Datasheet

Part I ✦ Welcome to InDesign

Discovering the InDesign Approach

Publishing programs, although similar in many ways, differ in their approach to the

publishing task. One way to describe a program’s approach to publishing is to talk

about its metaphor, or the overall way that it handles publishing tasks. Some pro-

grams use a free-form metaphor, which means that the method used to assemble a

document is based on assembling page elements as you would if they were placed

on a pasteboard until ready for use (this is also called the pasteboard metaphor,

although that’s a less precise term because software using other metaphors can

still include a pasteboard). Other programs approach page layout using a frame-

based metaphor, in which frames (or boxes) hold both the page elements and the

attributes that control the appearance of those elements. InDesign uses both the

free-form metaphor and the frame-based metaphor.

The frame-based metaphor

Under a frame-based metaphor, you build pages by assembling a variety of frames

that will contain your text and graphics. First, you set up the basic framework of

the document — the page size and orientation, margins, number of columns, and so

on. You then fill that framework with text, pictures, and lines.

These frames and lines need not be straight or square. With InDesign, you can cre-

ate frames that are shaped by Bézier curves. (In the 1970s, French engineer Pierre

Bézier created the mathematics that make these adjustable curves work.)

There are several reasons to use frames:

✦ To create a template for documents like newsletters and magazines that use

the same basic elements for many articles. You create the frames and then

add the text and graphics appropriate for each specific article — modifying,

adding, and deleting frames as necessary for each article.

✦ To get a sense of how you want your elements to be placed and sized

before you start working with the actual elements. This is similar to creating

a pencil sketch on paper before doing a formal layout.

✦ To ensure specific size and placement of elements up front — in this case,

you’re often working with a template or guidelines that limit size and place-

ment of elements. In many cases, you can copy an existing frame, because its

size is one you’re using in several locations of your layout. For structured or

partly structured documents like newsletters and magazines, I find setting up

my documents up front so elements are sized and placed correctly easier than

resizing elements one at a time later.

Bear in mind that whether you start by creating frames in which you will later

place graphics or text or you simply place the text and graphics directly on your

page, you’re using frames. In the case of direct placement of elements on the

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