Design philosophy: all information in this web site should be accessible to the intended audience regardless of platform, browser, or size of screen. Graphics are kept to a minimum to reduce download times. If you see a frame or an animated GIF, feel free to flame me mercilessly.

This site uses fully compliant cascading style sheets (CSS). Older browsers should display text in their default fonts, while more recent browsers will all display fully formatted text. (However, the styles sheets will look best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0 or above.) The site also complies with major accessibility standards.

Colophon

The base font for this page is Trebuchet MS, a free font from Microsoft designed for on-screen readability at small point sizes. The headlines are 32 pt Times bold italic, combining elegance, classical proportions, and compactness.

The logo is variation on the original logo from Aldus PageMaker and depicts Aldus Manutius, a student of Johannes Gutenberg and inventor of italics. This is to echo the roots of desktop publishing, both in the 1450s and the 1980s. The logo uses Courier from ITC to evoke the feel of metal type and Poetica from Adobe Systems to evoke the era of hand lettering.

Made on a Macintosh using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia DreamWeaver.

Adobe InDesign FAQ for PageMaker Users

InDesign is a new desktop publishing program from Adobe. It is designed to be the next generation from the company that published PageMaker, and has been described as Adobe’s “Quark killer.” In many ways, it is. Following are frequently asked questions (FAQ) about InDesign which may be of interest to PageMaker users. (Some topics may overlap, such as graphics and printing.)

General Design and Layout Type & Typography

Printing & Output Graphics and File Import Plug-Ins & Extensibility

File Compatibility Support and Training Scripting

This FAQ was compiled by Peter C.S. Adams. Please send updates, corrections, and questions (with answers) to adamsp@cs.umb.edu. To ask a question, submit it to the InDesign-Talk mailing list or to Adobe tech support. You can then send me the answer along with the question. Sorry, I don’t generally have time to update the FAQ in any other way. Please send corrections to this address, as well.

I am grateful to Olav Martin Kvern, Gordon Woolf, Michael Peters, Tim Cole, Leonid Revzin, John Whitt, Walton Harris, Dave Ibbetson, and Marc Zeedar for their contributions. Most of the useful information is theirs; most of the errors are mine. (If I missed anyone, that’s my error, too!)

Most recent modification: November 29, 1999

General Issues

When was InDesign released?

Adobe originally estimated June, 1999. It officially shipped at Seybold San Francisco, September 1, 1999.

How much will it cost?

InDesign currently lists for USD $699. Academic pricing is available (about USD $290). There is currently no information on international or mail order pricing.

Is there an upgrade path?

Yes, current users of PageMaker and other products such as QuarkXPress, Photoshop, and Illustrator will be able to upgrade for $299 for a "limited time." When InDesign was shipping in June, "limited time" meant "until August 31. 1999, but Adobe has removed any reference to a time limit on their web page. In their ship announcement, they extended the upgrade time to December 31, 1999. It is unfortunate that Adobe did not choose to reward PageMaker owners by offering them a lower-priced upgrade, but Adobe is still selling PageMaker, after all, even though it has been "repositioned" (downgraded) from a professional publishing package to a "business" package since the announcement of InDesign.

Is InDesign the Quark Killer?

That depends on whom you ask. In theory you can do anything in InDesign that you can do in QuarkXPress, and InDesign will open QuarkXPress files. However, InDesign is not use QuarkXTensions, and while the import process has been described as "seamless," there are too many variables to say imports can be 100% accurate. There will undoubtedly be hurdles for people converting from a QuarkXPress environment to an InDesign one, but it can be done, and some publishing houses have already indicated that they plan to do so. Pricing and support will be the main reasons, though, not necessarily features.

Is InDesign also the PageMaker killer?

