom of the Paragraph Styles panel. When the New Paragraph Style dialog appears, name the style “Opener.” Don’t click OK yet.

6 ADD A NESTED STYLE
With the New Paragraph Style dialog still open, click on the Drop Caps and Nested Styles option on the left. Click the New Nested Style button, then choose “lead-in” from the Nested Styles section (click None and it turns into a pop-up menu). Click on the 1 next to “Words” and change it to a 5. Click OK. Your style is now ready to apply to any paragraph where you want the first five words to be formatted using your “lead-in” character style. To apply the styles, just click in any other paragraph and click “Opener” in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply it.

7 USING MULTIPLE NESTED STYLES
You can create a nested style that uses multiple character styles throughout the paragraph. In this example, there’s a plus sign at the beginning of the paragraph and then there’s a character style applied after the second word to the next two words. To create this style, choose the Type tool and drag out a new frame. Then create an example like ours with your styles, fonts, and colors.

8 CREATE FIRST CHARACTER STYLE
With the Type tool, highlight the plus sign in the example from Step 7. Open the Character Styles panel, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, and click the Create New Style icon. Name your style “Plus Sign” and click OK.

9 CREATE SECOND CHARACTER STYLE
To create your second character style, follow the directions from Step 8, but select the two words that follow the first two words (“DVD Player” in this example) and name this style “Product.” Click OK.

10 CREATE PARAGRAPH SYLE
Now it’s time to create the paragraph style. With the Type tool still selected, put your cursor anywhere else in the paragraph other than the text you formatted for your character styles. Open the Paragraph Styles panel, hold down the Option (PC: Alt) key, and click the Create New Style icon at the bottom of the panel. Name your new style “Product Description,” and then choose Drop Caps and Nested Styles from the list on the left.

11 NEST IN FIRST CHARACTER STYLE
Click the New Nested Style button and choose the “Plus Sign” character style from the Nested Styles section. Set Plus Sign through 1 Characters to format your plus sign or other symbol at the beginning of each paragraph (click the word “Words” and it turns into a pop-up menu where you can choose Characters). Don’t click OK yet.

12 NEST IN SECOND CHARACTER STYLE
Before we add the next character style, we need to ignore the next two words. Click the New Nested Style button and leave it set to None through 2 Words. Now click the New Nested Style button one more time and set the Product character style through 2 Words. Click OK.

13 APPLY YOUR STYLE
At this point you’re ready to use your new style. You can either choose Product Description in the Paragraph Styles panel to apply it to an existing paragraph, or select it and then type a new paragraph and your styles will apply as you type. As a bonus tip, if you create styles in one document, you can load them into another document by choosing Load Paragraph Styles from the Paragraph Styles flyout menu. Then choose the document that contains the styles you want to import.

1 YOU’LL NEED A FOLDER OF IMAGES
First, you’ll need to have a folder of images that are in a format that InDesign can place. Luckily, InDesign can place a variety of different formats, such as PSD, TIFF, JPEG, etc. However, if you’re a photographer used to working in Adobe Camera Raw, you’ll need to convert those Camera Raw/DNG files into another format.

2 TAKE IT TO BRIDGE
As you can see in our example, having a folder full of images doesn’t always mean that you can see what they actually look like. That’s where Adobe Bridge CS3 comes in. If you’re new to InDesign, don’t start looking for your discs…you already have Bridge. It’s in your Applications folder or you can just choose Browse from the File menu in InDesign. Also, if Bridge is in your Dock on the Mac, you can simply drag your folder of images right on top of the Dock icon to launch Bridge and switch to that folder to view.

3 CHECK OUT THE METADATA
As you can see, my filenames don’t tell much—they don’t mean anything to me and probably mean even less to you! So we need more than _TLW9886.psd. I’m not a fan of long filenames either, so instead of trying to describe your files by their filenames, we’ll use the Title and Description areas of the Metadata panel instead. Select one of your images and click the Metadata tab in Bridge.

4 ADD SOME METADATA
Scroll down to the IPTC Core area of the Metadata tab. Each of the IPTC tags with a pencil icon to the right of it can be edited so you can describe what’s going on with your images (unlike a filename). Click on an image, then just click on the pencil and enter the Title, Description, City, State, Country, etc. When you’re done, click on the next image. The first time you do this, you’ll get a dialog where you can click the Apply and Don’t Show Again checkboxes. Enter titles and descriptions for the other images in your folder.

