Adobe InDesign, first released in 1999, has revolutionised for-print design across the world. The quality of type, integration with Photoshop, ease of output and advanced prepress features have given publishers a very powerful tool. With power comes responsibility.
My personal journey with InDesign as a Prepress tool started with beta testing InDesign 2.0 as ACP in late 2001 InDesign 2.0: Spot Colors, Transparency
Transparency, once the bastion of Photoshop, is now unleashed at a late stage in the layout tool. Transparency can be freely be used by designers to highlight objects, reclaim image space for text and easily blending elements together in a natural way.
Many of the questions asked by customers via email, at roadshows and those who have visited this web site have been condensed into these techniques. Some of these techniques were pioneered here in Australia, and are in daily production use. Feedback and comments are welcome. nhodge@adobe.com
If you are a Prepress operator, I strongly suggest you start here: InDesign, Acrobat and Adobe Print Technical Documentation, and ensure you read InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide
InDesign Prepress Articles
How pictures are manipulated to make more appealing magazine covers.
InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide
Adobe Systems
InDesign CS2: Printing and Prepress guide
InDesign CS2 Print and Prepress Guide
Nick Hodge
InDesign CS2: Printing and Prepress guide
InDesign CS: Prepress Overview
Nick Hodge
An overview of the Prepress specific features in InDesign CS
InDesign Prepress: What Are these White Boxes?
Nick Hodge
Why are these White boxes appearing in PDFs I generate from InDesign?
InDesign, Acrobat and Adobe Print Technical Documentation
Adobe Systems
Print Service Provider documentation is divided into three topic areas: Printing Guides, PDF and Printing and Color and Transparency
Lightning Brain Sudoku for InDesign CS/CS2
Markzware has released a plugin called Q2ID
InDesign Prepress: Text and the Transparency Flattener
Nick Hodge
Explaining how Text and Transparency Flattener interact in InDesign CS
InDesign Prepress: Transparency Flattener Magic
Nick Hodge
How to use the Flattener to get greater colour control at output time
InDesign Prepress: Photoshop, Duotones into InDesign
Nick Hodge
Using Duotones in InDesign CS, including duotones from Photoshop
InDesign Prepress: Printing PDFs with Transparency Generated by InDesign CS
Nick Hodge
How to successfully generate quality print results from a PDF 1.4 or 1.5 from InDesign CS
InDesign Prepress: Generating Composite, Trapped PDFs
Nick Hodge
Using InDesign CS to generate Composite Trapped PDFs
InDesign Prepress: Photoshop to InDesign workflow
Nick Hodge
The best way of taking Photoshop files into InDesign 2.0/CS
InDesign Prepress: Export or Distill PDFs?
Nick Hodge
Should you Export PDFs or Distill PDFs from InDesign 2.0/CS?
InDesign Prepress: Acrobat 6.0 Prepress Features
Nick Hodge
What is new in Acrobat 6.0 for Prepress
InDesign Prepress: Photoshop with Vector and Spots, InDesign and Composite PDF
Nick Hodge
How to take Photoshop with Spots, Transparency and Vector into InDesign 2.0 for composite PDF
96% of Australian service providers accept PDF files
Adobe Variable Data Publishing Resource Centre
Adobe Systems, Inc
Variable Data Publishing (VDP) solutions are meeting this challenge today. Adobe has been driving the technology behind VDP for more than a decade and has built an extended network of VDP solutions providers…
InDesign cracks more than half the layout traffic in Australia
job for the post of Quark & Indesign operator
Great post! A lot of goodn information here… Dont really use Indesign that much any more, but with all the updates, I think its time to get back in the swing…
Thanks.