No. Adobe has no plans to kill PageMaker. It is instead "repositioning" it as a competitor to Microsoft Publisher in the "business" market. But PageMaker 6.5 Plus was a very minor upgrade and makes no real effort to make PageMaker as easy to use as Publisher. PageMaker is as powerful as QuarkXPress and is in the same league as InDesign, so unless Adobe make major revisions to it, and they have made no indication that it plans to do so, it appears that PageMaker 6.5 Plus is viewed as a cash cow until the popularity of InDesign takes off. So there may be a PageMaker 7.0 to bring in upgrade revenue, but it is difficult to see how PageMaker can compete in the "business" (read "first time user") category unless it is dumbed down quite a bit, which would kill it as a serious desktop publishing program. However, it is possible that Adobe could make access to PageMaker’s advanced functionality much easier, as Visio and Lotus Improv attempted. This would require a major commitment from Adobe which, so far, they have shown no inclination to make. So the answer is really "maybe."

As of January, 2000, Adobe has made no announcement regarding the future of PageMaker, despite that PageMaker is already problematic on some newer machines and is not Windows 2000 or Mac OS X compliant.

What are the system requirements for running InDesign?

Windows requires: Intel® Pentium® II or faster processor, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Workstation with Service Pack 4, Windows 98, or later operating system, 48 MB of RAM installed, 130 MB or more of available hard-disk space for installation, CD-ROM drive, Video card that supports 256-color at 800x600 monitor resolution, and, for PostScript printers, Adobe PostScript Level 2 or later required. Adobe recommends: Pentium II Intel processor or later, 300Mhz or higher, 64 MB or more of RAM installed, High-resolution (24-bit or greater Super VGA) video display card, Adobe PostScript Level 2 (or higher) printer, and an Internet connection

Macintosh requires: PowerPC® 604 processor or faster processor, Apple System Software version 8.5 or later, 48 MB of installed RAM with virtual memory on (96 MB with virtual memory off), 130 MB or more of available hard-disk space for installation, a CD-ROM drive, 832x624 monitor resolution, Adobe PostScript Level 2 or later printer. Adobe recommends: Power PC G3, 128 MB RAM, high-resolution 24-bit screen display, and an Internet connection

Discussion on the PAGEMAKR list would seem to indicate that InDesign should run on an older 603e chip, as well, but it would be very slow, particularly if the multi-line composer were in use. You can search for posting on this topic in the PAGEMAKR archives at <http://www.listserv.iupui.edu/archives/pagemakr.html>.

Design and Layout Issues

Can I use frames in InDesign?

Yes, in fact you must. Everything in InDesign is inside a frame.

Are InDesign frames comparable to QuarkXPress frames?

In many ways, yes, but they are more powerful and easier to use. For instance, importing a file creates the enclosing frame automatically, and flowing text into a graphics frame automatically converts it to a text frame. Frames can be any shape (even a Bézier curve), can contain multiple columns, and even frames within frames. You can even design the columns within a frame to adjust their width according to the width or the frame or to remain fixed, forcing the frame to snap to size.

Does InDesign support Master Pages?

Yes. In InDesign, master page are as powerful as in PageMaker. In addition, you can create variations on master pages in a parent/child relationship that is like paragraph styles. Updating the master page’s "style" will update automatically all the dependent master pages.

What drawing tools are available?

In addition to the usual text, box, line, etc., InDesign offers pen and scissors tools as in Illustrator. There is also a gradient tool that can be used to edit, but not create, gradients.

Are color swatches global or local? Are they like Illustrator?

Colors can be defined (like styles) in swatches. These are global "named colors." Changes made to these colors (in the swatches palette) are automatically applied to anything that has that color applied to it. There is also a another color palette (like Illustrator’s) that can be used to create "unnamed colors" that are not global and do not appear in the swatches palette. This would not appear to be a good idea since it makes color editing more difficult, but the option is there for quick one-use colors.

Is the InDesign graphics engine based on the OS? PostScript?

No, InDesign uses an internal engine called AGM (code named "Bravo"), the same as Illustrator and Acrobat. This allows InDesign to render Postscript graphics and high-resolution images directly to the screen, yielding a very accurate preview. In addition, since InDesign uses the same display model for the screen and the printer, the display will be more WYSIWYG and errors in the files can be seen before printing. Note that AGM is not the same as Display PostScript.

Typographical Issues

How does typography in InDesign differ from other applications?

