Learning Adobe InDesign CS4

Module 1: InDesign CS4 Basics

Module 2: InDesign CS4 Advanced Exercises

The tutorials can be used onscreen next to the software package, from a tablet or printed. Assignments are provided at the end of each chapter and the multi-user version provides projects at the end of each module.

Module 1

Introduces laying out pages, setting text and graphics frames, controlling graphics, formatting text and creating styles to produce publications including flyers, greeting cards, restaurant menus, newsletters, multi-page documents and pamphlets.

Module 2

Covers the creating magazines, the use of tables, master pages, creating PDF documents, creating interactive SWF products and interactive PDF products, using the Book feature, creating Library items, using the EyeDropper tool and entering text along a path.

Module 1 Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 1: Introduction to Adobe InDesign CS4

Demonstrates how to set up a document, insert and format text, spell check text, insert and format graphics and create thumbnail sketches through the creation of simple flyers, such as:

Chapter 2: Creating Greeting Card

Demonstrates how to layout a page into quarters, use column and page guides, adding borders and rotate objects to produce a greeting card such as:

Chapter 3: Text Formatting

Demonstrates how to create indents, hanging indents, use the Tab Ruler to insert left, right, centre and decimal tabs, add leader characters to tab stops, insert lines and multiple copies of lines to product tables such as:

Chapter 4: Creating Newsletters Using Frames

Introduces the concept of frames. How to insert text and graphics into frames, how to format frames, use frames options, apply effects such as drop shadow and bevel and emboss, thread text from one frame to another, shade frames, align frames and add leader characters to text to produce newsletters such as:

Chapter 5: Creating Menus Using Frames

Extension of the use of frames to create page structures that remain fixed while the content can be updated as required. Publications such as a restaurant menu are created to illustrate this.

Chapter 6: Using Styles in Publications

Demonstrates how to use preset styles, create custom styles and applying them, copy styles from one document to another to create advertising publications like:

Chapter 7: Multiple Page Newsletters

Multiple pages of different designs are created using wrap text around graphics, adding multiple columns to pages and layering page elements. The following multiple page newsletter is created:

Chapter 8: Creating Pamphlets

Demonstrates how to create a 6-sided pamphlet which includes the use of landscape orientation, setting pages into 3 columns, duplicating lines and printing pages back to back.

Project 1: The Society of Architects

The Multi-user version provides a project that requires students to create a two-page newsletter for a Society of Architects. All the text required in the publication is provided.

Module 2 Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 9: Using Tables in Publications

Demonstrates how to setup and manage tables. This includes adjusting column width and row height, shading cells, setting borders, entering text and graphics in to cells and formatting them, wrapping text around tables and importing Microsoft Word tables. The following publication is created.:

Chapter 10: Table of Contents

Demonstrates how to produce a Table of Contents from headings set to styles. The document is then exported as a PDF document which creates bookmarks from the Table of Contents items.

Chapter 11: Creating Magazines

Demonstrates how to layout and create pages of a magazine. Left and Right master pages are created to contain header and footer details, then the pages are created from those master pages.

Chapter 12: Magazine Covers

Demonstrates how to create a cover for a magazine using an A3 paper size and landscape orientation.

Chapter 13: Creating Interactive SWF Products

Using the interactive capabilities of InDesign students build an interactive Flash Player SWF products that that can be exported to web sites. An online catalogue for a sports store is created.

Chapter 14: Creating Interactive PDF Products

Using the interactive capabilities of InDesign students build an interactive PDF products that plays short movie clips on the click of inserted buttons. Hyerlinks allow the user to move from page to page.

Chapter 15: Creating Books

Using the BOOK command to combine individual documents into a book which is then exported to a PDF document with Bookmark links.

Chapter 16: Useful Features

Demonstrates some useful features that InDesign provides to make the publishing process easier. These include creating Library items, using the Page tool to set different sized pages within the one document, using Layers, using the Gap tool to maintain the gap between frames whiles resizing images, the EyeDropper tool, drawing text along a path, embedding images and OpenType fonts.

Project 2: Home Bodies

The Multi-user version provides a project that requires students to create a publication for a home help company that can be viewed on different sized screens. All the text required in the publication is provided.