5 SET UP YOUR CONTACT SHEET
Now that you’ve entered some metadata for your images, you’re now ready to create a contact sheet from Bridge CS3. Select the images you want to be in your contact sheet and choose Tools>InDesign>Create InDesign Contact Sheet. The first part of the setup is pretty straightforward. In the Layout section, choose how you want your page arranged, including the number of Columns and Rows you want to display on the page. For our example, we’ve selected only four images and we want to maximize the space on the page, so we chose 2 Columns and 2 Rows on our 8.5×11″ page.

6 MORE THAN A FILENAME
By default, Bridge will use the image’s filename as the caption under each image it places in InDesign, but we’ve already discovered that filenames don’t tell us much. Here’s where we can use the Title and Description info that we entered earlier. Click the Define button in the Caption section, then click on (var stands for variable) and click the Remove button. Also delete from the box below; otherwise it will be appended at the end—and we don’t want that.

7 ADD YOUR TITLE
Now choose Metadata from the Select From The List drop-down menu and click the Add button that’s immediately to the right of this menu. The Select a Metadata Element dialog opens showing all the available metadata fields. Choose Title and click OK to close this menu. Now click the Add button that’s immediately to the right of the Title tag you just added to the box.

8 ADD DESCRIPTION
Now we want to add our description. Once again choose Metadata in the Select From The List drop-down menu and click the Add button immediately to the right. This time, you want to choose Description from the available metadata list and click OK to close this dialog. Now click the Add button that’s immediately to the right of the Description tag you just added to the box. If you did it correctly, you’ll see a sample at the bottom of the dialog that shows your title and description. Click OK.

9 GENERATE CONTACT SHEET
At this point we have everything we need to generate our first “smart” contact sheet. Just click the OK button and let it run. InDesign will generate additional pages if needed, based on the number of images selected and the number of rows and columns.

10 MAKE CHANGES
Once you’re in InDesign, you have a regular InDesign document and you can edit any aspect of it that you want. What’s even better is that the Contact Sheet script also generated paragraph style sheets and object styles for the images and the captions. For example, say you don’t like the font choice for the “labels” paragraph style, then just bring up the Paragraph Styles panel (Window>Type & Tables>Paragraph Styles); double-click on “labels”; click on Basic Character Formats; and change the Font Family, Style, Size, etc.

11 IT’S KIND OF PLAIN
Although it’s extremely cool that InDesign can make a contact sheet automatically from images selected in Bridge, I don’t like how “plain Jane” it is. You can, of course, start adding other elements to the page and totally customize it; however, you probably don’t want to have to do that each time, so let’s build a template. Do the exact same steps as before but select only one image in Bridge, and then in the Contact Sheet dialog, choose 1 Column and 1 Row to display one image per page. Click OK to create your contact sheet in InDesign.

12 EDIT OBJECT STYLES
Now let’s convert your one-image-per-page document into the look that you want and save it as a template. First, modify the object styles so that the image is centered in the frame and the frame has a heavier stroke. Go to Window>Object Styles and double-click on “images.” In the Object Style Options dialog, click the Frame Fitting Options in the Basic Attributes list. Then, click the center Reference Point in the Alignment section and click OK. Next, double-click “imageFrames,” select Stroke in Basic Attributes and change the Weight to 2 or 3 pixels. I also set the Stroke for the captions object style to None.

13 SAVE IT AS A TEMPLATE
Change the labels paragraph style to the font you want. (I also added a signature name to the A-Master Page.) Once the document looks the way you want, clean it up before saving it as a template: Delete all the elements on the page, delete any extra pages, and delete the last three color swatches that were added to the Swatches panel. Then choose File>Save As and select InDesign CS3 Template in the Format drop-down menu. Now when you choose Tools>InDesign>Create InDesign Contact Sheet from Bridge, you can choose this new template and have your document formatted the way you like.

