When I find myself in the trenches of paging a book, I always think to myself, "I wonder what would make this semi-hateful process less semi-hateful." I know that InDesign is chocked full of tools and features that I haven't even heard of, but would love to know about! Like the day I learned how to use master pages. [insert a women's choir singing a high B flat]
So let's hear it. Share your best tips, tricks, shortcuts, and suggestions for designing books in ID. No tip too big, no trick too small. Just because you know about it, doesn't mean that the rest of us do.
Here's mine:
Did you know that you can put native PSD and AI files directly into your InDesign document? Just like you "File - Place" a JPG, you can "File - Place" a PSD. Then, when you accidentally over-saturate that sunset, you can right-click the image and "edit original" and the file will automatically open in all its native glory in the appropriate application. Just save the PSD or AI file, head back over to ID, and click the exclamation point next to the link to relink the file.
Glyphs are another awesome feature. If you aren't using them, you should! Well-constructed fonts have hidden characters that you can use in your designs. Some are symbols or accented characters, but some are cool digbats and wingdigs or fancy letters you can use in the place of, say, the standard "A."
Open the glyphs palette by going to "Window - Type & Tables - Glyphs." In that palette, you can use the drop down to view the entire font or the alternatives for a certain character that you have highlighted. Note: the alternatives option doesn't always pick up all the alternatives, so make sure you scan all the options if you are searching for something specific.
The last tip I'll share is about using the "File - New - Book" feature, rather than "File - New - Document." I've been told that it's wise to create a "book" for multi-chapter books with 100+ pages (like ALL of Huxley's). This is a rather lengthy, though excellent, tutorial on working with book files. It says it much better than I ever could.
Now it's your turn! Please, someone, for the love, help me get the most out of character and paragraph styles!
