At the InDesign Secrets seminar last week, speaker David Blatner informed us that the class was going to be all about efficiency. The class was sponsored by InDesign Magazine and took place in the elegant ballroom of the Lincoln Center. While I’ve had some awesome hands-on work with the program, I was also very excited to find out new things that I’ve missed. And as it turned out, there were quite a few tips that would have made my job a lot easier in the past!
The seminar was broken into seven sections with a lunch break in between. I went knowing that the morning sections sounded awesome, and planning on staying as long as my interest held. It turned out that Blatner was a very engaging speaker, and he dispersed his information throughout the seminar, not necessarily following the order on the course guide. While this kept us on the edge of our seats, it also kept us in our seats, unable to leave because who knew what we might miss?
Efficiency
After an 8:30 a.m. registration, we were ready to delve into the topics on our course guide. The first topic was the top ten things Blatner thought every InDesign user should know. This section focused on keyboard shortcuts, many of which would have helped and will help me in the future. Blatner stressed the importance of keeping your hands on the keyboard in order to maximize efficiency.
Instead of moving from keys to mouse and back again, Blatner suggested toggling between panels. To get into the main panel, type command + 6. From there you can tab through the different sections such as font style, font size, etc.
Blatner also stressed the importance of setting the preferences of InDesign to what works best for you. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Keeping things organized or arranged in your own way is what is important.
Tabs
Every time I have to fill out some pesky file that asks for name, address, phone, etc., I get ahead of myself and tab too many times. I cannot describe how frustrated I am then when I have to remove my hands from the keyboard, grab the shaky mouse, and click on the box that I missed. It’s not that I’m being lazy, it’s the monotony of filling out another generic file that gets to me. As it turns out, the “backspace button” for tabbing is simply shift + tab. How simple! In similar fashion, we all know that command + a is select all, but did you know that command + shift + a will deselect everything?
Mathematically Comprehensive
Another aspect of InDesign that really surprised me is that the program can do math. Some computers are set to inches, centimeters, picas, etc. While using InDesign, you can not only add and subtract to fdecide on the size you want your images, or how far from the border they should be, but InDesign will convert the metrics for you. For example, if your screen says an image is 2in wide, and you want it to be 2in and 5 centimeters, you would just put +5cm in the box. The program will automatically convert the size for you and apply it to whatever you selected.
Next Style
I spoke earlier of some of my favorite features of InDesign, so I was definitely excited to learn about more features and possibly discover a new favorite. For me, the Next Style option was very intriguing. Although in some instances it wouldn’t work, it would definitely save a lot of time if set up correctly. Next Style allows you to type different formats in succession to one another, and not have to manually click each time you want to change formats.
For example, if you are writing news stories, you might set up a “news” style. This way, when you start typing, you will automatically be in “Title” mode. As soon as you hit enter, your format will change to “byline” and after striking enter a second time, you’ll be in “date” style.
If you don’t want to set up such strict guidelines, you can also use Quick Apply to tab or arrow through different styles.
Proceed with Caution
Blatner cautioned us about InDesign as well. The program is so advanced that you have to be careful to tell it exactly what you want it to do. For example, if you want to add a new swatch, you have to make sure nothing in your current file is selected, or you will change your default, and everything that is set to default–possibly everything on your screen–will change to that swatch.
GREPs work in the same fashion. They are a great way to quickly find all similar words or phrases in a text, but you have to make sure to tell InDesign exactly what you want it to look for.
Because my time at work is limited to only two days a week, the emphasis on efficiency was a great topic for me. After attending the seminar and becoming more comfortable with Indesign, I hope to be able to accomplish a larger amount of work in the same block of time!
To discover more InDesign tips we’re using and practicing, click here!