1 CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT WITH A BLEED
As usual we need a new document (File>New Document) to start. However, this time we’re going to do something a little different. Click the More Options button in the New Document dialog to expose the Bleed and Slug options. Almost all magazine covers bleed off the edge of the paper and we’re going to do just that. Turn off the Facing Pages option near the top and enter a 0.25″ Bleed for the Top, Right, and Bottom (click on the link icon to the right so you can enter different values in each field). Also add a 1.5″ slug at the bottom. Click OK to create your new page.

2 TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SLUGS
I recommend that you get into the habit of using the slug feature to store important information about the job itself. Think of the slug as a notes area that can be printed if needed. The one thing you’ll definitely want to put in this area for your magazine covers is the copyright information about the photo you’re using. Using your standard Type tool (T), you can include things such as photographer, phone number, email address, and usage rights to this area.

3 CREATE FRAME AND PLACE COVER PHOTO
Using the Rectangle Frame tool (F), create a frame that goes to the edge of your bleed area. The cover image is usually what draws the potential reader into picking up the magazine. Things like, “Who’s that?” “Wow, check out that car!” or “He’s/she’s hot!” come to mind. Once you have your frame, use the Place command either from the File menu or Bridge CS3 to place your best photo.

PHOTO CREDIT: TERRY WHITE

4 MAKE IT FIT
Unless you went into Photoshop prior to this step to size your photo, chances are it came in either too big or too small for your frame. What makes matters even worse is that it’s probably the wrong aspect ratio too. You want your image to fill the frame without distorting, so choose Fill Frame Proportionally from the Object>Fitting menu. While this will definitely fill the frame, it doesn’t mean that it will position the image exactly where you want it. Switch to the Direct Selection tool (A) and then you’ll be able to position the image to your taste.

5 CREATE YOUR MASTHEAD
The problem with this particular photo is that there’s no headroom. Photographers are often told to keep the headroom to a minimum in portrait photography. So in this case, we definitely need the masthead to be on top of the photo as opposed to behind it, with the head slightly overlapping it for effect. Create a text frame with the Type tool and key in the name of your publication. If your publication is established, then you probably already have the proper font, size, and kerning values; however, if you’re just starting out, then you’ll want to give your font choice some thought.

6 CHOOSE FONT AND KERN
Aside from your photo, the name of the publication is the next thing that people look at. So clearly it needs to be big, but it also needs to look good. Unless you’re using a script font, chances are your font will need to be kerned at the larger size. I’m using a chunky grunge font at 150 pt and tracking set to –10 in the Control panel. I also individually kerned each letter by eye for a better balance. (Tip: To change the kerning, insert your cursor between two letters and use your Option [PC: Alt] key in conjunction with your Arrow keys.)

7 ADD DATE, VOLUME INFO, AND GRAPHIC
Now it’s time to put in the particulars about this issue. Usually that means the Month/Year and maybe either the volume number or the website address. In either case, you’ll want to create these in a separate text frame from your masthead for easy positioning. Don’t worry about font color at this point; we’ll get to that in a moment. You can also add a graphic element to anchor your masthead. I chose a rectangular paint smear created in Illustrator and placed it (File>Place) behind my masthead information (Object>Arrange>Send Backward) for more pop.

8 YOUR LEAD STORY
When you see someone on a magazine cover, you want to know why he or she is on the cover, so you need a teaser. This is the story that’s going to make people buy the magazine, thus this copy should be larger than any other teasers. Create a text frame with the Type tool in an area that will have the least impact on your main photo. Type your teaser in a nice large font, and never use the same font that you used for the masthead—it’s all about contrast. (Be sure to turn off the Hyphenate option in the Paragraph Control panel.) Experiment with different font sizes and combinations of upper- and lowercase words.

9 BORROW SWATCHES FROM ILLUSTRATOR CS3
Before we go much further, we need some color swatches to start applying color to our text. If you’re good at picking colors, then you can just go ahead and create your swatches in InDesign. Truth be told, I struggle when it comes to picking colors, so I’m going to let Illustrator create my swatches for me. Open Illustrator CS3 and create a new Print document. Go to the Swatches panel and choose Select All Unused from the flyout menu. Now click the Trash icon to remove them.

