i wish...
oneday i will be guilt free
oneday i will be sin free
oneday i can see HIS face
oneday i am able to hear HIM say "WELL DONE"
oh how i wish
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Quick tips for InDesign
Of Tables and Tabs
If you create a lot of charts and graphs with InDesign, you’ve probably used tables. And if you have, you’ve probably also noticed that you can’t use the Tab key in a table cell the way you would normally in a text block: when you press the key, it just moves you to the next cell in the table. So what do you do if you want to align a column of numbers (prices, for example) along the decimal point?
It’s simple. Select the text with decimal points in the table—the quickest way is to just click just above the top cell in the column to select all the text in that column. Then type Command-Shift-T (or Window -> Tabs) and select the Decimal Tab Stop in the palette and click in the palette ruler where you want the decimals to be aligned. InDesign should align your column of prices on the decimal, even without you even needing to insert a tab character.
If you want to add an actual tab character wherever you want it, simply use Option-Tab instead. Or do it the “hard way” by choosing Type -> Insert Special Character -> Tab.
Moving Objects
When working in Adobe InDesign and you want to move an object a precise amount, you can easily do it by selecting the object and double-clicking on the Selection tool (the solid black arrow tool) which opens the Move dialog box. From there you can enter in both a horizontal and vertical amount that you want to move the object. Entering negative numbers will move the object either to the left and up, while positive numbers will move the object down and to the right.
Also in the Move dialog box is another nifty feature that allows you to duplicate that object by clicking the Copy button, rather than hitting OK. This will allow you duplicated the object and move it at the same time. And finally, you can add a rotation to the object using the Angle input area as well. That’s three tasks in one dialog box. Pretty handy!
Jumping to Pages
If you’re working on a long, text-heavy InDesign document, you probably hate the process of scrolling and jumping to different pages to get to certain points in a text story with linked text boxes that span multiple pages. Even with InDesign CS3’s new page thumbnails feature, it can be a lot of extra clicking and scrolling. Below are a few keyboard shortcuts that will help ease the tension a little:
Command-Down Arrow moves to the beginning of the next paragraph.
Command-End moves you to the end of the current text article (or block).
Command-Shift-End moves your cursor to the end of the article, even if it isn’t showing (usually due to being overset in a short text box).
Command-Shift-Home moves your cursor to the beginning of the article.
[James Dempsey runs the Creative Guy blog, which offers tips, tricks and opinion on a variety of design topics.]
If you create a lot of charts and graphs with InDesign, you’ve probably used tables. And if you have, you’ve probably also noticed that you can’t use the Tab key in a table cell the way you would normally in a text block: when you press the key, it just moves you to the next cell in the table. So what do you do if you want to align a column of numbers (prices, for example) along the decimal point?
It’s simple. Select the text with decimal points in the table—the quickest way is to just click just above the top cell in the column to select all the text in that column. Then type Command-Shift-T (or Window -> Tabs) and select the Decimal Tab Stop in the palette and click in the palette ruler where you want the decimals to be aligned. InDesign should align your column of prices on the decimal, even without you even needing to insert a tab character.
If you want to add an actual tab character wherever you want it, simply use Option-Tab instead. Or do it the “hard way” by choosing Type -> Insert Special Character -> Tab.
Moving Objects
When working in Adobe InDesign and you want to move an object a precise amount, you can easily do it by selecting the object and double-clicking on the Selection tool (the solid black arrow tool) which opens the Move dialog box. From there you can enter in both a horizontal and vertical amount that you want to move the object. Entering negative numbers will move the object either to the left and up, while positive numbers will move the object down and to the right.
Also in the Move dialog box is another nifty feature that allows you to duplicate that object by clicking the Copy button, rather than hitting OK. This will allow you duplicated the object and move it at the same time. And finally, you can add a rotation to the object using the Angle input area as well. That’s three tasks in one dialog box. Pretty handy!
Jumping to Pages
If you’re working on a long, text-heavy InDesign document, you probably hate the process of scrolling and jumping to different pages to get to certain points in a text story with linked text boxes that span multiple pages. Even with InDesign CS3’s new page thumbnails feature, it can be a lot of extra clicking and scrolling. Below are a few keyboard shortcuts that will help ease the tension a little:
Command-Down Arrow moves to the beginning of the next paragraph.
Command-End moves you to the end of the current text article (or block).
Command-Shift-End moves your cursor to the end of the article, even if it isn’t showing (usually due to being overset in a short text box).
Command-Shift-Home moves your cursor to the beginning of the article.
[James Dempsey runs the Creative Guy blog, which offers tips, tricks and opinion on a variety of design topics.]
Adobe CS3 - Illustrator
Flipping and selecting colors
Pressing the X key toggles the stroke and fill tool, making one or the other active. Holding down the Shift key with the X key swaps the actual color of the fill with the color of the stroke. This of course only works with solid colors, since gradients can’t be applied to strokes.
You can set the fill or stroke to “None” simply by hitting the slash (‘/’) key. And finally, you can open the Adobe Color Picker easily by double-clicking either the fill or stroke icon in the Tools panel.
Global color swatches
Illustrator offers a little-known or -used feature that can be an absolute savior for illustrators and designers who are building complex sets of documents: Global Colors. Any CMYK color can be made a Global color by opening the Swatch Options dialog box for the color and clicking the “Global” checkbox.
The advantage of using Global colors is that when you change its attributes, all instances of that color in your document are updated automatically. This can be a huge time-saver if your document uses the same color on many different objects—especially if that color is contained in a gradient, or on locked layers. Additionally, you can specify a “tint” of a Global process color, something you would have to do manually without the Global Color feature.
Global colors in the Color Panel are indicated by the white triangle in the lower right corner of the swatch.
Color on the spot
You can make any color a spot color simply by holding down the Command key when you click the New Swatch icon. To make a Global spot color, press Command -> Shift while clicking the New Swatch icon.
Spot colors in the color pane are indicated by the dot inside the white triangle in the lower right corner of the swatch.
Saving your colors
Don’t forget, you can save your custom color swatches by clicking the fly-out menu in the Swatches panel and selecting “Save Swatch Library as ASE.” Once saved as a Swatch Exchange document, you can import that swatch file into InDesign or Photoshop to ensure all your colors match perfectly.
Checking color mode and resolution of placed images
There’s an easy way to check the color mode and resolution of placed raster images in Illustrator without having to go back and open the image in Photoshop.
All you have to do is select the image in your Illustrator document and look up in the Control panel across the top of the screen. Along the left side you’ll see the name of the placed image, the color mode and the effective resolution of the file - in the screenshot above you’ll see that the image has a color mode of CMYK and a resolution of 300 dpi, perfect for commercial printing. However, if the resolution is too low, you can scale the image down which will make the resolution higher.
You’ll also notice that you can click the button just to the right of the resolution to embed the image. This can be quite handy for those designers who are confident in their file structure and knowledge of printing technology. However I generally recommend you avoid embedding images in Illustrator, it takes away any flexibility your printer might have in color correcting the image, and it bloats the file size, sometimes to astronomical proportions.
[James Dempsey runs the Creative Guy blog, which offers tips, tricks and opinion on a variety of design topics.]
May 25, 2007
its a good day ^_______^..we had sushi & movie..haha
a typical Friday night
pirate of caribbean 3 was AWESOME!! cc
ps. empire guildford isn't that bad after all...haha
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