Adobe InDesign

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Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign CC icon.svg
InDesign CC macOS Screenshot.png
Adobe InDesign CC 2018 ( macOS )
Basic data

developer Adobe Inc.
Publishing year August 31, 1999
Current  version CC 2020 (15.0.1)
(November 4, 2019)
operating system Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 , macOS
programming language C ++
category Desktop publishing
License proprietary
German speaking Yes
Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign [ əˈdoʊbɪ ɪndɪˈzaɪ̯n ] is a professional layout and typesetting program for desktop publishing that was initially developed by Aldus under the project name K2. After Adobe took over Aldus , it was built to compete with QuarkXPress . InDesign is the successor to Adobe PageMaker , which was originally developed by Aldus and bought by Adobe, but was no longer developed in this form. From version 3.0 on, the program was part of the Creative Suite and until the CS6 had its version numbering as an addition to its name.

The last Creative Suite version is called CS6 and was also the last to be sold as a boxed product through specialist retailers. As of January 2013, the last InDesign version (like most Adobe products) could only be subscribed to as a rental model; for the Edu version, the last date was the end of February 2015. However, InDesign CS6 version 8 will still be available for sale as a downloadable version.

With version 9.0, Adobe starts branding as Creative Cloud. New versions are still planned, but all will be marketed under the Creative Cloud branding without an additional number. A dot release with new functions appears around every three months, with bug releases appearing in between, but also with functional changes. A version jump is planned approximately every 12 to 18 months.

application areas

InDesign is mainly used in advertising agencies and by freelance graphic designers as well as in printing and publishing houses. Together with editorial systems , it is often found in combination with other editorial tools and text programs in professional newspaper and magazine production. Other areas of application include the production of leaflets, brochures, catalogs, leaflets, posters, business stationery, and more rarely also PDF screen presentations with integrated films, Flash and interaction as well as database-based publishing applications . Adobe has been expanding the functionality for (interactive) e-books since version CS 5.5.

functionality

With InDesign it is possible to visually create single or multi-page layouts in any page format. The program supports the layout artist in dividing and managing the pages and sheets.

Elements, called “objects” in the program, are attached to the pages in the form of frames that can then be filled with different content. These are mainly used to position and format text, tables, images and graphics, but music and videos can also be inserted into the documents.

All objects can be grouped, placed on different levels and in any depth of nesting. The editing options include a .:

  • Frame and content color
  • Vector editing
  • Character and paragraph attributes
  • Table, cell and object formats
  • typography
  • Contour styles
  • Transparencies
  • Corner and overlay effects

For editing vectors, InDesign provides the same basic tools as Adobe Illustrator .

Many parameters can be freely and flexibly defined and saved in style templates for later reuse. InDesign has a basic command of the XML format for import and export, which has largely become established in the database publishing environment .

Collaboration with other applications

InDesign has a similar user interface to many Adobe programs. InDesign also supports output in the widely used in-house Portable Document Format (PDF), an ISO-certified standard for printing and prepress , as well as many functions that are relevant for professional users, such as: B. preflight , color separation or color management . Printable PDF files can be created from InDesign using both the export and print functions and the Distiller . Interactive screen presentations and transparencies, on the other hand, can only be transferred to the PDF to be created using the program's internal export function.

InDesign allows direct collaboration with other Adobe products, e.g. B. Photoshop , Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash. It is also possible to open QuarkXPress files up to version 4.x and PageMaker files from version 6, which can be converted into the current InDesign document version, edited and saved as such. Third-party plugins also allow Quark files up to version 7 to be opened, although, as with any conversion, the quality of the results depends heavily on the complexity of the layout. The documents (.indd) created in InDesign are not backward compatible.

The acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe has increased the interoperability with Flash and Dreamweaver with InDesign CS3. Adobe InDesign CS3 comes with Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium and Standard and is also included in the Creative Suite Master Collection.

Like the other applications in the Creative Suite, InDesign comes with Adobe Bridge . This offers direct access to the InDesign data, whereby the metadata can be edited or the colors and fonts used can be read out without opening a file. The tool menu also offers the option of automating work steps using JavaScript.

Languages ​​and fonts in InDesign

Depending on the character set allows InDesign access to Unicode characters and offers both under Windows and Mac OS X support for Latin OpenType - fonts .

