Books on InDesign

[sammybee@adobeforums.com]

Hi All-

Just a newbie to InDesign and can't wait to learn the software. My background is web design and clueless to the print world. Can anyone suggest any good books for a beginner? Thank in advance.

[Bob_Levine]

The two best, IMO:

Real World InDesign CS
InDesign CS Visual Quickstart Guide.

Bob

[JongWare -- remove the underscore in mail!]

Check out Wiley & Sons's "InDesign Bible". It covers practically everything
about layout and pre-press, including a separate section on the all-too
important color spaces, aimed at both newbie and pro user. And it's a
H*U*G*E book :) with its 820 pp a good value for $40. Its companion website
at [url]http://www.indesigncentral.com[/url] offers even more tips & tricks, and even
on-line addenda for those latest changes!

jw

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob_Levine <Bob_Levine>
Newsgroups: adobe.indesign.windows
Date: dinsdag 13 juli 2004 16:46
Subject: Re: Books on InDesign

>The two best, IMO:
>
>Real World InDesign CS
>InDesign CS Visual Quickstart Guide.
>
>Bob
>

[email]sammybee@adobeforums.com[/email] wrote in message <3bb50376.-1@webx.la2eafNXanI>...

>Hi All-
>
>Just a newbie to InDesign and can't wait to learn the software. My

background is web design and clueless to the print world. Can anyone suggest
any good books for a beginner? Thank in advance.

[sammybee@adobeforums.com]

Are there any books that have a step-by-step approach to learning the program? I like those that have lots of tutorials. Again, for the beginner. Thanks.

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

can't wait to learn the software




Then why waste your time reading? Start learning right away with VWTT (Video Workshop Total Training). Do a search on google and I'm sure you'll find it quick.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Video Workshop Total Training




Ideal for someone who has $249 to throw away.

Real World InDesign CS




Basically a weak rehash of the manual - nothing "real world" about in, in spite of the title.

I recommend the Adobe Classroom in a Book series publication on this product.

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321193776/qid=1089847656/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/104-2216687-5744716>

[Teddie_Krause@adobeforums.com]

Sammy -

I bought "Classroom in a Book" and also "InDesign Visual Quickstart Guide" by Sandee Cohen. "Classroom" has a lot of tutorials but it also has some errors. Sometimes the instructions say to click on a certain box or do this or that, but it doesn't work. So be prepared to spend some time figuring out what box you really should click on, etc.

Now that I'm somewhat familiar with InDesign, I refer to Sandee Cohen's book all the time. It doesn't have tutorials, but you may look up any subject and read an explanation of how it works.

[sammybee@adobeforums.com]

I'll definitely get the Visual Quickstart Guide as they've always been solid and should be in every designers library for quick references.

And, I'll be sure to look up "Classroom in a Book" too.

Thanks for all your help. I appreciate it!

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

BTW, Real World ID is widely regarded as an outstanding reference by an ID
insider. I find it far more helpful than the manual, and far more accessible
and readable than the Classroom books. Which, by necessity, only show you
what works and which features Adobe wants to emphasize. They're OK
otherwise.

Let me give you a quick example of Real World, one I find very
entertaining...

"...some of you are going to be asked by your imagesetting service provider
to give them EPS files of your InDesign pages. This is because they want to
import the EPSs into QuarkXPress 3.32. Why...? Because they were probably
raised by hyenas..."

Good enough for me.

-John O

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Check out the reviews of the ID2 version on Amazon.

Only 3½ stars.

And even the high raters basically say it's a replacement for the manual or a reference book.

The book suffers from the same weakness that others in the "Real World" series do. Like "Real World Illustrator," it's basically a rehash of the manual with some sophomoric humor thrown in to make it "interesting." it would have been better had they made it interesting by including some real world usage information about the application.

Many years ago I wrote several computer books for Que, one of the imprints under the same corporate umbrella as New Riders. They emphasize writing to a formula and getting the book done fast - quality of writing, original thinking, or value-added examples are very much secondary.

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

Only 3½ stars on Amazon? I guess I'm wrong then.

[sammybee@adobeforums.com]

Stu,

What would suggest for me being new to the print world? I'm fairly familiar with both Photoshop and Illustrator for the web. But, I'd like to get my feet wet with a book with easy to follow tutorials with step-by-step instructions.

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Ideal for someone who has $249 to throw away.




I don't think so! I hardly call that throwing away.

How about those people that threw away over $30,000 to learn this stuff in college AND they know very little (almost nothing) compared to what I know. They don't even have a job in the industry. LOL

Yes, I know of some people that went to college and got nothing but a big fat debt.

I have to admit that I've only skimmed through the videos because I have enough knowledge of this to be able to do the tasks I do here everyday. Almost everything I know I have learned over the years by trial and error.