10 CREATE MATCHING COLORS AUTOMATICALLY
Place the same cover photo you used in InDesign into your page in Illustrator. Draw a box off to the side with the Rectangle tool (M). Now take the Eyedropper (I) and sample a color in your photo (in this example, the lips). If you bring up the Color Guide panel, you’ll now have a set of swatches that all work well with each other. (Tip: Click on the drop-down menu at the top of the Color Guide panel to view different Harmony Rules.) Choose Save Colors as Swatches from the Color Guide flyout menu to add those swatches to your Illustrator Swatches panel.

11 EXPORT/IMPORT SWATCHES
Lastly, choose Save Swatch Library as ASE from the Swatches flyout menu and choose a name and location to save your swatches. Back in InDesign, choose Load Swatches from the Swatches panel’s flyout menu and open the ones you just saved. You can now apply these “matching” colors to your text by simply selecting your text with the Type tool and then clicking the swatch you want to use. I also changed the color of the masthead element to tie it all together. Just Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the element and choose Edit Original to open and edit it in Illustrator.

12 THE DROP SHADOW TRICK
Applying different colors to your type often makes it easier to read against a photo in the background; however, designers use another trick to make their text stand out even more. Yes, it’s time for a drop shadow. The trick here is to apply a shadow with a hard edge that’s just slightly offset from the original text. Select your text frame with the Selection tool, and go to Object>Effects>Drop Shadow. Turn on Preview, and set the Size to 0 and your Offset to a small fraction, in this case .004″. Click OK when you like it. It looks great applied to the story titles as well.

13 ADD MORE STORIES AND A PHOTO
I prefer one main photo on my covers, but if you need to put another photo on the page, you’ll want it to be seen, but not overpower the main photo. One way to get around this is to use shapes tools to help hold your smaller photos. You can draw a shape with the Pen tool (P), fill it with color, and then lower its transparency (Object>Effects>Transparency). To see how your cover is going to look printed, go into Preview mode. You can enter/exit Preview mode (as long as you’re not in the Type tool) by pressing the letter W on your keyboard.

1 CREATE A TEXT FRAME
Either create a new InDesign document or open an existing document and navigate to a blank page or blank area of a page so that you can create a text frame. In this example, we’re going to create a magazine subscription card, so create a 4×3″ text frame using the Type tool (T). To make it exactly 4×3″, select the text frame after you create it and key in those measurements in the Control panel.

2 KEY IN YOUR FIRST FIELD NAME
At this point we need to key in the name for our first field. For this example, type in the word “Name” in the text frame. You’ll be tempted to jump ahead and start creating all the other fields and I commend you for your eagerness, but you might want to read the next step first.

3 BRING UP THE TABS RULER
You could create the rest of your fields and then start drawing the lines where people will fill in their information; however, if you ever need to make changes such as font and font size, then you’ll have to move your lines too. That’s why were going to use leader tabs instead. Bring up your Tabs ruler by choosing Tabs from the Type menu. By default the Tabs ruler magnetically sticks to the top of your text frame. This will help you line up your tabs.

4 SET YOUR FIRST TAB
Since the Name field is going to take up the entire top line, we’re going to set our tab at the far right. Select a Right-Justified Tab (the third icon from the left) in the Tabs ruler and click just above the ruler at the 3.75″ mark. Don’t worry if you don’t click in the exact correct position because you can move the tab afterwards.

5 ADD A LEADER
Now that you’ve inserted your tab, the next thing you have to do is give it a leader of an underscore character (_). So with the tab you just placed still selected, click in the Leader field on the Tabs ruler and key in an underscore character (Shift-Hyphen). Now click back into your text frame after the word “Name” and press the Tab key on your keyboard. You should see an underline from the word “Name” to your tab stop. Hit Return (PC: Enter) twice to skip a line.

6 ADD MORE FIELDS AND LEADER TABS
Key in the word “Address” and press the Tab key to create the underline. The next line gets a little more complicated because we need to set both tabs and leader tabs for multiple fields. Use Left-Justified Tabs (the first icon) for the field names and Right-Justified Tabs for the leader lines. Set the “City” leader tab at 2″; set the tab for “ST” at 2.15″ and its leader tab at 2.75″; and set the tab for “Zip” at 2.85″ and use the existing leader tab at 3.75″. Don’t forget to add the underscores for the leader tabs.

