Chapter 2. Document Setup

Billions of years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the earth or 19 years ago, before the start of desktop publishing people prepared documents for printing using pieces of stiff board. They marked up the boards with special blue pencils to indicate the edges of the pages. They drew marks that specified where the margins and columns should be and how the pages should be trimmed. This board, called a mechanical, was used as the layout for the document.

Unlike the board mechanicals of the past, InDesign documents are electronic layouts. Just as with the board mechanicals, you need to set the page sizes, margins, and column widths. However, since you are not using a pencil but a computer, you have additional controls for how the document is laid out.

Of course, changing an electronic layout takes far less time than it did with the board mechanicals that old dinosaurs like me used to use.