Datasheet

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Part I: Before You Begin
Working with Panels, Docks,
and Workspaces
InDesign has so many controls and features that its designers have long ago
stopped relying on menu commands to access them all. Instead, most of
InDesign’s features are presented as sort of miniature dialog boxes, called
panels, that are “windows” of readily accessible options to consider when
working in InDesign.
Working with panels
Panels provide an interactive method of working with features, one that lets
you access the controls quickly. In many cases, panels offer the only method
for performing many tasks. Figure 1-1, earlier in this chapter, shows the panels
that appear on-screen by default. Note that you can access all panels — except
Quick Apply and Tabs — via the Window menu, whether or not the panel is
displayed on-screen at the moment.
Panels typically have three — but sometimes four — controls:
✓ All panels but the Access CS Live, Attributes, Background Tasks, CS
News and Resources, Kuler, Pathfinder, Script Label, Story, Tool Hints,
and Tools panels have a flyout menu, which provides a pop-up menu of
controls relevant to that panel.
✓ Any active panel — meaning it’s displayed in front of any others in its
panel group so that you can actually modify its settings — has a close
control to remove the panel from the panel group. This control isn’t a
way to switch to another panel in that panel group — to do that, just
click the tab of the panel you want to work with. (If you remove a panel
by mistake, go to the Window menu to open it again.)
Using contextual menus
InDesign’s contextual menu interface element
is very useful. By Control+clicking or right-
clicking the document, an object, elements
listed in a panel (such as a list of files or styles),
the rulers, and so on, you can display a menu of
options for modifying whatever it is you clicked.
InDesign provides a lot of options this way, and
using the contextual menus to access InDesign
functions is often easier than hunting through
the many regular menu options and panels.
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