InDesign Interface

Operating-system interaction

InDesign now runs only under Mac OS X, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

You can drag and drop layout objects to the Mac Trash Can or Windows Recycle Bin to delete the object.

Presets and shortcuts

InDesign is adopting the name presets for what used to be called styles, to distinguish saved groups of attributes from text styles such as boldface and italics, which are often called just styles . There are print presets, trap presets, transparency flattener presets, PDF export presets, and workspace presets.

The Option+spacebar and Alt+spacebar shortcuts for temporary Hand tool access replace the shortcuts previously used: spacebar when not using the Text tool and Shift+Spacebar when using the Text tool.

Hyperlink and hyperlink destinations are now accessible via InDesign's contextual menus .

Palettes and panes

The InDesign CS Tool palette (also called the Toolbox) adds the Measure and Push Button tools, as well as the Bleed Mode and Slug Mode buttons in the Preview Mode button's new pop-up menu. Also, the Scissors tool now occupies its own place in the Toolbox, no longer stored in the Gradient tool's pop-up menu (that pop-up menu no longer exists in the CS version).

You can now use percentages in dialog box and pane fields, such as 50%, which adjust the current value by that percentage.

InDesign CS adds many new panes. The most useful is the Control palette, which combines many attributes into one location. Other new panes include the Bookmarks, Flattener Preview, Info , Pathfinder, Separations Preview, States, and Story Editor panes. It also has grouped the text- and table-oriented panes under a new submenu accessed by choosing Window ‚ Type & Tables.

InDesign adds the Control palette in version CS, taken from PageMaker (which took it from QuarkXPress). It provides the basic controls for objects all in one place; the options change based on what is selected, which reduces on-screen palette clutter. Among the most commonly used options in the Control palette are the ones to move and resize objects.

The new Info palette provides positioning and size information on selected objects.

To try to gain some control over InDesign's palette profligacy, you can create workspaces, which are essentially memorized palette collections and locations. Display the palettes you want, where you want them, and create a new workspace by choosing Window ‚ Workspace ‚ Save Workspace. Give it a name that makes sense, such as Text Palettes. That workspace is now available via Window ‚ Workspace ‚ [workspace name], automatically displaying just those saved palettes in their saved locations. By having several such workspaces, you can quickly switch among collections of palettes based on the tasks you're focused on.

You can collapse panes to tabs on the side of the screen and open them by clicking the pane's tab. To collapse a pane into a side tab, click on the palette's tab and drag it to the left or right side of your screen. To open the pane, click on its tab. To collapse the pane, double-click on its tab. To separate a pane from the screen edge, drag the tab out from the side of your screen or move it into a palette.

You can dock panes to the top or bottom of the screen using the Dock to Top and Dock to Bottom options in the panes' palette menu ‚ this works like Microsoft Office's docked formatting toolbars . To undock docked panes, use the Float menu in the palette menu or simply drag the pane away from the screen edge.

The Navigator pane now has a scroll bar to make it easier to navigate pages when View All Spreads is selected in the palette menu.

Preferences

InDesign CS adds two new preview options via a pop-up menu in the Preview Mode button: Bleed Mode and Slug Mode. Bleed Mode shows any objects that bleed beyond the page boundaries, while Slug Mode shows the space reserved for information such as crop marks and color separation names used in final output. You set these up when you create new documents or by choosing File ‚ Document Setup.

InDesign CS adds the option of deleting the InDesign Defaults preference files when opening InDesign: Press Control+Option+Shift+ z or Ctrl+Alt+Shift when launching InDesign.

InDesign CS adds the ability to create keyboard shortcuts for the Align and Distribute buttons. Although there are no default shortcuts, these buttons are now listed in the Object Editing commands in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box (Edit ‚ Keyboard Shortcuts) so you can create shortcuts for them.

The Guides pane in the Preferences dialog box has been renamed the Guides & Pasteboard pane. The new Pasteboard Options section controls the pasteboard dimensions. The Guide section adds more guides to which you can select the colors; you can also apply a color now to the pasteboard itself.

The Workgroup preferences pane no longer exists in InDesign CS. Its functions ‚ which involve managing documents in a workgroup environment ‚ are now part of the Open and Save dialog boxes. Likewise, the Online Settings pane is gone, replaced by the Updates pane; InDesign now automatically connects to Adobe's servers to get product updates, and the Updates pane controls that behavior. Finally, the Spelling and Story Editor Display preference panes are new.