Datasheet

Bars
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depending on the task at hand, it contains the majority of controls, options, fields, and buttons
from the Transform, Align, Character, Paragraph, and Table panels, as well as some from the
Stroke, Text Wrap, Effects, Character Styles, Paragraph Styles, Object Styles, and other panels. All
these controls share the same space onscreen, which is far less real estate than the respective pan-
els consume individually—even with panel docking and other space-saving options.
Although the options on the Control panel are not comprehensive replicas of all the dedi-
cated panels mentioned in the previous paragraph, you may need more only on rare occasions.
Consider your unique workflow and examine what is and isn’t available on the Control panel to
be sure, but you can probably safely hide the following stand-alone panels and reclaim the space
they would occupy for other panels not duplicated on the Control panel:
Character
•u
Paragraph•u
Table•u
Transform•u
Align•u
On the other hand, if you prefer using the individual panels (personally, I prefer using the
Character, Paragraph, and Table panels rather than the Control panel most of the time), drop
the Control panel and reclaim that space. With such a panel-laden application, where docking,
grouping, and stacking panels and multiple monitors merely mitigate screen overcrowding and
a claustrophobic document workspace rather than solve it, repossess any pixels you can.
Bars
With 56 default panels, Adobe could market InDesign under the tagline “There’s a panel for
that!” Of course, that would infringe on Apple’s “There’s an app for that!” trademark, but in the
ongoing feud between Apple and Adobe, one more tiff would hardly be noticed.
By the same token, InDesign could also infringe on the trademark of Apple partner AT&T
with “Fewer bars in more places.” That’s right, folks; InDesign has toolbars, though it has fewer
bars than your average cell phone.
Command Bar, R.I.P.
If you’re upgrading directly from InDesign CS3 to CS5, as are many of your peers and this book’s
readers, you may notice that Adobe did away with the Command Bar. Or, you might not notice;
hardly anyone used it, which is why it disappeared as of version CS4.
Activated from Window  Object & Layout  Command Bar in CS3, this horizontal toolbar included
buttons for common functions like Save, Open, Print, and Check Spelling; buttons to toggle bullets,
numbering, and left and right indents on or off; and quick-launch buttons for Photoshop, Illustrator,
and Acrobat. If you’re among the proud few who used the Command Bar, I have the sad duty to
inform you that it is no longer a part of InDesign. With the exception of the quick launch buttons,
all its functions are now exclusively part of the Control panel or menus…
…Or a new toolbar, called the Application bar, that has a half-finished look and an in-some-future-
release-I’ll-be-a-better-Command-bar vibe.
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