Adobe inDesign CS One–on–One +CD

So this local guy who has seen some of my work approaches me and asks if I could do illustrations, photo's and layout for a jazz guitar instruction book. Now I don't know about you but if there is one thing I have learned in this business is that the answer is always "of course" to whatever I am asked to do.When PhotoShop went CS I bought the whole CS professional package. I knew that Indesign was there, but since I always used either PageMaker or Illustrator to do my layouts, InDesign was just a little too alien to me.Could I have done the book in PageMaker? Maybe, but figured it must be easier in InDesign considering that that is it's purpose in life. As I have always considered the owner manuals useless, I hit Amazon.com and found Deke had a book on InDesign. Who would have thought that? I have always enjoyed his books on PhotoShop, so I had the book over-nighted.Long story short, plowed through the book (excellent book I might add), did a few mock-ups, sent them to the author and got the gig! It's going to be a lot of work (Illustrations, Photo's, CD, etc) but I really feel that I can concentrate on all of that creative end now because I have the confidence that I can put it all together in InDesign. My copy now has about 100 flags sticking out of the pages where I found items I can use for the book.Really, guys, this book is a home run. I did watch all of the videos but the lessons were so well written I really didn't need them (but I did like the fact that they were there just in case).I can't recommend this book highly enough. You will just be amazed at the power this software has and the ease in which this book lets you master it. An absolutely stunning tutorial.

I am very familiar with Adobe Photoshop, but found myself in a big hurry to learn InDesign. I'm very happy I chose this book. The book works two ways: Right now, I'm using it as a textbook in conjunction with the CD. I'm going page by page and chapter by chapter, learning every aspect in plan of study that progresses sequentially and incorporates new facets and functions logically. I like that I'm treated as an intelligent person who happens to be unfamiliar with a particular program, not as a dummy who must be talked down to. Yes, there is a certain amount of humor, but we stay on task. Once I finish the course, the book will remain by my desk as an excellent source of reference. If I were to change anything, I would add more video lessons (I just happen to like them) and I wouldn't use and reuse the exact same articles to illustrate different points (I grew really annoyed with that seventies frog). But, really, the book/cd combo (assuming you're committed) can turn you from a person who has never used the program to a person who can competently and productively use InDesign.

Let me start by saying that InDesign One-on-One is the best book I've ever purchased on Amazon.com. There is so much knowledge, so much learning. I've never learned so much from one book. If you want to learn InDesign I wholeheartedly recommend it. You really get to experience exerptise when going through this book.That said, there are of course a few issues I have with the book. I couldn't get a few steps to work and there are a few typos or errors in dialog boxes or textual errors in the book.But my biggest gripe is that there are no complete projects. That is, you always start in the middle of a project and just exercise a few techniques. So you never make a newsletter or book, etc. I wish that one of these books I buy would have me take a project from beginning to end. Mr. McClelland's mastery of InDesign overwhelmed me, but at the end I felt like I was wanting more. I don't really know how to design a book or an essay or a newsletter. Even though I've seen a lot of what InDesign does, I've mastered none of it.