InDesign® CS4 Bible

Preface

Every two years, give or take, Adobe comes out with yet another version of its Creative Suite applications, including InDesign. I always wonder, "What are they going to find to change this time?!" After all, they've been working on these programs for one to two decades, so there can't be a lot left to add or change. Well, Adobe always finds something — a collection of tiny to moderate enhancements and a handful (and sometimes more) of major additions or changes. Version 6 of InDesign — popularly known as InDesign CS4 — follows that tradition.

The big news is the ability to export files for use in Flash animation, a key part of Adobe's recent efforts to blur the boundaries between print and online, so documents can work in multiple media, taking advantage of any individual's special abilities but not limited to them.

Ironically, I doubt most users will do that much with the Flash capabilities, as the Flash Professional where the heavy lifting comes in is really designed to program automation, which uses a very different part of the brain than a mouse-oriented designer uses when working on layouts. No matter, we'll all learn a little Flash as a result and get just that more flexible in our work.

For the rest, though, there are other exciting additions, from cross-references and conditional text on one end to on-the-fly, user-definable preflighting and the Kuler color theme creation capability on the other. Oh, and the new smart guides are an amazingly effective yet simple way ...