Central European languages ​​that are written in Latin script (e.g. Czech and Hungarian ) can be processed with the Western European versions from InDesign CS2; previously there was a separate version of InDesign CE (Central Europe).

InDesign does not support right-to-left languages ​​such as Arabic or Hebrew in the version shipped by Adobe in the western world ; there is a separate version for the Middle East: InDesign ME (Middle East). There are also separate versions for the East Asian languages Chinese , Japanese and Korean with the necessary typographic special functions (control over punctuation, type area, furigana and so on). Documents that were created in other InDesign versions are retained in the version for European languages ​​when they are opened.

With version CS3 (5.0), released in 2007, the program supports the old spelling and both versions of the spelling reform (1996 and 2006). Swiss Standard German is integrated as “German: Switzerland” (old spelling) and as a reformed version (2006 spelling reform). The separation algorithms used by Adobe for the German languages ​​have so far come from the US company Proximity without exception.

InDesign CS4 for European languages ​​supports the following languages ​​and language variants: Bulgarian, Danish, German Old Spelling, German New Spelling, German Reform 1996, German Reform 2006, German Switzerland, German Switzerland Reform 2006, English UK, English Canada, English USA, English USA Medicine, English USA Law, Estonian, Finnish, French, French Canada, Greek, Italian, Catalan, Croatian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Dutch Reform 2005, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese Brazil, Romanian, Russian , Swedish, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish Standard, Czech, Turkish, Ukrainian and Hungarian.

More functions

Furthermore, since version 2.0 the program offers transparency effects that can be used separately for texts and their frame contours and areas since CS3. A number of FrameMaker- like functions have been added, including a. Text variables and lists.

InDesign allows existing layouts to be used by storing an existing INDD file in another InDesign document.

Version CS4 also introduced live preflighting, which checks the document for problems while you are working and displays the preflight status in the information field of the document window and in a control panel.

Graphics import and export

InDesign allows the placement of almost all common graphic formats. Transparencies are supported for the formats AI (Adobe Illustrator), PSD (Adobe Photoshop), PDF, TIFF and INDD (Adobe InDesign). The requirements placed on the end product in practice, such as color space , color management and resolution, which are usually fixed in prepress, must be observed. The program- internal trapping cannot be used for EPS formats .

InDesign CS3 documents can be exported in the Mac version in addition to the native file formats in the following formats:

InDesign CS4 added:

  • SWF
  • XFL exchange format for Flash CS4
  • IDML: InDesign Markup Language

SVG support was dropped with CS4, but was resumed with version CC 2020 (15.0).

Scripts

InDesign offers various interfaces to automate repetitive work routines such as formatting headings or numbering pages. InDesign uses scripts to automate such work. Possible programming languages ​​for this are JavaScript (.jsx), VB-Script (.vbs) or AppleScript (.scpt or .applescript). Windows can develop with JavaScript or VBScript and Mac OS X with JavaScript and AppleScript.

For creating scripts, Adobe InDesign offers the "ExtendScript Toolkit [2]" supplied, which includes an editor and a debugger. The InDesign scripting languages ​​are based on an object-oriented class model that derives all objects from the base class “Application” or “app” for short.

Native file formats

indd
normal document
indt
Template, template format
indb
Book file; synchronizes document properties and manages their page numbers, numbering and cross-references
indl
Library file; similar to a clipboard, it records frequently used objects and groups of objects and returns them to the documents as copies
inds
Snippets ("snippets"); Objects and object groups that have been dragged or exported into the file directory and that can be dragged or placed back into the layout from there
inx
Exchange format for opening an InDesign file with the previous version of the program, up to CS3 it was also used as a repair format
idml
InDesign Markup Language, a ZIP format that contains the components of the document in the form of XML files. Since CS4 it has been used to repair damaged documents; Because of its open format, it can also be used for the text-driven creation and modification of InDesign documents. Compatible documents are generated, for example, by the typesetting program VivaDesigner and QuarkXPress 2017 can import IDML.
icml
InCopy document (from CS4), for exchange with InCopy CS4
incx
InCopy document (from CS3), for exchange with InCopy CS3 and CS2
incd
InCopy document (up to CS3), for exchange with InCopy CS
xfl
Exchange format for Flash (from CS4)