7 MAKE SOME RADIO BUTTONS
The next field that we want is Email. In order to get back to one long leader tab, remove the extra tabs from only that line by simply dragging them off the Tabs ruler. Next, let’s create some radio buttons. On the next line, type “New Subscriber” and “Renewal.” (Now that you got the hang of tabs, you’ll probably want to create tabs for these two words to give you room for the radio buttons.) Use the Ellipse tool (L) while holding the Shift key to create circles in front of each word.

8 CREATE A NEW LAYER
Our form fields are done. Now let’s lock it down and create a new layer for the rest of the subscription card layout elements. Bring up your Layers panel. Hold down the Option key (PC: Alt key) and click the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the panel. This will allow you to create a new layer and name it all at the same time (we named ours “Graphics”). Double-click the name of the original layer and rename it “Form.” Then click the little box to the right of the Eye icon to lock the Form layer.

9 ADD GRAPHICS; EXPORT TO PDF
At this point you can place other text and graphics on your page. Be sure not to cover up any part of your form’s text or lines. After your design is complete, go to the Adobe PDF Presets under the File menu and choose Smallest File Size (or the one that best meets your needs) to export this InDesign document as a PDF. Be sure that View PDF after Exporting is checked in the dialog.

10 RUN FORM FIELD RECOGNITION
This is where the magic happens. Choose Run Form Field Recognition from the Forms menu in Acrobat 8 Professional. This should create form fields over your existing lines and circles. Click the Highlight Fields button to make sure the fields were recognized. Anyone can now type into this form with Adobe Reader or the full version of Acrobat. So now you can send a form that’s actually usable.

[For an in-depth look at creating and editing forms in Acrobat, check out Getting into Form, Part 1, and Getting into Form, Part 2 ]

STEP 1 Which OpenType Fonts Do You Have?
When you installed InDesign or the Creative Suite, you also installed some OpenType fonts; however, how do you know which fonts are OpenType? You can check it out in InDesign’s Type>Font menu. Since InDesign CS2, it actually shows you a sample of the fonts and better yet, it shows you the type of font that it is before you use it.

Note: If your font list doesn’t show type samples (as shown), press Command-K (Ctrl-K) to open the InDesign Preferences and under Type, check the Font Preview Size box, and click OK.

STEP 2 Create New Text Frame
Use the Type tool (T) and create a new text frame in a document. I’m going to use Bickham Script Pro for this first example. Why? Because it’s my favorite script font and it has some really nice characters. For this illustration, we’ll type “Waffling Theater Questions.” It doesn’t really matter what we type; however with this phrase, we’ll have some nice characters to work with.

Theater chairs: ©ISTOCKPHOTO/HAL BERGMAN
Film reel illustration: ©ISTOCKPHOTO/ART12321
Theater usher: ©ISTOCKPHOTO/JOSHUA BLAKE

STEP 3 Alternate Characters
Let’s play with some alternate characters: First, highlight the letter “W” with the Type tool and go under the Type menu and choose Glyphs. By default, the Glyphs panel will show you the entire font, highlighting the character that you’ve selected. If you see a little arrow in the lower-right corner of the character in the Glyphs panel, then that means you have additional glyphs available for that character.

STEP 4 Switch to the Alternates View
Although we could use the little flyout of alternate glyphs for each character we highlight, it’s much easier to use the Alternates for Selection view. So in the Show pop-up menu, choose Alternates for Selection and you’ll see the alternate Ws for this font. Double-click on one of them to test it out. Then, try out alternate glyphs for some of the other characters in your text.

STEP 5 Use Stylistic Sets
Sometimes it’s hard to figure out which alternate characters you want to use. No problem, because some fonts have Stylistic Sets. For this example, we’ll use Poetica Std to type “Beautiful Type made Possible with OpenType” (top example). Highlight the text, bring up the OpenType flyout menu and choose Set 1 from your Stylistic Sets submenu. You’ll notice that the capital letters changed to different glyphs (bottom). Choose Undo from the Edit menu and try other sets.

You can also use your Glyphs panel to preview a set before you use it. Just choose the different sets from the Show pop-up menu.

STEP 6 Discretionary Ligatures
Next, let’s take a look at Discretionary Ligatures. Highlight the “st” in Questions and switch to Discretionary Ligatures in the Show pop-up menu. You should see some really nice “st” ligatures, so double-click on one to choose it.

