Adobe InDesign Basics Detailed Outline

Although written for CS2/3, many of these basic tools will work much the same in newer editions of InDesign

1. The Work Area
   • InDesign's Work Area, Tools, and Palettes
     • The Work Area
     • The Menu Bar
     • The Control Palette, Part 1
     • The Control Palette, Part 2
     • The Other Palettes, Part 1
     • The Other Palettes, Part 2
     • The Tools Palette
     • The Tools Palette Swatches, Part 1
     • The Tools Palette Swatches, Part 2
     • A Few Words on Contextural Menus

2. How to Set Up a Document
   1. The Document Area
      • Slugs, Bleeds, and the Pasteboard
      • Rulers
      • Binding Spine
   2. Setting Up the Page
      • New Document and Page Settings
      • Master Text Frames
      • More Options
   3. Setting Margins, Columns, and Grids
      • Simple Margin Setup
      • Perfect Margin Setup
      • Changing Margins
      • Setting up Columns and Grids, The Use of Guides
   4. Master Pages in InDesign
      • Using the Pages Palette
      • More Ways to Add Master Pages
      • Changing Items on Master Pages

3. Working With Colour
   1. Colour Palette
      • Colour Modes
      • Using the Colour Palette
      • No CMYK Equivalent
      • When to Use RGB or CMYK
   2. Swatches Palette
      • Record Frequently Used Colours
      • None and Paper Swatches
      • Black and Registration Swatches
      • CMYK, RGB, and Gradient Swatches
      • Buttons in the Swatches Palette
      • Creating New Swatches
      • Editing Swatches
      • Relationship Between Colour and Swatches Palettes
   3. Gradient Palette
      • Create Gradients
      • Remove, Move, and Edit Gradients
      • Gradients in the Swatches Palette

4. The Tools, Part 1
   1. The Tools: Selection, Type, Line Drawing Tools
      • Selection Tools
      • Selecting Objects in a Group
      • Selecting Objects Under Other Objects
      • Selecting Some or All Objects
      • Pen Tool
        • Use the Pen Tool to Draw Straight Lines (Animation)
        • Use the Pen Tool to Draw Curves (Animation)
        • Use the Pen Tool to Draw Shapes (Animation)
      • Type Tool
      • Pencil Tool
      • The (Hidden) Smooth Tool
      • The (Hidden) Erase Tool
      • Line Tool
   2. The Tools: Frame and Shape Tools
      • Frame Tools Flyout
      • Placing Image in a Frame
      • Selecting and Resizing Objects
      • Resizing Graphics with the Control Palette
      • Resizing Graphics with the Context Menu
      • Shape Tools Flyout
      • Convert Shapes to Frames

5. The Tools, Part 2
   1. The Tools: Transform Tools
      • Rotate Tool
      • Scale Tool
      • Shear Tool
      • Free Transform Tool
   2. The Tools: Eyedropper and Measure Tool
      • Eyedropper Tool - Copy Colors
      • Eyedropper Tool - Copy Character Attributes
      • Measure Tool
   3. The Tools: Gradient Tool and Gradient Palette
      • Gradient Tool - Basic Use
      • Gradient Palette vs. Tool: Angle Precision
      • Gradient Palette vs. Tool: Linear, Radial, and Reverse
      • Gradient Palette vs. Tool: Location (Middle Points)
      • Gradient Tool: Applying Gradients to Multiple Objects
      • Gradient Palette: Applying Gradients to Multiple Objects
   4. The Tools: Button Tool
   5. The Tools: Scissors Tool
      • Cut Straight Across a Shape
      • Cut a Piece Out of a Shape
      • Cut a Curved Piece Out of a Shape
      • Cutting or Modifying Paths or Frames
   6. The Tools: Hand Tool
   7. The Tools: Zoom Tool

This course will not be continued beyond Lesson 5 at this time. Watch the blog or sign up for the About.com Desktop Publishing newsletter for news on when all new tutorials are added.

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