About Adobe InDesign

Adobe's page layout program was initially launched to facilitate file preparation for print media. New renditions of InDesign claim to break the barriers between static and dynamic publishing. In addition to the creation of files for print production, Adobe InDesign is now allows you to design and create interactive publication files as well.

History

Adobe initially published InDesign in 1999. Its previous page layout program was PageMaker. PageMaker was originally created by Aldus and was sold to Adobe in 1994. The chief competitor to PageMaker was QuarkXPress, which debuted in 1987. QuarkXPress claimed market share throughout the 1990s. As a result, Adobe created InDesign to be a better competitor to QuarkXPress than PageMaker was.

Who Uses Adobe InDesign

Page layout programs, like Adobe InDesign, were the foundation of desktop publishing when it gained traction in the early 1990s. Before then, generally only printers had the means and talent to create professional-looking pieces. InDesign and similar programs allow any computer user to create files for print, and now, web-based publishing. Although the software provides the tool for file creation, there is still a need for skill and talent to create professional-looking pieces. In the same way that there are users who prefer Macs over PCs, there are graphic artists who prefer InDesign over Quark XPress.

What is a Page Layout Program?

Adobe InDesign and other page layout programs allow for the smooth compilation of components that go into print or publishing documents. Those components include text (headlines, sub heads and body copy), typography, photographs and other graphic elements like charts, graphs and logos. Page layout programs replaced the drawing boards and T-squares that were originally used to create pages for printing presses. Because of the flexibility they offer, changes and alterations are now much easier and can usually be performed in seconds or with a few keystrokes.

Editing Onscreen

Because print documents often include a great deal of text, InDesign automatically flows long articles throughout the document. This feature adds to productivity and efficiency and makes changes easy to apply. The graphic artist or designer does not need to re-adjust where and how text appears in the document.
Graphic images, objects and photos can also be altered in InDesign. Ideally, cropping, rotating and re-sizing are done before the image is brought onto the InDesign page; however, if there are slight modifications needed, they can be made in InDesign.

Digital Magazines

Digital magazines are becoming more popular across the board. Even older readers and those who subscribe to traditional print publications are finding the features offered by online publications attractive. The digital publication offers embedded video and interactivity to enhance the editorial content and overall reader experience. Adobe InDesign is a tool designers and publishers use to pull it all together.

Adobe Creative Suite

Because many end products, regardless of whether they're traditional or digital, combine a variety of elements, Adobe offers its Creative Suite, which includes InDesign. This package combines different software programs each designed to professionally create the assorted components. For example, Photoshop is used to manipulate photos and bitmapped images while Illustrator's focus is drawing and vector-based images. Adobe's Flash is an industry leader in animation and video, and the Dreamweaver program is one for website creation. InDesign is the program that flexibly combines all these.