Adobe InDesign CS2
The InDesign Environment
Adobe InDesign is a powerful software application used for desktop publishing that is available for both Windows and Macintosh users. The application allows you to manipulate features such as page size, layers, text, graphics, and borders. InDesign brings together text and images to create professional-looking resumes, brochures, handouts, and newsletters.
This document will familiarize you with the InDesign environment and its components.
The InDesign Window
The InDesign window contains many parts that work together to make creating a document easier. The image below shows these parts.
Window Elements
Understanding the elements you see in the InDesign window is the first step to becoming familiar with the application. The elements listed below are the ones that are used most often.
Title Bar
The Title bar displays the document's name. If the document is unnamed, the name displayed in the Title bar will be Untitled-1 or Untitled-[number] depending on how many unnamed documents are open.
Rulers
The two rulers running vertically and horizontally along the screen can be set to several measurements including points, picas, inches, inches decimal, millimeters, centimeters, or ciceros. If rulers are not visible on your screen or you need to change the measurement system, see Working with Rulers & Guides.
Pasteboard
The Pasteboard is the background behind the InDesign document. It is a useful place to temporarily place text and graphic elements when deciding where to place them, or when moving items between pages. Text and graphics on the pasteboard will not print.
Navigation Buttons
The navigation buttons allow you to move between pages in consecutive order, or to the first or last page of the document.
Page Pull-Down List
The Page pull-down list allows you to jump to a specific page in your document, including the document master.
Margins
The colored lines represent the page margins. All the text and graphics are generally placed within the page margins, although information outside of the margins will show up in the printed document.
Page Boundaries
The page boundaries represent the edges of the paper. Any items outside or overlapping the page boundaries will not print.
Toolbox
The tools that InDesign provides accomplish various tasks. The most common tools are the Selection Tool 
and the Type Tool 
. If the Toolbox is not visible, see Displaying the Toolbox.
Scroll Bars
The scroll bars are similar to those in Microsoft Word and other applications. InDesign's scroll bars help you move to various points on the current page. Scroll bars are not used to move between pages.
Resize Box
The Resize box, in the lower right corner of the window, is used to change the size of the window.
Click and drag it to resize the window. The resize box does not change the final size of the page; it alters the size that the page and pasteboard appear on your screen.
The Transform Palette
The Transform palette is used to manipulate both text blocks and graphics. In each view, you can manipulate the text, paragraph, or object by adjusting the settings within the Transform palette.
To display the Transform Palette
- From the Window menu, select Object & Layout » Transform
The Transform Palette appears.
NOTE: If the Transform Palette is already being displayed, a check will appear next to the selection.
Transform Tab
Displays the x and y coordinates of the pointer as it moves around the InDesign window. It also displays a selected object's width and height properties, and allows you to resize, rotate, or shear the selected object.
Transform Property |
Symbol |
Function |
|---|---|---|
| X Value |  |
Shows the X-axis coordinate of the pointer as it moves in the window |
| Y Value |  |
Shows the Y-axis coordinate of the pointer as it moves in the window |
| Width |  |
Shows the width of a selected object in the selected units NOTE: The default unit is picas. |
| Height |  |
Shows the height of a selected object in the selected units NOTE: The default unit is picas. |
| X-Scaling |  |
Adjusts the width of a selected object by a percentage of its current size |
| Y-Scaling |  |
Adjusts the height of a selected object by a percentage of its current size |
| Constrain Scaling Proportions |  |
Keeps the proportions of the selected object |
| Rotation Options |  |
Rotates a selected object a certain number of degrees |
| Shearing Options |  |
Slants a selected object a certain number of degrees |
Paragraph Tab
Displays paragraph formatting options such as alignment, indentation, and space before and after paragraphs.
Character Tab
Displays advanced character formatting options such as font, type style, type size, leading, kerning, tracking, scale, and skew.
