Stage of the InDesign Bootcamp covers a wide range of topics and we try hard to ensure any specific requirements you might have are met. The standard topics we cover are listed below.
Stage 1 - InDesign Getting Started (2 days)
INTRODUCTION
- What is Desktop Publishing
- Why InDesign
- What you will learn
INDESIGN INTERFACE
- Overview of the interface
- Creating customised Workspaces
- Organising Panels
- Customising Menus
- Changing Default Settings
DOCUMENT CREATION
- Creating a New Document
- Bleed, Slug and Margins
- Facing Pages
- Columns and Gutter
FRAMES AND SHAPES
- What are frames
- Creating frames
- Moving frames
- Aligning frames
- Sizing and positioning
- Rounded corners
- Anchoring frames
- Rotating and skewing
- Creating frames from text
WORKING WITH TEXT
- Creating text frames
- Using placeholder text
- Inserting special characters
- Glyphs
- Threading text frames
- Viewing threads
- The Story Editor
- Text frame options, inset spacing etc..
- Hyphenation
- Paragraph shading
- Importing from Word
FORMATTING TEXT
- Leading
- Kerning & tracking
- Drop caps
- Baseline shift
- Justification & Alignment
- Uppercase, lowercase, sentence case & title case
- Indents
- Bullets
- Formatting Bullets
WORKING WITH OBJECTS
- Grouping and ungrouping
- Change object shape
- Rotating a spread
- Arranging objects
- Layers Panel
IMAGES
- Different file formats
- Placing images
- Frame Fitting Options
- Text wrap options
- Resizing and positioning images
- Select v direct select
- Content Grabber (and how to turn it off)
- Display performance
- Clipping paths
LAYOUT
- Creating layouts
- Guides and smart guides
- The gap tool
- Using the page tool
- Live distribute
- Merging frames
- Compound shapes
- Gridify
- Align Panel
PARENTS AND PAGES
- Working with parents
- Creating parents
- Importing parents
- Applying parents
- Parents options
- Page numbering
- Numbering and sections
- Parents based on parents
COLOURS
- Understanding Colours: CMYK, RGB, Pantone etc..
- Creating colours
- Saving colours as swatches
- Sampling colours from images
- Exporting and importing colours
- Applying colours to strokes and fills
- Adobe colour themes panel
- Creating gradients
- Saving gradients as swatches
- Applying gradients to items
TABLES
- Creating a new table
- Convert text to table
- Strokes and fills
- Alternating row and column strokes
- Adding rows and columns
- Deleting rows and columns
- Merge and unmerge
- Placing images into tables
EFFECTS
- Applied to what?
- Drop & Inner Shadow
- Inner & Outer Glow
- Bevel and Emboss
- Satin
- Transparency
- Feathering
- Gradient Feather
BASIC STYLES
- Character styles
- Paragraph styles
- Style priority
- Creating styles
- Applying and removing styles
- Overrides
- Redefining styles
- Importing styles
- Removing unused styles
- Setting default styles
CC LIBRARIES
- Creating a library
- Adding content to library
- Using content from a library
- Collaborating
PREFLIGHTING
- Why preflighting
- Detecting errors
- Identify & correct errors
- Custom profiles
- Import a preflight profile
OUTPUT
- Packaging all files
- PDF Presets (print ready, small size etc.)
- Including printers marks / bleed
- Compression
- Export to interactive PDF
- Page transitions (eg: fade, blind, etc.)
- Publish Online
Stage two of the Bootcamp covers more advanced InDesign topics and our instructors work hard to accommodate questions outside the topics listed. The standard topics we cover are listed below.
