InDesign 2 for Macintosh and Windows

If you work in page-layout programs -- whether you're transitioning fromQuark or PageMaker, or just getting started using InDesign, you'll want tohave a copy of "InDesign 2 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStartGuide" as your resource of choice.

Adobe InDesign 2.0 is coming of age -- it offers new features such as truetransparency, table creation, long document support, indexing, a superior printing interface,and native Mac OS X support. The program's tighter integration with other Adobe products enables graphic designers, production artists, and prepress professionals to exercise design innovation and improve productivity. This cross-platform, visual guide introduces you to the InDesign interface, including the tools and palettes, how to create and navigate a document, import and style text and objects, automate your work, manage longdocuments, use the Bezier pen tools, and work with color. More advancedtopics, such as advanced text control and preflighting are also covered.

Sandee Cohen has been training in the field of desktop publishing for the past 12 years. The graphics curriculum instructor for the New School Computer Instruction Center in New York City, she is a lively speaker at many conferences, including Seybold Seminars, Macworld Expo, and Thunder Lizardevents. In addition to InDesign, she is the author of Visual QuickStartGuides on Fireworks and FreeHand.

As mentioned, I'm one of those that try to not visit a bookstore because I end up coming out with too many design books (and yikes, you know how much those books can cost).

With InDesign 2.0, there is anticipation for the upcoming Real World InDesign book by Olay Kvern which will be released in September 30th and of course there is Adobe's InDesign 2.0 Classroom in a Book which has been receiving bad reviews due to it's rush release with text omissions and typos galore.

But with this book (which is the cheapest among the InDesign books out right now), Sandee Cohen does a great job. Actually, what made me enjoy this book compared to her other books that I have purchased is that she goes into how she makes books with InDesign and from reading her sidenotes, she has passion for the software even though she has taught Quark for over 15 years.

When the writer shows enthusiasm about the software and also gives 100% in helping the reader understand in preparation for the print side of their work in InDesign, you can't help but enjoy this book.

Many of us who switched to InDesign 2.0 are learning every moment with each product about how cool this software is and this book helps appreciate InDesign even more.

She tackles everything from color, styling, layers, pen and beziers, text effects, pages and books, libraries, tabs and tables, automatic text, typography controls, color management, output and so much more.

Anyway, for those who want an great reference book for InDesign 2, check out this Visual Quickstart Guide.


One of the best visual quick start books   June 1, 2002
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

I have a lot of the visual quick start books on my shelf. This is one of the best.

The book is organized into very good sections. There's a chapter on basic text, then later there's one on automating text. This is very good since I didn't need to learn the basic stuff, but could jump right into the more advanced features.

I really liked the chapter on typography since that is why I switched to the program. The book explains very clearly how to set the typographic controls.

There;s a really long chapter on importing graphics that explains very clearly how to import Photoshop files with their transparency settings. I didn't realize ID did that. Awesome.

I also like how the pictures are very clear and big enough to read. Some of these books show the program so small you can't read anything in the picture. This book zooms in so you can see what you're doing.

Not only is the book easy to understand, well organized, and covers the whole program, it is fun to read. The author tells all these stories about how she uses InDesign, or how things were before computers. For instance, I never knew why the old printers were called strippers. Some of the stories are very funny.

There's also a ton of background material on things like the different between process and spot colors; how to define colors, setting the file for prepress, different types of fonts, and more. That's information that I can use working with other programs, not just InDesign.


Adobe should make this book the manual   March 9, 2003
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

After almost a year of struggling with the stupid electronic help and manual that comes with InDesign, I finally gave up and bought the InDesign 2 Visual Guide. Fantastic! Great! Best thing I ever did.

Instead of the vague descriptions and no-pictures in the manual, Ms. Cohen has laid out a beatufiul, step by step, explanation of every feature in InDesign.

Not only is everything well illustrated, but there are before and after comparisons to see just what the settings do to text, images, and pages. My favorite chapter is the one on imported graphics where you see exactly how to bring images into InDesign and apply transformations to make the images bigger, smaller, and rotated.

There are also real clear instructions on how to colorize a black and white photo -- something the teacher at my school said you couldn't do with InDesign. Boy, was he surprised when I showed him the steps.

This book is much more than just an InDesign book. It's got tons of pages with background information on all sorts of things dealing with old-time printing, typographics, color separations, and more.

The chapters are nicely divided into sections that deal with exactly the subjects I'm looking for. Tabs and Tables is one section, Color is another, and Automation still another.

And check out the gray boxes with added information. Those give tons of background stories and tips for working with InDesign as well as many other programs.

My only regret about this book is that I should have bought it six months ago. I know I would have been able to do much more with InDesign by now.


Incredible value for the money   August 28, 2002
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This book is so much better than the official Adobe classroom book. It doesn't have a CD, but it doesn't need one. The excercises are so clearly written, and the illustrations are so good.

The book is very good for anyone switching over from QuarkXpress. Ms. Cohen gives loads of little tips for Quark users.

Not only does she teach InDesign, but the book is very funny. The description of locked objects had me laughing out loud. That's quite a feat for a how-to computer book.


Just what I needed!   June 11, 2004
Daggett (United States)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

Use it everytime I am using/learning In-Design. Would be lost without the quick reference. A must have!