history

  • InDesign 1.0, late 1999: versions for Windows and Macintosh
  • InDesign 1.5, May 2001.
  • InDesign 2.0, February 2002: first version with support for Mac OS X, transparencies and drop shadows
  • InDesign CS (3.0), December 2003: from mid-2004 as "InDesign CS PM" edition with extended plugins
  • InDesign CS2 (4.0), May 2005: nested formats, magnetic handles, object styles
  • InDesign CS3 (5.0), June 2007: first Mac Intel native version; GREP and object search, cell and table formats, XHTML export, transparency effects
  • InDesign CS4 (6.0), November 2008: conditional text, GREP and line formats using character formats in paragraph formats, profile-controlled live preflight, extended link panel, IDML (InDesign Markup Language), SWF and XFL export, interactive intelligent ( “Magnetic”) auxiliary lines, document windows with tabs, 90 ° rotatable print sheet views, cross-references, new hyperlink functionality control panel, page transitions.
  • InDesign CS5 (7.0), April 2010: u. a. Export to Adobe Flash, different page sizes within a document, output as e-book , cross-column paragraphs, PDF export in the background, individual elements can be switched off in layers
  • InDesign CS5.5 (7.5), April 2011: chargeable interim update , mainly improvements in ePub export, new article control panel, new options for anchoring objects in a text flow, new tag attribute for HTML, ePub and PDF export in paragraph and character formats
  • InDesign CS6 (8.0), announced in April 2012, delivery from May 7, 2012: Improvements in e-Publishing, placement of HTML snippets for HTML and ePub export, ePub 3.0 export options, HTML5 export, PDF forms : Create fields already in InDesign, liquid layout, alternative layouts (same content, different layouts in parallel), PDF export for grayscale profiles, primary text frame on the sample page, integration of HTML snippets, text frame auto-size function

InDesign CC

  • CC (9.x), InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, June 17, 2014
  • CC 2014 (10.x), version 2014 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, June 18, 2014
  • CC 2015 (11.x), Version 2015 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, June 15, 2015
  • CC 2017 (12.x), Version 2017 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, November 2, 2016
  • CC 2018 (13.x), Version 2018 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, October 13, 2017
  • CC 2019 (14.x), Version 2019 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, October 15, 2018
  • CC 2020 (15.x), Version 2020 InDesign as part of the Creative Cloud, October 4, 2019

Server versions

In October 2005 Adobe released the "InDesign Server CS2", a modified version of InDesign for Windows and Macintosh server platforms. This does not offer a user interface; use is only intended in the context of client-server solutions. In March 2007, the Adobe InDesign CS3 Server was officially announced as part of the Adobe InDesign family.

The current version is the Adobe InDesign CC Server.

literature

  • Andrea Forst: Adobe InDesign CS5. Step by step to the perfect layout. Galileo Press, Bonn 2010, ISBN 978-3-8362-1592-3 . (With video training on DVD)
  • Winfried Seimert: The beginners' seminar . Adobe InDesign CC - practical knowledge for publications and layout. mitp, Frechen 2017, ISBN 978-3-95845-616-7 .
  • Gregor Fellenz: Automating InDesign: Don't be afraid of scripting, GREP & Co. dpunkt, Heidelberg 2015, ISBN 978-3-86490-235-2 .
  • Wolf Eigner: InDesign CS6 - the professional manual. Addison-Wesley, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-8273-3157-1 .
  • Sigrid Rätzer: Design and typography with InDesign. dpunkt, Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89864-593-5 .
  • Yves Apel: E-Books with InDesign CC: The Prof-Instructions for ePub, Mobi & Co. dpunkt, Heidelberg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86490-121-8 .
  • Yves Apel, Sacha Heck: ePub for (in) designers: With InDesign step by step to the e-book dpunkt, Heidelberg 2012, ISBN 978-3-89864-794-6 . on-line

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Review and Outlook. Retrieved December 2, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Overview of functions | InDesign (November 2019 release). Retrieved February 5, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Adobe product page: Features overview | InDesign CC | 2015 versions
  4. ↑ Adobe product page: version history
  5. ↑ Adobe product page: Features of the current version
  6. ↑ InDesign CC 2017 (12.0) Release Notes
  7. ↑ InDesign CC 2018 (13.0) Release Notes
  8. ↑ Release Notes for InDesign CC version from October 2018 (14.0). Retrieved March 17, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Adobe InDesign CC Server