InDesign CS4 Fundamentals
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Description: This course will teach students fundamental concepts and terminology and the basic features of Adobe InDesign CS4. Students will learn how to create documents, place text and graphics, and create custom color swatches. Students will also learn how to work with master pages and multi-page documents. In addition, students will learn how to format text, apply styles, work with threaded text frames, position and group objects, and work with layers. Finally, students will print documents, create print presets, and package documents for commercial printing.
Days: 1
Prerequisites: Windows XP: Introduction or equivalent experience
Unit 1: Getting started
Topic A: The Adobe InDesign environment
· Starting InDesign and customizing the workspace
· Navigating a document
· Examining basic panels
Topic B: Preferences and defaults
· Setting preferences
Topic C: InDesign Help
· Using Help
Unit 2: Basic documents
Topic A: New documents
· Creating a new document
Topic B: Text frames
· Creating text in a document
· Placing text
Topic C: Graphics frames
· Placing graphics
· Placing InDesign pages
Topic D: Custom colors
· Creating custom color swatches
· Loading and saving swatches
Unit 3: Guides and master pages
Topic A: Item position
· Aligning elements to guides
· Precisely positioning elements by using the Control panel and smart guides
Topic B: Master pages
· Editing the default master page
· Inserting page numbers
· Creating new master pages
· Applying master pages
· Overriding a master item on a document page
Unit 4: Typesetting
Topic A: Text frame threading
· Threading text
· Adding columns to a text frame
· Adding jump-line page numbers
Topic B: Paragraph formatting
· Setting tabs
· Creating indents
· Setting keep options
· Creating bulleted and numbered lists
· Creating drop caps
· Adjusting space between paragraphs
· Creating paragraph rules
· Changing formatting by using Find/Change
Topic C: Styles
· Creating a paragraph style
· Creating a style based on an existing style
· Editing a style
· Creating a character style
· Creating a style group
Unit 5: Modifying items
Topic A: Text frame options
· Positioning text within a text frame
· Formatting a frame edge
Topic B: Graphics
· Adding Photoshop files
· Adjusting text wrap
· Modifying graphics
· Nesting frames
Topic C: Grouped items
· Grouping items
· Manipulating items within groups
Topic D: Layers
· Creating a new layer
· Changing layer stacking order
· Assigning items to layers
Unit 6: Finalizing documents
Topic A: Outputting documents
· Printing a proof
· Exporting a PDF
Topic B: Commercial printing preparation
· Checking spelling
· Checking picture usage
· Checking font usage
· Preflighting a document
· Packaging a publication
Sorry, there are no upcoming classes. Feel free to contact us if you're interested in us putting a class together.