STEP 7 Real Fractions
Another OpenType advantage is “real” fractions. Since the dawn of computers, we’ve always typed one half as 1/2; however, in typography it should look like the 1 is higher than the 2 and above the slash. Typically, this would take some kerning and baseline shifting, or a special fractions font, to get this look. Now with OpenType, you can just turn on those fractions. Create a new text frame with the Type tool and type some fractions manually in Adobe Garamond Pro.

STEP 8 Use the OpenType Menu
There are a couple of places to pop up the OpenType menu: You can either do it from the Control panel flyout menu or the Character panel flyout menu. Highlight your fraction(s), then once you have the OpenType menu open, choose Fractions. This will turn your numbers and slashes into real fractions without the need for any extra work on your part.

STEP 9 What about Ordinals?
Once again, we’re all used to settling for ordinary-looking ordinals such as 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. In the typography world, we want those ordinals to be superscripted. Don’t worry: OpenType has your back! Create a new frame and type some ordinals like the ones shown. (Now I know that “5nd” isn’t a legitimate ordinal, but I did that on purpose.)

STEP 10 Turn on Ordinals
Highlight the ordinals you typed and choose Ordinal from the OpenType flyout menu from the Character panel or Control panel. Notice that only the legitimate ordinals converted and “5nd” didn’t. Type some additional ordinals onto the end of this selection and they’ll convert on the fly as you type.

Now go out and enjoy the power of OpenType. And keep in mind that you’ll also find OpenType support in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Illustrator CS3, so the things that you just learned here will also work across the Creative Suite.

1 [CREATE A NEW DOCUMENT WITH A BLEED]
As usual we need a new document (File>New Document) to start. However, this time we’re going to do something a little different. Click the More Options button in the New Document dialog to expose the Bleed and Slug options. Almost all magazine covers bleed off the edge of the paper and we’re going to do just that. Turn off the Facing Pages option near the top and enter a 0.25″ Bleed for the Top, Right, and Bottom (click on the link icon to the right so you can enter different values in each field). Also add a 1.5″ slug at the bottom. Click OK to create your new page.

2 [TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SLUGS]
I recommend that you get into the habit of using the slug feature to store important information about the job itself. Think of the slug as a notes area that can be printed if needed. The one thing you’ll definitely want to put in this area for your magazine covers is the copyright information about the photo you’re using. Using your standard Type tool (T), you can include things such as photographer, phone number, email address, and usage rights to this area.

3 [CREATE FRAME AND PLACE COVER PHOTO]
Using the Rectangle Frame tool (F), create a frame that goes to the edge of your bleed area. The cover image is usually what draws the potential reader into picking up the magazine. Things like, “Who’s that?” “Wow, check out that car!” or “He’s/she’s hot!” come to mind. Once you have your frame, use the Place command either from the File menu or Bridge CS3 to place your best photo.

4 [MAKE IT FIT]
Unless you went into Photoshop prior to this step to size your photo, chances are it came in either too big or too small for your frame. What makes matters even worse is that it’s probably the wrong aspect ratio too. You want your image to fill the frame without distorting, so choose Fill Frame Proportionally from the Object>Fitting menu. While this will definitely fill the frame, it doesn’t mean that it will position the image exactly where you want it. Switch to the Direct Selection tool (A) and then you’ll be able to position the image to your taste.

5 [CREATE YOUR MASTHEAD]
The problem with this particular photo is that there’s no headroom. Photographers are often told to keep the headroom to a minimum in portrait photography. So in this case, we definitely need the masthead to be on top of the photo as opposed to behind it, with the head slightly overlapping it for effect. Create a text frame with the Type tool and key in the name of your publication. If your publication is established, then you probably already have the proper font, size, and kerning values; however, if you’re just starting out, then you’ll want to give your font choice some thought.

6 [CHOOSE FONT AND KERN]
Aside from your photo, the name of the publication is the next thing that people look at. So clearly it needs to be big, but it also needs to look good. Unless you’re using a script font, chances are your font will need to be kerned at the larger size. I’m using a chunky grunge font at 150 pt and tracking set to –10 in the Control panel. I also individually kerned each letter by eye for a better balance. (Tip: To change the kerning, insert your cursor between two letters and use your Option [PC: Alt] key in conjunction with your Arrow keys.)