InDesign uses "multi-line composition," which allows the text composition engine to look at lines above and below the current line when determining hyphenation. This means that when a bad break is found, InDesign doesn’t just flag the line, it tries to recompose the text numerous lines before and after the break, trying to maintain the optimum text color. (This can be turned off to speed up processing). In addition, InDesign uses optical kerning and optical edge alignment for better character kerning, drop caps, and hanging punctuation. InDesign actually considers the shape of the character, not just its metrics as defined in the font.

How does InDesign deal with ligatures?

InDesign automatically replaces ligatures and old style figures in your typing. It cannot create them, however. They must be available in the current font. N.B. This only works with OpenType fonts for the time being. This limitation may be addressed in the next release, but for the moment it assumes everyone will want to pay for hundreds of new fonts.

Why does InDesign have its own Fonts folder?

Two reasons. First, it allows easy extensibility of fonts; second, it is the only way at present for InDesign to implement OpenType.

What is OpenType? Why should I want it?

OpenType is based on UniCode, TrueType, and PostScript Type 1 font technology.

I actually did a little looking into Unicode last week and I learned this about that. Unicode and ASCII are similar in that each is a specification for a character set that assigns a numeric code to each character in a set. So, if you hit a key on your keyboard, the numeric code mapped to that key determines what character is typed. So, the way you map a character to a numeric value (in a font?) determines what character shows up when you hit a key on your keyboard. That's how the different keyboard layouts work, the numeric values are remapped to different values.

The big difference between ASCII and Unicode is that Unicode uses 16-bits vs 8-bits of information to create the set of numeric values you can assign to the characters in a set. The Unicode set is large enough to contain, pretty much, every character in the world (or so I have been led to believe.) That means a single font can contain character sets for many, many languages.

I believe that only TrueType and Open Type currently support the use of Unicode for writing fonts. The Open Type standard, from what I've read, is a combined effort between MS and Adobe and is capable of being treated or recognized as either PostScript or TrueType or just plain OpenType.

An OpenType font (again this is what I've read so don't quote me) can contain encoding that will identify it to a system as either TT or PS. If it contains the encoding to identify itself as such, I think it can be installed on a system that doesn't support the OTF format but it will be treated as a TT or PS font. (In my experience this only worked with fonts identified as TT.) Windows 2000 fully supports the use of OTF and I believe the Mac OS does as well.

Again, this is my interpretation of what I found so here are a couple of URLs with more info if you want to look into it further (and maybe find out where I was incorrect...)

http://www.mulberrytech.com/papers/unicode/tsld001.html

http://kb.indiana.edu/data/aems.html

http://home.netscape.com/emg/intl/docs/devcons97/jbtls/sld025.htm

http://www.unicode.org/index.html

http://wwww.whatis.com/opentype.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/otlist.htm

Graphics and File Import Issues

What graphic file formats can I import?

It is unclear at this point, but it’s safe to say that the important formats (EPS, PDF, TIFF, JPEG, etc.) will be supported. In addition, InDesign will be able to import and export Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) files. Like Photoshop, though, import and exports will be handled by plug-ins, so is a format is not supported out of the box, that doesn’t mean it can’t be. So you may be able to import, say, AutoCAD drawings.

I can drag a PhotoShop file directly into PageMaker. Can I do that in InDesign?

Yes. In addition, when you import a PhotoShop file, InDesign retains the alpha channel and you can even create a mask within InDesign.

Does InDesign check imported files for errors or missing previews?

InDesign creates previews for files as it imports them. It can do some error checking, such as identifying missing fonts from EPS vector files.

Printing Issues

How is InDesign printing different from printing in other applications?

In one sense, it isn’t. InDesign used the printer driver supplied for the operating system (such as LaserWriter 8 in the Mac OS), so the procedure is the same as in other applications. For some people, particularly PageMaker users, this is a problem, since the printing interface in PageMaker adds so many useful features to the printing process. One user commented that printing was so clumsy in InDesign that Adobe might be using it as a way to encourage people to move to a PDF workflow.

Does that mean InDesign work with any output device?