When I was trying to learn this stuff no one wanted or knew how to help me. I'm glad I found this forum because it's the best place for me to go when I have a question that's too difficult for the average user to answer.

Anyway, if you can't afford to pay full price, you can find the TotalTraining CD's (or similar CDs) in other places like eBay for a lot cheaper than $249 so just shop around.

I got mine for FREE as a gift from my ex-girlfriend :D

She was one of those victims that spent over 30 grand to learn Graphic Design and Multimedia. At least she got her foot in the door now. She works as a temporary employee at a printing company in California.

If all else fails; I suppose you will have to do the first thing I learned when I was getting started - RTFM. ;)

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

RTFM is free, Classroom in a Book is ($30-$40?). They're both more effective than a video, and a lot cheaper too.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Only 3½ stars on Amazon? I guess I'm wrong then.




You're wrong for all the reasons I listed.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

What would suggest for me being new to the print world? I'm fairly familiar
with both Photoshop and Illustrator for the web. But, I'd like to get
my feet wet with a book with easy to follow tutorials with step-by-step
instructions.




Adobe Classroom in a Book

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

> You're wrong for all the reasons I listed.

LOL, I've read them all, and I'll stand by my opinion. Calling Real World a
'rehash of the manual' tells me you haven't read it. BTW, Adobe Press (CIB)
is under the same corporate umbrella as Peachpit, New Riders, Que, etc.

Have a good day, and a great weekend, Stu.

-John O

[Thomas_Phinney@adobeforums.com]

Stu, I couldn't disagree with you more. For me, Real World InDesign is the only book I need. It answers all the toughest questions. The fact that it does so with style and panache is a bonus. But there is a ton of information in here that's NOT in the manual. Lots of background explanation of theory, and WHY things are the way they are, and WHY you want to do things one way in one situation and differently in another (or one way all the time). It's not just a rehash of commands and the like.

Now, it is probably best as a reference book, and it can replace the manual. If what you want is a how-to tutorial, then you should get something else as well (CIB, Visual QuickStart Guide). Note that I say as well rather than instead. Once you finish the CIB or VQS, you can use Real World InDesign as the next step up.

Side note: QuarkXPress gurus may be best served by InDesign for QuarkXPress Users. But Real World InDesign is my own choice as the only InDesign book I need. For version 2, I had a copy for home and another for the office. I still need to get a second copy of the CS edition.

I think this just goes to show the diversity of opinions out there, and that one size does not fit all. But you're the first person I've "talked to" who did not think Real World InDesign was an exceptional book.

Cheers,

T

Thomas Phinney
Program Manager
Fonts & Core Technologies
Adobe Systems

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

I hardly think you are the best person to recommend a book for a user with little or no print experience.

As far as being the only one to recognize what a waste the subject book is:

"Too much like a manual, June 5, 2003
Reviewer: Bob Martin (Baulkham Hills, NSW Australia)
This book is a reasonably thorough coverage of InDesign but is sadly lacking in what I would describe as advanced areas. Like many other books a lot of it simply resembles a product manual, describing, but often not explaining, the functions and options. For example in the Workspace chapter it defines baseline grid and document grid but gives no advice whatsoever how you would use these (and no reference to further information elsewhere).
Although the style is pleasantly conversational it sometimes rambles into unecessarily detail, like explaining that ultraviolet light is around 700 nanometers - who cares - this is supposed to be about publishing.
Examples of less than expert advice abound: a discussion on line art states that these are bitmaps that only have black and white pixels - in my book you should never use bitmaps for line art; and I couldn't believe a paragraph that stated most fonts have a ½ character but there's no way to type it - the authors have obviously never used a PC!"

"Better than the Adobe manual but ..., April 19, 2003
Reviewer: E L Schrems (Norman, OK United States)
This book is better than the Adobe Manual, but I have been very disappointed. For my purposes, it spends too much space belaboring things like meny choices and far too little time on how to use InDesign 2.0 effectively. For example, if I want to place footnotes at the bottoms of pages, what is the best way to accomplish that? Or, how about suggestions for effective use of the index range options instead of just listing what they are. I can find out what they are from the online help or from the Adobe manual. I buy extra books to get extra insight. I didn't get much from this one."

You Adobe folks sure do stick together. That's very admirable.

[Abe]

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 07:42:23 -0700, [email]sammybee@adobeforums.com[/email] wrote:

>Hi All-
>
>Just a newbie to InDesign and can't wait to learn the software. My background is web design and clueless to the print world. Can anyone suggest any good books for a beginner? Thank in advance.

I found "Publishing with InDesign" by David Bergsland very useful.
Sorry I've not checked it's star rating on Amazon...
Abe