7 [ADD DATE, VOLUME INFO, AND GRAPHIC]
Now it’s time to put in the particulars about this issue. Usually that means the Month/Year and maybe either the volume number or the website address. In either case, you’ll want to create these in a separate text frame from your masthead for easy positioning. Don’t worry about font color at this point; we’ll get to that in a moment. You can also add a graphic element to anchor your masthead. I chose a rectangular paint smear created in Illustrator and placed it (File>Place) behind my masthead information (Object>Arrange>Send Backward) for more pop.

8 [YOUR LEAD STORY]
When you see someone on a magazine cover, you want to know why he or she is on the cover, so you need a teaser. This is the story that’s going to make people buy the magazine, thus this copy should be larger than any other teasers. Create a text frame with the Type tool in an area that will have the least impact on your main photo. Type your teaser in a nice large font, and never use the same font that you used for the masthead—it’s all about contrast. (Be sure to turn off the Hyphenate option in the Paragraph Control panel.) Experiment with different font sizes and combinations of upper- and lowercase words.

9 [BORROW SWATCHES FROM ILLUSTRATOR CS3]
Before we go much further, we need some color swatches to start applying color to our text. If you’re good at picking colors, then you can just go ahead and create your swatches in InDesign. Truth be told, I struggle when it comes to picking colors, so I’m going to let Illustrator create my swatches for me. Open Illustrator CS3 and create a new Print document. Go to the Swatches panel and choose Select All Unused from the flyout menu. Now click the Trash icon to remove them.

10 [CREATE MATCHING COLORS AUTOMATICALLY]
Place the same cover photo you used in InDesign into your page in Illustrator. Draw a box off to the side with the Rectangle tool (M). Now take the Eyedropper (I) and sample a color in your photo (in this example, the lips). If you bring up the Color Guide panel, you’ll now have a set of swatches that all work well with each other. (Tip: Click on the drop-down menu at the top of the Color Guide panel to view different Harmony Rules.) Choose Save Colors as Swatches from the Color Guide flyout menu to add those swatches to your Illustrator Swatches panel.

11 [EXPORT/IMPORT SWATCHES]
Lastly, choose Save Swatch Library as ASE from the Swatches flyout menu and choose a name and location to save your swatches. Back in InDesign, choose Load Swatches from the Swatches panel’s flyout menu and open the ones you just saved. You can now apply these “matching” colors to your text by simply selecting your text with the Type tool and then clicking the swatch you want to use. I also changed the color of the masthead element to tie it all together. Just Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the element and choose Edit Original to open and edit it in Illustrator.

12 [THE DROP SHADOW TRICK]
Applying different colors to your type often makes it easier to read against a photo in the background; however, designers use another trick to make their text stand out even more. Yes, it’s time for a drop shadow. The trick here is to apply a shadow with a hard edge that’s just slightly offset from the original text. Select your text frame with the Selection tool, and go to Object>Effects>Drop Shadow. Turn on Preview, and set the Size to 0 and your Offset to a small fraction, in this case .004″. Click OK when you like it. It looks great applied to the story titles as well.

13 [ADD MORE STORIES AND A PHOTO]
I prefer one main photo on my covers, but if you need to put another photo on the page, you’ll want it to be seen, but not overpower the main photo. One way to get around this is to use shapes tools to help hold your smaller photos. You can draw a shape with the Pen tool (P), fill it with color, and then lower its transparency (Object>Effects>Transparency). To see how your cover is going to look printed, go into Preview mode. You can enter/exit Preview mode (as long as you’re not in the Type tool) by pressing the letter W on your keyboard.

STEP 1 Create a Document with Content on the Page
As with most InDesign tutorials, we need a document to get started. You can either open an existing document or create a new one. Either way, you’re also going to need some content on the page. We’re going to use one of the InDesign templates that ships with the application. You can too by choosing Create New from Template on the Welcome Screen (under the Help menu).

