[CS2] Flow Problem

[brendan_lyons@adobeforums.com]

Dave are you an incredibly saint-like patient fellow? You explain time after time after time that there is nothing can be done about the same repeated bug. I read these pages and people seem to be very evangelical about ID and how wonderful it is and how crap Quark is. If I go to a different site I can read people who seem to be very evangelical about Quark and how wonderful it is and how crap ID is. I am trying to make a living as a freelance, I will never be rich I am just earning a crust. I use both softwares, they, like people, have their good side and their bad side. All I care about is that they work as seamlessly as possible and enable me to pay my mortgage and buy my food. I have a workflow which needs me to be able to designate a certain page as a certain master. If, when I apply that master, and it does not work as it should and starts adding text and behaving eratically that actually jeopardises my work and it makes me feel less than sanguine. I waste a lot of my precious time scouring these debates for solutions to things that should work but do not work. There is not even a reasonable workaround. If this is a query that comes up with monotonous regularity then surely its status should be increased to Known Issues regarding ID.

[terrapindesign@carolina.rr.com]

--- I haven't had the problem since I stopped working with InDesign. ---

Wow. That was incredibly helpful. I suppose you fix all your computer problems by not working anymore with computers? Or perhaps you stopped driving because your car got a flat tire... or you cured your indigestion by not eating ever again...

[brendan_lyons@adobeforums.com]

I was hoping charitably that post #5 was firmly tongue in cheek. This master page 'problem' is a fatal error in ID. It is no joking matter, it actually means that the software in unuseable under this particular set of circumstances. I have a workflow which involves using master pages. With a 32 page journal I can get my work finished because the flaw does not manifest until later on, but with a 300 page book where design changes are called for I cannot actually do the job because the software malfunctions. Simple as that, there is no workaroud that does not involve hours and hours of manual unnecessary labour.

[Nigel_Chapman@adobeforums.com]

<sarcasm>
I used to think this was a bug, but now that Adobe have released three updates to CS2 without fixing it I realize that, in fact, this is what it's supposed to do.
</sarcasm>

[Nigel_Chapman@adobeforums.com]

Sarcasm apart, I find it hard to believe that Adobe are employing people on a product as prestigious as InDesign who are not capable of tracking down what must be something like a pointer bug that has been known about for months. It's slightly easier to believe that they've made a mess of the program structure so that they can't fix it without breaking everything else, but given how good they have become at sharing modules between their programs, that doesn't seem very likely either.

So what's going on? Have Adobe management bought into this weird idea that is going around that fixing all bugs is a waste of resources, and it's ok to leave some in as long as only a few people will hit them? Would it be too cynical to think that they have a bug fix but are keeping it for CS3, to give people who aren't impressed with the new gimmicks a reason to pay for an upgrade?

I know now that I don't need to use text frames on master pages, but I didn't when I started this lousy book, so I'm stuck with them til it's finished, and, having hit this problem yet again yesterday, for the umpteenth time, I am not happy and feel very ill-disposed towards Adobe. Evidently I am not alone, which is some consolation.

Perhaps they'd like to send me the source code and a significant proportion of their record quarterly profits so I can fix it for them. As a bonus, I'll take out the product activation crap while I'm at it.

I suppose Scribus is about as useless as The Gimp. Has anyone tried it?

[brendan_lyons@adobeforums.com]

No Nigel you are not alone. This 'problem' has had me pulling my hair out. Fifteen years with the much maligned Quark and I have never had anything of this magnitude. I have been doing some experimenting in the last hours as a last resort and given that the problem starts at around page 84 [this seems mirrored by other users] I have divided my book into separate files and am managing with the 'Book' function. This is tedious but if it works and get my job done today [I had promised it to my client on Monday] I will be happy. Happy with myself that is not with Adobe or ID.

[Scott_Keeney@adobeforums.com]

Eric -

Did you feel compelled to reply to a two-month old comment merely to prove how obtuse you are?

That's right, I stopped using InDesign, but continue to peruse the forum for its entertainment value.

[terrapindesign@carolina.rr.com]

Actually, I replied because I damn well felt like it. Wasn't trying to prove much of anything. Too bad it upset you so much-- like I give a s---.

[Scott_Keeney@adobeforums.com]

You seem to have a problem recognizing tone. Perhaps you should sign up for a preparation class the next time you take the SAT.