No. Adobe states that InDesign requires a PostScript Level 2 or above printer. However, Adobe PressReady will serve as a PostScript Level 2 RIP for supported color inkjets, enabling them to serve as accurate proofing devices. InDesign ships with version 8.5.1 of its print driver. Even if you do not have a PostScript printer, you can use the driver to output PostScript for your service bureau.

Does InDesign support PDF in case I do not have a supported printer?

Yes, in fact InDesign exports directly to PDF without using PostScript or Distiller. Bypassing Distiller enables you to create more platform independent PDFs by not using a specific PPD. In theory, this will generate a cleaner PDF. Like Acrobat 4, InDesign exports PDF 1.3.

Can I save printing specs into a Printer Style?

Unfortunately, no. InDesign does not support printer styles.

Scripting Issues

Are InDesign scripts compatible with existing PageMaker scripts?

No. InDesign scripts are based on AppleScript (Macintosh) or Visual Basic (Windows). There is no PageMaker Script interpreter.

Are InDesign scripts usable across platforms?

No. You would have to translate them from AppleScript to Visual Basic or vice versa. At present there is no way to do this.

Isn’t that kind of dumb?

Maybe. If you run a mixed platform shop, it will be problematic. It will also make it harder for users to share scripts over the net. It will discourage heavy-duty PageMaker users from adopting InDesign. And it makes it harder for users to write scripts. On the other hand, it makes the scripts more powerful. John Warnock stated at Seybold Boston that 80% of InDesign’s functionality can be accessed through scripts. Still, adding other scripting languages would have been nice. Mac users can take some solace in the fact that OneClick <http://www.westcodesoft.com> will be able to record InDesign actions and make them available in macros which can be accessed through a menu, palette, or key command.

Can this be changed?

Scripting in InDesign, like almost everything else, is done with a plug-in. So if demand were high enough, someone like Westcode Software(OneClick), Sun (Java), Extensis (PageTools), or Userland (Frontier) could create a cross-platform scripting plug-in.

Are there any InDesign scripts I can download?

Yes, there are several sites dedicated to InDesign scripting. Gordon Woolf has started an InDesign scripting page on his website at <http://www.worsleypress.com/indscrpt.htm>. One early posting is a printstyles script, which allows you to save all the myriad print setting in InDesign to a kind of ini file that can be called back in.

File Compatibility & Migration Issues

Is InDesign compatible with QuarkXPress and PageMaker files?

Yes. InDesign should be able to open both QuarkXPress 3.3 and 4.0 files and PageMaker 6.5 files without difficulty. Not "seamlessly," though, as many people have written. File formats and application-specific object properties are too tricky for that. In fact, several early users importing PageMaker 6.5 files have used the term "hosed."

Are there features designed to make migration easy for PageMaker and QuarkXPress users?

InDesign’s keyboard shortcuts can be configured by the user, and InDesign ships with an optional set of keyboard commands matching those in QuarkXPress.

Are InDesign files less susceptible to corruption that PageMaker and QuarkXPress files?

According to many beta testers, yes, but it is too early to tell with any certainty. One advantage InDesign has is a completely rewritten code base with no legacy code. Since it is highly modular, in theory InDesign’s kernel should be far more stable in the same way a microkernel-based operating system is.

Plug-In and Extensibility Issues

How do InDesign plug-ins differ from PageMaker and QuarkXPress?

InDesign is basically nothing but plug-ins. Its core is only around a megabyte in size and does nothing but provide a base for the plug-ins. InDesign doesn’t support plug-ins, it is plugins.

What plug-ins are available?

Too many to list. See a list of InDesign plug-ins at http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/indesign/kb/docs/211a.htm

However, some notable ones are PowrTable from PowrTools, which implements a Adobe-table like tool inside InDesign and Managing Editor, a top-end plug-in for newspaper publishing. PowrTools Software Inc. of Vancouver, B.C., is set to ship PowrTable 1.0, which allows users to create in-place text tables for use in InDesign documents. The utility will cost $150, with a show-only special price of $100, the company said.