STEP 2 Create a New Library
We’re using the Brochure.indt file from the Hotel templates folder. With the document open, it’s time to create a new library file in which to store the content. Choose New>Library from the File menu. By default, InDesign will want to name this new library “Library.” You should choose a name that represents what you’re going to be putting into each library you create. Perhaps name the library after the client or project you’re working on, then save it wherever you like, and click OK.

PHOTO CREDITS: ©ISTOCKPHOTO/Skyline: JOHN W. DEFEO/Beds: TONY TREMBLAY/Pool: ADIVIN/Table: ALDRA

STEP 3 Add Something to the Library
After creating the library, a new panel will appear with the name you assigned to your library in Step 2. This is your library document. It’s important to note that libraries are not tied to the document you’re currently working on.

One way to add something to the library from your page is to drag it into the Library panel. Choose the Selection tool (V), select the logo on the right side of the trifold in the brochure template, and drag it into the Library panel.

STEP 4 When It’s Not Convenient to Drag-and-Drop
It won’t always be convenient to drag something into the Library panel, depending on how big your selection is. Also, because Libraries can contain more than just text and graphics (e.g., you may want to include guides), it may be easier to add items from the Library panel itself. Click-and-drag with the Selection tool to select everything in the middle part of the brochure. Then, click the New Library Item icon at the bottom of the Library panel. This will add the items you selected to the library all as one item.

STEP 5 Name Your Library Item
When you add a linked or embedded image to a library, InDesign simply gives the library item the same name as the linked or embedded image. However, when you add multiple items to the library, InDesign doesn’t know what to call them. Having a bunch of “Untitled” library items can become unwieldy, so let’s name this item. Double-click on it in the library and when the dialog appears, you can name the item and even give it a description. Then click OK.

STEP 6 Put Library Entries to Use
The whole point of creating a library and putting things into it is so you can use them in future documents or even throughout the existing document. Create a new document by choosing New>Document from the File menu. Our document is similar in layout to the brochure but it doesn’t have to be.

STEP 7 Drag from Your Library
As you might have suspected, when you created your new document, the library stayed open and on top, and now you can drag-and-drop from the library to your new document. We’re going to drag the logo from the library to the new document. You can drag as many copies out as you need. If the library item was a linked graphic in the original document, it will be a linked graphic in the new document. Libraries don’t actually store the graphics—they link to them.

STEP 8 Place Your Items
Using drag-and-drop is common when working with libraries, but sometimes you’ll want the item to be placed on the page in the exact location it was in the original document. In this case you can use the Place Item(s) command, which will attempt to place the contents on the page using the original coordinates of the library item (as long as the general layout of the new document is the same as the original document). Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the library item and choose Place Item(s).

STEP 9 Use List View
As you put more and more items in the library, it probably won’t be feasible to constantly scroll up and down looking for things by their thumbnails. So if you did a good job naming your library items, you can grab them quickly by using List View. To switch to List View, choose it from the Library panel’s flyout menu. Everything else will work the same. Your library file is a document, so you can close it now and open it in the future whenever you need it.

STEP 10 What about Snippets?
Think of snippets as library items without the library. Snippets were introduced in InDesign CS2 and, of course, are in InDesign CS3 as well. To create a snippet, use your Selection tool and select something on the page.

STEP 11 Export Your Snippet
The most structured way to create a snippet is to use the Export command from the File menu, because this will allow you to name your snippet and choose where to save it. In the Export dialog, make sure that your Format is set to InDesign Snippet. Name it, choose where you’d like to save it, and then click Save.

STEP 12 Yes, You Can Drag It out of InDesign
As I said, exporting snippets is more structured, but not necessarily the best way in all cases. You can also drag the selected items from your InDesign page directly to your desktop, a folder in your operating system, or an open window in Bridge. This will create a snippet in that location. If you drag it into a Bridge window as we did here, then you’ll see a nice preview of the item and, of course, you can rename the snippet in Bridge CS3.

STEP 13 Drag Your Snippet onto the Page
Now go back to that new document you created and drag your snippet onto the page from Bridge or from the folder in your operating system.

STEP 14 Place Your Snippets
Drag-and-drop from Bridge is cool, but it’s not efficient unless you have multiple displays. So just like any other content in Bridge, you can place snippets into InDesign from Bridge using the Place command from the Bridge File menu. You can also place snippets using the Place command in InDesign.