Datasheet

Part I: Before You Begin

Pages and guides

Pages, which you can see on-screen surrounded by black outlines, reflect the

page size you set up in the New Document dialog box (File➪New➪Document

[Ô+N or Ctrl+N]). If in your document window it looks like two or more pages

are touching, you’re looking at a spread.

InDesign uses nonprinting guides, lines that show you the position of margins

and that help you position objects on the page. Margins are the spaces at the

outside of the page, whereas columns are vertical spaces where text is supposed

to go by default. Magenta lines across the top and bottom of each page show the

document’s top and bottom margins. Violet lines show left and right columns

(for single-page documents) or inside and outside columns (for spreads).

InDesign CS4 introduces a new set of guides, called smart guides, covered in

Chapter 10.

You can change the location of margin and column guides by choosing

Layout➪Margins and Columns. You can create additional guides — such as to

help you visually align objects — by holding down your mouse button on the

horizontal or vertical ruler and then dragging a guide into the position you want.

Page controls

If you feel like flipping through pages of the document you’re creating, InDesign

makes it easy with page-turning buttons and the Page field and pop-up menu.

Controls for entering prefixes for the page numbers of sections, and for indicat-

ing absolute page numbers in a document that contains multiple sections, are

also handy. (An absolute page number indicates a page’s position in the docu-

ment, such as +1 for the first page, +2 for the second page, and so on.)

At the bottom left of the document windows is a combined Page page-number

field and pop-up menu encased by two sets of arrows. These arrows are page-

turning buttons that take you to, from left to right, the first page, the previous

page, the next page, and the last page. Just click an arrow to get where you

want to go.

You can also jump directly to a specific document page or master page in

several ways:

 Highlight the current number in the page number field (by selecting it

with your cursor), enter a new page number or master-page name, and

press Return or Enter.

 Use the Go to Page dialog box (Ô+J or Ctrl+J), enter a new page number

or a master-page name, and press Return or Enter.

 Choose the desired page from the Page pop-up menu.

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