Print How-Tos

Construct a Color Wheel in Photoshop

The color wheel is a simple yet powerful tool for understanding how colors work and how colors relate to each other. It can also be a gorgeous graphic you can use in print and Web design projects.

Create a Table of Contents in InDesign

Don't create a table of contents (TOC) by hand! Let InDesign's automatic TOC feature generate it for you. The big bonus (besides no human errors): If your document changes, one click updates the entire TOC!

Make Text Look Like Chrome

Using nothing more than a gradient swatch in InDesign, you can change text from a flat and boring object to a shiny metallic material that reflects the surfaces around it.

Lights, Camera, Action, and InDesign!

While you may not think of InDesign as a video tool, you’ve actually been able to place video into InDesign since CS2. Here's what you need to know to place video in InDesign and output the results to PDFs, SWFs, ePUBS, and iPad apps.

Align and Space Objects with InDesign's Smart Guides

Everyone who has InDesign CS4 or CS5 can benefit from Smart Guides, which automatically pop up as you drag out or move objects on the page. Learn how to use them to align two or more objects to the page and to each other. You'll also be able to space objects equally, rotate them equally, and more. It's smart to use Smart Guides!

Plumb the Depths of Your InDesign Layout

When an InDesign page gets complicated, knowing the tricks for selecting overlapping and/or grouped objects will save you time and frustration.

The Merits of Uneven Leading

Just because your page-layout program says your leading is consistent doesn’t necessarily mean it looks that way. Here’s how to spot the problem and how to fix it.

Get to Know InDesign's Glyphs Panel

Some people never even open InDesign's Glyphs panel, and that's a shame. It can reveal alternate characters in your typefaces; help you quickly select and enter unusual characters, such as currency or math symbols; and find and change glyphs instantly no matter how long your document is.

Spacing Out

Exaggerated spacing between characters may be eye-catching, but controlling it can be a tricky business. Here's how to do it in InDesign and QuarkXPress.

The Seven Lively Sins: Try These InDesign Type Effects

Some people think it’s a sin to alter a typeface. But I say that, used with skill and discretion, InDesign's transparency effects can make your type more lively.

InDesign How-To: Print Colors Correctly

Learn how to use InDesign's Separations Preview and you can be confident that your print jobs have smooth color combinations, the appropriate knockouts and overprints, and just the right amount of ink.

Striking Starbursts Make Your Work Stand Out

Why settle for Illustrator's default starburst shapes when a few tweaks create something unique that will really grab attention? Here are two ways to go beyond the ordinary.

InDesign Efficiency: Keep Your Hand on the Keyboard

InDesign's Quick Apply is an amazing yet underused feature that greatly improves your efficiency and is even better than keyboard shortcuts, since you only have to remember one key combination.

Type Effects: The Ins and Outs of Inlines and Outlines

Adding rules to normally invisible character outlines can add novel--and historical--effects to your type. Here's how to do it in InDesign, QuarkXPress, and Illustrator.

InDesign How-To: Designing with Data

Unlike "jumbo shrimp", the phrase "data-driven design" is not an oxymoron. Combining the organization and structure of a spreadsheet or database with the typographic and layout power of InDesign can generate great-looking informational design in a handful of simple steps.

New Video Series Introduces You to InDesign's Secretarial Skills

David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción of the InDesignSecrets blog have a new series on lynda.com with an almost identical name: "InDesign Secrets". In the first episode of the lynda.com series, you'll learn how to turn InDesign's auto-correct feature into a robot secretary that enters long words and phrases for you.

Uncover the Hidden Powers of InDesign's Effects Panel

Knowing your way around the Effects panel is the first step in mastering InDesign's transparency effects.

Five Healthy Habits in InDesign

Adopt these InDesign habits and you'll work smarter and faster. We've made it easy by providing five free downloads that give you a running start on each habit.

Track Down Obscure Glyphs in InDesign

There are many characters that don't appear on standard keyboards. Here's how to enter those hard-to-reach glyphs in Adobe InDesign.

Kerning: A Master Class

Five tips from the trenches for the devotee of hand-kerning. Take this advice and you'll have a visually harmonious page that will please the designer's eyes and be easier for the reader to comprehend.