As you progress through the book, you will learn not only how to apply the broad scope of InDesign’s features, but also how to “work smarter” by streamlining your workflow with time-saving functions like document templates; master layout pages; character-, paragraph-, and object-formatting styles; libraries; and even advanced repurposing tools such as conditional text and XML. With this new release, InDesign is even more tightly integrated with other CS6 products, and also provides tools for creating interactive ePub files for reader devices.

By completing the eight projects in this book, you will compile an impressive portfolio sure to impress potential employers and clients. You will learn how to:

• Format text properly, create vector graphics with InDesign’s drawing tools, and import images from external files, all within file dimensions appropriate for commercial printing.
• Manipulate images and text to create unique, eye-catching, colorful effects for cohesive designs.
• Use file templates, master layouts, and text-formatting styles to dramatically improve the efficiency of your workflow.
• Thread lengthy text stories across multiple pages, using InDesign’s utilities to control formatting and pagination.
• Define appropriate settings for folding documents.
• Use conditional text and layers to develop customized versions of a document.
• Incorporate the same content elements in a series of related layouts with XML, a powerful content-repurposing tool.
• Define multiple layouts in a single InDesign file, including liquid layouts that adjust to tablet devices’ different orientations.
• Automate the formatting of lengthy, multi-chapter documents to guarantee consistency, and build associated tables of contents and indexes.