The InDesign Master Class conference took place in Seattle on November 6 - 8. I won't gush about the conference (although it was excellent) because that would sound too self-serving, given that creativepro.com was a sponsor.

However, I will share the details of a rare glimpse into the next version of InDesign, which Adobe's CEO says will be available in spring 2007. As far as I know, the demo that Chad Siegel (senior product manager for InDesign) gave at the conference was the first public demo of InDesign CS3.

He began by showing off the expanded transparency capabilities of InDesign CS3 (Figure 1).

Figure 1. In CS3, you'll be able to separately control stroke, fill, and text. To see a larger version of this photo, click on the image.

Siegel then demonstrated InDesign CS3's new Effects dialog box (Figure 2).

Figure 2. That's right -- this is a dialog box in InDesign, not Photoshop! To see a larger version of this photo, click on the image.

To the audience's dismay, the demo then ended. Siegel promised that, while he could show us only a tiny portion of the CS3 innovations, there were indeed many more.

For the demo, Siegel used a Mac laptop with an Intel processor to prove that CS3 will be a Universal binary, and therefore compatible with the latest Macs.

For more coverage of the entire Creative Suite 3, stay tuned to creativepro.com.