Datasheet

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Chapter 1 ✦ What InDesign Can Do for You
InDesign accepts any of the following codes for measurement units:
✦ x
", xi, x in, or x inch (for inches)
✦ xp (for picas)
✦ xpt or 0px (for points)
✦ xc (for ciceros)
✦ xcm (for centimeters)
✦ xmm (for millimeters)
Note that the x above indicates where you specify the value, such as 1i for 1 inch).
It doesn’t matter whether you put a space between the value and the code: 1inch
and 1 inch are the same as far as InDesign is concerned.
Tip
InDesign Vocabulary 101
InDesign comes with its own terminology, much of it adopted from other Adobe products.
The general ones (not covered elsewhere in this book) include the following:
✦ Link: The connection that InDesign makes to an imported file; the link contains the
file’s location, last modification date, and last modification time. A link can reference
any image or text file that you have imported into a layout. InDesign can notify you
when a source text or graphics file has changed, so you can choose whether to
update the version in your layout. (A hyperlink, often also abbreviated to link in
casual conversation, connects elements in a Web page to other Web pages.)
✦ Package: The collecting of all files needed to deliver a layout for printing or Web
posting.
✦ PDF: The Adobe Portable Document Format is the standard for electronic docu-
ments. No matter what kind of computer it is viewed on (Windows, Macintosh, or
Unix), a PDF document retains high fidelity to the original in typography, graphics
representation, and layout. InDesign can both place PDF files as if they were graph-
ics and export its own pages to PDF format.
✦ Place: To import a picture or text file.
✦ Plug-in: A piece of software that loads into InDesign and becomes part of InDesign,
to add more capabilities.
Not too long ago, only a few publishing professionals knew — or cared about— what the
words pica, kerning, crop, or color model meant. Today, these words are becoming com-
monplace, because almost everyone who wants to produce a nice-looking report, a simple
newsletter, or a magazine encounters these terms in the menus and manuals of their lay-
out programs. Occasionally, the terms are used incorrectly or are replaced with general
terms to make nonprofessional users feel less threatened, but that substitution ends up
confusing professional printers, people who work in service bureaus, and Internet service
providers. For a primer on publishing terms, see Chapter 39, Chapter 40, and Chapter 42.
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