Stage 2 - InDesign Advanced (2 days)
Using Stylesheets
- Setting up character and paragraph styles
- Styling bullets
- Using next paragraph style
- Advanced nested styles
Object Styles
- What are object styles
- Creating an object style
- Applying paragraph styles within an object
- Using quick apply
- Setting a default object style
Styling Tables
- Table styles
- Cell styles
- Paragraph styles in cells
- Cell styles in tables
- Creating table styles
- Applying table styles
Page Numbering
- Automated table of contents
- Formatting the TOC
- Updating the TOC
- Styling table of contents
- Dynamic story jumps
Advanced Layout Options
- Gridify
- Live distribute
- Liquid layout
- Liquid page rules
- Alternate layout
- Alignment tips
Pen tool, Paths and Pathfinder
- Creating paths
- Creating custom frames
- Combining different shapes
- Type on a path
- Formatting type on a path
- Placing text in a custom frame
- Merging frames
- Compound frames
Working with Objects
- Grouping and ungrouping
- Change object shape
- Rotating a spread
- Arranging objects
- Layers Panel
Interactivity
- Export to interactive pdf
- Buttons
- Hyperlinks
- Transitions
- Animation
- Video
- Interactive page curls
Forms
- Overview of pdf forms
- Text and signature fields
- List and combo boxes
- Checkboxes and radio buttons
- Setting tab order for pdf forms
- Submit, print and clear actions
- Outputting a form
- Testing in Acrobat
Adobe Bridge
- Bridge Workspaces
- Working with Mini Bridge
- Image Metadata in Bridge
- Metadata Templates
- Live image captions
Working with images
- Using PDF files in InDesign
- Using Illustrator files
- Embedding images
- Preflighting and images
- Images and transparency
Colour and Colour themes
- Mixed ink colours and groups
- Separations preview panel
- The ink manager
- What is Adobe Color Themes
- Creating a colour theme
- Managing colour themes
- Using .ASE files
Importing
- Word and Excel content
- Import options
- Importing styles
- Handling style conflicts
- Import presets
- Importing text
Exporting
- Export interactive PDFs
- Export as HTML5
- Export for Kindle
- Export as SWF
- Export as ePub
- ePub 2 v 3
Working with text
- Using conditional text
- Convert text to frames
- Tracking text changes
- Custom autocorreect
- Custom spell check
- Link content between documents
GREP
- What is grep
- Find and replace with GREP
- Using GREP styles
- Some sample GREP styles
Snippets
- Saving as snippets
- Showing snippets in Bridge
- Reuse snippets on document
Libraries
- Libraries versus snippets
- Creating a library
- The library panel
- Adding items to a library
Data Merge
- How to setup a merge source
- Add merge fields
- Styling
- Output
The InDesign Bootcamp course introduces a wide range of skills aimed at those who are completely new to InDesign, teaching you best practice right from the start, and progressing through to more advanced topics
You will learn to
- Customise the InDesign interface to be more efficient
- Setup new documents with the correct settings
- Layout text, graphics and other content in a document
- Create different shapes of frame for your content
- Use character and paragraph styles to speed up formatting
- Ensure you are using the right images for print, digital etc..
- Use parents to apply content on multiple pages
- Create colour swatches in RGB, CMYK or Pantones
- Understand how images are handled in InDesign
- Prepare and output a document for print
- Use a variety of styles to automate formatting of content
- Automatically generate tables of contents from document
- Easily create and maintain interactive pdf forms
- Add interactive features to your digital documents including video, audio, buttons, links, animation, hotspots and more.
- Generate image captions from image metadata
- Make use of Photoshop channels and clipping paths in InDesign (no PS experience needed)
- Export to a variety of formats such as PDF, HTML5, ePub and more.
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Localise a single InDesign document to handle multiple versions of content eg:
- A catalogue that has pricing in dollars, pounds and euros.
- A company brochure that has offices in different areas. - Reuse content across and within documents
- Format text based on common "patterns" in the text, eg: format all email addresses
- Use content from a spreadsheet or database to generate a document, eg: a product catalogue
Who should attend this course
This InDesign course is suitable for those who wants to learn to use InDesign but have no previous experience. If you already have experience using InDesign than you might want to consider our Advanced InDesign Training Course instead.
If you are unsure which InDesign courses are most suitable then why not try our free InDesign Skills Test to help you test your current skills.
Comments from delegates that attended
"I found the instructor to be very clear, methodical and approachable. He didn't mind how many questions I asked - very patient."
Graphic Designer, ARM
"He is an InDesign genius. So helpful. He first explained what a certain button did, gave us an example, and then made us practice it. really productive way of learning."
PA, Chapman Taylor
"Very friendly and patient with all our questions! He knew what he was talking about and explained things in a simple way we could understand. Was very good at linking things together to back up points and expand our knowledge."
Marketing Executive, Kelly Services
"Everything was explained clearly, and he made sure we were all happy before moving on to other stages, anything I was not sure about was shown to me."
Reprographics Manager, New Hall School
"Obviously Andy knows InDesign inside and out! Great course, great tutor - I would highly recommend it to friends and colleagues."
Marketing Executive, Association of Corporate Treasurers
"Friendly and very knowledgable - would recommend"
Associate Editor, Springer
"The instructor knowledge was fantastic and the working examples were very useful."
Comms Exec, Tesco
"Instructor took the course at the right pace and explained further when prompted. Overall a very good instructor, he also was willing to discuss areas outside the course agenda when it was of interest to one of the students. I like how it was varied and covered many useful aspects of the software, including features you may otherwise not come across (tips, tricks etc)."
Marketing Communications, Siemens