1
Intro to InDesign
CS 5
Adobe
InDesign CS5
is a powerful desktop publishing program. With it you
can create documents of many types, from single page advertisements
and flyers, to complex multi-page publications. In this course you will
learn the basics of creating documents with
InDesign CS 5
.
Getting Started
Before opening a new document page, go to Preferences under Edit in the
Menu bar (For a Mac you will find Preferences under the Apple logo). In
Preferences, click on General and work through setting your “preferences”
in the windows clicking “next” until you come back to general. In the
Units & Increments window you will likely prefer having your ruler units in
inches or centimeters rather than picas. Set image display to High
Quality. Look at the options in each window, you may not want to change
the rest at this time. If you aren’t familiar with a choice or option don’t
change it!
Under File on the Menu bar, open a new Document. Indicate the total
number of pages, the paper size and orientation. Don’t forget to size your
margins and set the number of columns you will want on each page as
well as the gutter (the distance between columns.) As you work with your
page(s) you can always go back to document setup and make changes.
In View, try turning on background grids, columns and other features then
turn them off to learn how to control your basic environment. Don’t
forget to check out the various palettes under Window on the Menu Bar.
The Fun Begins!
Open an existing
InDesign
document located at
\\Jasper\oit_workshops\Workshop Files\InDesign\Samples\InDesign CS2
Sample Files\US English\Adobe History.indd. You will notice that this
document has several pages to it.
Scroll through the pages to see what has been included. There are other
sample
InDesign
files that you might want to look at depending upon your
project needs. Go to Preferences and make any changes you need to feel
comfortable working with this file.
Placing a Graphic
When using
InDesign
, you “Place” rather than import both text and
images. Objects can be placed inside an existing active frame (box) or
you may draw a box with your cursor once the place command has loaded
it with the object. If an existing frame with an object in has been
2
activated, the place command will replace the old object with the new.
Only one object can occupy a frame at a time unless they have been
group together as a single object. If you replaced your image or text
unintentionally, you can undo the damage by pressing Ctrl+Z (Windows)
or Command+Z (Mac). Try “Placing” your own image file on the first
page.
Clipping Paths
In the third spread, (page 196) find the Mixus Corp image. Draw a
colored box to cover the image and then right click, ‘Arrange’ and ‘Send’
Backward. At this point the image should be covering the colored box. A
white background limits the impact of the text. It would be more useful if
we could “cut” around the object (image) and have no background.
With the object frame active, go to Object on the Menu bar and click on
Clipping Path. Change the Type: to Detect Edges, check the Include
inside edges box and the Preview box. Don’t change the other settings.
The colored box should now be visible in the areas that were white
before. Note that while the frame size doesn’t change.
Stacking Objects
Sometimes you would like to create interesting effects by stack several
objects on top of one another. The order they will stack is the order that
they were created. Try stacking several of the objects on page
198/spread 4. The order of the objects can be changed by activating the
frame of an object you want to move and going to the Arrange menu
under Object on the Menu bar. “Send backward” will move the object
backward one object in the stack. “Send to Back” will move the object to
the bottom of the pile. The objects within a layer will naturally stack in
the order they were placed, with the last object on the top.
Cropping and Masking
If you want to hide part of an image, this may be done by cropping or
masking it with its own frame. From the tool bar, select the black
selection tool (arrow) and click on an object you would like to mask with
its frame. By holding the shift key down while dragging on any of the
handles (little squares) you can re-size the frame without re-sizing the
object to cut off or mask portions of it.
Another approach to masking or cropping is to create an empty frame to
cover part of the object. First, from View on the Menu bar click Show
Frame Edges so that you can see what you are working on (note that all
the edges are on now). Next, go to the Tool bar and select the Ellipse
Frame tool.
3
In an empty white area draw an ellipse about an inch wide. Note that the
frame box is rectangular. If the central ellipse area is a solid color, go to
the Tool bar and click on the white square with a red line at the bottom to
make it transparent.
Now switch to the Direct-Selection tool (white arrow) to select the object
to be mask and type Ctrl+C, then select the frame that will be the mask
(click on it to make it active.) Type Ctrl+Alt+V to place the object into
the frame. Alternately, you can find these commands under Edit on the
Menu bar. The cropped or masked objects can be moved anywhere on
your page.
Modifying Frame Shapes for Masking
Frame shape can be altered by moving, adding or deleting anchor points
to create a new shape. Find a frame that you would like to modify and
click on the frame using the Direct-Selection tool (white arrow.) By
clicking and dragging a handle, you can move the position of an anchor.
If you need to add additional anchors to create your shape, switch to the
Add Anchor Point tool that looks like an old fashioned pen point with a
plus sign to one side. Add anchors where you need them by clicking on
the line with the pen point. If you need to delete an anchor, select the
Delete Anchor Point tool (pen nib with a minus sign) and click on handles
to delete them. Switch back to the Direct-Selection tool to continue
moving your anchors around until you get the desired effect.
Adding Text
Text may be directly typed onto your document in the same way as
PhotoShop using the Text tool (T on the tool bar), adjusting type, size,
etc. from the character control palette. Don’t forget that you can change
the color of the type at the Tool bar.
Alternately, you can bring in a text file by using the Place command.
Draw a box in which to place your text. The Selection tool will permit you
to move or resize the text box. If you have large bodies of text, type the
text in Word but do not include any images in your Word document.
When you ‘Place’ your text in an empty frame, the box does not need to
be sized to contain all of the text. A red “+” will appear in a small box in
the lower right corner of your text frame. Click your cursor on the “+”
and it will be re-loaded with the rest of the document text. Continue to
make text boxes where you like on the page and keep re-loading the text
until all of the document appears on the page.
4
When text is placed in this fashion as a single document, it will flow back
and forth between the boxes as they are re-sized or deleted.
Please see the attached User Guide pages for detailed information on
wrapping your text around the graphics or inside the graphic.
About Masters
If your work requires that you maintain a specific design, you will benefit
from learning to work with Masters and a template. For further
information on this topic check the help section on your Menu bar.
Detailed instructions are included for creating Masters, using Masters and
creating new masters from old ones.
This workshop is provided as a service of Instructional Technology.
Sharron Macklin
X4318
4/06/11
From Adobe InDesign CS 5 Help pages…
Wrapping text around simple objects
To set default text wrap options for all new objects, deselect all objects and
then change the text wrap setting.
Wrap Around Bounding Box setting (left) compared to Wrap Around Object
Shape setting (right)
To apply a text wrap to an object:
1. If necessary, choose Window > Type & Tables > Text Wrap to display
the Text Wrap palette.
2. Using the Selection tool
or Direct Selection tool , select a frame--
usually the image you want the text to wrap around.
5
3. In the Text Wrap palette, click the button for the desired wrap shape:
Wrap Around Bounding Box
creates a rectangular wrap whose width
and height are determined by the bounding box of the selected object.
Wrap Around Object Shape
, also known as contour wrapping,
creates a text wrap boundary that is the same shape as the frame you've
selected (plus or minus any offset distances you specify). For information on
specifying contour options, see Wrapping text around imported graphics.
Jump Object keeps text from appearing in any available space to
the right or left of the frame.
Jump to Next Column
forces the surrounding paragraph to the top
of the next text column or text frame.
4. For the wrap offset values, type offset distances. Positive values move
the wrap away from the edges of the frame; negative values position the
wrap boundary inside the edges of the frame.
To apply a text wrap to items on a master page, hold down Ctrl+Shift
(Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS) and click the item on the document
page. With the image selected on the document page, apply text wrap.
Previous | Next | Top | Working with Text > About wrapping text
