Newbie Questions/Comments

[Teka_Xavier@adobeforums.com]

Greetings to All:

I signed-up in the forum just this week and I have two BIG questions that will influence my life forever -- I hope.
Can InDesign REPLACE word-processing software such as WordStar, WordPerfect and word???

Doesn't InDesign have write/edit capability so I don't have to import OR copy/paste text from elsewhere?

Essentially, I have three interests in using InDesign:
As a cross-platform user (MAC/Sun and PC), I want to move away from dependency on word.

I want to create professional quality newsletters from an e-mail newsletter that I receive from ling list certain mail list.

I want to cross-reference the newsletters and post them on a website using GoLive. [So, I will use InDesign, Acrobat, and GoLive together.]
These sound like very basic questions, but before I start investing time and money, I would appreciate your feedback. Any suggestions would be welcome as well ...

Thank you.

P.S. I am picking up a lot of tidbits from your more advanced questions, too. Thank you! /vkxf

aka Teka (TEE-ka)

Victoria Xavier
1117 Marquette Avenue 2211
Minneapolis, MN 55403
xavier [at] scirelicet [dot] com
612.341.4290 private

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

Can InDesign REPLACE word-processing software such as WordStar, WordPerfect
and word???




Depends on what you plan to create. But InDesign is not a Word Processor.

I want to create professional quality newsletters from an e-mail newsletter
that I receive from ling list certain mail list.




You can do those things in Word if used correctly.

post them on a website using GoLive




A PDF works too.

before I start investing time and money, I would appreciate your feedback.
Any suggestions would be welcome as well.




For web, office printers, and stuff like that, you don't need ID or GoLive.

You should learn how to use Word better.

[Joel_Cherney@adobeforums.com]

I'd almost agree with Gabriel; you need to learn to use Word better. But, if Sun is in your list, you could do it with OpenOffice (or OpenOffice and ID). It really depends on what you mean by "ling list"; if this is a linguistics mailing list, Word (or OpenOffice) might work just fine 95% of the time, and make you want to kill yourself the other 5%. What do you need? IPA?

(or was that a typo from "mailing list?")

However, the essence of Gabriel's post is correct. ID isn't a word processor, so don't rely on it for those features - rely on a word processor. OTOH, I know people who do all of their word processing in emacs. (Blech. Those people are crazy.)

[Teka_Xavier@adobeforums.com]

Before others go down the wrong path ...

I know word (in lower case becuase I don't like it) and have been using its advanced features for over 10 years -- such as Master documents, mail lists, Boiler Plates, Webpages, etc. ... I have no desire to make newsletters in word.

Additionally, I want a better CROSS-PLATFORM solution which Adobe products are much more than microsoft whose solutions for Mac are ... marginal, to be generous ...

InDesign will give me maximum capability to design the graphics and text in the way I want.

As I understand it, InDesign CS, replacing PageMaker ... has write and edit capability -- how adequate are they (for those who have been using InDesign CS)?

To Forum members who have not responded, PLEASE read my original post and respond to questions about using the 3 applications in concert to achieve what Z want to do WITHOUT word.

Thank you.

[Bob_Levine]

Victoria,

Please stick to one thread. Spreading this topic across multiple threads is counter productive.

I've moved the second post to join the first.

Addtionally, you really need to spend some time reading existing threads. Most of your questions have already been answered many times.

Welcome to the forum,

Bob

[JohnO@adobeforums.com]

My two cents: The word processing capabilities if InDesign are roughly
equivalent to Word for Windows v1. Maybe not that good. What I mean is, no
spelling on the fly, no automatic pages as your doc length increases, some
(IMO) crucial missing keystrokes, and difficult navigation and view
controls. (These aren't issues for layout/design, only word proc.)

I'm editing/revising a book now, and I'll do as much of that as possible in
Word. It checks spelling as I type, checks grammar with a keystroke, zooms
in and out with the scroll wheel and the Ctrl key, has a built-in thesaurus,
autocorrect, and I could go on for a while.

Keep Word for writing on both platforms. Word's cross platform issues are
triggered largely by the same things as ID's issues, aside from the fact
that Word is never the same version between the two platforms. But you don't
care...when you're planning to send the doc to ID, you don't care about
fonts, page formats, columns, styles, or any of the other stuff that gets
messed up making the cross. In the end you want a raw text (or RTF) doc
anyway, you copy/paste it into ID and apply the proper formatting there.

Use the strengths of both programs, and leave their weaknesses behind.

-John O

[Gabriel_Ayala@adobeforums.com]

InDesign will give me maximum capability to design the graphics and text
in the way I want.




For what you are doing, you don't need it, BUT, if you want to take the plunge into learning ID, by all means go for it! Keep in mind that it's a complex software that will take you some time to learn. You will NOT know how to use it as good as wORD (lower case <g>) in a matter of weeks so be prepared.

As I understand it, InDesign CS, replacing PageMaker




It already has.

using the 3 applications in concert to achieve what Z want to do WITHOUT
word.




Just FYI: These three applications will do what you want to achieve with the exception of the time frame it's taking you to do those tasks now since you'll have a whole lot of learning to do.

Use the strengths of both programs, and leave their weaknesses behind.




I couldn't and didn't say it better.

[Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com]

Using InDesign as a word processor is like using a claw hammer as a screwdriver. Yes, you can do it. No, you don't want to.

I recommend using a word processor for basic text entry and editing, then placing the word processor files into InDesign. Depending on your preferences, you can do more or less of your formatting in the word processor and more or less in InDesign. My own preferences are to do minimal formatting in Word.

As far as the gloom-and-doom about InDesign being such a complex application to learn, that's hogwash. Pick up a copy of Adobe's Classroom in a Book series for InDesign, set aside a weekend to learn it, and you'll be okay. You won't know every last feature, but you'll be able to do basic layout and get the results you need for the kind of work you do.

[Guy_Smiley@adobeforums.com]

[email]Stu_Bloom@adobeforums.com[/email] wrote in news:3bb5918c.6@webx.la2eafNXanI:

> As far as the gloom-and-doom about InDesign being such a complex
> application to learn, that's hogwash.

True. I have recently been trying to do some stuff in Photoshop with
layers and masks, and it's a *lot* more complicated than anything you
can do in InDesign.

[R_Pot@adobeforums.com]

I'm new to InDesign CS myself, but I can tell you that if you want to make professional (looking) newsletters, it seems to be the way to go. If I had to make a newsletter of any kind, I wouldn't even think about using MS Word.

Here's what seems to be the best tip I can give you: go to the following URL and download the trials of the programs you're interested in. If it turns out to be less than you expected, you won't have lost anything except a little time to download :)
<http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html>

One word of caution though: InDesign CS doesn't allow some of the basic text editing options you'd expect by default, such as creating bulleted or ordered lists. The Creative Suite (or at least CS Premium) does come with a CD with the Pagemaker plugin for InDesign which adds that functionality.