Quite Imposing, a PDF imposition plug-in. Now, even when I'm using PageMaker, I export as PDF and then do imposition in Acrobat using the plug-in. It's around $200-300. There's a working demo at http://www.quite.com/imposing/. Regarding the lack of a build Booklet in InDesign, I was also amazed by the decision of Adobe to not include it in InDesign. But if you need a 200$ to 300$ solution, wait for Imposer for InDesign from ALAP http://www.alap.com that will allow you to print up to 4 up your InDesign doc

ShadeTree Marketing President Greg Peterson said the Phoenix-based company on Tuesday will ship FRAEMZ PS For InDesign. The $99 software will let users automatically generate any of 404 high-resolution custom borders to text and picture boxes in InDesign documents. Other features include a drop-shadow function as well as CMYK and spot-color compatibility for process seps.

Seattle-based LizardTech Inc. said it will release MrSID Portable Image Format, a free plug-in for Adobe InDesign, via its Web site. Due later this year, MrSID Portable Image Format will be an add-on to its $495 MrSID Publishing Edition for Mac software. MrSID Publishing Edition will let InDesign users reduce high-resolution images to less than 3 percent of their original size while maintaining image quality, the company said. MrSID Portable Image Format images can be placed in Adobe InDesign layouts for output to an imagesetter or distilled with Acrobat to create portable, prepress-ready Portable Document Format files.

Sonar Bookends InDex from Virginia Systems Inc. of Midlothian, Va., is a cross-platform indexing utility that will let InDesign users create a table of contents and index books. An index can span multiple documents and automatically reverse first and last names as well as sort word lists. The company said it will provide additional details about pricing and availability on Tuesday.

Plug ins for TOC, database publishing from http://indesign.plugware.net/

database pub plug in: "Em Software makes some excellent ones" -- David Evans

Virginia Systems makes a plug-in for InDesign that builds TOC and Indexes, and it might suit your needs.

Plugin for indexing and TOC -- Sonar Bookends. $279.99.

If you need just two-up pages you could try pstools:
http://www.tardis.ed.ac.uk/~ajcd/psutils/
http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/ajcd/psutils/

Support and Training Issues

What internet resources are available for InDesign?

The Adobe InDesign page <http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/indesign/main.html> has many informative PDFs, such as Adobe’s InDesign FAQ. Blue World has a mailing list called InDesign-Talk <http://www.blueworld.com/blueworld/lists/indesign.html> aimed directly at InDesign users. The PAGEMAKR mailing list <http://www.makingpages.org/pagemaker/> has frequent discussions on InDesign and has a great deal of information in its archives <http://www.listserv.iupui.edu/archives/pagemakr.html>. Other resources:

Adobe User-to-User Forum for InDesign-Mac : http://wellengaged.com/engaged/adobe.cgi?c=InDesign_Mac

Adobe User-to-User Forum for InDesign-Windows : http://wellengaged.com/engaged/adobe.cgi?c=InDesign_Win

Adobe’s Top Technical Issues for InDesign: http://www.adobe.com/supportservice/custsupport/SOLUTIONS/topissuesid.htm

What books are available for InDesign?

Adobe's Classroom in a Book series is always of good quality, but the style and structure are not always appropriate for all users. Those wishing a more basic book may want the Adobe InDesign Visual Quickstart Guide, or even InDesign for Dummies,and those wishing a fuller reference book may want InDesign In Depth. The ever-reliable Olav Martin Kvern is writing Real World InDesign. (That should be good, considering his Real World PageMaker is still considered must reading and it only covers version 4!) Following are a few recommended books. Click the link to view the book at Amazon.com:

Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (Adobe Development Team, $36.00)
InDesign for MacIntosh and Windows: Visual Quickstart Guide (Sandee Cohen, $14.39)
InDesign InDepth (Frank J. Romano, John Warnock, David Broudy, $35.99)
Mastering Adobe InDesign (Mike Cuenca, Renee LeWinter, $31.99)
Adobe Indesign for Dummies (Deke McClelland, $15.99)

Not all of these have been published as of this writing; check with Amazon.com for details or for ordering (or pre-ordering) information.

What magazines discuss InDesign?

Leading DTP magazines, such as Publish, cover InDesign, as do leading Mac magazines such as MacWorld.

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